Tens of thousands of people flocked to the Vatican yesterday for a last glimpse of Pope Francis’s open coffin, as world leaders and other guests began arriving for his funeral.

President Emmanuel Macron yesterday said during a visit to Madagascar he wanted to work toward “forgiveness” for France’s colonisation of the Indian Ocean island, including with the return of cultural artifacts.

A hand-written letter from Napoleon denying his role in the kidnapping of Pope Pius VII in 1809 is to go under the hammer this weekend, in a reminder of France’s complicated past relationship with the Vatican.

Around 200 French media groups, including leading television channels and newspapers, are taking legal action against Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, over its online advertising practices, their lawyers announced yesterday.

A large police operation was under way in Germany yesterday to find one or more shooters who killed two men the day before in the centre of the country, police said.

Member states of the Intentional Maritime Organization (IMO) voted in favour of a global pricing system to help curb maritime emissions, the UN shipping body announced yesterday.

Over a thousand Sudanese refugees have reached or attempted to reach Europe in early 2025, the United Nations’ refugee agency said yesterday, citing growing desperation in part due to reduced aid in the region.

European Union finance ministers will discuss this week the setting up of a joint intergovernmental defence fund that would buy and own defence equipment and charge members a fee for its use, a paper prepared for the ministers’ discussions showed.

Stock markets and oil prices collapsed further yesterday on a black for markets as US President Donald Trump stood firm over his tariffs despite recession fears.

The Kremlin yesterday said that it supported the idea of a truce in Ukraine but had many "questions" about how it would work, pushing back at US and European suggestions that it was playing for time.

Cuts to aid budgets are threatening to undermine years of progress in reducing the number of women dying during pregnancy and childbirth, and could lead to a rise in deaths, the United Nations has warned.

London’s Metropolitan Police yesterday said it had charged comedian and actor Russell Brand with rape and a number of other sexual offences.

German investigators said Wednesday that they had dismantled a major platform for the distribution of child sex abuse images with 1.8 million users worldwide in an international operation coordinated by Europol.

Russia yesterday said that threats of military strikes against its ally Iran were unacceptable and warned that attacking the Islamic Republic could lead to potentially catastrophic results if nuclear installations were bombed.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen warned Thursday, as she vowed Brussels was 'prepared to respond'

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said in an interview published yesterday that she would use all possible legal avenues to stand in 2027 elections despite a criminal conviction, hailing a promise to hear her appeal quickly as “very good news”.

Russia and Ukraine yesterday accused each other of launching new attacks against each other’s energy facilities, in violation of a US-brokered moratorium.

Britain yesterday urged health experts and sufferers of tuberculosis (TB) to come forward to help draw up a new five-year action plan as it deals with record rises in the disease.

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) yesterday warned of an “unprecedented crisis” as it faces a 40 percent drop in funding this year, risking life-saving aid for 58 million people.

The number of children living in poverty in the UK reached a new record, according to data published Thursday, as the government faces a storm of criticism over plans to cut welfare payments.