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PRESS REVIEW © FRANCE 24
Issued on: 21/04/2025 – 12:21
06:19 min
Reading time 2 min
PRESS REVIEW – Monday, April 21: The New York Times reports that US. Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth sent confidential messages to a second Signal group chat. Meanwhlie, Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of breaking Putin’s “ceasefire”. Finally, unusual Easter traditions worldwide have led to some joyful photographs.
This weekend’s Easter celebrations have made the front pages of many papers; most of them are focusing on the pope’s appearances. The Independent has a photo of a “frail pope” greeting crowds from his Popemobile following a “brief” meeting with US Vice President JD Vance. Le Monde calls the meeting a clash of two Catholicisms. In Spain, El Mundo also has the meeting on their front page. The article says that tension between the Vatican and the Whitehouse escalated in February, after the Pope called Trump’s deportations inhumane. The Trump administration is hopeful that the meeting will re-establish good relations with the Holy See.
The New York Times brings us news of “Signalgate 2” this morning. The article says that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth shared confidential information on a second Signal group including the flight schedules for the F/A-18 Hornets targeting the Houthis in Yemen. The Washington Post calls it a new jolt for the Hegseth team. The article says that these latest allegations will be another test for Hegseth’s “embattled, shrinking coterie of senior advisers”. Politico has quite a damning opinion piece written by Hegseth’s former spokesperson John Ullyot. Ullyot says that the Pentagon’s dysfunction under Hegseth’s leadership is a distraction for the Trump administration. He says that Trump “deserves better”.
In Russia, Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed an Easter ceasefire announced by Vladimir Putin as a PR stunt after fighting has continued to rage on. The Kyiv Independent says that nearly 3,000 Russian ceasefire violations were recorded from front line during Easter truce according to Zelensky. The independent Russian media The Moscow Times says that both Russian and Ukrainian officials are accusing each other of breaking the Easter ceasefire. According to the Russian Defence Ministry, Ukraine shelled Russian positions over 400 times. The Independent calls “Putin’s Easter ceasefire a dangerous distraction from his original sin”. It argues that it is hard to focus on winning a war against Russia if “political efforts are diverted into quibbles over fake ceasefires”.
People have been celebrating Easter by taking part in various weird and wonderful traditions around the world. The New York Post brings us joyful photos from New York’s Bonnet Festival. Meanwhile, the Guardian focuses on the best pictures of Easter weekend, including some intense Corgi racing in Scotland.
You can catch our press review every morning on France 24 at 7:20am and 9:20am (Paris time), from Monday to Friday.
