Pope Leo moved Saturday to de-escalate his public dispute with President Donald Trump, telling reporters aboard his flight to Angola that coverage of his Africa remarks had not been 'accurate in all its aspects.' The pope clarified that his Cameroon speech, in which he said the world was being 'ravaged by a handful of tyrants', was drafted two weeks before Trump publicly attacked him, not in response to it. 'It was looked at as if I was trying to debate the president, which is not in my interest at all,' Leo said. The sequence matters: Trump called Leo 'weak on crime, and terrible for foreign policy' on Truth Social as the tour began Sunday, separately posting an AI-generated image of himself as a Jesus-like figure that was deleted Monday after bipartisan backlash. Leo had signaled earlier in the week he would continue speaking out on the US-Israeli war against Iran, which appears to have triggered Trump's initial post. The first American pope is midway through an 18-flight, 11-city, four-country tour, one of the most logistically complex papal trips ever arranged, and has used it to introduce a markedly more combative public voice on war and inequality than he showed in his first 10 months in office.
Venezuela's earthquake death toll has reached 1,430 with the US Geological Survey warning fatalities could top 10,000, placing it among Latin America's deadliest in a century. US military planes are landing in Caracas, Washington is mobilising $150 million in aid, and rescue teams from 17 countries are on the ground.
Iranian armed forces attacked a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, briefly halting traffic through the waterway. The strike threatens a fragile US-Iran arrangement and could push shipping insurance costs and oil prices higher.
The US has struck Iran, with President Trump citing an Iranian attack on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz as justification. The action raises immediate risks for global oil flows through one of the world's most critical shipping chokepoints.
The US struck ten Iranian targets on the second consecutive day of military action, putting a fragile ceasefire under serious pressure. The escalation raises immediate risks for Gulf shipping, global oil supply, and regional stability.
