
-
Hamilton rubbishes claims he's lost faith in Ferrari
-
Nintendo Switch 2 sparks excitement despite high price
-
Sri Lanka's crackdown on dogs for India PM's visit sparks protest
-
S Korea police raise security levels ahead of impeachment verdict
-
China vows 'countermeasures' to sweeping new US tariffs
-
Trump jolts allies, foes and markets with tariff blitz
-
France says EU to target US online services after Trump tariffs
-
Tsunoda vows to bring 'something different' after Red Bull promotion
-
Verstappen not happy with Tsunoda-Lawson Red Bull swap
-
Experts accuse 54 top Nicaragua officials of grave abuses
-
Remains of 30th victim of Los Angeles fires found
-
EU to target US online services after Trump tariffs: France
-
How Trump's 'liberation day' tariffs will impact China
-
Malaysia suspends search for long-missing flight MH370
-
Search for long-missing flight MH370 suspended: Malaysia minister
-
Europe hits out at Trump tariffs, keeps door open for talks
-
Myanmar's junta chief to head to Bangkok summit as quake toll surpasses 3,000
-
Lawson vows to prove he belongs in F1 after shock of Red Bull axing
-
Australia sweats through hottest 12 months on record: official data
-
Livestock theft is central to jihadist economy in west Africa
-
South African artist champions hyenas in 'eco-queer' quest
-
Danish PM in 'unity' Greenland visit amid US takeover threats
-
Taiwan says US tariffs 'highly unreasonable'
-
Lawson says ruthless Red Bull axing was 'tough to hear'
-
Heat humble Celtics for sixth straight win, Thunder roll on
-
Trump escalates trade war with sweeping global tariffs
-
Japan says US tariffs 'extremely regrettable', may break WTO rules
-
South Koreans anxious, angry as court to rule on impeached president
-
Juve at in-form Roma with Champions League in the balance
-
Injuries put undermanned Bayern's title bid to the test
-
Ovechkin scores 892nd goal -- three away from Gretzky's NHL record
-
Australian former rugby star Petaia signs for NFL's Chargers
-
China says opposes new US tariffs, vows 'countermeasures'
-
Athletics world watching as 'Grand Slam Track' prepares for launch
-
Heat humble Celtics for sixth straight win, Cavs top Knicks
-
Quake-hit Myanmar's junta chief to head to Bangkok summit
-
New Spielberg, Nolan films teased at CinemaCon
-
Shaken NATO allies to meet Trump's top diplomat
-
Israel's Netanyahu arrives in Hungary, defying ICC warrant
-
Shiny and deadly, unexploded munitions a threat to Gaza children
-
Stocks tank, havens rally as Trump tariffs fan trade war
-
Altomare hangs on to tie defending champ Korda at LPGA Match Play
-
Paraguay gold rush leaves tea producers bitter
-
Health concerns swirl as Bolivian city drowns in rubbish
-
Syria says deadly Israeli strikes a 'blatant violation'
-
Financial markets tumble after Trump tariff announcement
-
Starbucks faces new hot spill lawsuits weeks after $50mn ruling
-
Europe riled, but plans cool-headed response to Trump's tariffs
-
'Shenmue' voted most influential video game ever in UK poll
-
New coal capacity hit 20-year low in 2024: report

A partial lung and colon surgery: the Pope's health issues
Pope Francis, who is in hospital for treatment for a respiratory infection, admitted last year he needed to slow down faced with his age -- now 86 -- and increasing health issues.
Here are some of the medical problems the pontiff has had during his life, from an operation in his youth to remove part of a lung, to the knee issues that have forced him to use a wheelchair.
- Lung operation -
When he was 21, the then Jorge Bergoglio almost died after developing pleurisy, an inflammation of the tissues that surround the lung.
According to biographer Austen Ivereigh, surgeons removed three pulmonary cysts and a small part of his upper right lung in an operation followed by a long and painful recovery.
In an interview about his health with Argentinian journalist and doctor, Nelson Castro, he insisted however that he had made "a complete recovery... and never felt any limitation since then".
- Sciatica and acupuncture -
The pope has complained in the past of a "troublesome guest", sciatica, a chronic nerve condition that causes back, hip and leg pain that has occasionally forced him to cancel official events.
He has a distinctive limp -- he has described it as "walking like a broody chicken" -- but this is caused by a flat foot, Francis told Castro for his book "The Health of Popes".
As archbishop of Buenos Aires, he was treated by a Chinese acupuncturist for his back pain, Ivereigh wrote in The Tablet Catholic weekly in 2021.
Around the end of 1979, early 1980, he also suffered "an almost fatal" infection of the gallbladder and had a "brief" issue with his heart in 2004 after a slight narrowing of an artery, the biographer said.
Problems with a "fatty liver" were overcome through changes to his diet.
- Bach and therapy -
Francis, who was head of the Jesuit order in the 1970s during Argentina's brutal military dictatorship, has also previously sought mental health support.
He spoke with "a great woman psychologist" once a week for six months during the dictatorship, he told Castro, to help him with anxiety.
Nowadays he deals with it by listening to Bach or sipping "mate", a popular Argentinean herbal drink.
The pontiff is reported to go to bed at 9pm and read for an hour before going to sleep for six hours and waking at 4am every day. Lunch is invariably followed by a 45-minute nap.
- Colon operation -
In July 2021, Francis spent 10 days in hospital after undergoing surgery to address symptomatic diverticular stenosis of the colon.
The condition causes potentially painful inflammation of the diverticulum, a pocket that can form on the colon walls and which tend to multiply with age.
Patients with diverticulitis may experience lower abdominal pain, fever or rectal bleeding.
Francis underwent a left hemicolectomy, in which the descending colon -- the part attached to the rectum -- is removed.
He said a year later that he was still feeling the effects of six hours spent under anaesthetic during the operation.
In an interview in January this year, he said the diverticulitis had returned.
He has also visibly put on weight over the past year.
- Honesty -
Francis has repeatedly said he would consider stepping down if his health required it.
His predecessor Benedict XVI shocked the world in 2013 by becoming the first pope since the Middle Ages to resign, citing his declining physical and mental health.
Ivereigh has noted "how freely and transparently Francis discusses his various conditions, physical and psychological".
"How far we are from the Vatican refusing to confirm the Parkinson's everyone could see in the face of John Paul II," he wrote in The Tablet.
In August 2022, the pope named Massimiliano Strappetti, a Vatican nurse, as his personal healthcare assistant.
S.F.Warren--AMWN