International News
Conclave To Begin Voting For New Pope May 7— Vatican
Catholic cardinals will meet on May 7 to start voting for a new pope, the Vatican announced on Monday, a week after the death of Pope Francis.
The “Princes of the Church” under the age of 80 will meet in the Sistine Chapel to choose a new religious leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
The date was decided at a meeting of cardinals of all ages early Monday, two days after the funeral of Francis, who died on April 21 aged 88.
The Church’s 252 cardinals were called back to Rome after the Argentine’s death, although only 135 are eligible to vote in the conclave.
They hail from all corners of the globe, and many of them do not know each other.
But they already had four meetings last week, so-called “general congregations”, where they began to get better acquainted.
Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, 83, a former head of the Italian bishops’ conference, said there was a “beautiful, fraternal atmosphere”.
“Of course, there may be some difficulties because the voters have never been so numerous and not everyone knows each other,” he told Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper.
The Vatican on Monday closed the Sistine Chapel, where voting will take place under Michelangelo’s 16th-century ceiling frescoes, to begin preparations.
So far, there are few clues as to who the cardinals might choose.
“I believe that if Francis has been the pope of surprises, this conclave will be too, as it is not at all predictable,” Spanish Cardinal Jose Cobo told El País in an interview published on Sunday.
Francis was laid to rest on Saturday with a funeral and burial ceremony that drew 400,000 people to St Peter’s Square and beyond, including royalty, world leaders, and ordinary pilgrims.
On Sunday, about 70,000 mourners filed past his marble tomb in the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome, after the “pope of the poor” opted to be buried outside the Vatican’s walls.
Bookmakers’ odds
With conflicts and diplomatic crises raging around the world, Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who under Francis was secretary of state — the pope’s number two — is for many the favourite to succeed him.
British bookmakers William Hill put him slightly ahead of Filipino Luis Antonio Tagle, the Metropolitan Archbishop emeritus of Manila, followed by Ghana’s Cardinal Peter Turkson.
Next in their odds come Matteo Zuppi, the Archbishop of Bologna, Guinea’s Cardinal Robert Sarah, and Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.
While Francis’s efforts to create a more compassionate Church earned him widespread affection and respect, some of his reforms angered the Church’s conservative wing, particularly in the United States and Africa.
Roberto Regoli, a professor of Church history and culture at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, told AFP that the cardinals would be looking “to find someone who knows how to forge greater unity”.
“We are in a period in which Catholicism is experiencing various polarisations, so I don’t imagine it will be a very, very quick conclave,” he said.
Bassetti, who is too old to participate, said, however, he thought it “will not be long”.
Some 80 percent of the cardinal electors were appointed by Francis — though that is no guarantee they will pick a successor in his likeness.
Most are relatively young, and for many, it is their first conclave.
‘We need a courageous leader’
The vote is highly secretive and follows strict rules and ceremonial procedures. The process could take several days, or potentially longer.
There are four votes per day — two in the morning and two in the afternoon — until one candidate secures a two-thirds majority.
Fewer than half of those eligible to vote are European.
“The future pope must have a universal heart, love all the continents. We must not look at colour, at origin, but at what is proposed,” Cardinal Dieudonne Nzapalainga from the Central African Republic told the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero.
“We need a courageous leader, a bold one, capable of speaking forcefully, of holding the helm of the Church steady even in storms… offering stability in an era of great uncertainty.”
Patrizia Spotti, a 68-year-old Italian visiting Rome for the 2026 Jubilee holy year, told AFP Monday she hoped the new pontiff “will be a pope like Francis”.
It was a difficult time for Catholicism, she said.
“Churches are empty. And the Church itself has made mistakes, all the scandals with the children,” she said, referring to the widespread revelations of clerical sex abuse.
AFP
A Finnish appeal court has reduced the prison sentence of Biafran separatist leader, Simon Ekpa, from six to four years.
Finnish newspaper Yle disclosed this in a report on Thursday.
However, the Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the Päijät-Häme District Court, which found Ekpa guilty of terrorism-related charges last year.
The charges were related to Ekpa’s alleged activities aimed at re-establishing an independent state of Biafra in southeastern Nigeria.
Ekpa subsequently appealed the ruling, seeking to have his conviction and sentence overturned.
In a ruling that offered some relief to Ekpa, the Court of Appeal found him guilty of the same offences but reduced his prison term after considering the circumstances surrounding his actions. The court noted that the situation in the Biafran region closely resembled, but did not meet the definition of, a civil war.
Ekpa had told the court that his involvement was not motivated by terrorist intent, citing the political turmoil in the Biafran region.
The prosecutor in the case had also appealed the district court’s decision, arguing that the prison sentence did not reflect the seriousness of Ekpa’s offences.
The Federal Government has called for stronger international responsibility sharing and innovative arrangement to address the growing humanitarian needs of over 142,000 refugees and asylum seekers from 42 countries.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr. Bernard Doro, made the call while delivering Nigeria’s national statement at the 77th Session of the Executive Committee of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), currently holding at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
In a statement by his Senior Technical Adviser on Information Systems and Data Analysis, Dr. Abimbola Fasanu, the Minister disclosed that as of September 2026, Nigeria had received over 24,000 returnees and was managing a population of more than 6.7 million internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Doro reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to international refugee protection obligations, noting that the country continues to maintain an asylum system under the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI) Act of 2022.
He stated that no case of refoulement had been recorded in Nigeria in 2026, reaffirming the country’s commitment to protecting people fleeing persecution from being returned to situations where their lives or freedom could be threatened.
Highlighting progress on durable solutions, the Minister disclosed that over 7,000 Nigerian refugees had voluntarily returned from neighbouring countries this year under Tripartite Agreements, while another 14,000 in Cameroon had registered their intention to return. An agreement covering the return of 2,000 Nigerians from Niger is also being finalised.
He acknowledged the continued hospitality of Cameroon, Chad and Niger in providing refuge to displaced Nigerians.
According to the Minister, improved security conditions in parts of the country are creating opportunities for voluntary return, while Resettlement Cities established in seven locations are supporting the phased closure of displacement camps in conditions of safety and dignity.
Beyond return and resettlement, Dr. Doro outlined measures aimed at promoting self-reliance and reducing prolonged dependence on humanitarian assistance.
He explained that refugees in five states are benefiting from access to land, agricultural inputs and skills training, while the newly established Public-Private Partnership Department of the NCFRMI is supporting efforts to expand livelihood opportunities.
The Minister also cited the successful local integration of former Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees, some of whom have established businesses and become economically active members of their host communities.
On access to essential services, he disclosed that displaced persons and host communities are being enrolled in Nigeria’s national identity system to facilitate access to banking, education and social services.
He added that refugees are being incorporated into state action plans and social registers, while ten mobile documentation buses are expected to extend identity services to underserved and remote communities.
Doro further highlighted the development of a Digital Gateway in collaboration with UNHCR to provide refugees with secure online access to information.
Addressing the growing pressure on humanitarian financing, the Minister urged the international community to strengthen support for refugee-hosting countries through expanded resettlement opportunities, complementary pathways and greater responsibility-sharing.
He specifically called on UNHCR to explore partnerships with regional and subregional financial institutions, including the African Development Bank and the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development, as a means of mobilising additional resources for refugee protection and durable solutions.
The Minister emphasised that the responsibility for addressing displacement could not rest on host countries alone, particularly at a time of increasing humanitarian needs and declining international resources.
The United States has listed Nigeria among 14 countries identified for recruiting or using child soldiers, warning that the designation could trigger restrictions on certain forms of military assistance.
The listing is contained in the 2026 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, which covers the period from April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026.
According to the report, restrictions under the Child Soldiers Prevention Act (CSPA) could affect international military education and training, foreign military financing, excess defence articles, peacekeeping operations and licences for direct commercial sales of military equipment, unless a presidential waiver is granted.
Nigeria was listed alongside Afghanistan, Burma, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Iran, Russia, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Venezuela and Yemen.
The report also retained Nigeria on Tier 2 for human trafficking, a category for countries whose governments do not fully meet the minimum standards for eliminating trafficking but are making significant efforts to comply.
However, the US raised concerns about corruption and alleged official complicity in human trafficking crimes.
“The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees allegedly complicit in trafficking crimes or provide details or other actions taken against complicit officials from previous years,” the report stated.
The report also faulted Nigeria’s efforts to protect trafficking victims, stating that 675 victims received assistance in 2025, compared with 2,058 in the previous year.
It said support services, particularly for male victims, remained limited, with only one dedicated non-governmental organisation shelter for adult male victims operating during the reporting period.
The report further stated that shelters operated by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) restricted residents’ freedom of movement, while access to certain protection services depended on victims cooperating with law enforcement proceedings.
Despite these concerns, the report acknowledged increased government efforts in investigating, prosecuting and securing convictions in human trafficking cases compared with the previous reporting period.
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