IBT Staff Reporter

The former head of Belgium's Catholic Church suggested to a sexual abuse victim it would be better to delay a public statement on the case until the bishop involved resigned in 2011, a Church spokesman said on Saturday.

Chelsea's goal-rush was staunched by Stoke City but the Premier League champions maintained their perfect start to the season with a 2-0 home victory on Saturday despite a missed penalty by Frank Lampard.

Far-right protesters hurled bricks and smoke bombs on Saturday as riot police kept them apart from anti-racism demonstrators.

China is lobbying neighbours to sign up to a road map for renewed nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea, whose leader Kim Jong-il is visiting China amid conciliatory words and threats of holy war.

The European Union thinks China has made only limited progress in allowing its yuan currency to move more rapidly, and swifter action would help safeguard a fragile economic recovery, according to a draft G20 document obtained by Reuters on Saturday.

Chelsea maintained their perfect start to the defence of their Premier League title as Florent Malouda and Didier Drogba struck in a 2-0 home win against Stoke City on Saturday.

Flood waters threatened to engulf two towns in southern Pakistan on Saturday, a month after the disaster began, as the United Nations warned that tens of thousands of children risked death from malnutrition.

The global recovery is fragile and policymakers in advanced economies might still have to provide further economic support, Bank of England Deputy Governor Charles Bean said on Saturday.

Foreign and Afghan troops killed 24 insurgents as they fought off pre-dawn attacks on two bases in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, officials said, with the Taliban saying suicide bombers the fighters.

China says it is understandable for its workers to demand higher wages after foregoing pay increases during the worst of the economic crisis, a Japanese official said after talks with Chinese counterparts.

Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Saturday he was ready to employ all possible measures to tackle the soaring yen, which was having a big impact on the country's export-led economy.

An icon of Jesus embedded in a Kremlin gate used by Soviet leaders but bricked over in the 1930s during communist times was restored on Saturday to public view.

Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Saturday he told Chinese officials that Tokyo wants to see further efforts to make the yuan more flexible.

England number three Jonathan Trott finally succumbed for 184 on Saturday after he and Stuart Broad had broken the world eighth wicket partnership record on the third day of the fourth test against Pakistan at Lord's.

Tax and budget policies need the same regularity and independence as monetary policy if countries around the world are to cope with looming stresses from pension programs, world central bankers were told at a Federal Reserve conference on Saturday.

Potash miner K+S is specialised enough to weather any takeover of Canadian rival Potash Corp and survive as a standalone entity, the German firm's finance director told a newspaper.

Investigations into spying allegations against three American hikers detained in Iran will be completed soon, Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi said in a news report on Saturday.

South African President Jacob Zuma on Saturday accused striking state workers of abandoning the sick at hospitals and said he expected a deal to be reached soon to end the labour action by about 1.3 million.

The European market for therapeutic hypothermia devices was US$217 million in 2006, according to Frost & Sullivan. By 2012, it is estimated to reach US$543 million.

President Barack Obama said on Saturday Iraq could chart its own course and told Americans the drawdown of U.S. troops helped fulfil a promise he made during the 2008 presidential campaign.

Flood waters threatened to engulf two towns in southern Pakistan on Saturday, a month after the disaster began, as the United Nations warned that tens of thousands of children risked death from malnutrition.

Potash miner K+S is specialized enough to weather any takeover of Canadian rival Potash Corp and survive as a standalone entity, the German firm's finance director told a newspaper.

Cutting medicine prices and promoting cheap generics in the way European governments are now doing could jeopardize the long-term supply of new heart drugs, a top cardiologist said on Saturday.

- China is lobbying neighbours to sign up to a road map for renewed nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea, whose leader Kim Jong-il is apparently visiting China amid conciliatory words and threats of atomic holy war.

North Korea would answer any attack on it with a nuclear holy war, the country's ambassador to Cuba said, according to official Chinese media, while the North's leader Kim Jong-il appeared to be visiting China.

Two car bombs exploded in northern Mexico early on Friday, the latest attack in an area where several days earlier marines found the bodies of 72 people gunned down in the country's escalating drug war.

Rates of oesophageal cancer in men have risen by 50 percent in Britain in a generation, an increase that is probably being driven in part by growing rates of obesity and poor diet, scientists said on Saturday.

Microsoft Corp asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to reconsider a lower court's ruling that upheld rival i4i's patent related to text manipulation technology.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Friday the economic recovery has weakened more than expected and the Fed stands ready to act if needed to spur slowing growth.