Pope had coughing fit, inhaled vomit and now requires assisted ventilation, Vatican says

Pope had coughing fit, inhaled vomit and now requires assisted ventilation, Vatican says
Pope Francis’ complex respiratory infection isn't life-threatening, but he's not out of danger, his medical team said Friday. (AFP/File)
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Updated 01 March 2025
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Pope had coughing fit, inhaled vomit and now requires assisted ventilation, Vatican says

Pope had coughing fit, inhaled vomit and now requires assisted ventilation, Vatican says
  • The episode, which occurred in the early afternoon, resulted in a “sudden worsening of the respiratory picture”
  • Doctors decided to keep Francis’ prognosis as guarded and indicated they needed 24 to 48 hours to evaluate how and if the episode impacted his overall clinical condition

ROME: Pope Francis suffered an isolated coughing fit on Friday that resulted in him inhaling vomit and requiring non-invasive mechanical ventilation, the Vatican said in relaying an alarming setback in his two-week long battle against double pneumonia.
The 88-year-old pope remained conscious and alert at all times and cooperated with the maneuvers to help him recover. He responded well, with a good level of oxygen exchange and was continuing to wear a mask to receive supplemental oxygen, the Vatican said.
The episode, which occurred in the early afternoon, resulted in a “sudden worsening of the respiratory picture.” Doctors decided to keep Francis’ prognosis as guarded and indicated they needed 24 to 48 hours to evaluate how and if the episode impacted his overall clinical condition.
The development marked a setback in what had been two successive days of increasingly upbeat reports from doctors treating Francis at Rome’s Gemelli hospital since Feb. 14. The pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, has lung disease and was admitted after a bout of bronchitis worsened and turned into pneumonia in both lungs.
Dr. John Coleman, a pulmonary critical care doctor at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, said the episode as relayed by the Vatican was alarming and underscored Francis’ fragility and that his condition “can turn very quickly.”
“I think this is extremely concerning, given the fact that the pope has been in the hospital now for over two weeks, and now he’s continuing to have these respiratory events and now had this aspiration event that is requiring even higher levels of support,” he told The Associated Press.
“So given his age and his fragile state and his previous lung resection, this is very concerning,” added Coleman, who is not involved in Francis’ care.
Dr. William Feldman, a pulmonary specialist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said it was a good sign that the pope remained alert and oriented, but concurred that the episode marked “a worrying turn.”
“Often we will use noninvasive ventilation as a way of trying to stave off an intubation, or the use of invasive mechanical ventilation,” Feldman said.
Types of noninvasive ventilation include a BiPAP machine, which helps people breathe by pushing air into their lungs. Doctors will often try such a machine for a while to see if the patient’s blood gas levels improve so they can eventually go back to using oxygen alone.
The episode, which doctors described as an “isolated crisis of bronchial spasm” began as a coughing fit in which Francis inhaled vomit. The longer respiratory crisis Francis suffered on Feb. 22 was a longer crisis in actually breathing, the Vatican said.
Doctors did not resume referring to Francis being in “critical condition,” which has been absent from their statements for three days now. But they say he isn’t out of danger, given the complexity of his case.
Earlier on Friday, Francis had spent the morning alternating high flows of supplemental oxygen with a mask and praying in the chapel. He had breakfast, read the day’s newspapers and was receiving respiratory physiotherapy, the Vatican said.
The Vatican also published a document signed by Francis on Feb. 26 “From the Gemelli Polyclinic,” a new official tagline that showed Francis was still working from the hospital.
Prayers continued to pour in
Late on Friday, Francis’ closest friend in the Vatican bureaucracy, Argentine Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, led the nightly prayer in St. Peter’s Square to pray for Francis’ health.
With other cardinals bundled against the night chill, Fernández urged the crowd to pray not just for Francis but for others as the pope himself would.
“Certainly it is close to the Holy Father’s heart that our prayer is not only for him, but also for all those who in this particular dramatic and suffering moment of the world, bear the hard burden of war, of sickness, of poverty,” said Fernández, the Vatican’s doctrine chief.
In Mexico City, a few dozen people gathered Thursday night at the cathedral to pray for Francis’ recovery.
“He is like part of the family,” said Araceli Gutiérrez, who treasures the time she saw the pope during his trip to the country of nearly 100 million Catholics in 2016. “That’s why we feel so concerned for him.”
María Teresa Sánchez, who was visiting from Colombia with her sister, said that she has always felt close to Francis — the first Latin American pope.
“That’s like having a relative within the higher-ups, with God,” she said. “He has done so much for religion; he’s such a humble person.”


Putin not listed in Kremlin delegation for Istanbul talks: statement

Putin not listed in Kremlin delegation for Istanbul talks: statement
Updated 40 sec ago
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Putin not listed in Kremlin delegation for Istanbul talks: statement

Putin not listed in Kremlin delegation for Istanbul talks: statement
The Kremlin late Wednesday named four negotiators

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin was not on a list of negotiators the Kremlin published for talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on Thursday, despite Kyiv insisting he attend and some allies calling on him to attend.

The Kremlin late Wednesday named four negotiators — including a hawkish former culture minister — and four experts for the talks, set to take place on Thursday in Istanbul.

Pope Leo says he will make ‘every effort’ for world peace

Pope Leo XIV visits the apartment III Loggia, in The Vatican. (AFP)
Pope Leo XIV visits the apartment III Loggia, in The Vatican. (AFP)
Updated 22 min 30 sec ago
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Pope Leo says he will make ‘every effort’ for world peace

Pope Leo XIV visits the apartment III Loggia, in The Vatican. (AFP)
  • Pope Leo warned against the rise of simplistic narratives that divide the world into good and evil
  • “Our neighbors are not first our enemies, but fellow human beings,” he said

VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIV, the first American to head the global Catholic Church, pledged on Wednesday to make “every effort” for peace and offered the Vatican as a mediator in global conflicts, saying war was “never inevitable.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who spoke to the Pope soon after his election, welcomed the Pontiff’s offer and repeated that Kyiv backed all efforts to end his country’s war with Russia.
Leo, elected last week to succeed the late Pope Francis, has already made repeated calls for peace. His first words to crowds in St. Peter’s Square were “Peace be with all of you.”
He returned to the issue while addressing members of the Eastern Catholic Churches, some of which are based in conflict-ridden places such as Ukraine, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq and often face persecution as religious minorities.
“The Holy See is always ready to help bring enemies together, face-to-face, to talk to one another, so that peoples everywhere may once more find hope and recover the dignity they deserve, the dignity of peace,” Leo said.
“War is never inevitable. Weapons can and must be silenced, for they do not resolve problems but only increase them. Those who make history are the peacemakers, not those who sow seeds of suffering,” he added.
Pope Leo warned against the rise of simplistic narratives that divide the world into good and evil. “Our neighbors are not first our enemies, but fellow human beings,” he said.
On Sunday, the pontiff called for an “authentic and lasting peace” in Ukraine; a ceasefire in Gaza and release of all Israeli hostages held by militant group Hamas; and he also welcomed the fragile ceasefire between India and Pakistan.
Zelensky, writing in English on the X social media platform, said he was grateful to Pope Leo “for his wise words about the Holy See’s willingness to play a mediatory role in restoring global peace.”
“We appreciate the Pontiff’s insightful statement and reiterate our commitment to advancing meaningful peace efforts, including a full ceasefire and a personal highest-level meeting with Russia.”
Later, in his nightly video address, Zelensky said: “The Vatican can help diplomacy. There is support for a direct meeting from leaders of the Global South. And this voice is being heard.”
First leader to speak to new pope
Leo spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday in his first known conversation with a foreign leader as pope. He offered to facilitate peace talks as world leaders come to his inauguration mass, the Ukrainian leader said.
Zelensky hopes to be present for the event in St. Peter’s Square on May 18 and is ready to hold meetings on the sidelines, the Ukrainian leader’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak told Reuters on Tuesday.


Mauritania ex-leader Aziz jailed on appeal for 15 years

Mauritania ex-leader Aziz jailed on appeal for 15 years
Updated 14 May 2025
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Mauritania ex-leader Aziz jailed on appeal for 15 years

Mauritania ex-leader Aziz jailed on appeal for 15 years
  • Aziz had appealed his original five-year sentence after his conviction two years ago of using his power to amass a fortune
  • Aziz, 68, remained impassive when the decision was announced

NOUAKCHOTT: An appeals court sentenced Mauritania’s former president Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz to 15 years in prison on Wednesday for abuse of office and illicit enrichment.

Aziz, who came to power in a 2008 coup, had appealed his original five-year sentence after his conviction two years ago of using his power to amass a fortune.

The former leader, who has been in custody since his original trial began in January 2023, appeared alongside several former top officials and advisers also facing charges of abuse of office, illicit enrichment, influence peddling and money laundering.

The court in the capital Nouakchott also upheld the confiscation of Aziz’s assets and the stripping of his civic rights.

Aziz, 68, remained impassive when the decision was announced, an AFP journalist saw.

Investigators estimate that Aziz, who led the northwest African country of 4.5 million people for more than a decade, accumulated assets and capital worth $70 million during his presidency.

He was found guilty and sentenced to five years in jail in December 2023.

Aziz was excluded from the 2019 presidential election, won by his former right-hand man, Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, who had been at his side for the coup and acted successively as his chief of staff then defense minister.

Aziz led the country linking the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa until 2019, returning to general stability a nation once prone to coups and jihadist activities.

He groomed Ghazouani as his successor and handed over to him after elections in 2019 in what was the first peaceful transition of power in a country that proclaimed independence from France in 1960 but then saw decades of political unrest.

At the time of his indictment investigators estimated that Aziz, the son of a merchant, had amassed wealth and capital of 67 million euros ($75 million) over his time in power.

Although not denying his wealth, Aziz has always strenuously contested the accusations against him, seeing a conspiracy to oust him from political life.

His successor has always denied any interference in the case. After remaining discreet about where he had obtained his wealth, Aziz surprised everyone toward the end of his trial by implicating his successor.

He claimed that, the day after the 2019 election, Ghazouani had handed him two suitcases filled with several million euros.


Neo-Nazis plotted terrorist attacks on UK mosques and synagogues

Neo-Nazis plotted terrorist attacks on UK mosques and synagogues
Updated 14 May 2025
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Neo-Nazis plotted terrorist attacks on UK mosques and synagogues

Neo-Nazis plotted terrorist attacks on UK mosques and synagogues
  • Court in Britain convicts three far-right extremists who stockpiled more than 200 weapons

LONDON: Three far-right extremists were convicted in a UK court on Wednesday of planning terrorist attacks against mosques and synagogues.

The men were part of an online neo-Nazi group that had stockpiled more than 200 weapons and were close to finishing a 3-D printed semi-automatic gun.

Brogan Stewart, 25, Marco Pitzettu, 25, and Christopher Ringrose, 34, were found guilty of multiple terrorism and firearms offenses, following a nine-week trial at Sheffield Crown Court. They will be sentenced in July.

The group were arrested in February last year after an investigation by counter terrorism police found that the men were intent on carrying out a violent attack.

“These extremists were plotting violent acts of terrorism against synagogues, mosques and Islamic education centers,” said Bethan David, head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s Counter Terrorism Division. “By their own admission, they were inspired by SS (Nazi) tactics and supremacist ideology.”

Counter terrorism police said that the men belonged to an online group that provided an echo chamber of extreme right-wing views. They shared horrific racial slurs, glorified mass murderers and encouraged violence.

The group, which idolized the Nazi Germany regime, prepared for what they claimed would be a “race war” by sourcing body armor and weapons including machetes, hunting knives, swords and crossbows.

“They were a group that espoused vile racist views and advocated for violence, all to support their extreme right-wing mindset,” said Detective Chief Superintendent James Dunkerley, head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East. “All three took real-world steps to plan and prepare for carrying out an attack on innocent citizens.”


Saudi crown prince hopes India-Pakistan ceasefire restores ‘calm’ between neighbors

Saudi crown prince hopes India-Pakistan ceasefire restores ‘calm’ between neighbors
Updated 14 May 2025
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Saudi crown prince hopes India-Pakistan ceasefire restores ‘calm’ between neighbors

Saudi crown prince hopes India-Pakistan ceasefire restores ‘calm’ between neighbors
  • India and Pakistan exchanged missiles, drone attacks and artillery fire last week before agreeing to ceasefire
  • Saudi Arabia was one of several countries that defused tensions between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday hoped the recent ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan would contain escalation and “restore calm” between the two neighbors, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

Pakistan has credited Saudi Arabia and several other nations for playing a constructive role in defusing its tensions with India last week after fighting erupted between the two. US President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that Washington had brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, calming fears of an all-out war between the nuclear-armed states.

The Saudi crown prince welcomed the ceasefire during his opening address at the GCC-USA summit in Riyadh on Wednesday, which was held in Trump’s presence.

“We welcome the ceasefire agreement between Pakistan and India and hope that it will contain escalation and restore calm between the two countries,” the crown prince said as per the SPA.

The Saudi crown prince said the Kingdom aimed to work with Trump and GCC countries to de-escalate tensions in the region, end the war in Gaza and seek a “lasting and comprehensive solution” to the Palestinian cause.

“Our objective is to ensure security and peace for the peoples of the region,” he said. “We reiterate our support for all endeavors aimed at resolving crises and halting conflicts through peaceful means.”

The fragile ceasefire has temporarily halted hostilities with India and Pakistan trading blame for the conflict.