Europe

Who: Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) vs Arsenal
What: UEFA Champions League semifinal, second leg
Where: Parc des Princes, Paris, France
When: Wednesday at 9pm (19:00 GMT)

Follow Al Jazeera Sport’s live text and photo commentary stream.

PSG and Arsenal continue their quest to win a maiden UEFA Champions League title when they clash in the second leg of their semifinal in Paris.

PSG’s away victory over the Gunners in the opening leg at Emirates Stadium on April 29 has the Parisians firming up as the favourites to progress to the final.

The Gunners face the daunting – but not impossible – task on Wednesday of needing to beat the French champions on the road if they want to reach the Champions League final for just the second time in their history.

Here is all to know before the semifinal decider between two of Europe’s most talented football clubs:

What happened in the opening leg?

PSG took a big step towards reaching the final when Ousmane Dembele’s early goal sealed a 1-0 win at Arsenal in a tense first leg of the semifinal.

Dembele fired home off the post in the fourth minute as PSG dominated the opening stages, and manager Luis Enrique’s side held firm to take a precious advantage back to the French capital.

When did Arsenal and PSG last reach a UEFA Champions League final?

Neither side have won Europe’s premier football competition, but both have lost a final.

PSG made their only final appearance in the 2019-2020 season, losing to German side Bayern Munich 1-0 at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon, Portugal.

Arsenal’s participation in a UEFA Champions League final was 19 long years ago for Gunners fans, and they lost to Barcelona 2-1 in the 2005-2006 season at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France.

Team news: PSG

Star striker Dembele, who limped off with a minor hamstring strain after scoring the game winner against Arsenal in the first leg in London, has been passed fit to play in the return leg, Enrique said on Tuesday.

Dembele, 27, is PSG’s top scorer this season with 33 goals in all competitions.

PSG’s regular squad is otherwise injury-free with Desire Doue tipped to re-enter the attacking winger role at the expense of France international Bradley Barcola.

Team news: Arsenal

Key midfielder Thomas Partey returns to the side after sitting out the first leg against PSG with a suspension, restoring manager Mikel Arteta’s preferred midfield trio with Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard.

Jurrien Timber is questionable for this match as he continues to battle back to full fitness after a knee injury. But in some good news for the club, the Dutch defender was seen training with the Gunners squad on Tuesday shortly before they departed for France.

Sidelined stars Kai Havertz, Riccardo Calafiori and Jorginho are all likely to play before the end of the Premier League season, but none of them is in contention for Champions League selection unless Arsenal make it to the final at the end of May.

Gabriel, Gabriel Jesus and Takehiro Tomiyasu are all out until next season.

Possible lineups:

Arsenal possible XI: Raya; Timber, Saliba, Kiwior, Lewis-Skelly; Partey, Rice, Odegaard; Saka, Merino, Martinelli

PSG possible XI: Donnarumma; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Nuno Mendes; Vitinha, Fabian Ruiz, Joao Neves; Kvaratskhelia, Dembele, Doue

Head-to-head:

The teams have played on six prior occasions across all competitions:

• Arsenal wins: 3
• PSG wins: 1
• Draws: 2

What the managers had to say:

Arsenal’s Arteta: “If you want to be in the Champions League final, you have to do something special. We’re going to have to do something special in Paris to be there.”

PSG’s Enrique: “We’re bound to suffer because our opponents don’t have a favourable result. We need to match our performance as closely as possible in the first leg to win the return leg and stay true to our ideas.”

When and where is the 2025 UEFA Champions League final?

The winner of this semifinal heads to Germany on May 31 for the Champions League final.

European football’s largest annual showpiece will be played at the 75,000-capacity Allianz Arena in Munich.

EXPLAINER

Behind the closed doors of the Sistine Chapel, cardinals from around the world will convene to elect the 267th pontiff.

As the formal mourning period for Pope Francis has ended, attention now shifts to the papal conclave in Vatican City, where powerful members of the Catholic Church are converging to elect the next pontiff.

Cardinals from around the world will choose the 267th pope, leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, at an event of spiritual, political and global relevance. Francis died on April 21 at the age of 88 after 12 years in the papacy.

The conclave, which will kick off on Wednesday, will be held behind the closed doors of the Sistine Chapel. It generally lasts several days and, in some cases, weeks.

Here is what we know:

What is a papal conclave?

• The term conclave comes from the Latin term “con clavis”, meaning “with a key”, a reference to the tradition of locking the cardinals away until a new pope is elected.
• In the Roman Catholic Church, a papal conclave is a solemn, closed-door gathering of the College of Cardinals held to elect a new pope.
• Known as the “princes of the church,” the cardinals follow an intricate and centuries-old process rooted in the Middle Ages.
• While the traditions have evolved, the current procedures are largely based on the 1996 apostolic constitution Universi Dominici Gregis, issued by Pope John Paul II with later amendments made by Pope Benedict XVI.
• Cardinals below the age of 80 vote although all cardinals may attend the meetings irrespective of age. There are currently 133 eligible voters.

What is a pope?

• In the Roman Catholic Church, the pope is regarded as the successor of St Peter, the chief of Jesus’s apostles and the first leader of the early Christian church.
• As such, the pope holds supreme authority over the worldwide Catholic Church in matters of faith, morals, governance and discipline.
• The pope is the spiritual leader of Catholics around the globe, supported today by 252 cardinals.
• “While Pope Francis emphasised that true power comes from Jesus Christ and that he is merely a disciple, the pope is undeniably a powerful global figure,” Father Francis Lucas, a Catholic priest and executive director of the Catholic Media Network, told Al Jazeera.
• The pope typically presides over major church celebrations held at St Peter’s Basilica throughout the year. He is expected to meet with more than 5,000 bishops from around the world at least once every five years. As the bishop of Rome, he is also in charge of governing and managing the Vatican.

When will the conclave start?

• The papal conclave is scheduled to begin on Wednesday in the Sistine Chapel, located in the Apostolic Palace, or Papal Palace, at the Vatican.
• This follows the traditional nine-day mourning period for Francis.

What happens on the first day of the conclave?

10am (08:00 GMT): Mass for the election of a pope

• The day begins with “Pro Eligendo Pontifice”, which means “For the Election of the Roman Pontiff”, a public Mass in St Peter’s Basilica led by the dean of the College of Cardinals.
• It’s a solemn liturgy asking the Holy Spirit to guide the church in selecting a new pope.

4:30pm (14:30 GMT): Procession into the Sistine Chapel

• In the afternoon, the 133 cardinal electors gather in the Pauline Chapel near the Sistine Chapel and chant the Litany of the Saints.
• “This is an ancient prayer of the Catholic Church that names the saints in a sort of a roll call, one by one by one,” said Steven P Millies, professor of public theology at the Catholic Theological Union, a Catholic graduate school of theology in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States.
• “‘St Peter, pray for us. St James, pray for us,’ … seeking the intercession of all the holy men and women who have gone before us to pray for the success of the conclave,” Millies explained.
• They then chant Veni Creator Spiritus and process into the Sistine Chapel.
• “There’s also a prayer to call down the Holy Spirit, … fully God as much as the Father and the Son, but the Spirit that guides the church,” Millies added.

“Extra Omnes”: Locking the conclave

• After taking an oath of secrecy, the phrase “Extra omnes!” (“Everyone out!”) is declared, and the chapel is sealed. Only the electors and essential staff remain, cut off from the outside world.

First vote

• The cardinals may choose to hold a single vote on the first day.

Return to residence

• They return to the Domus Sanctae Marthae (House of St Martha), their secured Vatican residence, where they remain in isolation for the duration of the conclave.
• “This is somewhat different today from what it used to be,” Millies said.
• “In the old days, what they did was they converted the salons of the Apostolic Palace with very uncomfortable cots and pitchers of water. … It was very uncomfortable for a room full of very old men to have to bunk in conditions like that, and so they built this hotel,” he added.

How does the balloting take place?

• Voting after the first day occurs a maximum of four times: twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon.
• Each cardinal receives a ballot marked “Eligo in Summum Pontificem” (“I elect as Supreme Pontiff”) and writes in their chosen candidate.
• One by one, they approach the altar before Michelangelo’s Last Judgement, swear an oath and place their votes in a chalice.

• If a pope is not chosen in the first four days of the conclave, voting is suspended on the fifth day to allow time for prayer, quiet reflection and informal discussions.
• A two-thirds majority is required to elect a pope. If no one reaches that threshold, another vote is held. After each round, ballots are burned.
• If black smoke appears from a chimney on top of the Sistine Chapel, it means no pope has been chosen. White smoke signals the Catholic Church has a new pontiff.
• Black smoke is produced by burning a mixture of potassium perchlorate, anthracene and sulphur while white smoke results from a blend of potassium chlorate, lactose and a conifer resin known as rosin.
• The last two conclaves, held in 2005 and 2013, wrapped up by the end of the second day of voting.

What challenges does the conclave face?

• Francis significantly reshaped the College of Cardinals during his papacy, emphasising global representation and pastoral focus. That comes with its own set of challenges.
• “[The Catholic Church] is a church that has to understand how to be one church globally which is united on fundamental things but has to do things differently in different contexts,” said Massimo Faggioli, a professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Villanova University.
• “That’s the most difficult thing for Catholicism because there’s one canon law for the entire church whether it’s in Alaska or Indonesia, and so that’s something that in the long run is the problem,” he added.

• According to experts, each cardinal brings a distinct vision. Those from the Global South are likely to prioritise globalisation and poverty while cardinals from Asia may seek a pope who understands Islam and supports interfaith dialogue.
• “I think what Francis was doing very much on purpose was inviting those different concerns from different places to come into dialogue with one another,” Mills said.
• “And one thing, I think, that was very much on his mind was the church in parts of the world where Catholicism is a minority – where there are Muslim majorities or other majorities too. The experience of Catholics in those places, I think, was very much on his mind when he made these decisions,” he added.

What are the main challenges the church faces?

• The Catholic Church today faces multiple challenges. Some of them include, in the West, declining attendance, growing secularism and rising numbers of people who say they are religiously unaffiliated.
• Widespread sexual abuse scandals continue to damage trust in the church leadership, according to The Washington Post, which cited the Vatican in reporting: “The Holy See is receiving a steady 800 cases per year from places such as Poland, Italy, Latin America and Asia.”
• Internally, tensions between modernising reforms (on issues like LGBTQ+ rights and women’s roles) and traditionalist values are growing.
• But according to experts perhaps one of the biggest challenges is creating a global church.
• “The Roman Catholic Church of the 21st century is coming to grips with what it means to be a global church,” Mills said.
• “And what it means to be a global church in the end is that the archbishop of New York City is every bit as much a Roman Catholic as the poor baptised worker in East Timor,” he added.

What happens after the pope is elected?

• After a new pope is elected, he first accepts the role and chooses a papal name that reflects his vision or inspiration. The previous pope, whose real name was Jorge Mario Bergoglio, chose Francis as his papal name to honor St Francis of Assisi.
• The new pope then changes into white papal vestments in the “Room of Tears.” According to reports, The Room of Tears is so named because many newly elected popes are overcome with emotion as they put on the white cassock for the first time and fully grasp the weight of their new responsibility.
• Shortly after, the senior cardinal announces “Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum; HabemusPapam!” (“I announce to you a great joy; we have a pope!), from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, and the new pope steps out to give his first public blessing.
• “The installation of the new pope will complete that cycle of events. And then we will get into the business of seeing what appointments a new pope continues inside the Vatican bureaucracy,” Mills explained.
• “What new appointments the pope makes, who he sacks and who he keeps. That will be very interesting to watch, as will the statements the new pope gives,” he added.

BRITAIN is “secretly” preparing for outright war with Russia, it is claimed.

Government officials are reportedly being ordered to update decades old contingency plans amid fears the nation is not ready for a potential attack from the Kremlin.

3

3

3

The classified “home defence plan” would lay out how Downing Street will respond if Vladimir Putin declares war on the UK, including putting the Royal Family into bunkers.

Ministers worry Britain could be outfought by Russia on the battlefield, but also poorly defended at home as things stand.

Experts have warned the country’s national infrastructure is vulnerable ahead of the release of Labour’s Strategic Defence Review – an examination of the Armed Forces.

It comes as the former Soviet nation continues to threaten the UK over its support for Ukraine – and ministers last month officially designated it a national security threat for the first time.

The ongoing conflict, which began with a Russian invasion in February 2022, could soon see British troops deployed on the frontlines.

The classified plan by the Cabinet Office’s Resilience Directorate – which was last updated in 2005 – would set out a strategy for the days immediately after a strike on British shores, including from nuclear warheads.

For the first time, it’s understood the document – unlikely to ever be released to the public – will address cyber warfare.

It will also direct PM Sir Keir Starmer on how to run a wartime government, as well as strategies for travel networks, courts and the postal system, reports the Daily Telegraph.

The Cabinet Office ran a risk assessment in January in which it modelled a scenario in which a hostile foreign state launched various types of attack on the UK’s infrastructure.

It found any such successful strike could be devastating.

Meanwhile, defence officials have warned Britain must develop its own version of Israel‘s Iron Dome to protect against missiles.

A senior RAF official said last month if Russia had attacked the UK in the same way as it had Ukraine more than three years ago – within hours missiles would have broken through defences and destroyed key targets.

There is particular concern for the country’s five active nuclear power stations, which if damaged by strikes could release radioactive material across the country, resulting in long-term impact, according to the assessment.

The plan is based on the War Book, a Cold War dossier of instructions for government response to nuclear attacks.

Under such plans, Britain could be divided into 12 zones, each governed by Cabinet ministers, and food rationed.

A Government spokesman said: “The UK has robust plans in place for a range of potential emergencies that have been developed and tested over many years.”

The Sun has approached the Ministry of Defence for comment.

These are the key events on day 1,167 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here is where things stand on Tuesday, May 6:

Fighting

• Russian attacks on the Donetsk and Sumy regions of eastern Ukraine killed at least three people on Monday, Ukrainian authorities said.
• A Ukrainian drone attack on a car in Russia’s Kursk region killed two women, Governor Alexander Khinstein said in a post on Telegram.
  He said a 53-year-old man was also killed when an explosive device was dropped onto his car.
• Russian forces destroyed 105 Ukrainian drones overnight, the RIA Novosti news agency reported, citing the Russian Ministry of Defence.
• Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said at least 19 Ukrainian drones were destroyed as the capital was targeted for a second night in a row, prompting the closure of all airports for several hours. There were no reports of casualties.
• Russian forces also destroyed at least 18 drones in the southwestern Voronezh region and 10 drones over the southern Pena region, regional authorities said.
• Ukrainian forces attacked a power substation in Russia’s Kursk, the region’s governor said.
• Russian state television war correspondent Alexander Sladkov and a number of Russian war bloggers reported a new Ukrainian land-based incursion into Kursk backed by armoured vehicles. Kyiv did not comment on the reported advance.

Politics and diplomacy

• The European Union is set to publish a “roadmap” on Tuesday on how to end its reliance on Russian fossil fuels by 2027.
• Outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that his country would continue to support Ukraine in its war against Russia. Scholz “reaffirmed Germany’s continued and unwavering solidarity with Ukraine”, spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in a statement.
• Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting, Friedrich Merz, will take office on Tuesday with a long to-do list that includes maintaining support for Kyiv. He said last month that there should be no doubt that Germany would stand with Ukraine “without any ifs or buts”.

Who: Inter Milan vs Barcelona
What: UEFA Champions League semifinal, second leg
Where: San Siro stadium, Milan, Italy
When: Tuesday at 9pm (19:00 GMT)

Follow Al Jazeera Sport’s live text and photo commentary stream.

Five-time UEFA Champions League winners Barcelona travel to northern Italy to play three-time title holders Inter Milan in a tantalising second and deciding leg of their semifinal on Tuesday night.

The Catalan Giants remain on track for a rare treble – LaLiga, Copa del Rey and Champions League titles – but walked away from the opening leg of their Champions League semifinal at the Barcelona Olympic Stadium with just a draw against Inter, leaving them with it all to do on the road in Milan.

Inter, who are bidding to make a second Champions League final in three seasons, will like their chances of getting past the flamboyant LaLiga leaders on home soil. But the Nerazzurri were far from their best on Saturday, forging a slender 1-0 home win against 15th-placed Verona in a domestic Serie A league fixture at the San Siro.

Here is all to know before the semifinal decider between two of Europe’s football superclubs:

What happened in the semifinal’s first leg?

Barcelona twice battled back to share a compelling 3-3 draw at home against Inter Milan on April 30.

The Italian side raced to a two-goal lead with superb strikes from Marcus Thuram and Denzel Dumfries before the unstoppable Lamine Yamal pulled Barca back into it with a sublime solo effort.

Ferran Torres levelled for the five-time champions, and although Inter nosed ahead through Dumfries again, a Yann Sommer own goal left the tie on a knife-edge heading into the second leg.

Why is everyone talking about Yamal?

Playing his 100th game at just 17 years and 291 days old, Yamal became the youngest player to score in a UEFA Champions League semifinal against Inter on Wednesday, eclipsing the record set by Kylian Mbappe, who was 18 when he achieved the feat in 2017.

Inter manager Simone Inzaghi said talents like the Barcelona teenager come around only once in a half-century.

“He’s the kind of talent who is born every 50 years, I had never seen him live, and he really impressed me today,” the Inter coach said after Yamal helped Barcelona rally in the action-packed first leg.

Barcelona coach Hansi Flick described his attacking winger as “a genius” after the match.

Before the first leg, Yamal himself was forced to dismiss comparisons to the great Lionel Messi, who played the same position at Barcelona.

“I don’t compare myself to him because I don’t compare myself to anyone – and much less with Messi,” Yamal told reporters.

“So I don’t think the comparison makes sense – with Messi even less. I’m going to enjoy myself, and be myself.”

Yamal said he thought the Argentinian forward was the greatest player of all time.

“I admire him obviously as the best player in history, but I don’t compare myself to him,” he reiterated.

Team news: Barcelona

Barcelona starting defender Jules Kounde is set to miss the Champions League semifinal second leg clash with Inter after he was diagnosed with a hamstring injury on Thursday.

Unexpectedly, Flick may be able to call on star striker Robert Lewandowski, who is ahead of schedule on what was expected to be a three-week recovery period from a leg injury. Lewandowski was included in the squad on Monday after being sidelined for about two weeks.

Goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny is tipped to start against Inter despite first-choice keeper Marc-Andre ter Steg’s return to the first XI in a LaLiga fixture at the weekend after a long injury layoff.

Team news: Inter Milan

Inter head into their second leg showdown at the San Siro with the availability of top scorer Lautaro Martinez highly questionable after the Argentina star suffered a leg injury against Barcelona last Wednesday. Inzaghi will have Mehdi Taremi or Marko Arnautovic on standby to replace Martinez in the starting lineup. 

But confidence is growing in the Inter camp that Martinez will play, according to Italian media reports on Monday. Lautaro himself posted a cryptic message on Instagram: a photo of him doing exercises in the gym, captioned with emojis of an hourglass and a battery.

In a separate positive development for Inter, key defender Benjamin Pavard, who missed the first leg of the semifinal against Barca, is set to return to the starting XI, according to reporting from the Italian media outlet Gazzetta.it.

Star midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu is available for selection after sitting out Inter’s 1-0 victory over Verona with a suspension.

Possible starting lineups:

Barcelona possible XI: Szczesny; Eric, Araujo, Cubarsi, Inigo; de Jong, Pedri; Yamal, Olmo, Raphinha; Ferran

Inter Milan possible XI: Sommer; Acerbi, Pavard, Bastoni; Dumfries, Barella, Calhanoglu, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; Arnautovic, Thuram

Head-to-head:

The teams have played on 13 prior occasions:

• Barcelona wins: 6
• Inter Milan wins: 2
• Draws: 5

What the managers had to say:

Hansi Flick, Barcelona manager: “[In the second leg] Inter can’t just defend. They have to try and score too. It’s the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League and the four best teams in Europe are there. We play with style and confidence, and we know what we can do. We have 90 minutes next week, and hopefully that’s enough to get to the final. That’s our goal, and we will fight for it.”

Simone Inzaghi, Inter Milan manager: “We saw a fantastic match [in the first leg] and we knew that semifinals are difficult. We could even have won. I really liked the impact that our subs had. Our fans know that we’ve been giving our utmost in difficult times and we know that Tuesday will be a ‘final’.”

When did Barcelona and Inter Milan last win the UEFA Champions League?

Barcelona most recently won in 2015 while Inter Milan last tasted victory in 2010.

When and where is the 2025 UEFA Champions League final?

The winner of this semifinal heads to Germany on May 31 for the Champions League final.

European football’s largest annual showpiece will be played at the 75,000-capacity Allianz Arena in Munich.

‘We have learnt from our history that rightwing extremism needs to be stopped,’ Germany’s foreign ministry says.

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) has launched a legal challenge against Germany’s domestic intelligence agency for designating the far-right party an “extremist” organisation.

A spokesperson for the administrative court in Cologne confirmed on Monday that the AfD had submitted both a lawsuit and an emergency petition in response to the decision by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV).

Germany, meanwhile, hit back at President Donald Trump’s administration in the United States over its criticism of the classification, suggesting officials in Washington should study history.

The Cologne court will begin reviewing the case once the BfV confirms that it has been notified of the filings.

The AfD had earlier denounced the designation as a politically driven attempt to marginalise the party.

“With our lawsuit, we are sending a clear signal against the abuse of state power to combat and exclude the opposition,” party co-leaders Tino Chrupalla and Alice Weidel said on Monday, alleging that the classification was an effort to “distort democratic competition and delegitimise millions of votes”.

Pivotal moment

The classification, announced on Friday, gives Germany’s intelligence agency the power to surveil the AfD, the largest opposition party in parliament.

These powers include deploying informants and intercepting internal party communications.

A 1,100-page report compiled by the agency – that will not be made public – concluded that the AfD is a racist and anti-Muslim organisation.

The move came at a pivotal moment in German politics as the mainstream grapples with the continued rise of the far right.

Centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader Friedrich Merz is expected to be sworn in as chancellor on Tuesday after his party struck a coalition deal with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).

The agreement was driven by a longstanding understanding among mainstream parties to sideline far-right political forces. The AfD came second to the CDU in February’s snap elections. The SPD finished third.

SPD leader Lars Klingbeil said last week that the coalition would review the situation to decide whether to revive efforts to ban the AfD.

History lessons

The new government will also have to deal with criticism from abroad over Germany’s approach to the AfD, in particular from the governments of the US and Russia, both of which are swift to condemn any “foreign interference” in their own affairs.

US Vice President JD Vance, who met with Weidel after the elections in February, insisted on Friday that the AfD was “by far the most representative” party in the formerly communist eastern Germany, adding: “Now the bureaucrats try to destroy it.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio branded the designation of the party “tyranny in disguise”.

In response, Germany’s Federal Foreign Office posted on Monday, “This is democracy,” and said the decision was “the result of a thorough & independent investigation to protect our Constitution & the rule of law”.

The ministry said independent courts will have the final say, adding: “We have learnt from our history that rightwing extremism needs to be stopped.”

The Kremlin also weighed in to criticise the action against the AfD, which regularly repeats Russian narratives regarding the war in Ukraine, and what it called a broader trend of “restrictive measures” against political movements in Europe.

French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are hosting a conference in Paris to attract United States-based academics and researchers in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s targeting of universities.

European Union commissioners on Monday announced half a billion euros ($568m) in incentives to lure international academics to the continent at the Choose Europe for Science conference.

The meeting at Paris’s Sorbonne University is targeted at academics and researchers who fear their work will be threatened by billions of dollars of US government spending cuts for universities and research bodies as well as attacks on higher education institutions over diversity policies and pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

Pro-Palestinian foreign students in the US have been arrested and sent to detention centres, often without following due process, while universities have been pressured to punish professors speaking out against the Gaza war. Campaigners said the Trump administration’s actions, including revocations of permanent resident status of students, have a chilling effect on academic freedom – a cornerstone of the American education system.

Trump’s campaign against universities has given Europe’s political leaders hope they could reap an intellectual windfall. Macron’s office said the EU is targeting researchers working in the fields of health, climate, biodiversity, artificial intelligence and space.

For her part, von der Leyen said she wanted EU member states to invest 3 percent of their gross domestic products in research and development by 2030.

What we know about Trump’s attacks on educational institutions

US universities and research facilities have come under increasing political pressure under Trump, including threats of federal funding cuts. Trump has pushed universities to punish pro-Palestine protesters and ordered them to drop diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) measures aimed at providing better representation for minority and poorly served communities.

Trump and his voter base have accused US universities of promoting progressive ideology over conservative values. They say the universities have failed to protect the civil rights of conservative and Jewish students.

On April 14, Harvard University rejected a series of demands from the Trump administration. Within hours, the US Department of Education froze nearly $2.3bn in federal funding for the Ivy League institution.

Last week, Trump renewed his threat to strip Harvard of its tax-exempt status, a move that could cost the university billions of dollars if implemented. Harvard has described the president’s move as “leverage to gain control of academic decision-making”. The university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has sued the administration.

On March 10, the Department of Education announced it had sent letters to 60 higher education institutions, warning them of “enforcement actions” if they did not protect Jewish students on campus as stipulated in Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

In February, the Trump administration froze $400m in funds for Columbia University in New York City, which emerged as the epicentre of last year’s protests against Israel’s war on Gaza. Some universities have also received “stop work” orders – calls to suspend research projects funded by the government.

Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, said it had received more than 75 “stop work” orders from the US Department of Defense, according to a statement released by Cornell President Michael I Kotlikoff on April 8.

Elsewhere, hundreds of international students and recent graduates have had their US visas revoked – some have even been arrested – for participating in pro-Palestine demonstrations.

The Trump administration is also sharpening its attacks on the National Science Foundation, the government agency that funds basic science, maths and engineering research, especially at colleges and universities.

On May 2, the White House made a preliminary budget request to cut $4.7bn, or more than half of the agency’s $9bn budget. It follows two previous waves of grant cancellations in April as well as funding cuts to other public bodies.

What is Europe proposing?

In the wake of Trump’s moves, the EU is hoping to offer a political safe haven for US scientists and academics and also to “defend our [the EU’s] strategic interests and promote a universalist vision”, an official in Macron’s office told the AFP news agency.

Monday’s conference in Paris is the latest push to open Europe’s doors to US-based researchers. In April, Macron appealed to US university staff to “choose France” and unveiled plans for a funding programme to cover the costs of bringing foreign scientists to the country.

“We were quite indignant about what was happening, and we felt that our colleagues in the US were going through a catastrophe. … We wanted to offer some sort of scientific asylum to those whose research is being hindered,” Eric Berton, the president of France’s Aix-Marseille University, told the UK-based Guardian newspaper.

The European Research Council, an EU body that finances scientific work, told the Reuters news agency that it would double its relocation budget to fund researchers moving to the EU to 2 million euros ($2.16m) per applicant.

The UK government is preparing a similar initiative. Backed by about 50 million pounds ($66m) in state funding, the scheme is designed to support research grants and cover relocation expenses for select teams of scientists, mainly from the US.

In Germany, as part of coalition talks for a new government, conservatives and Social Democrats have drawn up plans to lure up to 1,000 researchers, according to negotiation documents from March seen by Reuters that allude to the upheaval in US higher learning.

“The American government is currently using brute force against the universities in the USA, so that researchers from America are now contacting Europe,” Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting, Friedrich Merz, said in April. “This is a huge opportunity for us.”

Is Europe in a position to poach US scientists?

For decades, Europe has lagged behind the US when it comes to investment in higher education.

According to Eurostat, the EU’s statistical office, total expenditures on research and development in the EU among businesses, governments and universities was 381 billion euros ($411bn) in 2023.

That same year, total research and development in the US was estimated at $940bn, according to the National Centre for Science and Engineering Statistics, a federal data agency.

And the wealthiest US university, Harvard, has an endowment worth $53.2bn while that of Britain’s (and Europe’s) wealthiest, the University of Oxford, is $10.74bn.

“I don’t foresee a rapid build-up of additional scientific capability that could match what the US now has … for several decades,” Michael Oppenheimer, a professor of geosciences and international affairs at Princeton University in New Jersey, recently told Reuters.

Some US scientists have pointed to what they see as another drawback – European language barriers and unfamiliar laws and employment practices. In addition, research funding and researchers’ remuneration both lag far behind US levels.

The Choose Europe for Science event is expected to counter those concerns by arguing that university pay gaps will seem less significant when the lower cost of education, healthcare and more generous social benefits are taken into account.

What has been the response so far?

Aix-Marseille University in the south of France said it has received interest from 120 researchers at institutions across the US, including NASA and Stanford University in California, in the 15-million-euro ($17m) “safe space for science” programme it launched on March 7.

The initiative aims to attract US researchers from fields including health, medicine, epidemiology and climate change.

In a letter to French universities in March, Philippe Baptiste, France’s minister for higher education and research, wrote: “Many well-known researchers are already questioning their future in the United States. We would naturally wish to welcome a certain number of them.”

Elsewhere, the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London, which specialises in climate change research, has created two fellowships for early career climate researchers from the US and has already seen an uptick in applications.

An official from Macron’s office said Monday’s conference is being held “at a time when academic freedoms are retreating and under threat in a number of cases and Europe is a continent of attractiveness”.

Still, Europe is not immune from controversy. Germany has been accused of silencing pro-Palestinian voices, having recently ordered the deportations of three European nationals and a US citizen over “anti-Semitic” actions.

Cardinals of the Catholic Church are gathering in Rome to elect the next pope.

Whether a moderniser or conservative wins, big challenges await – both within the church and on the global political stage.

So what are they?

And what could be the future direction of the church?

Presenter:

Folly Bah Thibault

Guests:

Gerard O’Connell – Vatican correspondent for America magazine and author of The Election of Pope Francis: An Inside Account of the Conclave that Changed History

Michel Mondengele – Country director for Sierra Leone and Liberia for the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development

Stan Chu Ilo – Research professor of world Catholicism at DePaul University and president of the Pan-African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network

The International Court of Justice dismissed Sudan’s case accusing the United Arab Emirates of enabling genocide in Darfur by supplying the paramilitary forces with weapons. The ICJ said it lacked jurisdiction, rejecting Sudan’s request for emergency measures and ordered the case be removed from its docket.

Move comes after Marcel Ciolacu’s pro-EU coalition candidate fails to advance to the presidential run-off.

Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu has resigned, a day after a far-right opposition leader won the first round of the presidential election rerun and his own candidate crashed out of the race.

Ciolacu said on Monday that his centre-left Social Democratic Party (PSD) would withdraw from the pro-Western coalition – effectively ending it – while cabinet ministers will stay on in an interim capacity until a new majority emerges after the presidential run-off.

Hard-right eurosceptic George Simion decisively swept the ballot on Sunday, with some 41 percent of votes, and will face Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan, an independent centrist, in a May 18 run-off. Coalition candidate Crin Antonescu came third.

“Rather than let the future president replace me, I decided to resign myself,” Ciolacu said.

Although Ciolacu’s leftist PSD won the most seats in a December 1 parliamentary election, Simion’s Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) and two other far-right groupings, one with overt pro-Russian sympathies, won more than a third of the seats to become a clear political force.

The Social Democrats had formed a coalition government with the centrist Liberals and ethnic Hungarian UDMR to help keep the European Union and NATO state on a pro-Western course. A governing majority that cordons off the far-right in the legislature cannot be formed without it.

“This coalition is no longer legitimate,” Ciolacu told reporters after a party meeting.

Before the meeting, Ciolacu stated that one of the conditions of forming the coalition was to field a common candidate to win the presidency.

Romania already has an interim president until the May 18 run-off. The country has the EU’s largest budget deficit and risks a ratings downgrade to below investment level unless it enforces a decisive fiscal correction.

Sunday’s vote came five months after a first attempt to hold the election was cancelled because of alleged Russian interference in favour of far-right frontrunner Calin Georgescu, since banned from standing again.

Simion has said he could appoint Georgescu prime minister should he win. The vote underscores simmering anger among vast parts of the Romanian electorate over high living costs and worries over security.

Some analysts think a Simion victory could isolate Romania, erode private investment and destabilise NATO’s eastern flank, where Bucharest plays a key role in providing logistical support to Ukraine as it fights a three-year-old Russian invasion, political observers say.

It would also expand a cohort of eurosceptic leaders in the EU that already includes the Hungarian and Slovak prime ministers at a time when Europe is struggling to formulate its response to United States President Donald Trump.

Simion said in a prerecorded speech aired after polls closed Sunday that, “I am here to restore constitutional order.”

“I want democracy, I want normalcy, and I have a single objective: to give back to the Romanian people what was taken from them and to place at the centre of decision-making the ordinary, honest, dignified people,” he said.

Simion said his hard-right nationalist AUR party is “perfectly aligned with the MAGA movement”, referring to Trump’s
“Make America Great Again” campaign and capitalising on a growing wave of populism in Europe after the US president’s political comeback.

AUR, which proclaims to stand for “family, nation, faith, and freedom”, rose to prominence in a 2020 parliamentary election and has doubled its support since then.

US President Donald Trump says he wants to work with his Turkish counterpart to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

United States President Donald Trump says he has had a “very good and productive” telephone conversation with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and they have discussed a wide range of topics, including how to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, Syria and Israel’s war on Gaza.

During the call on Monday, Trump said Erdogan had invited him to visit Turkiye and he had extended an invitation for the Turkish leader to visit Washington, DC. No dates were announced.

A readout of the call from the Turkish presidency confirmed Erdogan invited Trump for a visit.

The Republican president, who described his relationship with Erdogan as “excellent” during his first tenure at the White House, said the two countries would cooperate on ending the war in Ukraine.

“I look forward to working with President Erdogan on getting the ridiculous but deadly, War between Russia and Ukraine ended – NOW!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, his social media platform.

NATO member Turkiye has sought to maintain good relations with both of its Black Sea neighbours since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and has twice hosted talks aimed at ending the war.

“Noting that he supports President Trump’s approach toward ending wars, President Erdogan expressed appreciation for the efforts exerted to maintain the negotiation process with Iran and stop the war between Russia and Ukraine,” Turkiye’s Directorate of Communications said in a statement posted on X.

Erdogan also raised the urgent need for a ceasefire in Gaza, warning that its humanitarian crisis had reached a “grave level”, the directorate said.

The Turkish president also stressed the importance of the “uninterrupted delivery of humanitarian aid and the urgent end to this tragic situation”.

On neighbouring Syria, Erdogan reaffirmed Turkiye’s commitment to preserving its territorial integrity and restoring lasting stability.

He said US efforts to ease sanctions on Syria and its new government would help move that process forward and contribute to regional peace.

Regarding bilateral ties, Erdogan said Ankara remained committed to strengthening cooperation with Washington, particularly in the defence sector.

Trump is due to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates next week.

Assailants open fire on police in Dagestan’s capital, Makhachkala, leaving several dead and injured.

Three police officers have been killed and at least four others injured after gunmen opened fire on traffic police in southern Russia’s Republic of Dagestan, according to regional authorities.

The attack took place on Monday in the capital, Makhachkala, when police attempted to stop a car, Dagestan leader Sergei Melikov said.

The shooting began at about 14:20 local time (11:20 GMT), the Interior Ministry confirmed.

Two assailants were shot dead at the scene. Local officials identified the men, both born in 2000, but did not say how many others were involved. State media reported that additional attackers fled in a vehicle, prompting a wider manhunt.

Footage circulating on Telegram, verified by the Reuters news agency, showed bodies lying on the road beside a police car. Gunshots could be heard in the background as onlookers gathered at the scene.

At least two other attackers, alongside injured officers and civilians – including a 17-year-old girl – were taken to hospital. One later died, state media reported. Officials have launched a criminal investigation.

Dagestan, a majority-Muslim region bordering the Caspian Sea, has witnessed a number of deadly attacks in recent years.

In March, Russian security forces said they killed four alleged ISIL (ISIS) fighters who were planning to attack a local Interior Ministry office.

The latest violence in Dagestan follows a separate security operation last week, when Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed to have killed a man suspected of planning bombings on the Moscow metro and a Jewish religious site in the capital region.

In June 2024, at least 20 people were killed after armed men attacked a synagogue, churches and police in the Dagestan region.

That attack came three months after at least 133 people were killed in a March 2024 attack on a concert in Moscow’s Crocus City Hall.

While the Afghanistan-based ISIL affiliate in Khorasan Province (ISKP) claimed responsibility for the worst attack to hit Russia in years, Moscow at the time claimed without evidence that Ukraine had a played role.

Though both Russia and the United States declared the territorial defeat of ISIL (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria by 2019, offshoots of the group – especially ISKP – have re-emerged, posing renewed threats across Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East.

I am no stranger to political repression and censorship. I have lived in Germany for five years now, and as a Palestinian journalist involved in pro-Palestinian advocacy, I have experienced repeated harassment at the hands of the German authorities.

My husband, a German citizen, and I, an American citizen, have grown accustomed to being held for hours at a time, subjected to invasive interrogations about our travels, and having our belongings thoroughly searched without clear justification. But we were shocked to find out that these tactics, designed to intimidate and deter, have now been taken up by the United States to target Palestinians amid the ongoing genocide.

I always knew that citizenship offered only limited protection, especially when dissent is involved. But deep down, I still believed that freedom of speech, the right to speak without fear, meant something in my country of birth.

I was wrong. The harassment we endured on March 24 upon arriving in the US shattered that illusion. Our Palestinian identity, our political work, our family ties – all of it makes us permanent targets, not just in Germany, but now in the US, too.

Prior to departure, while we were at our gate in Frankfurt airport, four agents approached me and identified themselves as officers from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS). They said they were specifically looking for my husband, who had just stepped aside to buy water and juice for our sons.

“We just want to make sure your ESTA visa is in order,” one of them said.

They took his passport, flipping through it and photographing every single page while one of them stayed on the phone, relaying information. They asked about our visit to Gaza in 2022, after seeing the Rafah border stamp.

“Where did you go in Gaza?” one agent asked.
“Khan Younis,” my husband replied.
“Where does your family live now?”
“All over,” he said. “They’re living in tents across the Strip, you know, because of the war.”
“What did you do while you were there?”
“Visited family,” he answered.

It was clear we were targeted. I did not see any other passengers undergoing a similar check. This meant that either DHS was actively researching passengers before their departure to the US, or – even more troubling – the German authorities were communicating directly with DHS to flag the background and political activity of “suspect” travellers.

Upon arrival at Newark airport in New Jersey, my husband and I were separated and individually interrogated, each of us still holding a sleeping child. The men questioning us did not identify themselves; I believe they were DHS agents, not border police.

They first asked me about the purpose of my trip and my travel to Gaza. They wanted to know who I had met in Gaza, why I had met them, and whether anyone I encountered was affiliated with Hamas. At one point, an officer deliberately became ambiguous and instead of referencing Hamas, asked if “anyone from [my] family was a part of the government in Gaza”.

At one point, they asked whether I experienced violence from Israeli soldiers, to which I responded: “Israeli soldiers weren’t in Gaza in 2022.”

“Did anyone in your family experience violence during this war?”
“Yes,” I responded. “Fifty were killed.”
“Were any of them Hamas supporters?” was the response I received.

As if political affiliation could justify the incineration of a family. As if children, elders, mothers, reduced to numbers, must first be interrogated for their loyalties before their deaths can be acknowledged.

They knew I was a journalist, so they demanded to know the last article I had written and where it was published. I told them that it was a piece for Mondoweiss about the abduction of Mahmoud Khalil, in which I also warned about the dangers of the Trump administration’s policies. This seemed to heighten their scrutiny. They demanded my email address, my social media accounts, and jotted down my phone number without explanation.

Then they took our phones. When I asked what would happen if I refused, they made it clear I had no choice. If I did not comply, my phone would still be taken from me, and if my husband did not comply, he would be deported.

When they finally returned our electronics, they issued a chilling warning to my husband: “You have been here seven times without an issue. Stay away from political activity, and everything will be fine.”

Subsequently, I was advised by legal counsel not to attend any demonstrations, not even by myself, during our stay. Our movements, our words, and even our silences were under watch, and anything could be used against us.

What happened to us was not random; it was intentional. It was meant to scare and intimidate us. Whether it is in Germany, in the US, or elsewhere, the goal of these tactics is the same: to make us feel small, isolated, criminalised, and afraid. They want us to doubt the worth of every word we write, to question every protest we join, to swallow every truth before it reaches our lips. They want us to forget the people we have lost.

Fifty members of our family were murdered in the US-backed genocide in Gaza. Fifty souls, each with their own dreams, laughter, and love, extinguished under the roar of bombs and the silence of the world. Our family’s story is no different from thousands of others – stories that vanish from headlines but live forever in the hearts of the survivors.

They expect us to carry this unbearable weight quietly, to bow our heads and continue living as if our world were not ripped apart. But we do not bow.

And that is why they fear us; they fear a people who refuse to disappear. Palestinians who dare to speak, to organise, to simply bear witness are marked as dangerous.

I was warned that speaking about our experience at the airport would make the next encounter even harsher, even more punishing. But we must remember: there is nothing this state can do to us that can compare to what is being done to the people of Gaza. Our passports are only paper. Our phones are only metal and glass. These are things they can confiscate, things they can break. But they cannot take away our voices, our memories, and our commitment to justice.

On our way out, the officers asked my husband one last question: “What do you think of Hamas? Are they good?”

He responded: “My concern is fighting a genocide that has taken the lives and freedom of my family and my people. Anything else, I am not interested in answering.”

That should be all of our concern. Nothing should distract us from the urgent, undeniable truth: a people are being slaughtered, and our responsibility is to stand with them.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

After a 20-year association with the famous English side, Alexander-Arnold will exit the club at the end of the season in search of a new challenge.

Trent Alexander-Arnold has announced he will leave Liverpool at the end of the season after 20 years at the club, with the England right back widely expected to join Real Madrid.

Alexander-Arnold, who has just clinched a second Premier League title with Liverpool, did not mention his next destination when confirming his departure from Anfield on his social media accounts on Monday.

He said it was “easily the hardest decision I’ve ever made in my life”.

“This club has been my whole life – my whole world – for 20 years,” the 26-year-old Alexander-Arnold wrote. “From the academy right through until now, the support and love I have felt from everyone inside and outside of the club will stay with me forever. I will forever be in debt to you all.

“But, I have never known anything else and this decision is about experiencing a new challenge, taking myself out of my comfort zone and pushing myself both professionally and personally. I’ve given my all every single day I’ve been at this club, and I hope you feel like I’ve given back to you during my time here.”

While Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk have recently signed new two-year deals with Liverpool, there was lingering uncertainty over the future of Alexander-Arnold, who was also out of contract at the end of this season.

“I know many of you have wondered why or been frustrated that I haven’t spoken about this yet,” he wrote, “but it was always my intention to keep my full focus on the team’s best interests, which was securing [league title] No. 20.”

Alexander-Arnold has won every major honour with the Merseyside club, including the Premier League in 2020 and again this year, as well as the Champions League in 2019.

He was key to revolutionising the role of a right back, with Alexander-Arnold having been Liverpool’s most creative player at times with his marauding runs down the right and his ability to come infield and pick out passes to the team’s attackers.

“From the bottom of my heart, I thank everybody – my coaches, my managers, my teammates, the staff and our incredible supporters – for the last 20 years,” Alexander-Arnold wrote.

“I’ve been blessed enough to live out my dreams here and I will never, ever take for granted the special moments I’ve been fortunate enough to have lived through with you all. My love for this club will never die.”

If he does go to Madrid, it would be on a free transfer, and he would follow in the footsteps of the likes of Steve McManaman, Michael Owen and Xabi Alonso in swapping Anfield for the Santiago Bernabeu. That would mean him joining his England teammate Jude Bellingham in Madrid.

The sand dunes and crystal clear waters of the Maldives or Bora Bora have long been the dream destinations for many holidaymakers, but being on the other side of the world and with a reputation for luxury can leave you with a hefty bill at the end of the trip.

Brits dreaming of a slice of paradise this summer might just find what they’re looking for without needing to splash out on pricey, long-haul trips to the Caribbean or Indian Ocean. An island with equally stunning ocean views and beaches lies much closer to home.

The dreamy sand dunes and crystal clear waters reminiscent of the Maldives or Bora Bora have been the ideal getaway for countless sun-seekers, but with such destinations being halfway across the globe, not to mention their luxury tag, you could end up facing a substantial bill when the holiday ends.

But now there’s a new kid on the block catching eyes across social media, leaving many stunned to discover that paradise needn’t be at the end of a long flight. Instead, it’s waiting at the sun-drenched coasts of Fuerteventura.

This Canary Island has often been overshadowed by its more famous siblings, Tenerife and Lanzarote, but Fuerteventura is making waves with its expansive sand dunes and inviting waters, earning it the moniker “mini Maldives”.

READ MORE: Foreign Office issues safety warning for Portugal

Jetting off to this idyllic spot couldn’t be easier, with flights zipping straight from Gatwick, Luton, Manchester and various other UK hubs. Budget-friendly airlines including Ryanair, easyJet, Jet2 and others service the island’s main airport, meaning more cash in your pocket to enjoy once you touch down, reports the Express.

Famed for its volcanic sands, Fuerteventura boasts 150 km of pristine white beaches and tucked-away coves. So no matter where you’re bedding down on the island, breathtaking sea views are never far away. The sudden spotlight on the island has led to a surge in viral videos and clips across social media, with hundreds of comments pouring in from holidaymakers eager for a visit.

One past visitor commented under a video: “I was there last year twice… one of the most beautiful places on Earth,” while another chimed in: “It’s a lovely place having been so many times heading back in a few days,”.

But it’s not just the breathtaking landscapes that draw crowds; the island is also a hotspot for watersports enthusiasts. Thanks to consistent Atlantic winds, thousands of windsurfers and kitesurfers flock here, providing great beachside entertainment for those sipping cocktails.

Away from the beach, the island’s towns exude Spanish allure, with quaint fishing villages dishing up delectable local seafood.

Sign up to the Mirror Travel newsletter for a

This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more

selection of the best travel stories every week

Mirror Travel

Click here to subscribe

You can get a selection of the most interesting, important and fun travel stories sent to your inbox every week by subscribing to the Mirror Travel newsletter. It’s completely free and takes minutes to do.

Tourists might also fancy a trip to the historic town of Betancuria, established way back in 1404. A wander around its centuries-old streets offers a peek into the island’s history beyond the tourist traps.

A trip to the island also promises almost guaranteed sunshine all year round. Located far south and just off the west African coast, the island enjoys plenty of sun, with peak summer temperatures hitting around 30C.

For those who find such scorching heat a bit too much, springtime in April sees milder mid-20s temperatures, while September and October average a comfortable 25C.

Skype, once a leading video-calling platform, is set to shut down on May 5. How well do you know its history? Take our quiz.

After nearly 22 years of connecting people across the globe, Skype is shutting down on May 5, marking the end of an era for one of the pioneers of internet communication.

Launched in 2003, Skype quickly became a revolutionary tool for free voice and video calls over the internet, amassing more than 300 million monthly users at its peak in the mid-2010s.

The free platform changed how people communicated across borders, long before Zoom or FaceTime.

Why is Skype shutting down?

In 2011, Microsoft acquired Skype for $8.5bn, aiming to make it a central part of its communications strategy. But as competitors like WhatsApp, Zoom, and eventually Microsoft’s own Teams gained traction, Skype’s popularity faded.

On February 28, Microsoft said it would retire Skype on May 5 to streamline its services and prioritise Teams for communication and collaboration.

The shutdown will impact both free and paid Skype users, but Skype for Business will continue temporarily.

What happens to the existing users and their data?

Microsoft has urged users to transition to Teams by visiting skype.com and utilising the “Start using Teams” feature. All Skype chats and contacts will remain accessible through Teams using the same login credentials.

Users have until January 2026 to download or migrate their data before permanent deletion.

Seamlessly continue where you left off with Microsoft Teams for free.

Teams for free offers:

✅ Seamless chat and calling experience
📸 Enhanced video meetings
🗂️ Secure file sharing and cloud storage

If you use Skype, your chats and contacts will migrate… pic.twitter.com/F0Z8QQCGCr

— Skype (@Skype) April 3, 2025

Could you pass a quiz on Skype?

Do you think you know Skype? Answer these 10 questions below to see how well you know its history, features and impact on global communication.

Scroll to view more questions

Here is where things stand on Monday, May 5:

Fighting

• Russian forces repelled four drones flying towards Moscow, the capital’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said in a post on Telegram. There were no initial reports of damage or casualties, Sobyanin said, adding that emergency services were working at the scene.
• Ukrainian forces attacked a factory in Russia’s Bryansk region, destroying much of the plant, Governor Alexander Bogomaz said on Telegram. There were no casualties, Bogomaz said.
• Russian forces destroyed 13 Ukrainian drones overnight over Russia’s Rostov, Belgorod and Bryansk regions, Moscow’s Ministry of Defence said on Sunday.
• A Russian drone attack injured at least 11 people, including two children, in Kyiv’s Obolonskyi and Sviatoshynskyi districts, Timur Tkachenko, the head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said on social media.
• Russian drones attacked Cherkasy in central Ukraine, where emergency services reported that one person was injured and residential buildings and civil infrastructure suffered damage.
• Ukrainian forces downed 69 of 165 drones launched overnight by Russia, the country’s Air Force said on Sunday.

Politics and diplomacy

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he does not believe Russia will follow a three-day truce it declared to coincide with Moscow’s Victory Day celebrations on May 9. “This is not the first challenge, nor are these the first promises made by Russia to cease fire,” Zelenskyy said at a news conference with Czech President Petr Pavel.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a documentary released on Sunday that there had so far been no need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, and expressed “hope” that they would not be necessary.
• United States President Donald Trump said he and his advisers have had “very good discussions” about Russia and Ukraine in recent days, without elaborating.
• Moscow said that Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Russia from May 7 to May 10, joining Putin at commemorations of the Allied victory against Nazi Germany.
• Romania’s far-right presidential candidate, George Simion, who opposes military aid to Ukraine, decisively won the first round of the country’s rerun vote, setting up a contest with the centrist mayor of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan, on May 18.

Cardinals from around the world will meet this week to formally begin selecting the next pope in a secret ballot after the late Pope Francis‘s funeral on April 26. The vote itself will take place behind the sealed doors of the Sistine Chapel sometime after May 7.

Selecting the next leader of the Catholic Church is a momentous and highly anticipated task. The church counts some 1.4 billion baptised Roman Catholics around the world as members.

Elections in the Vatican are not immune to lobbying and campaigning. First, the cardinals must hold a series of congregazioni – special meetings at which they will discuss what sort of leader they are looking for. While only 135 cardinals will be able to vote, as they are below the age of 80, as per the voting rules, all cardinals can attend these meetings irrespective of age.

Roberto Regoli, a professor of Catholic Church history at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University, said that unlike in a normal election, none of the top contenders in the Vatican is openly canvassing to be elected. Most people would say they do not want the post if asked, he said.

“It’s a lot of work,” Regoli told Al Jazeera. “You have no time to do anything for yourself.”

Results can often be surprising, and experts are wary of speculating in advance. In 2013, for example, Pope Francis was not even counted as a favourite in the media. It was only after a speech he gave at one of the congregazioni that he was noticed.

Here’s what we know about some of the possible candidates.

What is the process and timeline for selecting the next pope?

The College of Cardinals will ultimately elect one of their number to be the next pope. There are currently 252 cardinals, 135 of whom are cardinal electors as they are under the age of 80 – the cut-off date for papal elections.

After a few days of meetings, the 135 voting cardinals will be sequestered in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel on May 7 in what is known as a “conclave”. They will have no access to phones, the internet, or the outside world. No cardinal can leave until a name is pronounced, barring exceptional circumstances.

Cardinals will vote in one or several secret ballots to elect the new pope. The winner needs a two-thirds majority.

Observers standing outside the Vatican will know a pope has been selected by the colour of the smoke emerging from the chimney of the chapel: black means no consensus, white means a new pope has been declared.

Conclaves usually last for several days or, in some cases, weeks. Pope Francis was elected in two days.

Who are the voting cardinals?

Francis’s reforms changed the makeup of the College of Cardinals. He appointed 80 percent of the current cardinals, selecting them from around the world – with a particular emphasis on the Global South – and choosing people with different ideological leanings.

For the first time, countries like Mongolia, Iran and East Timor will be represented. Among the cardinals are people who are conservative on topics such as same-sex marriage and divorce, as well as others who are less orthodox. The bigger mix of views – and the much larger representation of the Global South – makes this vote a particularly unpredictable one, experts say.

What are the cardinals looking for in a new pope?

In their meetings before the conclave, the cardinals will be trying to decide if they want a liberal-minded leader like the late Pope Francis, a more traditionalist pontiff like his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, or someone with moderate tendencies.

Cardinals will also likely be looking for someone skilled in international diplomacy, Regoli said, with the world facing multiple conflicts and changing geopolitical dynamics. The church would also prefer someone not too young, to ensure a relatively short tenure.

Ideology and geography will also play a role, historian Miles Pattenden, who is associated with the University of Oxford, told Al Jazeera.

“Francis was known to be spontaneous, and the church might be looking to elect someone more cautious in his reactions,” he said. And, with the Catholic population growing in Asia and Africa, the cardinals may want to send the message that an Asian or African pope is more representative.

Personal charm, though, is the secret ingredient. Because many of the cardinals have rarely met, it is hard to know who might get along well with whom. The next pope will be the cardinal who, without appearing to do so, can convince the others that he can represent the church globally and address the church’s challenges: adapting to secularisation, and coping well with recent sex and financial scandals, as well as declining membership in the West.

Most of all, electors do appear to be looking for a sober and unifying figure who can bring stability to the church’s central government after Francis’s more revolutionary style of leadership.

Who are the top contenders?

Here is a list of candidates, in no particular order, who experts believe are frontrunners.

Cardinal Luis ‘Chito’ Antonio Tagle, 67

Some observers believe the future of the church’s leadership lies outside the traditionally elected class of Italian cardinals.

Tagle, from the Philippines, might suit the cardinals who want that growth to be more visible. The country is the most Catholic in the world, with 80 percent of its 100 million people identifying as Catholics. If elected, Tagle would be the first Asian pope.

Ordained a cardinal in 2012 by Pope Benedict, Tagle currently leads the church’s evangelisation programmes from the Vatican. A former archbishop of Manila, Tagle is popularly referred to as the “Asian Francis”. His style of leadership is similar to the late Pope Francis’s pastoral approach, Pattenden said. 

While he is opposed to abortion, he is dedicated to social justice causes such as migration and poverty, and has pushed for a less harsh stance on gay people, divorcees and single mothers. Senior roles within the Holy See since 2019 have also seen him gain Vatican experience.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, 70

Italian and present Vatican secretary of state, Parolin’s background and position within the church mean he has a strong chance of being considered for pope. He has held the number two position in the Vatican since 2013.

With diplomatic stints for the church in Nigeria, Mexico, Spain and Italy, he is regarded as a skilled, stable hand on the world stage. He has pushed to improve China-Vatican relations, which have been strained because of the Holy See’s recognition of Taiwan.

Parolin’s supporters say that while he agrees with some of Francis’s ideals (he supports embracing the divorced and opposes the United States administration’s plans for Gaza), he is also a pragmatist who understands the nuances of diplomacy and may take a more moderate approach than Francis. Critics, however, say he lacks pastoral experience and might put diplomacy above the church’s interests.

“Parolin or Tagle might best represent some kind of continuity of the Francis style if that’s what the church decides is the way to go,” Pattenden said.

Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, 76

Of three prominent African frontrunners, Turkson, who hails from Ghana, is seen as the more moderate and, thus, more suited to diplomacy. The cohort of African cardinals is, in general, regarded as quite conservative, particularly when it comes to the position of women in the church and same-sex marriage.

Experts previously marked Turkson as a favourite in 2013. Although he leans more conservative than liberal, he is opposed to the criminalisation of gay relations in Ghana, where a bill imposing harsh penalties on homosexuality was passed.

There has never been an African pope, and such an election would be “ground-breaking”, Pattenden said.

Cardinal Peter Erdo, 72

Described as cautious and risk-averse, the Hungarian priest is a respected lawyer and staunch conservative who is likely to have backing from those seeking a change of approach from Pope Francis’s style of leadership.

Erdo, as the archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, is seen by critics as friendly to the Hungarian right-wing and anti-migrant governing party, Fidesz, causing some observers to describe his candidature as one to be afraid of. While he is not directly opposed to the rights of people to migrate, Erdo has raised questions about how integrating refugees might endanger political stability in Hungary. Critics cite this stance as one close to approving Fidesz’s criminalisation of migrants. Some also say Erdo has been unwilling to properly investigate allegations of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

In an opinion piece in the UK’s Guardian newspaper, Hungarian journalist Alex Faludy wrote that Erdo’s name on the list should make observers “fearful”.

“Erdo’s possible ascent to the papal throne would be bad news for LGBTQ+ Catholics and those who have remarried after divorce,” Faludy wrote. “It should, however, also worry abuse survivors and anyone concerned with the integrity of Christianity’s presence in public life.”

The priest was previously viewed as a favourite in 2013, when he was 60 years old, but did not gain strong backing. At the time, observers said he was seen as too young.

Cardinal Matteo Zuppi

Another well-recognised diplomat, an Italian and Archbishop of Bologna, Zuppi led a peace mission to Ukraine in 2023 and helped mediate an end to the Mozambique civil war in 1992.

He was appointed cardinal in 2019 by Francis, whose ideals he broadly agrees with.

As a member of the Catholic humanitarian group, the Community of Sant’Egidio, Matteo would be expected to focus on increasing outreach to disadvantaged or crisis-hit communities.

Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu

The archbishop of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Besungu represents a key demographic in the church: the DRC has more than seven million Catholics, making it the biggest Catholic country in Africa.

Cardinal Besungu is staunchly traditionalist. While he has spoken out against human rights violations in his homeland, he is unequivocally against blessing same-sex relationships (which Pope Francis introduced), even standing up and criticising Pope Francis about his rulings on the topic.

He is another favourite for the conservative camp.

Cardinal Michael Czerny, 78

Originally from Czechoslovakia but raised in Canada, the cardinal leads the social justice operations of the Vatican.

He was appointed by Pope Francis and is, like him, a Jesuit – an arm of the church known for its focus on education, missionary work and charitable activities. The two men were considered to be close.

Czerny has worked in Africa and Latin America and founded the African Jesuit Aids Network.

Experts say it is possible Czerny will appeal to progressives in the church, but there are doubts about whether the College would immediately vote for another Jesuit pope.

“Normally, we don’t have two consecutive popes of the same order,” Regoli said.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, 60

From Italy, Pizzaballa is the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem where he has lived since being ordained as a priest at 25 years old.

Pope Francis appointed him as cardinal in 2023.

He has a good understanding of the complexities of the Palestine-Israel conflict, Israel’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip and Middle Eastern relations.

Pizzaballa has spoken out against the Gaza war, rebuking both sides. In the early days of the war, he offered to exchange himself for child captives taken during Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Pattenden said one critical factor the church will look at is age. Pizzaballa, at 60, is much younger than Pope Francis was when he was elected (76). That means, even if a strong contender, Pizzaballa’s age might not appeal to some voters.

Cardinal Robert Sarah, 79

The Guinean cardinal is perhaps the most traditional and orthodox of all the frontrunners and is one of the most recognised African church leaders.

He was appointed archbishop of Conakry at the age of 34 and was, at the time, the youngest bishop in the world. His outspoken nature placed him on an assassination hit list by the former Guinean dictator, Ahmed Sekou Toure. The list was discovered after Toure’s death.

In 2001, Pope John Paul II promoted Sarah to head of evangelisation, opening his sojourn into the Vatican proper.

Pope Benedict appointed him as a cardinal in 2010 and he retired from active office in 2021 as prefect for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments.

He reportedly had turbulent relations with Pope Francis, however. Sarah’s leanings, age and Vatican experience put him at a sweet spot for those in the college looking to roll back Francis-era reforms on abortion, same-sex relations and the church’s closeness with other religions.

Cardinal Angelo Scola, 83

An old Vatican saying goes thus: “Popes who enter a conclave often emerge as cardinals.” That adage applies to Scola. Back in 2013, the Italian priest was the touted media favourite, going into the conclave as the one most people believed would be pope. When the white smoke went up, a group of Italian bishops even issued statements that Scola had been elected. But he eventually emerged as a cardinal because Pope Francis had been elected.

A former archbishop of Milan, Scola will not be able to vote because he is above the 80-year voting limit, but his name has again surfaced as a credible candidate.

His ideologies more closely model the conservationist approach of Pope Benedict XVI who appointed him cardinal.

While mute on same-sex unions so far, Scola is strongly opposed to female deacons and other left-leaning gender debates.

He has pastoral experience but is also a well-known professor and scholar with several books under his belt. He has focused on themes of interfaith and intercultural dialogue, as well as on evangelisation and helping new Catholic converts.

His critics see him as an intellectual who might be a tad removed from the experiences of the common Catholic, but his traditionalism and age could make him a good option for conservatives.