Pope Francis' funeral is set to begin, in a ceremony he helped reimagine
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis is being laid to rest in ceremony reflecting his priorities as pope and wishes as pastor. Presidents and princes will attend the funeral in St. Peter’s Square, but prisoners and migrants will usher him into the basilica where he will be buried. As many as 200,000 people are expected to attend the funeral Saturday. Francis choreographed the ceremony himself when he revised and simplified the Vatican’s funeral rites and rituals last year. The Vatican said his aim was to emphasize the pope’s role as a mere priest and not “a powerful man of this world.”
Pope's burial place reflects his 'humble, essential' life, Rome's poor will pay him a final tribute
ROME (AP) — The head of the basilica that is housing Pope Francis's tomb says it reflects his “humble, simple and essential" life. Francis will be buried at St. Mary Major Basilica on Saturday after his funeral in St. Peter's Square. Archbishop Rolandas Makrickas says Francis initially demurred when he proposed St. Mary Major as the pope's last resting place. Makrickas had identified it because of Francis’ long association with it, its ties to Francis’ Jesuit order, its artistic and spiritual heritage and links to the papacy. But Makrickas told reporters on Friday that “After a week, he called me to Santa Marta and he said ‘Prepare my tomb.’’’
Trump will pay his respects to a pope who publicly and pointedly disagreed with him on some issues
ROME (AP) — President Donald Trump will be among more than 50 heads of state and other dignitaries attending the funeral for Pope Francis in Vatican City on Saturday. The late pontiff disagreed with Trump's approach on issues like immigration and the treatment of migrants. But after Francis died earlier this week, Trump remembered him as a “good man” who “loved the world.” Trump said he'll be “seeing a lot of people" on the sidelines of the funeral who are “important in what we're doing.” Trump is working to broker a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine and negotiate trade agreements with multiple countries.
Trump keeps contradicting himself on tariffs, making a fragile world economy nervous
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump can’t stop contradicting himself on his own tariff plans. Trump says he’s on a path to cut several new trade deals in a few weeks — but also suggests it’s “physically impossible” to hold all the needed meetings. The Republican president has said he'll simply set new tariff rates negotiated internally within the U.S. government over the next few weeks — although he already did that April 2, causing the world economy to shudder. The sure bet is uncertainty will persist in ways that employers and consumers alike expect to damage the economy and that leave foreign leaders scratching their heads in bewilderment.
Trump calls for Ukraine and Russia to meet for 'very high level' talks, says they are close to deal
ROME (AP) — President Donald Trump is calling for Ukraine and Russia to meet for “very high level talks,” saying they are “very close to a deal” after productive meetings. Trump posted on his Truth Social site shortly after arriving in Rome for Pope Francis’ funeral that it was a “good day in talks and meetings with Russia and Ukraine." He said, “They are very close to a deal, and the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to ‘finish it off,’” and added: “Most of the major points are agreed to. Stop the bloodshed, NOW. We will be wherever is necessary to help facilitate the END to this cruel and senseless war!” There was no immediate response from Ukraine or Russia.
Justice Department says it will resume practice of obtaining reporters' records in leak inquiries
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is poised to crack down on leaks of information to the news media, authorizing prosecutors to issue subpoenas to news organizations as part of leak investigations, serve search warrants when appropriate and force journalists to testify about their sources. New regulations, announced by Attorney General Pam Bondi in a memo to the staff obtained by The Associated Press on Friday, rescind a Biden administration policy that protected journalists from having their phone records secretly seized during leak investigations — a practice long decried by news organizations and press freedom groups.
Trump's attack on diversity takes center stage as Boston remembers 1965 Freedom Rally led by MLK
BOSTON (AP) — Sixty years after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. led a rally protesting housing discrimination and segregated schools in Boston, thousands of people are expected to gather at the same site to honor and reflect on the historic event. The rally Saturday will take place at the Boston Common near the site of 20-foot-high memorial to racial equity, which shows King embracing his wife, Coretta Scott King. The rally will be led by King's eldest son, Martin Luther King III, who acknowledged in an interview that more work is needed to ensure everyone has access to quality health care, a decent home and a good paying job.
Kennedy Center’s events scheduled for LGBTQ+ pride celebration canceled, organizers say
WASHINGTON (AP) — Organizers and the Kennedy Center have canceled a week’s worth of events celebrating LGBTQ+ rights for this summer’s World Pride festival in Washington, D.C. The move comes amid a shift in priorities and the ousting of center leadership. Multiple artists and producers involved in the center’s Tapestry of Pride schedule told The Associated Press that their events had been quietly canceled or moved to other venues. Washington’s Capital Pride Alliance has disassociated itself from the Kennedy Center. The events at the center had been planned for June 5 to 8. The Kennedy Center’s website still lists Tapestry of Pride on its website with a general description. The center didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Virginia Giuffre, who accused Britain's Prince Andrew in Epstein sex trafficking scandal, has died
Virginia Giuffre, who accused Britain’s Prince Andrew and other influential men of sexually exploiting her as a teenager trafficked by financier Jeffrey Epstein, has died. She was 41. Her publicist confirmed Giuffre died by suicide Friday at her farm in Western Australia. Her publicist said last month that she was hospitalized after a serious accident. Giuffre became an advocate for sex trafficking survivors after emerging as a central figure in Epstein’s prolonged downfall. He killed himself in August 2019 as while awaiting trial on U.S. federal sex trafficking charges involving dozens of teenage girls and young women.
Judge blocks Trump administration from nixing collective bargaining for most federal employees
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has agreed to temporarily block the Trump administration from implementing an executive order that a labor union says would cancel collective bargaining rights for hundreds of thousands of federal employees. U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman ruled Friday that a key part of President Donald Trump’s March 27 order can’t be enforced at roughly three dozen agencies and departments where employees are represented by the National Treasury Employees Union. The union said it would lose more than half of its revenue and over two-thirds of its membership if the judge denied its request for a preliminary injunction.
