At the National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur on a recent Friday, a crowd of men angled for an close-up look at the silver-haired figure in a gray suit exiting an elevator. They held their camera phones up high and perched on stairs to catch a better glimpse. Those who could get close enough stepped forward…
For his final resting place, Francis asked for the same simplicity with which he had lived his life. In his will, which the Vatican released Monday, Francis asked to be buried “in the earth,” in a simple, undecorated tomb with only the inscription “Franciscus.” He also asked that his “last earthly journey” end at the…
The bright waters of the Narta lagoon mirrored the sky — until a massive white bird soared in from the Adriatic, skimming the surface with its dangling feet. “It’s a Dalmatian pelican,” my guide, Julian Hoffman, said. It was my first time seeing the pelican in the wild, and I laughed with the joy of…
The U.S. pressured Ukraine to accept a peace proposal President Trump lashed out yesterday at President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine after he rejected a U.S. plan to end the war with Russia. “He can have Peace or, he can fight for another three years before losing the whole Country,” Trump wrote on social media. Vice…
Janet Robertson had few choices after being evicted from her apartment of two decades in Vancouver, Canada’s most expensive city. Even listings in nearby suburbs were out of reach after years of paying 900 Canadian dollars, or $650, monthly for her studio apartment. She kept going until she could find something she could afford and…
Jordan accused the Muslim Brotherhood of planning attacks in the country and introduced a blanket ban against the group on Wednesday, in a move that could shutter the nation’s largest opposition party, the Islamic Action Front, the group’s political arm in Jordan. The Islamic Action Front won a foothold in Parliament last year after campaigning…
Luis R. Conriquez took the stage at a popular fair in Texcoco, Mexico, as one of the headlining acts. Once called the “Corridos King” by Billboard magazine, the Mexican musician is renowned for his specialty of so-called narcocorridos, a version of the traditional Mexican ballads that celebrate drug cartels. But hours before performing earlier this…
Francis set the stage for his own mourning late last year, when he approved a simplified procedure for papal funeral rituals. Simplicity, of course, is relative — in this case to the breathtaking grandeur bequeathed by centuries of Roman Catholic tradition. The procession above took place Wednesday morning, when Francis’ coffin was carried from the…
For a president who advertises himself as a paramount deal maker, the next 11 weeks will be a pivotal test, as his advisers race to accomplish what no other administration has done before and reach dozens of individual trade deals with other governments. President Trump has promised big gains for American trade, and officials from…
Mourners will bid a final farewell to Pope Francis on Saturday during his funeral Mass, which is expected to draw international leaders as well as cardinals, archbishops and priests from around the world to the Vatican. The rites will be broadcast by news networks around the globe. Until the funeral, his body, dressed in papal…
