Pope Leo XIV thanked Italy on Tuesday for its efforts to combat human trafficking but urged the country to remain open to welcoming and integrating migrants as he took part in a pomp-filled meeting with the Italian president. Leo completed the rite of passage for every new pope by travelling across Rome to the Qurinale Palace for a meeting with President Sergio Mattarella. Escorted by the presidential horse honor guard into the palace courtyard, Leo thanked Italy especially for its welcome of pilgrims during the 2025 Holy Year, which has seen millions of extra tourists pouring into the Eternal City. Wearing his formal...

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in Brussels as part of a national strike over government reforms and spending cuts that has brought flights to a halt and severely disrupted public transport. Belgium’s three big unions are protesting over pensions and other measures by Prime Minister Bart de Wever’s centre-right government aimed at cutting the budget deficit. There were no services at Belgium’s second biggest airport at Charleroi, and all departures and many of the arrivals were cancelled at Brussels Airport. Although trains were running, most buses, trams and underground trains in the capital ground to...

 The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and left in place the $1.4 billion judgment against him over his description of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting as a hoax staged by crisis actors. The Infowars host had argued that a judge was wrong to find him liable for defamation and infliction of emotional distress without holding a trial on the merits of allegations lodged by relatives of victims of the shooting, which killed 20 first graders and six educators in Newtown, Connecticut. The justices did not comment on their order, which they issued without even asking the families...

 A man who scaled an iron security fence in the middle of the night, eluded police and used beer bottles filled with gasoline to ignite the occupied Pennsylvania governor’s mansion pleaded guilty Tuesday to attempted murder and other charges. Cody Balmer, 38, also entered pleas to terrorism, 22 counts of arson, aggravated arson, burglary, aggravated assault of Gov. Josh Shapiro, 21 counts of reckless endangerment and loitering in the April 13 attack that did millions of dollars in damage to the state-owned brick building. Under a plea deal, Balmer was sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison. Shapiro and members of his...

Venezuela announced on Monday it would close its embassy in Oslo, days after opposition leader María Corina Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In a statement, the Venezuelan government did not comment on Machado’s prize, saying that the closure was part of a restructuring of its foreign service. Norway’s foreign ministry confirmed that Caracas had closed its embassy in Oslo without providing a reason. The Nobel Committee in Oslo awarded her the prize on Friday in recognition of what it called “her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela”, while Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro referred to...

Police in Kenya have been granted 14 days to hold a man accused of stabbing a guard to death on Monday outside the country’s presidential office, an attack widely seen as a major security lapse. The investigating officer on Tuesday asked a court for more time as the suspect, who claimed to have been sent by the devil, is due to undergo a mental health assessment. Police say the man walked to the State House main gate disguised as a homeless person and stabbed a security officer in the chest using a bow and arrow. The officer was pronounced dead at a...

 Suspected militants shot and killed a police officer guarding a team of polio workers in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, the latest in a series of attacks on vaccine teams in the country. The attack took place in the Matta area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, once a stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, a day after Pakistan launched a weeklong nationwide vaccination campaign to immunize 45 million children. Local police official Javed Khan said a team of female polio workers was administering drops to children in a house when “terrorists riding on a motorcycle opened fire” and killed the officer. He said that a...

Johnson & Johnson is narrowing its focus again, nearly four years after peeling off its consumer health business. The health care giant said Tuesday that it will separate its orthopedics business into a standalone company known as DePuy Synthes. The move leaves J&J focused on its pharmaceutical and MedTech segments, which make prescription drugs, contact lenses and technology to treat cardiovascular disease and help with surgeries. The orthopedics business will be led by Namal Nawana, a former CEO of the medical technology business Smith & Nephew, which makes products for sports medicine and wound management and also focuses on orthopedics. J&J’s...

The private phone numbers of several high-profile figures including Australia’s Prime Minister and Donald Trump Jr have been published on a US website. Both of their personal contact details remain publicly listed on the site, which uses AI to scrape the internet for information and the BBC has chosen not to name. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s office is aware of the situation – which was first reported by independent Australian media outlet Ette Media – and local authorities are investigating. A spokesman for Australia’s opposition leader Sussan Ley, whose private number was also published, said the matter was “obviously concerning”...