Vatican City (AFP) – Pope Francis leads ex-pope Benedict XVI’s funeral mass, as a choir in St Peter’s Square sings prayers for the first pontiff to have resigned since the Middle Ages. Francis prays in front of Benedict’s plain, cypress wood coffin, which lies at the head of the Vatican square packed with foreign dignitaries, cardinals, bishops, priests and believers from around the world. IMAGES
Marktl (Germany) (AFP) – Images of candles placed in front of the birth house of former pope Benedict XVI in the bavarian town of Marktl, as his funeral starts in the Vatican City. IMAGES
Vatican City (AFP) – The coffin of ex-Pope Benedict XVI arrives in St. Peter’s Square ahead of his funeral. Almost a decade after he became the first pontiff in six centuries to resign, his successor Pope Francis will lead a requiem mass in the vast St. Peter’s Square before his body is laid ro rest in the papal tombs beneath St Peter’s Basilica. IMAGES
Vatican City (AFP) – People queue outside Saint Peter’s Square at the Vatican early in the morning ahead of ex-Pope Benedict XVI’s funeral. Pope Francis will preside over the funeral of his predecessor Benedict XVI at the Vatican, an unprecedented event expected to draw tens of thousands of people. IMAGES
Tokyo (AFP) – The top-selling tuna fish at Tokyo’s traditional New Year auction sold for more than $270,000 on Thursday, nearly double last year’s price.
Paris (AFP) – Increasing prices of butter, flour, gas and electricity in France have been especially hard on its bakers. Despite the government announcing moves to ease the impacts of inflation on bakers specifically, Sahad Zerzour says it is not enough, and that the “measures that are being given are band-aids.”
Malolos (Philippines) (AFP) – Filipino Catholics hold a requiem mass at Malolos Cathedral for ex-pontiff Benedict XVI on the same day as the funeral at the Vatican. Benedict, born Joseph Ratzinger, died on Saturday aged 95, bringing an end to an unprecedented situation of having two “men in white” — he and Francis — living in the Vatican. IMAGES
Rafah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Younis al-Shaer’s family sit at home mourning his death. The 21-year-old left Gaza dreaming of a better life in Europe, only to return to the Palestinian enclave in a coffin. He was one of scores of Palestinians risking the perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea.
Purnia (India) (AFP) – CCTV footage shows a soldier saving a man from being pulled underneath a moving train at a station in eastern India. The soldier, a member of India’s Railway Protection Force, was working at the station, in the state of Bihar, on New Year’s Day when the incident occurred.
Las Vegas (AFP) – Tech health devices steal the show during “CES Unveiled”, a pre-show event where awarded start-ups can present their best innovations. Some products included a pillow that stops snoring, a toilet bowl that analyzes urine and a massage seat to help fight muscle issues created by its fellow tech devices.
Unknown (AFP) – Russian Lieutenant General Sergei Sevryukov says that the use of cellphones by soldiers despite a ban led to a deadly strike on New Year’s Eve on Makiivka, where the military suffered heavy losses. The toll from the Ukrainian strike on the Russian-controlled city in eastern Ukraine has risen to 89.
Vatican City (AFP) – Pope Francis pays his respects to former pope Benedict XVI who died on Saturday at the age of 95. Francis says he “turns (his) thoughts to him, a great master of catechesis”, as he holds his general audience in the Vatican, on the eve of Benedict’s funeral.
