Pope Francis’s body arrived at Saint Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday to lie in state for three days before his weekend funeral.
 
Red-hatted cardinals, priests, candle-carrying friars and helmeted Swiss Guards walked slowly into the vast, sunlit esplanade as a male choir chanted psalms and prayers in Latin while the great bells of the basilica tolled.

The body of the 88-year-old pope, who died on Monday in his rooms at the Santa Marta guesthouse after suffering a stroke, was held aloft on a wooden platform by 14 white-gloved, black-suited pallbearers.

As the coffin crossed St Peter’s Square, a crowd of several thousand faithful mourners broke into repeated applause — a traditional Italian sign of respect at such events.
 
His funeral is set for Saturday and will draw heads of state and government from around the world.
 
Anthony Albanese said that Australia will be represented at Pope Francis’s funeral by Governor-General Sam Mostyn, Labor senator Don Farrell, and Coalition MP Michael McCormack.
 
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Thousands of people have attended Pope Francis’s funeral in St Peter’s Square, Vatican City.
 
Among them are dozens of world leaders — including heads of state such as US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
 
The pontiff died on Monday at the age of 88, and tens of thousands have filed past his open coffin since it was laid out in St Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday.
 
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Russia has been launching near-daily drone and missile attacks against Ukraine in recent months, but their intensity has increased in recent weeks as talks to end the war yielded few results.

US President Donald Trump has been attempting to broker a peace between the two sides, but negotiations have so far yielded little progress, though prisoner exchanges have been agreed.

Strikes in Kyiv overnight on Monday lit up the night sky with fires in residential areas and damaged the entrance to a metro station bomb shelter.

At least 34 people including four children were wounded in the attacks on Kyiv, the emergencies service said.

From midnight until almost dawn, the city shook with explosions and rattling machine gun fire from anti-aircraft units aiming at the drones.

Ukraine's air force said it had downed 339 of 352 drones and 15 of 16 missiles launched by Russia in the attack on four Ukrainian regions.

Rescue workers pulled bodies from the rubble of an apartment block in Kyiv's busy Shevchenkivskyi district, less than a kilometre from the US embassy.

At least nine people died in the district, the interior ministry said.

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Here’s your news update ☕️ 🗞️

Story 1: Nearly one in five young adults believe tracking a partner's location is to be expected in a relationship, new research has found.

The eSafety Commission study has linked location-sharing apps with an increased risk of coercive control.

Tech-based coercive control is defined as a behaviour pattern that uses digital technology to control, manipulate and create fear in a current or former relationship.

Story 2: R&B singer Casandra Ventura, known by the stage name Cassie, has spent a second day testifying about the abuse and violence she said she suffered at the hands of her long-term partner.

She told a New York court how he would allegedly threaten to release sex tapes to humiliate her and ruin her career.

She also gave more evidence about the days-long, drug-fuelled orgies known as "freak-offs" that she said she felt pressured to partake in.

Story 3: US President Donald Trump has met face-to-face with Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

It's the first meeting between US and Syrian leaders in 25 years.

The meeting followed a surprise announcement by Mr Trump that the US would lift sanctions on Syria.

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