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The Vatican is asking mourners not to take selfies with the late Pope Francis as he lies in state at St. Peter's Basilica.Nearly 130,000 people have paid their respects this week after waiting in line for hours outside the church, but the Vatican was compelled to issue a statement reminding visitors to put away their phones while passing the casket, reported CNN.CNN footage filmed Wednesday inside the basilica showed most visitors bowing their heads in reflection and prayer, but some held their cell phones up to take photos of the pontiff's remains.ALSO READ: 'Dictatorship, not a town hall': Families 'distraught' as MTG disruptors tased and jailed“So disrespectful,” read one comment on a TikTok video showing people posing for selfies near the coffin.Church officials issued a statement Thursday in response to the videos after facing criticism for not effectively policing phone use the previous day.A 1996 directive forbids photos or video of the pontiff on “his sickbed or after death” except where the camerlengo, or interim authority, makes an exception for documentary purposes.Technology has advanced substantially since then, effectively putting a camera in almost everyone's hands at all times.The pope will lie in state until Friday, and he will be buried Saturday at the church of Santa Maria Maggiore following a funeral attended by an array of world leaders and celebrities.

Fernando Collor, who led the country from 1990 to 1992, was sentenced in 2023 after being convicted for corruptionBrazil’s former president, Fernando Collor, has been arrested early and ordered to begin serving a prison sentence stemming from his 2023 conviction for corruption.Collor was convicted of receiving 20m reais ($3.5m) to facilitate contracts between BR Distribuidora, a fuel distributor formerly controlled by the state-owned oil company Petrobras, and construction firm UTC Engenharia for the construction of fuel distribution bases. In return, he offered political support for the appointment of executives at BR Distribuidora when it was still state-owned. Continue reading...

Ukrainian officials believe Vladimir Putin is "humiliating" U.S. President Donald Trump by continuing Russia's bombing campaign and refusing to sign the U.S.-brokered peace deal, according to CNN's Jim Sciutto. Sciutto appeard alongside Maj. Gen. James "Spider" Marks on Friday's News Central to discuss the continued attacks that killed at least eight people over night. Anchor John Berman asked, "What evidence have we seen that the Trump administration has applied any sticks to Russia, in the whole 'carrot-and-stick' metaphor?" "We haven't seen the evidence, frankly," Sciutto began. "And I spoke to a Ukrainian member of parliament yesterday — the chair of the equivalent of their foreign affairs committee — and he said, in his words, that Putin is humiliating Trump, because Trump, of course, has been pushing the ceasefire for more than a month now, and Vladimir Putin — Russia has not signed off on it. And, in fact, by their actions, these strikes that we've been seeing on an almost daily basis, those are direct challenges to Trump's ambition there." ALSO READ: 'Promoted our tormenter': MAGA fans vent disgust at Trump official's latest move Sciutto said the question remains whether Trump will back up his "Vladimir, STOP!" social media post "with genuine action" in the form of economic pressure. Marks predicted that "the warfare we're seeing right now is going to be the long-term engagement, which is the Russian way of war, which is the use of incredible amounts of artillery, dumb bombings, incredible destruction on the receiving end of all of that and the application of manpower at tremendous cost." Marks continued, "Look, the Russians have lost close to a million men. I mean, just think about that for a second. Marinate in that number. And Stalin made the comment 50 years ago, 70 years ago...'The loss of one individual is a tragedy. The loss of a million is simply a statistic.' And that's where we are." Watch the clip below via CNN or click the link.

Beijing will ‘strengthen bottom-line thinking’ as reports say it could drop tariffs on some US products Business live – latest updatesXi Jinping has announced a plan to counter China’s continuing economic problems and the impact of the US trade war, as reports swirl that it could drop tariffs on some US products, including semiconductors.Friday’s meeting of the politburo was convened to discuss China’s economy, which since the pandemic has faced difficulties fuelled by a housing sector crisis, youth unemployment and Donald Trump’s tariffs on all Chinese imports to the US. Continue reading...

The day before he died, in his final public address, Pope Francis expressed an Easter Sunday message of unity and an appeal for the marginalized and migrants. "All of us," he proclaimed, "are children of God!"

Heads of state and royalty will start converging on Rome on Friday for the funeral of Pope Francis in the Vatican's St. Peter's Square, but the group of poor people who will meet his casket in a small crosstown basilica are more in keeping with Francis' humble persona and disdain for pomp.

The family of Ecuadorian soccer player Jackson Rodriguez was rescued after being kidnapped from their home in the coastal city of Guayaquil, police authorities reported on Friday.

Doctors of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro say his health condition is stable