Pope Francis urged Congo's young people to work for a peaceful and honest future on Thursday, directing himself to a generation that has been particularly hard hit by the country's chronic conflict and getting a raucous response when he acknowledged the corruption that threatens their prospects.
Deafening cheers and chants greeted Francis on his last full day in Congo as he joined tens of thousands of young people at the Martyrs' Stadium in the capital, Kinshasa. The Vatican said more than 65,000 people attended.

Australia is removing the British monarchy from its bank notes.
The nation's central bank said Thursday its new $5 bill would feature an Indigenous design rather than an image of King Charles III. But the king is still expected to appear on coins that currently bear the image of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

The discovery of dozens of beakers and bowls in a mummification workshop has helped reveal how ancient Egyptians embalmed their dead, with some "surprising" ingredients imported from as far as Southeast Asia, a study said Wednesday.
The exceptional collection of pottery, dating from around 664-525 BC, was found at the bottom of a 13-meter (42 feet) well at the Saqqara Necropolis south of Cairo in 2016.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Tuesday denounced activists who burned the Quran and hanged an effigy of Turkey's president in Stockholm as "useful idiots" for foreign powers who want to inflict harm on the Scandinavian country as it seeks to join NATO.
"We have seen how foreign actors, even state actors, have used these manifestations to inflame the situation in a way that is directly harmful to Swedish security," Kristersson told reporters in Stockholm, without naming any countries.

Pope Francis is opening a six-day visit to Congo and South Sudan on Tuesday, aiming to bring a message of peace to two countries riven by poverty, conflict and what Francis has called a lingering "colonialist mentality" that still considers Africa ripe for exploitation.
Aid groups are hoping Francis' trip will shine a spotlight on two of the world's forgotten conflicts and rekindle international attention on some of Africa's worst humanitarian crises, amid donor fatigue and new aid priorities in Ukraine.

France has acquired a stunning Impressionist masterpiece for its national collection of art treasures, with a donation from luxury goods giant LVMH paying the 43 million euros (nearly $47 million) for "A Boating Party" by 19th-century French artist Gustave Caillebotte.
The oil on canvas shows an oarsman in a top hat rowing his skiff on languid waters. The work, remarkable in its realism, delicate colors and almost cinematic perspective, as though the artist was in the boat with the rower, went on display Monday in the Musée d'Orsay. It is the latest addition to the Paris museum's already impressive collection of Impressionist art.

Hundreds of Indonesian Muslims marched to the heavily guarded Swedish Embassy in the country's capital on Monday to denounce the recent desecration of Islam's holy book by far-right activists in Sweden and the Netherlands.
Waving white flags bearing the Islamic declaration of faith, more than 300 demonstrators filled a major thoroughfare in downtown Jakarta and trampled and set on fire portraits of Danish anti-Islam activist Rasmus Paludan along with the flags of Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands.

Protests were held on Friday in several predominantly Muslim countries to denounce the recent desecration of Islam's holy book by far-right activists in Sweden and the Netherlands.
The protest in Lebanon ended with people dispersing peacefully.

The need to increase funding for Black feminist organizations is urgent, according to an open letter released from some of philanthropy's most influential organizations including Melinda Gates' Pivotal Ventures, Rihanna's Clara Lionel Foundation, as well as the Ford Foundation and MacArthur Foundation.
"It's time to fund Black feminist movements like we want them to win," supporters of the nonprofit Black Feminist Fund write in the letter to other philanthropists. "Because across our most urgent global challenges – from Colombia to Sudan, Brazil and Nigeria, to the U.S. and France – Black feminists are dreaming and delivering the solutions we need."

The highest-ranking woman at the United Nations has said she used everything in her "toolbox" during meetings with Taliban ministers to try to reverse their crackdown on Afghan women and girls, and she urged Muslim countries to help the Taliban move from the "13th century to the 21st."
Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, a former Nigerian Cabinet minister and a Muslim, said at a news conference that four Taliban ministers, including the foreign minister and a deputy prime minister, spoke "off one script" during meetings with her delegation last week.
