Blogs
on September 15, 2025
Peter's Square and then delivering his twice-annual "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) blessing and message from the central external balcony of St. Peter's Basilica. (Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Christina Fincher)
Some believe Putin miscalculated by declaring war on his westerly neighbour and that he underestimated the unpopularity of such a move back home, with one aide to jailed opposition leader Mr Navalny predicting it will be his downfall.
<img src="https://burst.shopifycdn.com/photos/closeup-photo-of-ipad-pencil-4.jpg?width=746&format=pjpg&exif=0&iptc=0"; style="max-width:450px;float:left;padding:10px 10px 10px 0px;border:0px;" alt="" />'I realise I hadn't had an education, and I tried some side jobs, 9-5 jobs and none of it worked. So I did a bit of study on how to work in something you love. That was social media, and it's really started to take off in the last year.'
The TV watchdog said RT's licensee, ANO TV Novosti, is 'not fit and proper' to hold a licence amid 29 ongoing investigations into the 'due impartiality of the news and current affairs coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine'.
Video posted by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty shows military ambulances driving through the Belarusian city of Homel, with employees at the region's clinical hospital alleging more than 2,500 bodies have been shipped back to Russia
Reading his homily in a strong and confident voice, Francis said that even when people felt the wellspring of hope had dried up, it was important not to be frozen in a sense of defeat but to seek an "interior resurrection" with God's help.
A statement released by the regulator on Friday said: 'We consider the volume and types reading comprehension potentially serious nature of the issues raised within such a short period to be of great concern - especially given RT's compliance history, which has seen the channel fined £200,000 for previous due impartiality breaches.
The network, which has been described as Vladimir Putin's 'personal propaganda tool', was previously fined £200,000 for 'serious and repeated' breaches of impartiality rules over a string of 2018 broadcasts on the Salisbury poisonings and the Syrian war.
In his interview, Lukashenko - who allowed Russia to use his country as a staging post for the Ukraine invasion on February 24 - boasted that he and Putin were 'friends' as he bemoaned the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991.
There, from the same spot where he first appeared to the world as pope on the night of his election in 2013, he spoke of "the darkness and the gloom in which, all too often, our world finds itself enveloped", and prayed to God for peace.
"We may feel helpless and discouraged before the power of evil, the conflicts that tear relationships apart, the attitudes of calculation and indifference that seem to prevail in society, the cancer of corruption, the spread of injustice, the icy winds of war," he said.
Daniel Kebede (centre) has been outspoken on his political stances - including a statement after threats from Russian president Vladimir Putin against Ukraine where he criticised Nato involvement in the conflict
Between the Mass and his reading of the message, Francis, appearing in fine form, was driven in a popemobile around the square and down the main boulevard leading to the River Tiber so more people could see him.
Video posted by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty shows military ambulances driving through the Belarusian city of Homel in early March, with employees at the region's clinical hospital claiming more than 2,500 bodies have already been shipped back to Russia as of March 13.
Putin is said to be furious at the slow pace of his campaign, which he had hoped to end within days given his country's military superiority - on paper at least - and has fired at least eight generals since waging war on the former Soviet state, intelligence sources claim.
Meanwhile, an aide to jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny today suggested Putin had massively miscalculated, predicting the 'unpopular' war and its economic consequences would lead to the 'demise' of his regime within five years.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had suggested the growingly desperate leader - who has yet to make any significant inroads in Ukraine - is being 'irrational', while Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte described him as 'totally paranoid'.
An aide to jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny (pictured) today suggested Putin had massively miscalculated, predicting the 'unpopular' war and its economic consequences would lead to the 'demise' of his regime within five years.
Warring Vladimir Putin is healthy, sane and 'in better shape than ever', his closest European ally has claimed - on the same day he reportedly fired a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile in Ukraine, in a terrifying first.
As he has done every Easter, Francis called for peace in the Middle East, his appeal made more urgent by recent violence in Jerusalem and cross-border exchanges of fire involving Israel, Lebanon and Syria.
On Sunday he asked God to "comfort the wounded and all those who have lost loved ones because of the war, and grant that prisoners may return safe and sound to their families. Open the hearts of the entire international community to strive to end this war and all conflict and bloodshed in our world."