A senior Catholic cleric with connections to the Vatican bank was arrested for plotting to help rich friends smuggle tens of millions of euro in cash into Italy from Switzerland, in the latest blow to the Vatican’s image.

Two men have become the first couple in Switzerland to join in a same-sex union, following a change in the law.

A mudslide set off by heavy rain caused injuries and damaged parts of Schlans, a village in eastern Switzerland, police said. It appeared by evening that there were no fatalities.

For a brief moment the world held its breath today - fearing a repeat of the September 11 suicide attacks on New York and Washington had been launched on Milan, Italy’s financial capital.