Author: France24

Some 50 heads of state and 10 reigning monarchs gather in Rome on Saturday for the funeral of Pope Francis, who died on Monday at 88 years old. Follow FRANCE 24’s special edition for full coverage of the funeral Mass in St. Peter’s Square and the procession to the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, where the late pontiff will be laid to rest.

Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have agreed to work toward a draft peace agreement by May 2 following months of escalating violence in eastern DRC. In a diplomatic breakthrough, the two nations signed a declaration Friday in Washington pledging mutual respect for sovereignty and halting military support for armed groups.

The world said goodbye to Pope Francis this week. 

Tens of thousands of mourners queued to pay their respects as he lay in state in St Peter’s Basilica over three days of mourning. We discussed his life and legacy, the geopolitics of his papal funeral, and look towards the conclave that will follow. 

A mysterious Russian satellite, believed by US officials to support a nuclear anti-satellite weapon programme, is showing signs of erratic spinning in orbit – a potential setback for Moscow’s military space ambitions. Known as Cosmos 2553, the satellite’s unusual behaviour, tracked by commercial space-monitoring firms, adds a new layer of intrigue to the growing tensions over weaponisation in space.

The daughter of French Prime Minister François Bayrou has recently revealed being a victim of abuse at a Catholic boarding school. Her testimony has fuelled fresh accusations against Bayrou of dishonesty over his knowledge of allegations of abuse at Notre-Dame de Bétharram Catholic school from the 1950s until the 2000s.

Troops from Pakistan and India exchanged fire overnight in disputed Kashmir, after the United Nations urged the nuclear-armed rivals to show “maximum restraint” following the killing of 26 men at a tourist site – the worst attack on civilians in nearly two decades. FRANCE 24 correspondents in India and Pakistan joins us live for an update.

We sit down with France’s minister-delegate for Europe, Benjamin Haddad, to take stock of diplomacy around Ukraine and the US-EU standoff over trade tariffs. Haddad lived in the US and worked for top think tanks there, including the Atlantic Council and the Hudson Institute. He wrote a book entitled “Paradise Lost: Trump’s America and the end of European illusions” during the first Trump presidency. With that theme in mind, we also touch on European competitiveness, research and innovation.

Tens of thousands of mourners filed into St. Peter’s Basilica on Friday on the last day to pay final respects to Pope Francis ahead of his funeral. The Vatican on Friday said 150,000 people have already paid their respects to Pope Francis. Detials by FRANCE 24 Reporter in Rome, Clovis Casali, and analysis by Massimo Faggioli, theology professor at Villanova University in Philadelphia.

A senior Russian general was killed in a car bombing near Moscow on Friday, in what local authorities say is the latest targeted assassination linked to the war in Ukraine. Russia accused Ukraine of orchestrating the attack, which came as US envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in the Russian capital for talks with President Vladimir Putin. 

Americans between 19 and 31 years old share their thoughts on the first 100 days of US President Donald Trump’s second presidential term. From Los Angeles to New York, some of these young voters are concerned about the direction in which Trump is leading the United States, while others are pleased with his actions in the White House.

The FBI on Friday said Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested for allegedly helping a man, Eduardo Flores Ruiz, evade immigration agents. In a post on X, FBI Director Kash Patel said Dugan misled federal agents in court. The arrest reflects growing tension between the Trump administration and the judiciary over immigration enforcement.

Romania is about to re-run a high-stakes presidential election, fuelled by a political crisis that has engulfed the country for the last five months. At the end of November, the ultranationalist Calin Georgescu sent shockwaves through the EU by winning the first round of the vote. But the Constitutional Court annulled the result in December, because of allegations of electoral violations and manipulation through social media. Indeed, the role played by TikTok has come under intense scrutiny, with the European Commission now saying that it has grounds to suspect that the platform was in breach of its obligations under the EU’s Digital Services Act.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met President Vladimir Putin for three hours in Moscow to discuss the U.S. plan to end the Ukraine war, and the Kremlin said the two sides’ positions had moved closer. Story by Elitsa Gadeva.

In the aftermath of this week’s deadly terror attack in Kashmir, relations between India and Pakistan have worsened. In this edition of Access Asia, the spokesperson for the opposition National Congress Party in India calls for unity, while acknowledging that the intent of the attack was to divide along religious lines. We also report on how the staunchly Catholic Philippines is grappling with the loss of Pope Francis.

The United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) warned Friday that it has run out of food supplies in Gaza as Israel’s blockade on humanitarian aid stretches into its eighth week. The UN says the territory is facing its worst humanitarian crisis since the war began 18 months ago, with community kitchens expected to shut down in the coming days.

Google is still making lots of money. Its parent company Alphabet reported $90.2 billion in revenue for the first quarter, up 12 percent from the same period last year, making $34.5 billion in profit. Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said Google’s AI strategy was to thank. But the elephant in the room at Thursday’s earnings call was the possibility that US federal judges might order the company to be broken up. We take a closer look in this edition of Tech 24.

A car bomb killed a senior Russian military officer in the town of Balashikha just east of Moscow on Friday in an attack that Russian war bloggers blamed on Ukraine. The killing happened on the same day as U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Analysis by Douglas Herbert, France 24 international affairs commentator.

She’s the reluctant icon of generations of street artists: photojournalist Martha Cooper became a cult figure after her 1984 book “Subway Art” inspired creative souls around the world. She’s now teamed up with renowned stencil artist Logan Hicks to revisit some of her images and give them a new, more painterly aspect. Cooper and Hicks join us in the studio to talk about the transformation of murals, tags and graffiti in recent years, as the ninth Urban Art Fair opens its doors in Paris. We also chat about meeting with a tattoo master in the Japan of the 1970s and how art can bring the natural world to the most urban of landscapes. 

A 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Nepal on April 25, 2015, killing nearly 9,000 people as it destroyed homes and heritage sites across the country. The quake also triggered avalanches on Mount Everest that claimed the lives of 22 hikers. A decade later, the nation is still rebuilding, with fresh solutions to protect lives in the event of future quakes. FRANCE 24’s Navodita Kumari and Nabeel Ahmed report.

President Donald Trump said that “Crimea will stay with Russia,” the latest example of the U.S. leader pressuring Ukraine to make concessions to end the war while it remains under siege. Story by Nicholas Rushworth.

In this special edition, we’re focusing on women’s rights in Africa. As UN Women writes, women on the continent are the backbone of family and communities. Yet many endure the worst working conditions with unpaid care, low pay jobs and little or no social protection. They also suffer from different forms of violence including female genital mutilation, child marriage and physical violence. So how does feminism fit within this context especially as many conservative male leaders in the region often dismiss it as a Western import. Annette Young talks to Minna Salami, the author of ‘Can Feminism be African?’ Also how Togo’s strict abortion laws mean thousands of women are left with no choice but to seek illegal terminations, often putting their lives at risk. Plus the teenage girls in a Kenyan refugee camp who are learning self-defence in an environment rife with gender violence.

This edition of Scoop looks at the relationship between the late Pope Francis and the press, as well as the challenges of covering the Vatican. Francis revamped communications at the Holy See, embraced social media and provided access to writers. His death comes at a time when Vatican journalism is struggling; many major outlets have closed their Rome bureaus and some see this as a parallel for Italy’s decline as an international power. Our guest is Camillo Barone of the National Catholic Reporter.

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. Details by FRANCE 24 correspondent in Rome, Clovis Casali.