World: An AirAsia jet with 162 people on board has gone missing on a two-hour flight from Indonesia to Singapore. Air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane about 40 minutes into the flight when it was over the Java …

Christmas: In his traditional Christmas address Pope Francis denounced the “brutal persecution” of religious and ethnic minorities. “May Christmas bring them hope, as indeed also to the many displaced persons, exiles and refugees, children, adults and elderly, from this region …