ROME — Pope Francis’ recovery from double pneumonia continued Wednesday as a chest X-ray confirmed improvement, two days after doctors declared he is no longer in imminent danger of death.
The latest medical bulletin said the pope’s condition remained stable but indicated a complex picture considering his overall fragility.
The Vatican said Francis, 88, again followed its spiritual retreat remotely and resumed physical and respiratory therapy after a quiet night. He continues to receive high flows of oxygen through nasal tubes during the day and a noninvasive mechanical mask to aid his rest at night.
His weekly Wednesday general audience was canceled since the Vatican hierarchy is on retreat this week as part of the Lenten spiritual exercises that have been a mainstay of the Jesuit pope’s pontificate.
Francis faces important milestones this week.
On Thursday, he marks the 12th anniversary of his election as the 266th pope. The Holy See has not said how the anniversary, a public holiday in the Vatican, might be commemorated. No medical bulletin will be issued.
The former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected on the fifth ballot of the 2013 conclave that was called after Pope Benedict XVI resigned.
While Francis has praised Benedict’s humility in stepping down and said he might follow in his footsteps, more recently he has said the papacy is a job for life.
Another milestone comes Friday, when Francis marks four weeks of hospitalization.
St. John Paul II holds the record for a hospital stay, at 55 days, when in 1981 he underwent a minor surgical operation and then was treated for a cytomegalovirus infection.
Francis is on track to equal the second-longest stay, 28 days, which John Paul recorded in 1994, when he had surgery to repair his right hip joint after he fractured his right femur in a fall, according to Gemelli hospital.
The Vatican has released no photos or video of Francis since he was admitted. The pope recorded an audio message last week to thank people for their prayers, though the weakness and breathlessness of his voice made clear how frail he was.
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SARAJEVO — Bosnian state prosecutors on Wednesday ordered the arrest of Russian-backed Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik and his aides for ignoring a court summons, raising the stakes in a standoff that threatens the Balkan country’s stability.
The decision was taken two weeks after a separate case in which Dodik was sentenced to a year in jail for defying the rulings of an international peace envoy, a spokesperson from the state security agency, SIPA, said.
Prosecutors have sought the help of Bosnia’s State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) in the arrest, which comes after Dodik and aides ignored a court summons. It was not clear if the plan was to detain Dodik or to accompany him to answer the summons.
The state prosecutors’ office was investigating Dodik, the pro-Russian nationalist president of Bosnia’s autonomous Serb Republic, for what it described as an attack on constitutional order after he initiated the adoption of laws barring state judiciary and police from the region after his sentencing.
“We have received a request from the court police of Bosnia and Herzegovina to assist them,” SIPA spokeswoman Jelena Miovcic said.
Serb Republic television, citing the regional government, reported that the state prosecution has also ordered the arrest of Serb Republic Prime Minister Radovan Viskovic and regional parliament president Nenad Stevandic over ignoring summons in the case of the attack on constitutional order.
The Serb Republic is one of two regions created to end a 1992-95 war that killed more than 1000,000 people in multi-ethnic Bosnia. They are linked by a weak central government in a state supervised by an international authority to stop it slipping back into conflict.
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WASHINGTON — For more than 70 years, Irish leaders have visited the White House for the annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration of Irish-America heritage.
But this year, Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheal Martin will need to present President Donald Trump with more than just the traditional gift of a bowl of shamrock, as he navigates potential friction over Ireland’s low defense spending, support for Palestinians in Gaza and Ukrainians, and the large trade imbalance between the two countries.
While past Irish prime ministers enjoyed warm White House hospitality from former President Joe Biden, who often highlighted his “fierce pride” of his Irish ancestry, Wednesday’s meeting will largely be a test of Martin’s diplomatic acumen as he navigates the relationship with a crucial partner his country depends on economically.
Martin appeared clear-eyed about the stakes of his visit.
“I am very, very conscious that in a very challenging world, thousands and thousands of jobs depend on the economic relationship between the United States and Ireland,” he said Monday at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, where he began his U.S. tour.
“And my overriding objective is to copper fasten that for the time ahead and to protect those people who are working in jobs,” Martin said.
The meeting comes amid concern in Ireland about Trump’s moves to impose steep new tariffs on Canada and Mexico, neighboring countries that have large trade imbalances with the United States.
According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Ireland holds the fourth-largest trade surplus with the U.S., about $87 billion, behind Vietnam, Mexico and China but ahead of Canada. Trump has also threatened to apply tariffs on goods from the European Union, which would also affect Ireland, an EU member.
Ireland is also highly dependent on long-standing investment from U.S. multinational companies for jobs, tax revenue and exports. According to data from the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland, around 970 U.S. companies directly employ 211,000 people and indirectly support a further 168,000 jobs across Ireland.
Major American companies including Apple, Google, Microsoft, Meta and Pfizer have established European headquarters in the country, lured by its English-speaking and skilled workforce, access to the European single market, and its low corporate tax rate of 12.5%.
As president-elect, Trump pledged to slash the U.S. corporate tax rate to match the Irish rate and “reshore” American companies, bringing back their business activities and their tax dollars.
The U.S. is an “absolutely critical partner,” and the Irish have “a lot of trepidation” on what Trump might bring up during this meeting, said Eoin Drea, senior researcher at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies.
“The best-case scenario would be if there is no public bust up or major disagreement” between the leaders, Drea told VOA.
Ukraine and Gaza
Taxes and tariffs aside, Martin will also need to navigate geopolitical divides, including on Ukraine and Gaza.
The Irish prime minister will be the first foreign leader to visit the White House following the fiery exchange between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 11 days ago. Dublin’s position mirrors that of Kyiv’s, in that Ukraine needs U.S.-backed security guarantees to secure a ceasefire with Russia.
But out of all the potential irritants, Gaza might be the issue that needs the most delicate handling from Martin. Irish opposition leaders including Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and Labour Party politician Duncan Smith have pressed Martin to stand up to Trump and advocate for the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza.
Dublin is one of Europe’s staunchest critics of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, and one of only three European states, along with Norway and Spain, that in 2024 recognized the State of Palestine. It has also joined a South African legal action at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
The Irish delegation would be wise to keep the focus on economic issues, where the two countries are “less diametrically opposed” as they are compared to their positions on Gaza, Drea said.
As Trump presses European countries to boost spending and rely less on Washington for its security, Ireland’s low defense spending, only 0.2% of the gross domestic product, is another area where the U.S. can exert pressure.
Ireland is not a member of NATO and relies heavily on the United Kingdom for its defense, including to protect the massive network of undersea cables that make the backbone of global internet and communication systems. Seventy-five percent of all transatlantic cables go through, or are close to, Irish waters.
To counter pressures from the deal-making American president, the Irish government “would be clever to induce some kind of personalized incentives,” Drea said, noting Trump’s properties in Ireland, including one of the country’s most famous golf courses.
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NUUK, Greenland — Polling stations closed in Greenland on Tuesday in a parliamentary election brought into the international spotlight by U.S. President Donald Trump’s pledge to take control of the mineral-rich island, firing up a debate over its independence.
Voting had been extended by half an hour past a 2200 GMT deadline amid high turnout at several of the 72 polling stations across the arctic island, where 40,500 people were eligible to cast their ballots.
There were no exit polls, and a final tally of the vote could take between three and five hours to complete, Greenland’s election authority has said.
Since taking office in January, Trump has vowed to make Greenland — a semiautonomous territory of Denmark — part of the United States, saying it is vital to U.S. security interests.
The vast island, with a population of 57,000, has been caught up in a geopolitical race for dominance in the Arctic, where melting ice caps are making its resources more accessible and opening new shipping routes. Both Russia and China have intensified military activity in the region.
Greenland is a former Danish colony and a territory since 1953. It gained some autonomy in 1979 when its first parliament was formed, but Copenhagen still controls foreign affairs, defense and monetary policy and provides just under $1 billion a year to the economy.
In 2009, it won the right to declare full independence through a referendum, even though it has not done so out of concern living standards would drop without Denmark’s economic support.
“I strongly believe that we will very soon start to live a life more based on who we are, based on our culture, based on our own language, and start to make regulations based on us, not based on Denmark,” said Qupanuk Olsen, candidate for the main pro-independence party Naleraq.
Inge Olsvig Brandt, a candidate for the ruling Inuit Ataqatigiit Party, said:
“We don’t need the independence right now. We have too many things to work on. I think we have to work with ourselves, our history, and we are going to have a lot of healing work with us before we can take the next step.”
Trump’s interest has shaken up the status quo, and coupled with the growing pride of the Indigenous people in their Inuit culture, put independence front and center in the election.
In the final debate on Greenland’s state broadcaster KNR late on Monday, leaders of the five parties currently in parliament unanimously said they did not trust Trump.
“He is trying to influence us. I can understand if citizens feel insecure,” said Erik Jensen, leader of government coalition partner Siumut.
A January poll suggested a majority of Greenland’s inhabitants support independence but are divided on timing.
Early on, the election campaign focused on the anger and frustration aimed at historical wrongdoings by former colonial ruler Denmark, according to Julie Rademacher, a consultant and former adviser to Greenland’s government.
“But I think the fear of the U.S. imperialist approach has lately become bigger than the anger towards Denmark,” said Rademacher.
Reuters spoke to more than a dozen Greenlanders in Nuuk, all of whom said they favored independence, although many expressed concern that a swift transition could damage the economy and eliminate Nordic welfare services like universal health care and free schooling.
The island holds substantial natural resources, including critical minerals such as rare earths used in high-tech industries, ranging from electric vehicles to missile systems.
However, Greenland has been slow to extract them because of environmental concerns, severe weather, and China’s near-total control of the sector, which has made it difficult for companies elsewhere to make a profit or secure buyers.
Trump initially declined to rule out military force, alarming many Greenlanders, although he later softened his stance, stating he would respect the will of the local people and was “ready to invest billions of dollars” if they joined the U.S.
Greenland’s prime minister, Mute Egede, has stressed the island is not for sale and advocated for a broad coalition government to resist external pressure. In an interview aired on Monday by Danish broadcaster DR, he dismissed Trump’s offer as disrespectful, expressing willingness to cooperate with other countries instead.
Denmark’s prime minister has said Greenland is not for sale but made it clear that it is up to the local people to decide their future.
The pro-independence Naleraq Party, the leading opposition force, has gained momentum ahead of the election, bolstered by U.S. interest and fresh accusations of Denmark’s historic exploitation of Greenland’s mineral wealth.
The party believes the U.S. attention strengthens Greenland’s position in secession talks with Denmark and aims to bring a deal with Copenhagen to a vote before the next election in four years.
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Belgrade, Serbia — Several hundred student protesters have blocked Serbia’s public television station building in Belgrade as tensions soar in the Balkan country, days ahead of a large rally planned for the weekend and billed as an endgame in months of anti-government demonstrations.
The students first blocked the TV building in central Belgrade, Serbia’s capital, late on Monday and several hundred gathered again on Tuesday, after announcing that their blockade will last for at least 22 hours. A similar blockade was organized in the country’s second-largest city of Novi Sad.
University students in Serbia are behind almost daily rallies that started after a concrete canopy crashed down in November at a railway station in Novi Sad, killing 15 people. The protests have rocked the populist rule of President Aleksandar Vucic and his firm grip on power.
During the blockade late Monday, riot police briefly intervened with batons as the crowd tried to block one of the entrances to the TV building with metal security fences. At least one plainclothes police officer was injured in skirmishes after apparently being struck in the head by a uniformed officer, according to a video released on social media.
The students blame public TV for biased reporting and for siding with Vucic and the government during the demonstrations. The Serbian president was the guest of the main TV news bulletin on Monday evening.
During the interview, Vucic insulted the student-led protests, warning that security forces will use force against participants of the big rally planned for Saturday. He pledged never to step down because of the massive nationwide demonstrations.
“You will have to kill me if you want to replace me,” he said,
The TV reporter who interviewed Vucic called the protesting students “a mob,” which the president appeared to approve of. The station, RTS, issued a statement, denouncing the blockade.
“Forcibly preventing RTS employees from coming to their workplaces represents a dangerous step into open conflicts with unpredictable consequences,” it said.
Some of the TV station’s employees apparently managed to enter the building through a side entrance that’s not publicly known, allowing the program to continue uninterrupted.
Meanwhile, Vucic met with U.S. President Donald Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., who arrived in Belgrade on Tuesday. The purpose of his visit was not immediately known. Pro-Russian Vucic is a vocal supporter of the U.S. president.
Many in Serbia believe that the huge concrete construction fell down because of poor renovation work fueled by government corruption. The students have insisted on full accountability in the tragedy, a call that has garnered widespread support among citizens who are largely disillusioned with politicians and have lost trust in state institutions.
Student-led rallies have drawn tens of thousands of people, becoming among the biggest ever in Serbia, which has a long history of anti-government protests. Vucic has described the rallies as a Western-orchestrated ploy to oust him from power.
The next big rally is planned on Saturday in Belgrade and Vucic has alleged the protesters “will try to achieve something with violence and that will be the end.” Many demonstrators “will end up behind bars accused of criminal acts,” he added.
All student-led protests in the past months have mostly been peaceful, while incidents were recorded when opponents drove their cars into protest blockades or attacked the protesters.
Vucic and his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party have held a firm grip on power in Serbia for over a decade, facing accusations of stifling democratic freedoms despite formally seeking European Union entry for Serbia.
Authorities have indicted 16 people over the canopy collapse, but many doubt that the actual culprits will face justice.
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Russian officials said Tuesday that Ukrainian attacks involving more than 90 drones killed at least one person and injured three others in the Moscow region.

The assault was part of an overall attack overnight that included more than 300 Ukrainian drones targeting 10 Russian regions stretching from border areas to the Russian capital.

Andrei Vorobyov, governor of the Moscow region, said on Telegram that in addition to those hurt, there was also damage to an apartment building from falling drone debris.

The attack also forced flight restrictions at Moscow airports and interrupted train services.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it shot down 91 drones in the Moscow area, and a total of 337 across all regions.

The ministry said it intercepted 126 drones over the Kursk region, 38 over Bryansk, 25 over Belgorod, 22 over Ryazan and others over Kaluga, Lipetsk, Oryol, Voronezh and Nizhny Novgorod.

Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram that drone debris knocked out power to some part of his region and damaged multiple residential buildings.

Officials in Kaluga also reported damage to several buildings, while one person was reported hurt in Lipetsk.

Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Russian documentary filmmaker Vitaly Mansky produces Artdocfest, an annual film festival that showcases documentary features from independent film directors. He says most documentary films reflect the negative impact of the war in Ukraine, from resettling Ukrainian refugees to daily struggles of Russians who fled the war and try to set up their life anew in other countries.

Click here for the full story in Russian. 
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Russia said Monday it was expelling two British diplomats based at the embassy in Moscow over spying allegations that the U.K. called “malicious and baseless.” 

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said in a statement quoted by the state news agency RIA Novosti that the two diplomats had provided false personal data while seeking permission to enter the country and had engaged in alleged intelligence and subversive activities that threatened Russia’s security. It didn’t offer any evidence. 

According to the RIA Novosti report, a decision has been made to revoke the diplomats’ accreditations, and they have been ordered to leave Russia within two weeks. The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a separate statement that it summoned a British Embassy official. “Moscow will not tolerate the activities of undeclared British intelligence officers on Russian territory,” it said. 

The Foreign Office in London said in a statement: “This is not the first time that Russia has made malicious and baseless accusations against our staff.” It did not say whether the U.K. planned any retaliatory moves. 

The FSB last year accused seven British diplomats of spying. Six expulsions were announced in September, and one more in November. The U.K. called the moves at the time “baseless.” The expulsions came amid soaring tensions over the war in Ukraine and after London decided to revoke the credentials of an attaché at the Russian Embassy and limit Moscow’s diplomatic activities in Britain. 

Last month, London expelled a Russian diplomat in response to the November expulsion. 

In May 2024, the U.K. expelled Russia’s defense attaché in London, alleging he was an undeclared intelligence officer, and it closed several Russian diplomatic properties in Britain that it said were being used for spying. Days later Russia reciprocated and expelled Britain’s defense attaché. 

Expulsions of diplomats — both Western envoys working in Russia and Russians in the West — have become increasingly common since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. 

In 2023, the Russian news outlet RBC said Western countries and Japan had expelled a total of 670 Russian diplomats between the start of 2022 and October 2023, while Moscow responded by expelling 346 diplomats. According to RBC, that was more than in the previous 20 years combined.
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Berlin — A one-day strike by workers at 13 German airports, including the Frankfurt and Munich hubs and all the country’s other main destinations, caused the cancelation of most flights on Monday.

The 24-hour walkout, which started at midnight on Sunday, involves public-sector employees at the airports as well as ground and security staff.

At Frankfurt Airport, 1,054 of the day’s 1,116 scheduled takeoffs and landings had been canceled, German news agency dpa reported, citing airport traffic management.

All of Berlin Airport’s regular departures and arrivals were canceled, while Hamburg Airport said no departures would be possible. Cologne/Bonn Airport said there was no regular passenger service and Munich Airport advised travelers to expect a “greatly reduced flight schedule.”

The ver.di service workers union’s strike also targeted the Bremen, Hannover, Duesseldorf, Dortmund, Leipzig/Halle and Stuttgart airports. At the smaller Weeze and Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden airports, only security workers were called out.

The German airports’ association, ADV, estimated that more than 3,500 flights in total would be canceled and about 560,000 passengers affected.

The union announced the strike last Friday. But at Hamburg Airport, it added a short-notice walkout on Sunday to the strike on Monday, arguing that it must ensure the measure was effective.

The so-called “warning strike,” a common tactic in German wage negotiations, relates to two separate pay disputes: negotiations on a new pay and conditions contract for airport security workers, and a wider dispute over pay for employees of federal and municipal governments.

The latter already has led to walkouts at Cologne/Bonn, Duesseldorf, Hamburg and Munich airports. Pay talks in that dispute are due to resume on Friday, while the next round of talks for airport security workers is expected to start on March 26.
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Paris — France is preparing a new military aid package for Ukraine worth more than $211 million from the interest earned on frozen Russian assets, its defense minister said in an interview published Sunday.

Sebastien Lecornu, a close ally of President Emmanuel Macron, in the interview with the Tribune Dimanche newspaper, described the suspension of U.S. weapons deliveries to Ukraine as a “heavy blow” to Kyiv’s fight against the Russian invasion.

“This year we will mobilize, thanks to the interests of frozen Russian assets, a new package of 195 million euros ($211,253,250)” for Ukraine, he said.

This will enable the delivery of 155-millimeter shells as well as AASM air to surface weapons that arm the French Mirage 2000 fighter jets that Paris has delivered to Ukraine for the war.

Lecornu did not make any comment on whether France would consider using the frozen Russian assets themselves to help Kyiv, a potentially far more significant move supported by its ally the U.K. but over which Paris as so far been wary.

But he warned that away from the battlefield, the “Russians are reinventing war, that is their great strength” by targeting “our democracy and our economy.”

France’s next 2027 presidential elections “could be the subject of massive manipulations as was the case in Romania” where the first round was topped by a far-right outsider, only for the results to be annulled by the Constitutional Court, he said.

He sought to play down any rupture in transatlantic relations after Donald Trump won the U.S. presidency and changed Washington’s policy on Ukraine, saying: “For my part, I still consider them as allies, despite their great unpredictability.”

Turning to the “heavy blow” of the U.S. suspension of weapons deliveries to Ukraine, he said: “They (Ukraine) can hold out for a while, but this suspension must not last.”

Lecornu said that French intelligence had no indication that Russia was planning to attack a NATO member in the next five years but did say there is a “temptation to destabilize Moldova” through its breakaway region of Transnistria.

With Macron and others urging EU states to ramp up defense spending as the U.S. wavers, Lecornu pointed to ammunition and electronic warfare as the most urgent issues for France’s military in the years to come.  

“Second priority, is the drone-ization and robot-ization of armies,” he added, also noting the roles of artificial intelligence and space.
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Even as U.S.-led peace negotiations to end Russia’s war on Ukraine recently faced setbacks, talks between Washington and Kyiv are set to take place this week in Saudi Arabia. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias has details.
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State Department — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will arrive in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Monday for U.S.-Ukraine talks as President Donald Trump pushes to broker a swift end to the Russia-Ukraine war.

While in Jeddah, Rubio will also meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud to discuss ways to advance shared interests in the region and strengthen the U.S.-Saudi relationship, said State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce.

According to the State Department, Rubio has “underscored President Trump’s determination to end the war as soon as possible and emphasized that all sides must take steps to secure a sustainable peace” in a Friday call with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.

On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit the Gulf kingdom for a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Afterward, a Ukrainian diplomatic and military delegation led by Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, will remain in Saudi Arabia for talks with U.S. officials. The Ukrainian team will also include Sybiha, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, and military commander Pavlo Palisa.

Rubio will join U.S. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, for the Jeddah talks with Ukrainian officials.

Witkoff has told reporters that “the idea is to get down a framework for a peace agreement and an initial ceasefire as well.”

The U.S.-Ukraine talks will take place three weeks after senior U.S. officials held talks with Russian officials in Riyadh.

Ukraine said it is “fully committed” to constructive dialogue with the U.S. and hopes to “discuss and agree on the necessary decisions and steps.”

“Ukraine has been seeking peace from the very first second of this war. Realistic proposals are on the table. The key is to move quickly and effectively,” Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X on Saturday.

G7 foreign ministers

Following his visit to Saudi Arabia, Rubio will travel to Charlevoix, Canada, for the Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers’ meeting from March 12 to 14.

In a joint statement following talks on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in February, G7 foreign ministers underscored their commitment to helping “achieve a durable peace” and “reaffirmed the need to develop robust security guarantees” for Ukraine.

“Any new, additional sanctions after February should be linked to whether the Russian Federation enters into real, good-faith efforts to bring an enduring end to the war against Ukraine,” the joint statement added.
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ASHBOURNE, ENGLAND — This ancient form of football has a rule forbidding players from murdering each other.

Every year, thousands of people descend on a small town in the English countryside to watch a two-day game of mass street football that, to the casual observer, could easily be mistaken for a riot. This is Royal Shrovetide — a centuries-old ball game played in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, that, frankly, looks nothing like the world’s most popular sport. Or any other game for that matter.

“It’s like tug of war without the rope,” says Natalie Wakefield, 43, who lives locally and has marshaled the event in the past. “It’s mad in the best possible way.”

Hundreds of players

Played between two teams of hundreds of players, the aim is to “goal” at either end of a 5-kilometer sector that could take the match through rivers, hedgerows, high streets and just about anything or anywhere except for churchyards, cemeteries and places of worship. The ball is thrown into a crowd that moves like a giant herd, as each team tries to carry it toward their desired goal.

Rules are limited but “no murder” was an early stipulation for the game that dates back to at least the 1600s. Good players need to be “hard, aggressive and authoritative,” says Mark Harrison, who “goaled” in 1986 and is one of multiple generations of scorers in his family.

“You can’t practice,” the 62-year-old Harrison adds. He stopped competing seven years ago and now serves up burgers to throngs of spectators from a street food truck.

“You’ve just got to get in there and be rough. I am a rugby player … I’m also an ex-boxer so that helps.”

Royal approval

Harrison had the honor of carrying the then-Prince Charles on his shoulder when in 2003 the now-King of England opened that year’s game. “He loved it!” Harrison says.

Played over Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday each year, the event is a source of immense pride for the people of Ashbourne in Derbyshire’s Peak District.

Yet, such a unifying tradition is actually based upon splitting the town into two halves between the “Up’ards” and the “Down’ards,” determined by whether players are born on the north or south of the River Henmore.

Don’t park there

On any other days, Ashbourne, around a three-hour drive from London, is quiet and picturesque with a high street lined by antique shops, cafes and traditional pubs. Visitors include hikers, cyclists and campers.

For two days that all changes.

Large timber boardings are nailed up to protect shop fronts. Doorways are barricaded. “Play Zone” signs are strapped to lampposts, warning motorists not to park there for fear of damage to vehicles, which can be shoved out of the way by the force of the hoards of players trying to move the ball.

In contrast, colorful bunting is strewn high above from building to building and revelers congregate, eating and drinking as if it is a street party. Parents with babies in strollers watch on from a safe distance. School holidays in the area have long since been moved to coincide with the festival.

“There are people who come and they have a drink and they’re just like, ‘This is a bit of a crazy thing and it’s a spectacle, and now I’ve seen it, box ticked off,'” says Wakefield, who also used to report on Royal Shrovetide for the local newspaper. “And there are people who are absolutely enthralled by it all, and they get the beauty and complexity of the game and those people follow it year on year.”

Where’s the ball?

Play begins with an opening ceremony in a car park, no less, in the center of town. The national anthem and Auld Lang Syne are sung. Competitors are reminded, “You play the game at your own risk.” A leather ball, the size of a large pumpkin, filled with cork and ornately painted, is thrown into what is called a “hug” of players. And they’re off.

As a spectator sport, it can be confusing. There can be little to see for long periods during the eight hours of play each day from 2 p.m. local time. Players wear their own clothes — such as random football or rugby jerseys — rather than matching uniforms.

On Tuesday, it took more than 45 minutes to move the ball out of the car park. Onlookers stand on bins, walls and park benches, craning their necks to look down alleyways to try to get a better view. “Can you see the ball?” someone will ask. The answer is often “No.”

One person thinks it might be in line with a tree over to the right of the car park, but can’t be sure. Later that day there had been no sight of the ball for almost two hours until rumors started to circulate that the Down’ards scored what turned out to be the only goal over the two days of play for a 1-0 victory.

Deception and cunning

With so many players, the hug can be difficult to maneuver but gathers pace quickly, prompting crowds of spectators who’d previously been trying to get a closer look to suddenly run away from the action. The ball can be handled and kicked. Play can be frantic, with players racing after a loose ball wherever it may take them, diving into the river and up and out the other side.

While strength is needed in the hug, speed is required from runners if the ball breaks free. Royal Shrovetide, however, can be as much about deception and cunning as speed and strength, it seems.

“There’s a bit of strategy involved in that somebody’s pretending they’ve still got the ball in the middle of the hug,” Wakefield says. “And they’re quietly passing it back out to the edge to get it to a runner who has to sneak away in a kind of, I imagine, very nonchalant manner and then leg it down an alleyway.”

A famous goal in 2019 came as a result of the hug not realizing it didn’t have the ball until it was too late. Hidden by two schoolboys standing meters away, the ball was passed to a player who ran, largely unimpeded, for 2 1/2 kilometers before scoring.

A ball is goaled when it is hit three times against one of the millstones at either end of the town in Clifton or Sturston.

The beautiful game

Scorers have likened the achievement to winning Olympic gold. They are carried on shoulders, paraded through the town and celebrated like heroes.

“If you can imagine playing for Manchester United in their heyday and they’re at Wembley in a cup final. You score the winner. You’re there,” Harrison says. Scorers also get to keep the balls, which are repainted and become treasured family possessions.

It is the game, however, that is treasured most of all. “I just live and breathe it,” says Janet Richardson, 75, from Ashbourne, who has been going to Royal Shrovetide since she was a 1-year-old. “I can’t sleep because I’m excited. It’s so lovely to think that all these people still want to come here and watch this beautiful game that we’ve got in our town.” 
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KYIV, UKRAINE — Russia said Saturday its troops had retaken three villages seized by Ukraine in its Kursk border region, in a fresh setback for Kyiv ahead of talks to try to end the war. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday named a high-level delegation including ministers to meet U.S. negotiators in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, seeking to repair ties with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration. 

U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said Thursday that Washington wanted to discuss a “framework for a peace agreement.”   

“We hope to discuss and agree on the necessary decisions and steps,” Zelenskyy said, stressing that Ukraine was “fully committed to constructive dialogue.” 

But he condemned the “brutal” deadly strikes on eastern Ukraine, saying they proved that Russia was “not thinking about how to end the war.” 

Trump on Friday threatened new sanctions and tariffs against Russia over its bombardment of Ukraine. 

The three-year-long war is now at a critical juncture for Kyiv after Trump suspended U.S. military aid following his public falling-out with Zelenskyy last week.   

Ukraine still controls some 400-square kilometers in the Kursk region after launching an offensive last August. Zelenskyy sees this as a possible bargaining chip in peace talks. 

But Ukraine’s troops in Kursk have seen their position worsen in recent weeks with Russia’s army pushing back.   

Russia claims gains  

Russia’s defense ministry announced Saturday the recapture of three more villages: Viktorovka, Nikolaevka and Staraya Sorochina. 

According to DeepState, an online military tracker linked to the Ukrainian army, the Russian move followed a “breach” in the Ukrainian defense lines near the town of Sudzha, which is under Kyiv’s control. 

The advance appears to have cut off the logistics route needed by Ukraine to supply its troops, although Kyiv has not confirmed this. 

Russia has already taken back some two-thirds of the territory in Kursk initially seized by Ukraine.   

The Ukrainian military General Staff said Saturday that clashes were ongoing amid heavy bombardment with artillery and guided aerial bombs. 

Small groups of Russian troops have also mounted attacks in recent weeks into Ukraine’s Sumy region bordering Kursk.   

But Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation denied reports Saturday of a “massive breakthrough,” saying its forces were destroying small groups trying to cross.   

Meeting in Saudi Arabia 

Full peace negotiations remain a distant prospect, with Kyiv and Moscow making starkly opposed demands. Trump has made settling the conflict a priority since his return to the White House.   

But by reaching out to Russian President Vladimir Putin while criticizing Zelenskyy, he has raised fears in Kyiv — and among its European allies — that Trump may try to force Ukraine to accept a settlement that favors Russia. 

Senior U.S. and Ukrainian officials are set to meet for talks on the war in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. Zelenskyy also will visit Monday for talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. 

For the U.S., Witkoff has said he wants to discuss an “initial ceasefire” with Russia and a “framework” for a longer agreement. 

Zelenskyy said Ukraine would be represented by officials including foreign minister Andriy Sybiha and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.   

In his evening address, he told Ukrainians he was “confident that the meeting will be productive.”   

Zelenskyy also urged allies to “increase sanctions against Russia” after heavy overnight bombardment in the east and northeast.   

A Russian barrage hit the center of Dobropillya in the eastern Donetsk region late Friday, killing 11 people and wounding 40, according to the emergency services.   

“Russia is proving literally every day with its cruelty that nothing has changed for them,” Zelenskyy said. 

He accused Moscow of wanting to “destroy and capture more as long as the world allows them to wage this war.” 

On Saturday, a strike on the embattled city of Pokrovsk killed a man in his 40s and wounded 2 others, and at least 10 people were killed in multiple strikes on Ukraine’s embattled eastern Donetsk region, the Donetsk Governor Vadym Filashkin said. He added that seven others were killed in multiple drone and missile strikes in towns close to the front lines.  

Three people died when a Russian drone hit a workshop in the northeastern Kharkiv region, the head of its military administration, Oleh Syniehubov, said. And one additional man was killed by shelling in the region. 

More bombs 

The latest strikes came after EU leaders, shaken by the prospect of U.S. disengagement, agreed to boost the bloc’s defenses.   

Putin “has no interest in peace,” the European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Saturday, reacting to the latest attacks. 

“We must step up our military support — otherwise, even more Ukrainian civilians will pay the highest price,” she added. 

Zelenskyy said Saturday that Ukrainian and British diplomats had held “highly productive” talks in Kyiv.   

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the latest Russian attacks were “what happens when someone appeases barbarians,” resulting in “more bombs, more aggression.”  
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ZURICH, SWITZERLAND — Swiss police said Saturday they had solved a kidnapping involving two dogs and a demand for ransom of 1 million Swiss francs (about $1.135 million). 

Zurich police said that two Bolonka dogs were stolen from the home of a 59-year-old man in Schlieren near Zurich last week, while the dog owner was away. 

When the man returned, the dogs were gone, and he found a letter demanding money to release the small dogs. 

Instead of paying the ransom, the man, who was not identified by name in line with Swiss privacy rules, called the police. 

During the investigation, police arrested a 30-year-old Norwegian man Thursday at Zurich Airport. Police said he was strongly suspected of being involved in the theft. 

Following further leads and cross-European cooperation, police in Poland then detained a 38-year-old suspect and discovered the kidnapped Bolonkas, which they returned safely to their owner Friday. 

Swiss police said the Norwegian is in custody in Switzerland and authorities in Poland are further investigating the Polish suspect. 

A Bolonka is a toy breed of dogs bred in Russia and sold for up to a couple of thousand dollars. 
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ISTANBUL — Thousands of women demonstrated in the streets of Turkish cities Saturday to mark International Women’s Day, protesting inequality and violence against women.

On the Asian side of Istanbul, a rally in Kadikoy saw members of dozens of women’s groups listen to speeches, dance and sing in the spring sunshine. The colorful protest was overseen by a large police presence, including officers in riot gear and a water cannon truck.

The government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared 2025 the Year of the Family. Protesters pushed back against the idea of women’s role being confined to marriage and motherhood, carrying banners reading “Family will not bind us to life” and “We will not be sacrificed to the family.”

Critics have accused the government of overseeing restrictions on women’s rights and not doing enough to tackle violence against women.

Erdogan in 2021 withdrew Turkey from a European treaty, dubbed the Istanbul Convention, that protects women from domestic violence. Turkey’s We Will Stop Femicides Platform says 394 women were killed by men in 2024.

“There is bullying at work, pressure from husbands and fathers at home and pressure from patriarchal society. We demand that this pressure be reduced even further,” Yaz Gulgun, 52, said.

The women’s day events were the first planned public demonstrations since the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, announced a ceasefire last week, bringing hope for an end to a 40-year conflict with the Turkish state.

Crowds in Diyarbakir, the largest city in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeast, heard a message from the group’s imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan in which he said the “women’s issue is bigger than the Kurdish issue.”

Gultan Kisanak, a Kurdish politician who was released from prison last year after being convicted of terrorism charges, addressed a rally near the city center. “A democratic society that does not accept women’s will cannot be built. Therefore, women’s struggle for freedom is the cornerstone of our people’s struggle for freedom and peace,” she said.

Many women were expected to gather in the evening on the European side of Istanbul for a Feminist Night March despite a ban. In recent years, authorities have blocked efforts by women to demonstrate in Taksim Square, Istanbul’s traditional gathering point for rallies.

Nearby metro stations were closed from the early afternoon, and streets, including one of the city’s main shopping thoroughfares, were sealed off with barriers.

The Beyoglu district governor’s office said the ban was enforced to prevent “actions that may disrupt public order and social peace.”
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LONDON — “One and one, please, love,” a regular said, leaning on the counter at a pie and mash shop in London’s East End.

In seconds, one piping-hot beef pie appeared with a single scoop of mashed potatoes at the G Kelly shop, topped off with parsley sauce known as liquor.

Londoners have been eating this classic Cockney combination since at least Victorian times, but for many years the working-class staple has had a humble reputation among outsiders.

Now a campaign to get pie and mash special protected status is gaining ground, with supporters arguing the dish deserves an official stamp of recognition similar to Parmesan cheese and champagne.

After a British politician took the case to Parliament and won the backing of MPs, campaigners hope to land the label this year.

“‘Bout time,” said G Kelly customer Daniel Terrance as he tucked into his third pie and mash of the week.

“I just want more,” the 39-year-old electrician chuckled, eating the meal with a traditional accompaniment of jellied eels.

Stewed eel water

The first pie and mash eateries began to crop up in London in the 1800s, when street hawkers selling pies teamed up with eel vendors and set up shop near the city’s docks.

Over time, a set of rituals has grown up around the dish, from the rapid-fire “one and one” ordering system to the fork and spoon that purists insist on using to eat it.

The pie’s flaky crust and soft suet base have been a fixture for generations, but most cooks have agreed to let one old-fashioned practice slide — nowadays, the liquor is rarely made from stewed eel water.

British cuisine has had a hard time shaking off its bad reputation, but backers say pie and mash is worthy of joining hundreds of dishes with official protection in mainland Europe and elsewhere.

The campaigners, among them several pie shop owners, now need to get a recipe for the dish approved by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs so they can secure a Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) label.

The stamp legally safeguards traditional recipes but differs from badges awarded to foods like Parma ham in that it allows them to be made outside a specific area.

Neil Vening, the fourth-generation owner of the G Kelly family shop, hopes the label can prevent big companies from capitalizing on tradition to pump out substandard pie and mash.

“It’s undermining this great heritage we’ve got,” the 33-year-old said, pointing to the black-and-white photos of relatives and staff around the shop, founded by George Kelly in 1939.

‘Time warp’ 

For regular customers who have seen dozens of pie and mash shops close since the dish’s heyday, nostalgia is a big part of the appeal.

Gentrification has pushed London’s Cockney population farther and farther from the East End, and changing tastes have ushered in a wave of coffee shops and artisan bakeries.

“I like the changes but not every local does,” said Leanne Black, who has worked at the shop for 14 years.

The 45-year-old East Ender said many customers love the comfort an old-fashioned pie and mash shop brings.

“It’s not just about the food. Some people feel that the world has changed so much, and when they come in here, it’s like a time warp.

“It’s the smell in here. It’s the tables, the cold marble. … It’s everything.”

Future-proof pie

Pie and mash’s recent history is not just a story of decline, though.

Vening said G Kelly is enjoying a boost as newcomers and tourists eat alongside old-timers.

And East Enders who moved away from the capital have taken the dish with them — dozens of pie and mash shops are now flourishing outside London.

An official status would cement this turnaround, the campaigners argue.

Conservative MP Richard Holden, who took the motion to Parliament late last year, told AFP he wanted to celebrate pie and mash shops like those in his Basildon and Billericay constituency east of London.

“Let’s give them the protected status they deserve,” he said. 
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ATHENS, GREECE — Clashes broke out in Greece’s two largest cities Friday, as protesters hurled gasoline bombs and flares outside Parliament during a censure motion debate against the government over its handling of a deadly rail disaster two years ago.

Police fired tear gas and stun grenades at the violent protesters and used water cannons when the clashes broke out moments after Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis began speaking at the end of the three-day debate. The government survived the challenge in a 157-136 vote announced late Friday. Inside the assembly, activists in the visitors’ gallery threw leaflets down onto lawmakers before being removed by police.

Violence also erupted in the northern city of Thessaloniki.

Mitsotakis’ center-right government faced a censure motion over the 2023 train collision that killed 57 people and injured dozens more.

Friday’s demonstrations, the third round of nationwide protests held in a week, followed the second anniversary of the Feb. 28, 2023, collision at Tempe in northern Greece.

In a rare display of unity, four center-left and left-wing opposition parties submitted the no-confidence motion, arguing that the government has failed to accept responsibility for multiple rail safety system failures identified by investigators.

“You want to hide the criminal responsibility of the government for the Tempe tragedy,” Socialist opposition leader Nikos Androulakis told lawmakers, addressing the prime minister. “No Greek citizen will forgive your unacceptable behavior.”

Despite widespread public anger over the Tempe rail disaster, the fragmented opposition has struggled to capitalize on the discontent.

Mitsotakis accused his political opponents of engineering a political stunt, adding, “When I visited the scene of the accident … it was the most difficult moment of my life.”

Relatives of crash victims attended Friday’s protest rallies, publicly expressing gratitude to demonstrators.

“People are here because they understand what’s going on and they demand justice,” Chrysoula Chlorou said at a protest in the central city of Larissa. Chlorou’s sister Vasso, 55, was killed in the crash.

She added, “We will stand with everyone who has the strength to raise their voices for the people and we thank them very much.”
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ROME — Pope Francis hit the three-week mark Friday in his hospitalization for double pneumonia, in stable condition and resuming his therapies after giving the world a tangible indication of just how frail and sick he is.

The Vatican said the 88-year-old pope had a good night’s rest and woke up Friday morning just after 8 a.m. He resumed his respiratory and physical therapy, using high flows of supplemental oxygen to help him breathe. Doctors said they didn’t expect to give another medical update until Saturday, given his continued stability and absence of respiratory crises or other setbacks for several days now.

But Francis offered a first public sign of just how weak he is on Thursday by recording an audio message that was broadcast to the faithful in St. Peter’s Square who had gathered for the nightly recitation of the rosary prayer.

In it, Francis thanked the people for their prayers. But his voice was barely discernible through his labored breaths, and he spoke in his native Spanish, not Italian.

“I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your prayers for my health from the square, I accompany you from here,” he said to the hushed square. “May God bless you and the Virgin protect you. Thank you.”

The message served many purposes. It was the first public sign of life from the pope since he entered Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14, and it put to rest right-wing conspiracy theories and rumors calling into question his true medical status.

The Vatican said Francis himself wanted to record it, to thank all those people who had been praying for him. In his Sunday message last weekend, Francis said he had felt the affection of so many people and felt “as if I am ‘carried’ and supported by all God’s people.”

But the audio also underscored just how weak Francis is. For anyone used to hearing his voice, this audio — which is often so soft it sounds like a whisper — was an emotional punch to the gut that hammered home just how hard it is for him to even breathe.

The cardinal presiding over the prayer, Cardinal Angel Fernandez Artime, had told the crowd at the start of the service that he had “beautiful news, a beautiful gift” to share.

“Oh, che bello,” marveled one nun in the crowd. “Oh, how beautiful.”

The clearly surprised crowd broke into applause and then applauded again after Francis’ final “Gracias.” Fernandez Artime, for his part, bowed his head as he listened.

The 88-year-old pope has chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man.

The Vatican has given twice-daily updates on Francis’ condition but has distributed no photos or video of him since the morning of Feb. 14, when he held a handful of audiences at the Vatican before being admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital for what was then just a bad case of bronchitis.

The infection progressed into a complex respiratory tract infection and double pneumonia that has sidelined Francis for the longest period of his 12-year papacy and raised questions about the future of his papacy.

The absence of any images of Francis in a country where the image and voice of the pontiff is a part of everyday life helped fuel dire conspiracy theories, primarily among right-wing critics of the pope, about Francis’ true fate.

Francis has issued written messages from the Gemelli, including some that seemed very much like him. But even Vatican officials had been clamoring to hear his voice, saying the pope’s calls for peace are particularly needed at a time of such global conflict and war.

More than any pope before him, Francis has mastered the art of informal and direct communication, often recording cell phone videos for visitors, anything from a “Happy Birthday” for someone’s mother to a religious prayer for a particular church group. For the considerable effort it must have taken, the audio message made clear that he understood the power of his voice, even in its weakened state.

Doctors on Thursday reported that Francis was in stable condition, with no new respiratory crises or fever. He continued his respiratory and other physical therapy Thursday, worked, rested and prayed from the 10th floor papal suite at Rome’s Gemelli hospital. His prognosis remains guarded, meaning he is not out of danger.

The pope has been sleeping with a noninvasive mechanical mask to guarantee that his lungs expand properly overnight and help his recovery. He has been transitioning to receiving high-flow oxygen with a nasal tube during the day.
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