Huge crowds pack Vatican ahead of Pope’s funeral

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Updated 25 April 2025
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Huge crowds pack Vatican ahead of Pope’s funeral

Huge crowds pack Vatican ahead of Pope’s funeral
  • After three days of public viewing, a funeral Mass including heads of state will be held Saturday in St. Peter’s Square
  • The pope will then be buried in a niche within the St. Mary Major Basilica, near his favorite Madonna icon

VATICAN CITY: The Vatican was making final preparations Friday for Pope Francis’s funeral as the last of the huge crowds of mourners filed through St. Peter’s Basilica to view his open coffin.

Over 128,000 people have already paid their last respects to Francis, whose coffin will be closed at 8:00 p.m. (1800 GMT) in a ceremony attended by senior cardinals.

Many of the 50 heads of state and 10 monarchs attending Saturday’s ceremony in St. Peter’s Square, including US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, are expected to arrive later Friday in Rome.

Italian and Vatican authorities have placed the area around St. Peter’s under tight security with drones blocked, snipers on roofs and fighter jets on standby.

Further checkpoints will be activated on Friday night, police said.

Vast crowds of people on Friday morning packed Via della Conciliazione, the wide avenue leading to the Vatican, for the third and final day of the pope’s lying-in-state.

“Whatever happens, we have to get inside,” said Ian Delmonte, 35, from the Philippines.

“We love the pope, we feel blessed to see him a last (time),” added Michelle Alcaide, 35, also from the Philippines, as she queued.

For a second night in a row, the Vatican kept St. Peter’s open past the scheduled hours to accommodate the queues, only closing the doors between 2:30am (0030 GMT) and 5:40am Friday.

“Night is the most intimate moment, the Lord always manifests himself at night,” said Nicoletta Tomassetti, 60, who visited the Basilica in the very early hours of Friday morning.

“It was very emotional. In prayer, I asked the pope for some things and I know he will give them to me,” she said.

The Catholic Church’s first Latin American pope died on Monday aged 88, less than a month after spending weeks in hospital with severe pneumonia.

“It was like saying goodbye to a father” who “loved me and will continue to love me as and more than before,” Filipa Castronovo, 76, an Italian nun said after seeing the coffin on Friday.

The Argentine pontiff, who had long suffered failing health, defied doctors’ orders by appearing at Easter, the most important moment in the Catholic calendar.

It was his last public appearance.

Condolences have flooded in from around the world for the Jesuit, an energetic reformer who championed those on the fringes of society in his 12 years as head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.

He used his last speech to rail against those who stir up “contempt... toward the vulnerable, the marginalized, and migrants.”

“It’s impressive to see all these people,” French cardinal Francois-Xavier Bustillo said of the queuing crowds, describing Francis as “a man of the people.”

“It’s a beautiful response, a beautiful embrace of his ministry, of his pontificate.”

At least 130 foreign delegations are expected at his funeral, including Argentina’s President Javier Milei and Britain’s Prince William.

A no-fly zone will be in force.

The pope’s body was dressed in his papal vestments – a red chasuble, white mitre and black shoes – and laid inside a simple wooden coffin.

On Thursday the Vatican banned people from taking photos inside the basilica, a move that eased the queue. It came after some mourners took selfies – deemed by many disrespectful – with the coffin.

Italy’s civil protection agency estimates that “several hundred thousand” people will descend on Rome on what was already set to be a busy weekend due to a public holiday on Friday.

After the funeral, Francis’s coffin will be driven at a walking pace to be buried at his favorite church, Rome’s papal basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.

The hearse will pass down Rome’s Fori Imperiali – where the city’s ancient temples lie – and past the Colosseum, according to officials.

Big screens will be set up along the route on which to watch the ceremony, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said.

Francis was a champion of underdogs, and a group of “poor and needy” will be at Santa Maria Maggiore to welcome the coffin, the Vatican said.

Francis will be interred in the ground, his simple tomb marked with just one word: Franciscus.

People will be able to visit the tomb from Sunday morning, as all eyes turn to the process of choosing Francis’s successor.

Cardinals from around the world have been returning to Rome for the funeral and the conclave, when a new pontiff will be elected.

In the absence of a pope, the cardinals have been meeting every day to agree the next steps, with another meeting held on Friday at 9:00 am (0700 GMT).

They have yet to announce a date for the conclave, but it must begin no fewer than 15 days and no more than 20 days after a pope’s death.

Only those under the age of 80 – currently some 135 cardinals – are eligible to vote.

Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who was number two to Francis, is the favorite, according to British bookmakers William Hill.

They put him ahead of Filipino Luis Antonio Tagle, the Metropolitan Archbishop emeritus of Manila, followed by Ghana’s Cardinal Peter Turkson, and Matteo Zuppi, the Archbishop of Bologna.


Trump tries to blame others as tensions rise around handling of Epstein case

Trump tries to blame others as tensions rise around handling of Epstein case
Updated 11 sec ago
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Trump tries to blame others as tensions rise around handling of Epstein case

Trump tries to blame others as tensions rise around handling of Epstein case
  • Trump had come under fire from his own supporters for refusing to release the files on sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
  • He tried to deflect criticisms by blaming Obama, Biden and Comey of making up documents on what he now calls a “hoax”

President Donald Trump is countering criticism of the Justice Department’s failure to release much-hyped records around the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case, trying to place blame on former government officials.

On Tuesday, he accused former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, as well as former FBI Director James Comey, of making up such documents.

“I would say that, you know, these files were made up by Comey, they were made up by Obama, they were made up by the Biden ... ,” Trump told members of the press at the White House before departing for an event in Pennsylvania.

The president on Wednesday posted on Truth Social blaming Democrats in general for a “new SCAM” that “we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax.”

Epstein was arrested in 2019 and found dead in his cell at a federal jail in New York City about a month later. Investigators concluded that he killed himself.

Trump presented no evidence in claiming that Democrats and Comey tampered with documents related to Epstein’s case. Comey was fired in 2017, two years before Epstein’s arrest, and has not returned to the government since. Obama was long gone from the White House by the time of Epstein’s death. During Biden’s presidency, the Justice Department put on trial Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell and secured a conviction against her, but there is zero indication that he or anyone from the White House had anything at any point to do with that case.

Comey was a Republican for most of his adult life, but said in 2016 that he was that he was no longer registered with the party.

Trump suggested last year that he was considering releasing information about the Epstein case if he won a second term. In February, the Justice Department released some government documents regarding the case, but there were no new revelations. Then, earlier this month, it acknowledged that a months-long review of additional evidence in the government’s possession had not revealed a list of clients and said no more files related to the case — other than a video meant to prove that Epstein killed himself — would be made public. The announcement led to outcry from Trump supporters.

Attorney General Pam Bondi appeared to intimate in a Fox News interview in February that a client list was “sitting on my desk” to be reviewed for release. She said last week that she was referring to the Epstein case file generally, as opposed to an actual client list. Bondi and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino then had a contentious conversation at the White House as backlash grew to the Justice Department’s decision to withhold records.

Trump, members of his administration and conservative influencers have spread unsubstantiated claims surrounding Epstein for years. Conspiracy theories about Epstein’s death are a popular trope in right-wing spheres, playing on Trump’s repeated promises to reveal and dismantle the “deep state” — a supposed secret network of powerful people manipulating government decisions behind the scenes.

Trump’s rivals have recently taken advantage of right-wing fissures over Epstein. Several Democratic lawmakers are calling for the release of all Epstein files and suggesting Trump could be resisting because he or someone close to him is featured in them. 


Air India crash probe focuses on actions of plane’s captain, Wall Street Journal reports

Air India crash probe focuses on actions of plane’s captain, Wall Street Journal reports
Updated 20 min 51 sec ago
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Air India crash probe focuses on actions of plane’s captain, Wall Street Journal reports

Air India crash probe focuses on actions of plane’s captain, Wall Street Journal reports
  • Cockpit voice recording suggests captain cut off fuel to engines

A cockpit recording of dialogue between the two pilots of the Air India flight that crashed last month indicates the captain cut the flow of fuel to the plane’s engines, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

The newspaper cited people familiar with US officials’ early assessment of evidence uncovered in the investigation into the June 12 crash in Ahmedabad, India, that killed 260 people.

The first officer, who was flying the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, asked the more experienced captain why he moved the fuel switches to the “cutoff” position seconds after lifting off the runway, the report said.

The two pilots involved were Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kunder, who had total flying experience of 15,638 hours and 3,403 hours, respectively. India’s AAIB, Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Boeing and Air India did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment on the Wall Street Journal report.

A preliminary report into the crash released by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) on Saturday said the fuel switches had switched from run to cutoff a second apart just after takeoff, but it did not say how they were flipped.

One pilot was then heard on the cockpit voice recorder asking the other why he cut off the fuel. “The other pilot responded that he did not do so,” the report said.

Without fuel flowing to the engines, the London-bound plane began to lose thrust and sink. Almost immediately after the plane lifted off the ground, closed-circuit TV footage showed a backup energy source called a ram air turbine had deployed, indicating a loss of power from the engines.

At the crash site, both fuel switches were found in the run position and there had been indications of both engines relighting before the low-altitude crash, the report said. In an internal memo on Monday, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson said the preliminary report found no mechanical or maintenance faults and that all required maintenance had been carried out.

The AAIB’s preliminary report had no safety recommendations for Boeing or engine manufacturer GE. After the report was released, the US Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing privately issued notifications that the fuel switch locks on Boeing planes are safe, a document seen by Reuters showed and four sources with knowledge of the matter said. 


Pro-Palestinian demonstrator arrested at Tour de France

Pro-Palestinian demonstrator arrested at Tour de France
Updated 16 July 2025
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Pro-Palestinian demonstrator arrested at Tour de France

Pro-Palestinian demonstrator arrested at Tour de France
  • The protester, who was holding a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf, got past security barriers and ran toward the finish line

TOULOUSE: A protester wearing a t-shirt reading “Israel out of the Tour” was arrested on Wednesday after running onto the final straight of the Tour de France 11th stage.

The protester, who was also holding a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf, got past security barriers and ran toward the finish line in Toulouse as Norway’s Jonas Abrahamsen won a sprint finale.

The man was intercepted by a race staff member and arrested, the local prefecture said.

Several police officers have been assigned to protecting the Israel-Premier Tech team during the Tour. The team was set up by Israeli-Canadian billionaire Sylvan Adams, but there are no Israeli riders in this year’s race.

With the Gaza war causing international controversy, last year the team said it had asked its riders not to wear jerseys with any reference to Israel while out training as a precaution.


French town withdraws pop festival funding over Kneecap appearance

French town withdraws pop festival funding over Kneecap appearance
Updated 16 July 2025
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French town withdraws pop festival funding over Kneecap appearance

French town withdraws pop festival funding over Kneecap appearance
  • Saint Cloud said its council had now voted to withdraw the subsidy
  • The group have said they are committed to the Palestinian cause

NANTERRE, France: A town that hosts one of France’s biggest pop festivals announced Wednesday that it was withdrawing its subsidy to the event because controversial Irish rappers Kneecap had been booked to play.

British police are investigating Kneecap’s lead singer under a terror offense after he was accused of displaying a Hezbollah flag at a concert last year. The Lebanese militant group is banned in Britain.

Police said they are also investigating videos allegedly showing calls for the death of British lawmakers.

The Paris suburb of Saint Cloud approved a 40,000 euro ($46,500) subsidy this year for the Rock En Seine festival that last year attracted 180,000 people over four days.

The town council said the money had been agreed before the lineup was announced. Kneecap are to appear at the event on August 24. Saint Cloud said its council had now voted to withdraw the subsidy.

A statement said the town “finances, within its means, a cultural and artistic project. On the other hand it does not finance political action, nor demands, and even less calls to violence, such as calls to kill lawmakers, whatever their nationality.”

The town said it respects the festival’s “freedom” to decide its lineup and had not sought “any kind of negotiation with the aim of influencing the program.”

Kneecap have been taken off the bill for festivals in Scotland and Germany this year because of the controversy.

The group have said they are committed to the Palestinian cause but have denied any terrorism connection. Singer Liam O’Hanna, who appears under the name Mo Chara, has condemned the charges against him as political. O’Hanna is to appear in court again four days before the Rock En Seine show.


South Korean teacher, mother arrested for stealing exam

South Korean teacher, mother arrested for stealing exam
Updated 16 July 2025
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South Korean teacher, mother arrested for stealing exam

South Korean teacher, mother arrested for stealing exam

SEOUL: A teacher and a parent of a high school student in South Korea have been arrested for breaking into a school to steal exam papers, police told AFP on Wednesday.

The country is known for placing extreme emphasis on academic achievement — with its annual college entrance exam forcing airplanes to be grounded during English listening tests.

The pair are accused of breaking into a high school in Andong, about 270 kilometers south of the capital Seoul, at around 1:00 a.m. on July 4 to steal exam papers, triggering an alarm and leading to their arrest.

“A 31-year-old teacher and the 48-year-old mother have confessed to the crime,” said a detective at the Andong Police Station, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The teacher was a private tutor for the student while working at the school, where she was employed until February last year, authorities said.

Police suspect the pair may have committed similar thefts in the past, helping the student ace academically, and that money was exchanged between the teacher and the mother.

“They tried to steal exam papers across many subjects, not confined to Korean, which the suspect was teaching,” the detective told AFP.

A school maintenance worker was also arrested for aiding the late-night breach, investigators said.

The student, who had maintained top grades since enrolling in 2023, has been expelled and her grades nullified, according to the Yonhap news agency.