Pope Benedict XVI celebrated the final Mass of his visit to his native Germany today, making a strong appeal for unity among his Catholic flock and with the Vatican.

The head of the German Bishops Conference apologised today for incidents of sexual abuse by a Roman Catholic priest two decades ago in the Freiburg diocese.

POLICE in Germany have arrested an opera singer who they say murdered her wealthy husband then used a double to get her hands on his €5 million estate.

A plane slid off an icy runway and powerful winds and heavy snow forced hundreds of flight cancellations across Europe today as blasts of freezing cold buffeted Western Europe.

Wisla Krakow 1 Liverpool 1

AN ATTEMPT to break an aviation speed record went horribly wrong yesterday when a small “experimental” plane crashed through an apartment building in the Swiss city of Basel, killing the pilot and injuring at least three other people, authorities said.

Meseret Defar broke the world 3,000 metres road running record in today's Newcastle/Gateshead meeting with a time of eight minutes 46.9 seconds.

Holland coach Marco van Basten expects Edwin van der Sar to be fit to face the Ivory Coast in Stuttgart on Friday.

More than 700 police raided apartments and mosques across Germany today in a crackdown on a Islamic extremist organisation suspected of aiding terrorists.