country s brics from serbia in two thousand and eight ments a new beginning for its ethnic albanian majority one hundred seventeen nations have recognized kosovo but serbia continues to dispute kosovo statehood. pope francis has renewed the mandate of a vatican panel established to protect children from sexual abuse by priests francis has faced criticism for his handling of scandals involving pedophile priests he named nih new members to the panel which includes abuse survivors its initial three year term ended in december. accordant pakistan has sentenced a man to death for the rape and murder of a seven year old girl. sparked violent clashes between angry protesters and police prosecutors said the attacker confessed to killing eight girls in total. and the gems of this year s european cinema are in the spotlight as star studded