National / International News

"After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry," the 85-year-old pontiff says.

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Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo "bullies" defenders and is almost impossible to stop, warns former team-mate Gary Neville.

Two men in their 20s appear in court in Londonderry charged over the death of a policewoman.

Twenty four hours of news photos: 11 February

Also: Manhunt continues for ex-Los Angeles police officer suspected in three murders; Northeast and New England continue to dig out from weekend blizzard; Medal of Honor to be awarded at White House.

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There are less than three weeks to go until Washington's latest budget deadline. It's called the sequester and it involves $85 billion dollars in spending cuts.

Julia Coronado, chief economist with the investment bank BNP Paribas shares her thoughts on the economic impact of the sequester. 

An underground explosion in a coal mine in northern Russia has killed 18 miners, officials say.

BBC journalists are to stage a one-day strike on Monday February 18 in an ongoing row over job cuts.

Cyclists in Cardiff are to be offered training following complaints about irresponsible riding.

Barclays bank misled shareholders and the public about one of the biggest investments in the bank's history, a BBC investigation finds.

A Henry Moore sculpture opposite the House of Lords is to be restored over an eight-week period beginning on 16 February.

Amid a wave of food fraud, from beef burgers that actually contain horsemeat to fake olive oil, how can we be sure of what's in what we eat?

Network Rail apologises after a signalman gets stuck in a toilet, causing train delays.

A surprise announcement out of the Vatican this morning that Pope Benedict is resigning later this month.The 85-year-old Pope says he doesn't have the strength to continue his official duties.

Pope Benedict took office in 2005, as the Catholic Church was reeling from a sex abuse scandal. So has he been effective in restoring the Church's brand around the world?

The BBC's longtime Vatican correspondent David Willey joins Marketplace Morning Report host Jeremy Hobson to discuss the pope's legacy, religion and public relations.

Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday that he will resign at the end of the month, due to health issues.

As the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict has been the leader of a troubled brand, as the church was hit hard by the clergy-sex-abuse scandals.

What many people will remember about Pope Benedict, like his predecessor, is the way the church handled those incidents.

“So in that respect, I don’t think he handled his brand -- his corporate brand -- very well,” says Magali Tardy-Guyot is the head of strategy at FutureBrand Paris.

She says one of the golden rules in brand management is reacting to a crisis quickly and openly. She doesn’t think the church didn’t that and many unhappy Catholics left as a result.

Bernard Beatty is with the School of Divinity at University of Saint Andrews in Scotland. He says Pope Benedict made clear he didn’t want to run the church like a business.

“Bascially, he thinks the only thing you can do is what Christians can always ever do,” says Beatty. “You’ve got to return to the idea of living by faith, not living by managerial ideas or semi-political ideas of how you increase your membership, how you control your membership.”

The Vatican says it hopes to have a successor in place by Easter.

A look at the winners and attendees

Two daughters of Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi have been arrested after security forces raided their homes in the capital, Tehran.

Is there a problem with Apple’s iPhone update, asks Rory Cellan-Jones

Chris Huhne constantly badgered his ex-wife Vicky Pryce to take his speeding points, their daughter Georgia Beesley tells a jury.

The party of Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki reverses its decision to withdraw from the Islamist-led government, an official says.