International

The pope’s doctor reveals his last moments of life and that he wanted to “die at home”

The doctor of the Gemelli hospital in Rome Sergio Alfieri, coordinator of the team that attended Pope Francis, told this Thursday the last moments of the pontiff’s life: “I entered his room and his eyes were open. I checked that he had no breathing problems and tried to call him but he did not answer,” he said and explained that he decided not to take him to the hospital because his desire was to “die at home.”

“I didn’t respond to the stimuli, not even to the painful ones. At that moment I realized that I couldn’t do anything else. I was in a coma,” Alfieri explains in statements published in the Italian media.

According to the doctor, “if he had lost consciousness” he would have “had to follow the guidelines of his personal health assistant, Massimiliano Strappetti, who was like a son for the Holy Father” and who were those of “no therapeutic cruelty.”

“During his last hospitalization he expressly asked that intubation not be carried out in any case,” which “would have helped him breathe, but it would have been difficult to go back and extubate him, with the lungs infected with a virus,” he explains.

The one who was also his surgeon in two operations explained: “On Monday around 5:30 in the morning I received a call from Strappetti: The Holy Father is very sick we have to go back to the Gemelli. I warned everyone and twenty minutes later I was there in Santa Marta, it seemed difficult to think that an income was necessary.”

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“We ran the risk of him dying in the transfer, I explained to him that hospitalization would have been useless. Strappetti knew that the pope wanted to die at home, he always said it when we were in the Gemelli. He died shortly after,” recalls Alfieri.

In another interview, he says that “he never exposed himself to danger.”

“It’s as if, approaching the end, I had decided to do what I had to do. As happened on Easter Sunday, “when he accepted the proposal of his personal health assistant Massimiliano Strappetti to go around the square through the crowd,” he adds.

About the cause of death, Alfieri explains that “it was one of those heart attacks that take you in an hour, maybe an embolus started and a blood vessel in the brain was occluded. Maybe there was a hemorrhage. These are events that can happen to anyone, but the elderly are more at risk, especially if they move little.”

According to the death certificate, signed by the director of Health and Hygiene of the Vatican City State, Andrea Arcangeli, the death occurred at 7:35 local hours (5:35 GMT) on April 21 in his apartment, the Vatican residence Casa Santa Marta, due to a stroke, which resulted in a coma and then a cardiocirculatory arrest.

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International

IEA warns Middle East conflict could spark worst energy crisis in decades

The ongoing conflict in the Middle East could trigger the worst energy crisis in decades, warned Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), who described the situation as “very serious.”

Speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra, Birol compared the current scenario to the oil crises of the 1970s, noting that during those events the world lost around five million barrels of oil per day in each crisis.

“Today, we have lost 11 million barrels per day—more than the two major oil shocks combined,” he said.

The Turkish economist referred to the conflict that began on February 28, following attacks by the United States and Israel against Iran, which have significantly disrupted global energy markets and driven oil prices higher.

Birol warned that the global economy is facing a “very, very serious threat” and expressed hope that the crisis will be resolved soon.

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“No country will be immune to the effects of this crisis if it continues in this direction. Global efforts are urgently needed,” he emphasized.

International

Colombian Air Force Hercules plane crashes during takeoff with troops onboard

A Lockheed C-130 Hercules operated by the Colombian Air Force was involved in a “tragic accident” while taking off from Puerto Leguízamo, in the Putumayo department of southern Colombia, as it was transporting troops, Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez reported on Monday.

The minister stated on social media that the exact number of victims and the causes of the crash have not yet been determined. He also extended his condolences to the families affected and urged the public to avoid speculation until official information is confirmed.

“This is a deeply painful event for the country. Our prayers are with the victims and their families,” Sánchez said, adding that emergency protocols have been activated and an investigation is underway.

Meanwhile, President Gustavo Petro expressed hope that there would be no fatalities in what he described as a “horrific accident that should not have happened.”

Petro also highlighted ongoing efforts to modernize the country’s air fleet and reiterated the need to acquire new helicopters and transport aircraft to strengthen military mobility, particularly in remote regions.

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According to local media reports, approximately 110 soldiers were on board the aircraft. So far, at least 20 injured military personnel have been rescued.

International

Paris prosecutors alert U.S. over alleged deepfake strategy linked to Elon Musk

The Paris Prosecutor’s Office said on Saturday that it had alerted authorities in the United States over suspicions that tech entrepreneur Elon Musk may have encouraged the spread of sexualized deepfake content on the social platform X to artificially boost the company’s valuation.

According to prosecutors, the controversy surrounding explicit AI-generated videos—reportedly linked to Grok, the platform’s artificial intelligence system—may have been deliberately triggered to increase the market value of X and X AI.

The office added that the alleged strategy could be tied to the planned June 2026 public listing of a new entity formed through the merger of SpaceX and X AI.

French authorities said they contacted the U.S. Department of Justice as well as legal representatives at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) earlier this week to share their concerns.

Responding on X in French to a report about the case, Musk referred to French prosecutors using an offensive term.

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When contacted, X’s legal representative in France did not immediately comment.

Grok, the platform’s AI system, has its own account on X, allowing users to interact with it or request content generation. For a period, users were able to tag the bot in posts to generate or edit images, a feature that may have facilitated the spread of such material.