Vatican announces Pope Francis’ funeral will be held on Saturday, many world leaders expected
The Pope started to feel unwell at around 5:30 a.m. (0330 GMT) on Monday and was promptly attended to by his team. More than an hour later he made a gesture of farewell to his ever-present nurse, Massimiliano Strappetti and slipped into a coma, the Vatican’s official media channel said.
Scramble in Holy See: Guinean Cardinal Sarah among top contenders to replace fallen Pope Francis as head of Catholic Church
Any baptised Catholic male is eligible, although only cardinals have been selected since 1378. The winner must receive at least two-thirds of the vote from those cardinals under age 80 and thus eligible to participate. Pope Francis, who died on Monday, appointed the vast majority of electors, often tapping men who share his pastoral priorities, which suggests continuity rather than rupture.
Long before US brutally sliced international funding there were pointers donors are fatigued
Ignoring US funding to focus on the wider base of donors, the numbers show how humanitarian funding reached a peak in 2022, when donor governments gave 52 per cent above their 2015 levels. When including US funding, however, humanitarian aid continued to rise in 2023 before starting its decline.
Marionette or president? How United Arab Emirates funds Ruto’s pork barrel politics to gain easy access East African natural resources
In Nairobi, security and international diplomacy experts aver that Kenya’s credibility is headed for the headwinds following US’ Africa policy switch that signals disengagement with the continent. US aid freeze leaves African countries at the mercy of Middle East kingdoms that have become influential as alternative lenders to World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the US.
Girls at War: Rattled Kenya regime fires bullets and teargas at unarmed schoolgirls to stop Echoes of War play as world filmmakers zoom in
The inconsistencies in government position on creative have at times been hilarious, even ridiculous, the kind of flip-flopping that has now attracted the likes of Hollywood to inquire about playwright’s willingness to turn the play into a film on Kenya’s outrageously corrupt Ruto administration.
No love lost: In Hollywood movies vultures are evil and in Africa they’re harbingers of death not treasured for gift of ‘killing’ diseases
Vultures also have extremely strong stomach acid, don’t get food poisoning and are able to consume and neutralise anthrax, botulism and other bacteria and toxins in carcasses that would kill other animals, removing deadly threats from the environment. Just this week, more than 50 hippos died from suspected anthrax poisoning in a reserve in Congo.
Revelations that CDC Vaccine safety office deleted or hid Covid vaccine injury records raises serious ethical questions about US drugs industry
California attorney Rick Jaffe said Johnson’s allegations are “troubling, but not surprising, given longstanding concerns about transparency at the CDC.”
Sting in the tail: Nigeria bans song, ‘Tell Your Papa’ censures President Tinubu’s ‘insensitive’ policies
Since taking office in 2023, Tinubu’s policies such as the removal of subsidies on gasoline have hit hard as Nigeria grapples with fluctuating prices. Last year, at least 20 people were shot dead and hundreds more were arrested at protests demanding better opportunities and jobs for young people.
More wineskin than wine: ‘Western values’ is a framework for legitimating and justifying actions by ‘moral police’
Today, the response to Israel’s murderous campaign in Gaza has laid bare the hollowness of Western moral posturing. Governments that once lectured the world on human rights now justify mass killing and ethnic cleansing. Institutions that claimed to stand for international law now scramble to shield allies from accountability.
Fears rise 122 million Americans drink water laden with unsafe cancer-causing chemicals
An analysis of testing results from community water systems in 49 states found that nearly 6,000 such systems serving 122 million people recorded an unsafe level of chemicals known as trihalomethanes at least once during testing from 2019 to 2023.
