Mayhem in Perth as 19 wickets crash on Ashes opening day; Stokes leads England’s recovery

November 21, 2025 4:33 PM

Mayhem in Perth as 19 wickets crash on Ashes opening day; Stokes leads England’s recovery

Australia trailed England by 49 runs on 123-9 at the end of an extraordinary opening day of the Ashes series on Friday at Perth Stadium, where bowlers had very much the upper hand and a remarkable 19 wickets fell. Mitchell Starc, spearheading the home attack in the absence of the injured Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, took a career-best 7-58 as Australia dismissed the tourists for 172 before tea. The large visiting contingent in the crowd of 51,531 were soon in full voice, however, as England...

Cardinals enter seclusion ahead of secret conclave to elect new pope

May 6, 2025 4:21 PM

Cardinals enter seclusion ahead of secret conclave to elect new pope

Cardinals who will take part in the secret conclave to elect a new Catholic pope began checking into two Vatican hotels on Tuesday, where they will be barred from contact with the outside world as they decide who should succeed Pope Francis. The conclave will start behind the closed doors of the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday afternoon, with all cardinals under the age of 80 able to vote on who should be the next leader of the 1.4-billion-member Church. The race to succeed Francis, who died last ...

Pope tells priests to keep it snappy or people will nod off

June 12, 2024 3:56 PM

Pope tells priests to keep it snappy or people will nod off

Priests should keep their homilies short and speak for a maximum of eight minutes to prevent members of the congregation from nodding off, Pope Francis said on Wednesday. The homily, or message delivered by a celebrant during a church service, “must be short: an image, a thought, a feeling”, the pope said during his weekly audience. It should not last longer than eight minutes “because after that time attention is lost and people fall asleep, and they are right,” said the 87-year-old p...