Riyadh (AFP) – Football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo receives a thunderous reception at a packed, 25,000-capacity Mrsool Park in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Erupting in cheers and pyrotechnics as the ex-Manchester United player appears in Al Nassr’s yellow and blue shirt.
Vatican City (AFP) – Pope Francis leads the funeral of his predecessor Benedict XVI in front of tens of thousands of mourners in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City. An event unprecedented in modern times. Red-clad cardinals, dignitaries and thousands of priests and nuns from around the world gather to say goodbye to the German theologian, who stunned the Catholic church in 2013 by becoming the first pontiff in six centuries to resign. In Germany, his home country, church bells ring in a last tribute. “May your joy be complete as you hear His voice, now and forever,” says Pope Francis.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he “discussed the Russia-Ukraine war in detail” with Russian President Vladimir Putin as his office quoted him as pressing Putin to declare a “unilateral” ceasefire in Ukraine. During an event organised by his party, Erdogan says that he will hold a separate conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later today.
Berlin’s Sacred Heart Church rings its bells in honour of the funeral of former pope Benedict XVI, who was Germany’s first pope in 1,000 years.
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.”
