👋 Osiyo!*
Welcome to Tuesday, where Catholic Cardinals are gathering in Rome as the Pope’s funeral is set for Saturday, Vladimir Putin says he’s open to direct talks with Ukraine and our quiz question is about saving money in space. We also feature a French reflection Francis’ legacy as protecting the most vulnerable among us.
[*Cherokee]
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🗞️ FRONT PAGE
The official Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano announces on its frontpage the death of Pope Francis, who passed away Monday morning, one day after delivering his final blessing on Easter Sunday. “Il Santo Padre Francesco,” the Holy Father Francis — as the newspaper refers to him — emphasizes his legacy as “the Pope of mercy,” spending his last days around the people at a rare papal request. Check our collection of international front pages bidding adieu to Pope Francis.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
- Cardinals gather at the Vatican to plan Pope Francis’ funeral. The burial will take place Saturday with leaders coming from around the world. A conclave is set to elect a new head of the Roman Catholic Church next month. Francis, 88, died on Monday after suffering a cerebral stroke and heart failure. The pontiff had returned to the Vatican almost a month ago, after five weeks in hospital where he was treated for a double pneumonia. He seemed to be recovering, with faithful encouraged by his St. Peter’s Square appearance on Easter Sunday. He would suffer a stroke just hours later. For more on Francis’ legacy, check this La Stampa piece translated from Italian by Worldcrunch.
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Putin says he is open to direct talks with Ukraine. The Russian president opened the way to direct channel for the first time in years, as pressure from the United States builds on both Moscow and Kyiv to agree to a peace deal. European, Ukrainian and U.S. officials are set to meet this week in London. Washington had warned last week that it could abandon its efforts on ending the conflict if there were no signs of progress. Read more in this France Inter analysis translated from French by Worldcrunch: Putin And Zelensky: The Meaning And Maneuvers Of A “Ceasefire War”
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Sudan’s paramilitaries kill more than 30 in a new attack on a Darfur city. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied militias attacked el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur province, on Sunday and Monday, shelling residential buildings and open markets in the city, according to the Resistance Committees, an activist group. Read more in this La Marea piece translated from Spanish by Worldcrunch: From Spain to Sudan, How Civil Wars Have Shaped My Family.
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European stocks struggle, gold hits $3,500 record after Trump attacks central bank boss. European stock markets edged lower Tuesday after U.S. President Donald attacked Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, demanding he cut interest rates “pre-emptively” to help boost the economy. Trump’s criticism (including calling Powell a “loser”) helped add to a stock market sell-off on Wall Street Monday. The S&P 500, which tracks 500 of the biggest U.S. companies, fell roughly 2.4% on, while dollar steadies near a three-year low.
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Harvard sues Trump administration over threats to cut more than $2 billion in funding. This comes after the U.S. administration launched a broad attack on funding and sought to impose political supervision on major universities, over claims they tolerated campus anti-Semitism. Trump threatened their budgets, tax-exempt status and the enrollment of foreign students.
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Early voting in Australia election begins, Albanese’s party holds slender lead. Early voting began Tuesday ahead of the May 3 election date in Australia. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party is holding a slim lead over the conservative opposition coalition. The early returns also show a slump in popularity of the opposition Liberal Party leader Peter Dutton.
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News Quiz! A new experiment from the European Space Agency aims to make future space missions cheaper. How do they plan to save space euros?
A. Creating lab-grown food
B. Nuclear powered flashlights
C. 3D printed tools
D. Cages for possible alien encounters
[Answer below]
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
3,521%
The U.S. has announced plans to impose massive tariffs on solar panel imports from Southeast Asian countries, following a year-long investigation into allegations of Chinese companies circumventing existing duties by routing products through Southeast Asia. These steep tariffs aim to protect American solar manufacturers from unfair competition. However, critics warn that such measures could increase costs for U.S. solar projects, potentially slowing the adoption of renewable energy.
📰 IN OTHER NEWS
✝️ A defender of immigrants and leader of interfaith dialogue, Pope Francis’ strength was his presence where people needed him.
— FRANCE INTER
🛢️ He’s France’s most powerful and most criticized business leader. Le Figaro sits down with Patrick Pouyanné, the man who has headed the oil and gas giant TotalEnergies for the past 10 years.
— LE FIGARO
👶 “Men don’t need to wait until their children can speak and reason to be involved.” A father of two explains why the maternal instinct is a scam.
— RECALCULATING
📸 PHOTO DU JOUR
People are mourning Pope Francis in Saint Peter Square in Vatican City on April 21, 2025. — Photo: Stefano Costantino/SOPA Images via ZUMA
📣 VERBATIM
“We are approaching a point of no return.”
— UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Haiti María Isabel Salvador warned that Haiti is approaching a “point of no return” as gang violence spreads and the state’s ability to respond deteriorates. Salvador told the UN Security Council that armed groups control large parts of the country, recently seizing a major city and freeing hundreds of prisoners. She cited growing insecurity, gender-based violence, and a faltering international police mission as signs of deepening chaos. Without urgent global support, she said, the country risks total collapse.
✍️ Newsletter by Cecilia Laurent Monpetit & Rein Arnauts
Quiz Answer: A. The European Space Agency (ESA) launched a mission into orbit to test the viability of lab-grown foods in space. The idea is to reduce the costs of feeding astronauts, which can be as high as $26,000 per day. The ESA team involved says this is the first step to creating a possible food production plant on the International Space Station in the next two years.
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