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When and how did Pope Francis die? A look at the pontiff’s last days
Pope Francis died on Easter Monday at the age of 88.
“Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow, I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis,” Cardinal Kevin Farrell announced on Monday.
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Harvard University sues Trump administration to stop funding freeze
Harvard University has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration claiming that its freezing of federal grants worth billions of dollars is unlawful.
Its president, Alan M Garber, announced the action on Monday in a letter to the university community which said the $2bn funding freeze would hamper critical disease research.
Harvard, the world’s richest university, last week rejected a list of demands that the Trump administration said was designed to curb diversity initiatives and fight anti-semitism at the school.
In response to the lawsuit, the White House said the “gravy train of federal assistance” was coming to an end.
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US stocks and dollar tumble as Trump renews attacks on Fed Chair Powell
US stocks and the dollar have dropped sharply as United States President Donald Trump’s attacks on the chief of the US central bank shake investors’ confidence in the world’s top economy.
The benchmark S&P 500 fell 2.36 percent on Monday, one of the steepest one-day declines of the year.
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US sets tariffs of up to 3,521% on South East Asia solar panels
The US Commerce Department has announced plans to impose tariffs of up to 3,521% on imports of solar panels from four South East Asian countries.
It comes after an investigation that began a year ago when several major solar equipment producers asked the administration of then-President Joe Biden to protect their US operations.
The proposed levies – targeting companies in Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam – are in response to allegations of subsidies from China and the dumping of unfairly cheap products in the US market.
A separate US government agency, the International Trade Commission, is due to reach a final decision on the new tariffs in June.
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Modi and Vance praise progress in trade talks as higher tariffs loom
India and the US are making progress in negotiating a bilateral trade deal, the countries said after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vice-President JD Vance in Delhi.
Vance is currently on a four-day visit to India with his wife and three children.
“We are committed to mutually beneficial cooperation, including in trade, technology, defence, energy and people-to-people exchanges,” Modi wrote on X after the meeting on Monday night. He also hosted a dinner for Vance and his family at his residence.
India is among a number of countries negotiating trade deals with the US during President Donald Trump’s 90-day pause on higher tariffs, which ends on 9 July.
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Iran to brief China as it accuses Israel of ‘undermining’ US nuclear talks
Iran says it will brief China this week in advance of a third round of talks with the United States on its nuclear programme, as Iranian officials separately accused Israel of seeking to “undermine and disrupt the diplomatic process”.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will visit Beijing on Tuesday to discuss the latest talks with the administration of US President Donald Trump on the country’s nuclear programme, spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said on Monday.
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Israeli spy chief accuses Netanyahu of demanding illegal operations
Israel’s spy chief has accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to fire him for his refusal to commit illegal acts aimed at protecting the leader’s personal and political interests.
Ronen Bar, chief of Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence service, made the assertion in an affidavit to the Supreme Court on Monday. Netanyahu’s move last month to dismiss Bar was suspended by the court pending an investigation, and the ensuing tussle has provoked large protests, with crowds accusing the prime minister of endangering democracy.
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Putin suggests Russia open to direct talks with Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signalled he is open to bilateral talks with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky for the first time since the early stages of the war.
Speaking to Russian state TV on Monday, Putin said Russia has “always looked positively on any peace initiatives. We hope that representatives of the Kyiv regime will feel the same way”.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Putin’s comments indicated a willingness to engage in direct talks with Ukraine about not striking civilian targets.
Zelensky did not respond directly to Putin’s comments, but said Ukraine was “ready for any conversation” that would ensure the safety of civilians.
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New Zealand’s minor gov’t party pushes to define women by biological sex
A minor party in New Zealand’s coalition government has announced proposals to legally define women by biological sex, casting the move as a return to common sense and a rejection of “woke ideology”.
The bill announced by the populist New Zealand First (NZF) party on Tuesday would define a woman and a man in law as a “human biological female” and “an adult human biological male”, respectively.
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New Israel-Gaza ceasefire plan proposed, Hamas source tells BBC
A senior Palestinian official familiar with Israel-Hamas ceasefire negotiations has told the BBC that Qatari and Egyptian mediators have proposed a new formula to end the war in Gaza.
According to the official, it envisages a truce lasting between five and seven years, the release of all Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, a formal end to the war, and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
A senior Hamas delegation was due to arrive in Cairo for consultations.
The last ceasefire collapsed a month ago when Israel resumed bombing Gaza, with both sides blaming each other for the failure to keep it going.
Israel has not commented on the mediators’ plan.
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China executes man who stabbed Japanese school boy
China has executed a man for fatally stabbing a 10-year-old Japanese boy last September, the Japanese embassy in China has told the BBC.
Zhong Changchun was sentenced to death in January for attacking the boy, who had been walking to a Japanese school in south-eastern Chinese city of Shenzhen.
The case had sent shockwaves through both countries and fuelled diplomatic tensions amid allegations of it being a xenophobic attack.
“The Government of Japan considers the murder of a completely innocent child to be an unforgivable crime, and we take this execution with the utmost solemnity,” the Japanese embassy said in its statement to the BBC.
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Films made with AI can win Oscars, Academy says
Films made with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) will be able to win top awards at the Oscars, according to its organisers.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences issued new rules on Monday which said the use of AI and other digital tools would “neither help nor harm the chances of achieving a nomination”.
Generative AI – which can create text, images, audio and video in response to simple text prompts – helped to produce some of the films awarded top industry accolades in March.
But the Academy said it would still consider human involvement when selecting its winners.
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US FTC sues Uber, alleging deceptive subscription practices
The US Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit against Uber, alleging the ride hailing and delivery company engaged in deceptive billing and cancellation practices.
The consumer protection watchdog accused Uber of charging customers for its Uber One subscription service without getting their consent and making it hard for users to cancel.
“The Trump-Vance FTC is fighting back on behalf of the American people,” FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, a Trump appointee, said in a statement.
An Uber spokesperson denied the allegations, and it was “disappointed” that the FTC chose to move forward with the lawsuit.