This week, the US state of California was rocked by two mass shootings just two days apart. The massacres are just the latest in a long line of shootings that have made the US the world's number one country in gun ownership and gun deaths. The carnage pushed President Joe Biden to renew calls for Congress to act quickly on a ban on assault weapons.

At the start of a trip to Democratic Republic of Congo, Pope Francis has said that Africa is not a "mine to be stripped" as he took aim at the "poison of greed" fueling conflicts on the continent.

Large crowds turned out in the Democratic Republic of Congo's for mass with Pope Francis. The pontiff is on a six-day trip to the continent.

"May he convert the hearts of those who carry out brutal atrocities, which bring shame upon all humanity," the 86-year-old said. He added that the conflict in mineral-rich eastern Congo was driven by greed, at the expense of innocent victims, and called on combatants to lay down their arms.

Pope Francis is in Africa now. The trip takes him from Democratic Republic of Congo to South Sudan. For many in the Congolese capital, meeting the Pope is historic.

In East Jerusalem, locals are still coming to terms with the trauma of the attack that left seven people dead as they gathered to pray at a synagogue on January 27. That attack was followed by a second incident the following day, which injured two Israelis.

A papal mass drew a crowd of over a million people to Kinshasa this week. Prayers were said for peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the power of the Catholic Church is a counterweight to the state.

The leader of the Catholic Church travels to Juba along with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the moderator of the Church of Scotland. The three leaders are hoping to push for peace amid continued fighting.

Returning from Africa, Pope Francis took umbrage with those who used Pope Benedict XVI's death to attack the church. He was also joined by fellow faith leaders he traveled with in defending the gay community.

We speak to Achim Steiner, the UNDP's administrator, about the urgent need for international focus on the drivers that lead to violent extremism. In Ghana, there are fears of a spillover in violence from Burkina Faso.

Equatorial Guinea has confirmed its first outbreak of the Marburg virus, a highly infectious and deadly disease similar to Ebola, following the deaths of at least nine people, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.

Delegates from Israel and the Palestinian Authority have pledged to counter a surge in violence and de-escalate tensions. At a rare meeting, representatives said they would work for a "just and lasting peace."