In a moving encounter, Francis blessed them, held their hands and intently listened to their heart-rending tales of escape from the Buddhist-majority nation, in an apparent show of public solidarity towards Asia's worst refugee crisis in decades.
Villarreal romped to a 5-0 home victory over promoted Tenerife on Sunday, continuing their revival after a poor start to the La Liga campaign.
Brazilian winger Anderson wants to help Fiorentina qualify for next season's Champions League after he completed his loan move from Manchester United.
Australian Casey Stoner ran away with the delayed MotoGP season-opener from pole position on Monday to complete a hat-trick of wins at Qatar's Losail International Circuit. Racing in warm dry conditions after Sunday's start was postponed due to heavy rainfall at the desert track, the 23-year-old Ducati rider beat world champion Valentino Rossi into second place. Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo was third.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Saturday
Rafael Nadal swept into the quarter-finals of the Italian Open on Thursday with a ruthless 6-4, 6-1 victory over Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov. The top seed, who will reclaim the world number one ranking from Roger Federer if he wins his eighth title in Rome, turned in a near-flawless performance, losing only five service points as he honed in on victory in an hour and 22 minutes.
Andy Murray is more afraid of losing his wedding ring than a tennis match these days but that did not stop him from storming to a 10th successive win on clay at the Rome Masters on Wednesday.
Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho courted controversy again on Tuesday when he returned fire on his Serie A rivals in a row over a contested penalty in Sunday's 3-3 draw with AS Roma. Polemics have been flying since 18-year-old striker Mario Balotelli, who scored twice, helped league leaders Inter come back from 3-1 down by converting a penalty after going down in the area.
Teenager Mario Balotelli struck twice and Hernan Crespo scored a late equaliser as Serie A leaders Inter Milan rallied to draw 3-3 with AS Roma in a thriller at the San Siro on Sunday.
Juventus striker Carlos Tevez scored a magnificent first-half goal, and later missed a penalty, as the runaway Serie A leaders won 1-0 at home to mid-table Genoa on Sunday.
Juventus appear to be suffering from a predictable early-season slump in the wake of a summer spent fumbling around the transfer market in a bid to rebuild a team that had grown to dominate Serie A.
The Dutch round of the MotoGP championship will break with tradition by switching from Saturday to a Sunday slot from next season out of financial necessity, local organisers said on Thursday.
Brazil advanced to the semi-finals of the football competition with a 2-0 win over Camerron after extra time.
AS Roma moved to within four points of Serie A leaders Inter Milan with a 2-0 home win over Catania on Sunday but third-placed Juventus lost ground.
Experts expect a net loss of Rs 26.7 billion for IndiGo and Rs 10.1 billion for SpiceJet in Q1FY21 driven by low traffic volume, low fleet utilisation and poor coverage of fixed costs.
Four times MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez drove a Formula One car for the first time at the Red Bull Ring in Austria on Tuesday but said his focus remains firmly on two wheels for the next few years at least.
Brazil playmaker Kaka scored his first goal, a delightful curling shot, since his return to AC Milan at the start of the season but his struggling team were held 1-1 at home by Lazio in Serie A on Wednesday.
Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo clinched his first MotoGP win after a thrilling duel with compatriot Dani Pedrosa at the MotoGP of Portugal at the Estoril circuit on Sunday. Seven times world champion Valentino Rossi was third in the 28-lap, 117.096-km race. Lorenzo, on a Yamaha, clocked 45 minutes 53.089 seconds, 1.817 seconds faster than Pedrosa, on a Honda.
The Ducati rider's eighth victory of the season, his third consecutive win, gave him an 85-point lead over Italy's Valentino Rossi.
German forward Mario Gomez has joined Besiktas on loan after two unhappy, injury-plagued seasons at Fiorentina, the clubs said on Thursday.
The 21-year-old Australian started third on the grid but he surged into the lead on the first lap and never lost it, easing to his ninth victory of the season.
Spaniard Toni Elias finished second for Honda, edging out Stoner's Ducati team mate Loris Capirossi of Italy.
There have been three dismissals in three previous World Cup finals matches -- 1938 Brazil v Czechoslovakia, 1954 Brazil v Hungary and 1998 Denmark v South Africa.
With no clear sense of direction being set by Deschamps' selections, it may be up to the players to find their own way to deal with Messi.
China beat Canada 4-2 in the play-off for seventh and eight places in the Sultan Azlan Shah hockey tournament.
Italy midfielder Antonio Candreva gave a dazzling performance as he scored a penalty and set up a second goal in a 2-0 win over Finland in their fast-paced final Euro 2016 warm-up in Verona on Monday. The 29-year-old winger coolly converted a 27th-minute spot kick after being brought down and delivered an inch-perfect cross for Daniele De Rossi to head home midway through the second half. Thriving on the right flank in an adventurous 3-4-3 formation, Candreva was a handful for the visitors throughout the evening, showing blistering pace as well as neat footwork. With their coach Antonio Conte fielding a three-pronged attack of Stephan El Shaarawy, Ciro Immobile and Simone Zaza, the Italians pressed high and hard to keep the Finns on the back foot from the start.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
Italian Loris Capirossi won the MotoGP Czech Grand Prix after leading from start to finish.
Lance Armstrong has been voted sports personality of the year, according to a poll published in the Spanish daily
A look at the big winners of the night.
US goalkeeper Kasey Keller praised the courage of team mate Brian McBride after the big striker's battling and bloodied display against Italy.
Lance Armstrong and Roger Federer were nominated for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award.
Ferrari have parted company with chief designer Nikolas Tombazis and engineering director Pat Fry, two of the men responsible for designing this year's car as the team endured their first season without a win since 1993.
Manchester United crushed minor league Burton Albion 5-0 in their FA Cup third-round replay
An extra-time goal by Pedro Ibarra carried Argentina to a 2-1 victory against Spain in the men's Junior World Cup hockey tournament.
Poland striker Robert Lewandowski can finish Euro 2016 without a goal to his name as long as the team keep grinding out results starting with Saturday's last-16 clash against Switzerland, coach Adam Nawalka said on Friday. The Poles eked out 1-0 wins over Northern Ireland and Ukraine and a 0-0 draw against Germany in the group stage, with Lewandowski often dropping into a deeper role to create space for strike partner Arkadiusz Milik.
The beat Serbia & Montenegro 3-0 in the final to win the title for a fifth time in the past seven tournaments.
Italy manager Antonio Conte named his provisional squad for the European Championship on Monday, and his selection was notable as much for the player he left off as for those he chose.
Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde's conservatism was cited by the Spanish media as the main reason for their 3-0 defeat at AS Roma on Tuesday that led to a shock Champions League quarter-final elimination being regarded as 'a historic debacle'.
Italian racer Doriano Romboni died on Saturday after being struck by another rider's bike at an event in memory of late compatriot Marco Simoncelli, who was killed in a similar fashion two years ago.
