France has asked its foreign allies to send several thousand members of their security forces to help guard the Paris Olympics, officials said Thursday, underlining the strains caused by the sporting extravaganza which begins in July.An official in the French interior ministry said separately that in January Paris had asked 46 allies to send 2,185 police reinforcements.
Pope Francis, who often pleads for compassion to prisoners, washed the feet of 12 incarcerated women in Rome on Thursday in a rite marking Holy Thursday before Easter.Since becoming pope in 2013, the head of the Catholic Church has often visited prisons and refugee centres, including last year on Holy Thursday when he visited a juvenile detention centre and washed the feet of 12 young men.
South Africa's electoral officials said on Thursday they had excluded former president Jacob Zuma from May elections, further increasing tensions in the run-up to the polls.Zuma cannot in theory seek re-election as he has already served two terms as president.