WORLD

Liverpool are primed for a spectacular Premier League title party as they aim to seal a record-equalling 20th English top-flight crown against Tottenham at Anfield on Sunday.

There can never be a place for racism and hate in France, President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday after the brutal stabbing to death of a Muslim in a mosque in the south of the country.

Troops from Pakistan and India exchanged fire in disputed Kashmir for a third night in a row, officials said Sunday, as relations between the nuclear-armed rivals plunged to their lowest level in years.

With swaggering soldiers giving high kicks set to booming patriotic music cheered on by crowds, it was the usual daily border ceremony between nuclear-armed arch-rivals India and Pakistan.

Pope Francis smashed the stereotypical profile for a pontiff, becoming the Catholic Church's first leader from the Americas and the first non-European since the eighth century.

With Pope Francis laid to rest, all eyes turn now to the conclave, the secretive meeting of cardinals set to convene within days to elect a new head of the Catholic Church.

With songs, candles, tears and prayers, Buenos Aires mourners marked the burial of pontiff and native son Pope Francis Saturday.

Syria's Kurdish parties on Saturday adopted a joint political vision calling for a "decentralised democratic" state in Syria with guarantees for Kurdish rights.

Prosecutors in Turkey announced dozens more arrests Saturday as part of an ongoing corruption probe, denounced by opposition leaders as a pretext to remove resistance to an ambitious Istanbul canal project.

Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky met briefly in the hush of St Peter's basilica on the sidelines of Pope Francis's funeral on Saturday in their first encounter since a noisy White House clash, as the US president pushes the Ukrainian leader to make a peace deal with Russia.

Filipino faithful prayed the rosary inside a Manila church on Saturday as the funeral of Pope Francis played overhead on large screens.

Indian business owner Rishi Kumar Jisrani has spent two days watching a messy scramble of people haul suitcases and drop loved ones at the border with Pakistan before it shuts, with dwindling hopes his family will be allowed across.

Hamas is open to an agreement to end the war in Gaza that would see all hostages released and secure a five-year truce, an official said Saturday ahead of talks with mediators.

Many had woken up at dawn while others slept in their cars before Catholic faithful poured into St Peter's Square from all corners of the globe on Saturday, fuelled by a desire to honour Pope Francis.

Indian and Pakistani troops exchanged gunfire overnight in contested Kashmir for a second day running, the Indian army said Saturday, following a deadly shooting that New Delhi blames its arch-rival.

Virginia Giuffre, who accused disgraced US financier Jeffrey Epstein and Britain's Prince Andrew of sexual abuse, has taken her own life at her home in Australia, her family said Saturday.

Pope Francis, champion of the poor and the Church's first Latin American leader, will be honoured Saturday with a funeral attended by world leaders and tens of thousands of Catholic faithful.

The United States and Iran were to hold a fresh round of technical and high-level nuclear negotiations in Oman on Saturday, after both sides reported progress in previous meetings.

A treaty to protect the high seas will not come to life by the time the UN Oceans Conference opens in June, but persistence by member states has nudged the landmark pact towards enactment.

A gathering of global economic leaders in Washington wraps up Saturday with tariff talks between the United States and partners still unresolved -- and anxiety building over the state of the global economy.

Federal agents on Friday arrested a US judge for allegedly shielding an undocumented migrant, escalating a struggle between the White House and courts over President Donald Trump's hardline deportation policies.

Trinidad and Tobago votes in parliamentary elections Monday that will determine whether Prime Minister Stuart Young stays in power as the twin-island Caribbean nation battles an economic slump and a rise in gang violence.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi prepared for fresh nuclear talks with the United States in Oman on Friday after apparent progress in previous rounds.

Two months ago, Haider Ali waved goodbye to his wife as she left Pakistan, crossing the border to visit her family in India.

Catholics and others in secular Cuba have been paying tribute to Pope Francis, praising in particular his efforts to reconcile the communist island with its powerful neighbor, the United States.

Hundreds of mourners holding white flowers gathered on Friday at the French private school where a student killed a girl in a stabbing spree, as the prime minister suggested metal detectors to prevent future attacks.

The United States and European Union need to "de-escalate" and "negotiate a deal" to help boost lackluster growth on the continent, the International Monetary Fund's Europe director said Friday.

After President Donald Trump's administration revoked hundreds of student visas and threatened deportation for participants of pro-Palestinian campus protests, international students told AFP they were reconsidering their dreams of earning degrees in the United States.

The funeral of Pope Francis, who died on Monday aged 88, will take place Saturday.