VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the German theologian who tried to reawaken Christianity in a secularized Europe but will forever be remembered as the first pontiff in 600 years to resign from the job, died Saturday. He was 95. Benedict stunned the world on Feb. 11, 2013, when he announced, in his typical, soft-spoken Latin, that he no longer had the strength to run the 1.2 billion-strong Catholic Church that he had steered for eight years through scandal and indifference. His dramatic decision paved the way for the conclave that elected Pope Francis as his successor. The two popes then lived side-by-side in the Vatican gardens, an unprecedented arrangement that set the stage for future “popes emeritus” to do the same. A statement from Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni on Saturday morning said that: “With sorrow I inform you that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died today at 9:34 in the Mater Ecclesia Monastery in the Vatican.” Benedict’s body will be on public display in St. Peter’s Basilica starting Monday for the faithful to pay their final respects. Benedict’s request was that his funeral would be celebrated solemnly but with “simplicity,” Bruni told reporters.

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DHAKA (Anadolu) – “2023 should be Rohingya Home Year,” read a placard held up by a refugee boy as nearly 1,000 Rohingya people in Bangladesh’s refugee camp in the southern border district of Cox’s Bazar on Saturday held a rally, demanding a peaceful and dignified return to their home country of Myanmar’s Rakhine State. Carrying banners and placards with various slogans like “Rohingya Want to Smile in 2023,” “No NVC (National Verification Cards)” and “Enough is Enough, Let’s Go Home”, a large number of the persecuted people attended the rally. Addressing the gathering, Rohingya community leaders lamented that due to uncertainty around their peaceful and dignified repatriation and poor living conditions in Bangladesh’s 33 congested camps, their children are growing up without proper education and guidelines. Currently, Bangladesh is hosting more than 1.2 million Rohingya who fled a brutal military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine State in August 2017. Every year around 35,000 newborn babies are added to the number of refugees.

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BEIJING (AP) – China “stands on the right side of history,” the country’s leader Xi Jinping said Saturday in a New Year’s address that came amid his government’s handling of COVID-19 and economic and political challenges at home and abroad. Speaking on national television from behind a desk in a wood-paneled office, Xi pointed to successes in agricultural production, poverty elimination and its hosting of the Winter Olympics in February. However, he later turned to the challenges facing the world’s most populous country and second-largest economy, saying, “The world is not at peace.” China will “always steadfastly advocate for peace and development ... and unswervingly stands on the right side of history,” he said. Xi’s speech follows a stunning U-turn on China’s hard-line COVID-19 containment policy that has sparked a massive surge in infections and demands from the U.S. and others for travelers from China to prove they aren’t infected.

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BANGKOK (AP) – Authorities in military-ruled Myanmar announced a suspension of the normal four-hour curfew to allow New Year’s celebrations in three biggest cities, but opponents of army rule urge people to stay away and claimed security forces might stage an attack and blame it on them. A leaked official letter that circulated on social media said the Yangon regional government was lifting the curfew from midnight to 4 a.m. for one night, when it would host a New Year’s countdown party with fireworks and music at the city’s People’s Park. Residents of the country’s capital, Naypyidaw, and the second largest city, Mandalay, confirmed that the curfew had also been lifted in their cities, which would also host official celebrations. However, groups opposed to army rule posted warnings on social media urging people not to attend the military-organized events for safety reasons.

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LA PAZ (Dispatches) – Supporters of Santa Cruz governor Luis Fernando Camacho in Bolivia have clashed with police following his detention on terrorism charges. They torched cars, pelted rocks, burnt tires, and tossed firecrackers toward the police. Security forces fired tear gas shells to disperse the crowd and made at least four arrests. Pedro Vaca, the special rapporteur for freedom of expression for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), said in a post on Twitter that he was receiving reports of “severe attacks” on the media, allegedly attributed to police deployments. “I call on the authorities to give public instructions to their agents on the duty to guarantee freedoms of press, peaceful assembly and association,” he said. Violence erupted after a judge detained Camacho on “terrorism” charges” for his involvement in 2019 political unrest that saw then-President Evo Morales leave the country.