Ever since 1276, when popes began to be elected by a conclave of rigorously sequestered cardinals, that secretive process has been an irresistible source of fascination. In recent times, reporters with pages to fill, novelists seeking the sensational and moviemakers with eyeballs to attract have often lurched into the implausible, even madcap, in suggesting what conclaves are like. The conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis as the spiritual head of 1.4 billion Catholics will be unique in its composition and dynamics. Understanding how it works means getting some...

Dignitaries and world leaders will attend the pope’s funeral in a few days. But the thousands of people lining up to see Francis on Wednesday were a more diverse mix. VATICAN CITY — This is not how she thought she would see her pope. A Catholic pilgrim from southern India, Mary Eliza Sajeev, 19, exited the gaping doors of St. Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday, stoic with her family after a brief glimpse of the ashen man in a wood-sided coffin. She had waited 3½ hours for a glance lasting a...

JERUSALEM — A man in Israel has died after he was attacked by a shark, police and the victim’s wife said Wednesday, after he went swimming in an area that draws dozens of the marine predator and also curious beachgoers. After a two-day search , police said remains that had been found at the site of the attack on the country’s Mediterranean coast matched those of the man. Israeli media identified him as Barak Tzach, a man in his 40s and a father of four. A shiver of endangered dusky...

The meeting was postponed after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio canceled his planned visit to London, where he had been slated to take part in the talks. (L-R) French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio talk upon their arrival at the Quai d'Orsay before a bilateral meeting in Paris on April 17, 2025. (L-R) French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio...

Schwab has resigned from his position as chair of the Geneva-based WEF’s board of trustees. Klaus Schwab, then-chairman of the World Economic Forum, attends the opening of the Annual Meeting of World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 16, 2024. Klaus Schwab, then-chairman of the World Economic Forum, attends the opening of the Annual Meeting of World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 16, 2024. Markus Schreiber/AP The World Economic Forum said on April 22 that it has launched an investigation after allegations of misconduct by its former...

See emergency response, protests against attack on tourists that left 26 dead in India A little-known militant group, the "Kashmir Resistance," claimed responsibility for the attack in a social media message, Twenty-six people were killed and 17 were injured when suspected militants opened fire at tourists in India's Jammu and Kashmir territory, police said on Wednesday, the worst such attack in the country in nearly two decades. The attack took place on Tuesday in the Baisaran valley in the Pahalgam area of the scenic, Himalayan federal territory and the dead...

BEIRUT — The foreign ministers of three key European allies of Israel issued a strongly worded joint statement Wednesday calling on Israel to end its “intolerable” aid blockade on Gaza while singling out Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz’s recent comments on aid as “unacceptable” and harmful to “prospects for peace.” The statement, from the foreign ministers of Germany, France and the United Kingdom, called on Israel to lift its bar on aid from entering the war-decimated enclave since March 8, warning of “an acute risk of starvation, epidemic disease and...

An unusual consensus around energy policy has emerged in the campaign ahead of Canada's April 28 election, with the two main candidates both promising to fast track energy projects to diversify oil exports away from the United States. President Donald Trump's tariff threats and talk of annexing Canada as the 51st state sparked a national conversation around energy supplies in the world's No. 4 oil exporter. Recent public opinion polls show a dramatic uptick in support for the idea of building new cross-Canada pipelines, a concept that once faced widespread...

U.S. President Donald Trump said: ‘Deeply disturbing news out of Kashmir. The United States stands strong with India against terrorism.’ Terrorists shot dead 26 tourists at a resort in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Tuesday, with the region’s chief minister calling the attackers “inhuman.” The gunmen also wounded dozens of people, including two senior police officers, during the attack in Baisaran meadow, three miles from the resort town of Pahalgam. “We pray for the souls of those lost, and for the recovery of the injured. Prime Minister Modi, and the incredible people...