Some 250,000 people paid respects to Pope Francis during the three days his coffin led in St Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican said Friday, as public viewing ended and world leaders began gathering for his funeral.French President Emmanuel Macron was among the last to bow before the coffin, with the overall crowds exceeding the estimated 195,000 …
The funeral of Pope Francis, who died on Monday aged 88, will take place Saturday. After a multi-lingual mass in St Peter’s Square, his coffin will be taken to the Santa Maria Maggiore basilica, in central Rome, for burial. Here is the official programme of the ceremonies:05:30 (0330 GMT) St Peter’s Square opens.09:30 (0730 GMT) US President Donald Trump …
Pope Francis’s funeral programmeFri, 25 Apr 2025 14:42:31 GMT Read More »
Diplomatic tensions between Benin and its junta-led Sahel neighbours Niger and Burkina Faso have led to a security vacuum which jihadists are exploiting with ever-deadlier attacks, analysts told AFP.North Benin, which borders both Niger and Burkina Faso, has seen a recent rise in strikes targeting army positions, with an attack last week claimed by Al-Qaeda-linked …
Benin tensions with Burkina, Niger open door for jihadistsFri, 25 Apr 2025 13:59:03 GMT Read More »
Gabon’s Brice Oligui Nguema won 94.85 percent of the vote, according to final results released on Friday, confirming the junta chief’s landslide election as the central African country’s president. That result marks a five-percent increase on his score in the provisional results given the day after the April 12 ballot, the country’s first since Oligui ended …
Tens of thousands of people flocked to the Vatican Friday for a last glimpse of Pope Francis’s open coffin, as world leaders and other guests began arriving for his funeral.Around 150,000 people had paid their last respects to the Argentine pontiff by midday Friday, seven hours before the end of three days of lying in …
Huge crowds pack Vatican ahead of Pope’s funeralFri, 25 Apr 2025 12:23:21 GMT Read More »
It may be the gateway to the vast Sahara desert, but that does not mean it’s free of that modern scourge of the environment — the rubbish humanity discards.In southern Morocco, volunteers are hunting for waste embedded in the sand, and they do not have to look far.Bottles, plastic bags — “there are all kinds”, …
Morocco volunteers on Sahara clean-up missionFri, 25 Apr 2025 08:23:17 GMT Read More »
Two years after Kenyan athletics champion Agnes Tirop was stabbed to death, the prime suspect was released on bail and promptly disappeared — evidence, say activists, of how Kenya fails victims of gender violence.The Silencing Women Project, an NGO-run initiative, recorded 170 femicides last year in just 10 of the country’s 47 counties, “the deadliest …
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday will host the signing of an agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo following a truce pledge, officials said.The State Department on its public schedule said that Rubio would sign a “declaration of principles” with DRC Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner and Rwandan Foreign Minister …
Rubio to host signing of agreement between Rwanda, DR CongoFri, 25 Apr 2025 01:09:48 GMT Read More »
US prosecutors have accused a man of concealing his role in the Rwandan genocide to move to the United States and attempt to become a citizen, they said Thursday.Faustin Nsabumukunzi, 65, allegedly had a leadership role whereby he oversaw killings of Tutsi civilians in the 1994 genocide in which the United Nations said some 800,000 …
US indicts man for lying about role in Rwanda genocideThu, 24 Apr 2025 20:36:37 GMT Read More »
The world’s only research centre on mycetoma, a neglected tropical disease common among farmers, has been destroyed in Sudan’s two-year war, its director and another expert say.Mycetoma is caused by bacteria or fungus and usually enters the body through cuts. It is a progressively destructive infectious disease of the body tissue, affecting skin, muscle and …
