A Roman Catholic bishop from Germany has offered to resign after allegations of child abuse that date back to the 1970s and 1980s.
The accusations against Bishop Walter Mixa were made at the end of March when a daily German newspaper published reports that six boys and six girls had said that Mixa hit them in the children's home in Schrobenhausen, according to The New York Times.
Mixa denied the allegations at first, but later confirmed the accusations, according to The Washington Post.
"I ask the forgiveness of all those to whom I may have been unfair and to those who I may have caused heartache," Mixa wrote, according to The Washington Post.
Mixa was a prominent church figure in Germany, according to The New York Times.
An investigator has also found financial abnormalities at a children's home that Mixa was in charge of during the time when he abused the children, according to The Washington Post.
Mixa was not accused of sexual abuse, according to The New York Times.
There has been a 60 percent increase in people leaving the church since the allegations of child abuse first surfaced in late March, church authorities in Augsburg said according to The Washington Post.
Recently in International News Category
At least 122 people were killed after a cyclone hit eastern India late Tuesday night.
The storm destroyed 50,000 mud huts in West Bengal, and left about 100,000 people homeless, according to The New York Times.
Winds were as strong as 100 mph, and tore down trees and telephone and electricity lines, according to The Washington Post.
"My family is safe, but all the trees outside my house were torn from their roots," Sanjeev Paswan told the New York Times. "It was all dark. I thought it was the end of the world and we were going to die."
Indian authorities arrived on Thursday to provide food, water and temporary shelter to the victims of the cyclone, according to The Washington Post.
Indian state officials said that people who lost their homes or their family members would be able to receive cash compensation, according to The New York Times.
One of the suicide bombers from Moscow's subway bombing on Monday was discovered to a 17-year-old widow of an Islam rebel leader.
Dzhanet Abdullayeva set off the second and last explosive on the subway during Monday morning's rush hour, according to The Washington Post.
She was one of two female suicide bombers to attack Moscow's subway on Monday, reported The New York Times.
The two explosives that were set off killed 40 people and injured 80 people, reported The Washington Post.
Her husband, Umalat Magomedov, 30, was killed by federal forces in December. His murder encouraged her to seek revenge, reported The New York Times.
Abdullayeva is from Dagestan, which is an impoverished and corrupt area of southern Russia, reported The New York Times.
Pope Benedict XVI opened Holy Week while protesters in London demanded that he resign from the papacy.
How the pope handled sex abuse cases from the past has been called into question, reported The Washington Post.
While he was archbishop of Munich, a priest was allowed to return to pastoral duties, including working with children, while he was receiving counseling for pedophilia. He was also convicted of abusing minors, reported The Washington Post.
The Vatican has said that the media is merely trying to smear the pope and his top advisers, according to The New York Times.
A close confidante of the pope, Shoenborn, defended the pope against allegations that he has been behind church cover-ups involving sex abuse cases, reported The Washington Post.
The democratic election process in Iraq on Sunday has revealed an unified country.
Over 6,500 candidates from 86 political sects are running in the election that is to take place on Sunday, according to The Washington Post.
Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite and former prime minister who is now running in the elections, said he worries that the 7 million extra ballots printed will be used to rig the votes, reported The Washington Post.
If the voters perceive the elections to be fraudulent it would pose a threat to the stability of Iraq and the region, said Allawi according to The Washington Post.
"It's true we have freedom, but what do we have beyond it?" Qais Sharaa, an Iraqi citizen, said to a reporter for The New York Times.
American troops will start withdrawing from Iraq after Sunday's election, reported The New York Times.
Qassem Daoud said he thought they should stay another 25 years, fearing that people would not follow the rules laid down by the American government, reported The New York Times.
"As usual, they don't study the Iraqi situation very well," Mahmoud Othman, an Iraqi lawmaker said, reported The New York Times.
An earthquake struck Chile early Saturday morning, killing over 100 people.
Saturday morning an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.8 hit the central region of Chile, killing at least 147 people, reported The Boston Globe.
More than two dozen aftershocks shook the region of, reported The New York Times.
Roads, bridges, and buildings have collapsed in Chile, reported The Boston Globe.
President Michelle Bachelet of Chile declared a "state of catastrophe," reported The New York Times.
The earthquake has set a tsunami in motion, and 53 nations and territories were warned of the possible incoming tsunami, reported The Boston Globe.
The United States is waiting for requests for assistance from Chile before sending emergency response teams, according to The New York Times.
Ukrainian Prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko withdrew her legal challenge to presidential running mate Viktor Yanukovich on Saturday.
By withdrawing her legal challenge, Tymoshenko has conceded from the presidential race, according to The New York Times.
According to The Washington Post, Tymoshenko said that Yanukovich had won the election by fraud, but dropped her legal challenge because the court refused to consider the documents that proved he had won by fraud.
"It became clear that the court is not out to establish truth," Tymoshenko said, according to The New York Times.
Yanukovich won the election by 3.5 percentage points, The Washington Post reported.
European election monitors have said that the election was honest and fair, The New York Times reported.
Tin Oo, co-founder of the National League for Democracy, was released from a Myanmar prison on Saturday.
Oo, 82, was in prison and under house arrest for nearly seven years, according to The Boston Globe.
Oo was arrested in 2003 when their motorcade was attacked during a political tour in northern Myanmar, according to The Boston Globe.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, is a military-ruled country, reported The Washington Post.
Suu Kyi, fellow founder of the National League for Democracy, is still under house arrest, according to The Washington Post.
According to The Washington Post, Oo said he was hopeful Kyi would also soon be released.
According to The Boston Globe, Mark Farmaner, director of the rights group Burma Campaign UK, said "Burmese democracy activists are regularly released when the generals want to score points with the international community, and are then arrested again later."
Ten Americans were charged with child kidnapping after they tried to bring 33 Haitian children across the border into the Dominican Republic without paper documentation.
According to The New York Times, the Americans said they intended to rescue Haitian children without parents and bring them to an orphanage in the Dominican Republic.
Many of the children that the group of Americans tried to transport were not orphans, but were given away by their parents, reported The Washington Post.
According to The Washington Post, the group's lawyer, Edwin Coq, said that only the leader of the group, Laura Silsby, had knowledge of the plan.
Jean Ferge Joseph, a deputy prosecutor in Haiti, told the Americans that their case wouldn't be dropped and would be sent to a judge for further review, according to The New York Times.
The New York Times reported that Silsby asked the prosecutor to release the group and allow them to continue their work in Haiti.
A U.N. official met with Taliban leaders in early January, making a possible step toward future peace negotiations.
Kai Eide, the United Nations representative for Afghanistan, met with Taliban leaders before an international conference in London, reported the New York Times.
The New York Times reported Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as saying that "[Eide] wanted to test for himself the mindset of some of the Taliban leaders."
However, on Saturday the Taliban denied having met with Eide. Taliban leaders are opposed to negotiating with coalition forces, according the the Washington Post.
Although the Taliban denied meeting with Eide, a former minister in Taliban government and a former Taliban official confirmed that the meeting did take place, the Washington Post reported.
The Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai would like to start peace talks, but whether or not the Taliban would take part in them is unknown, according to the Washington Post.
The New York Times said that the important details of the meeting are not known.
An official, who commented under the condition of anonymity, said that Eide's meeting was the first step to setting up future talks with the Taliban, reported the Washington Post.
