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Pope Francis ‘alert’ after respiratory failure

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Pope Francis is alert after suffering two episodes of “acute respiratory failure” on Monday afternoon, the Vatican has said.

Doctors were forced to intervene to clear mucus from the Pope’s lungs, an update from the Holy See said, though it said he was alert throughout.

The 88-year-old pontiff has resumed the use of an oxygen mask and ventilator to assist his breathing, but remains “alert, focused and cooperative”, the Vatican said.

This is now the third serious downturn since the 88-year-old pontiff was admitted to hospital 18 days ago with pneumonia.

On Friday, Pope Francis suffered an “isolated” breathing crisis involving vomiting, the Vatican said.

Updates from the Holy See reported that he responded well to oxygen therapy, with Vatican officials saying on Sunday the Pope no longer required “non-invasive mechanical ventilation, only high-flow oxygen therapy”.

Following Monday’s episodes, Pope Francis has resumed that mechanical ventilation.

His illness has meant that Pope Francis has been unable to deliver his traditional Angelus prayer in person for three weeks in a row, with the Vatican publishing his written comments instead.

Officials said the text, sent from his hospital room in Rome, had been written “in the past few days”. In it, the Pope thanked people for their prayers and thanked his medical team for their care.

He will also miss the procession and mass this Wednesday that mark the first day of Lent, the six-week period leading to Easter.

Hundreds of Catholics gathered outside in St Peter’s Square on Monday for an eighth evening to pray for the Pope’s health, many carrying rosary beads as they headed across the cobbles towards the Basilica.

The crowd, a mixture of priests and nuns based in Rome and Catholic pilgrims here for a Jubilee year, were led by an American cardinal.

“I come every night to pray, but this night I am pretty worried,” Javier, a Romanian priest, voiced the feelings of many on the square. “We still have hope, but it doesn’t look good.”

“It looks bad, and that’s a shame because we really like Francis,” Patricia, a Spanish catholic from Toledo, told the BBC.

She was following the prayers with her husband and young daughter.

“He’s really opened the doors of the church to many, like LGBT people. I think they will look for a more conservative pope next, to stop the change.”

Catholics have also been visiting the Gemelli hospital in Rome to pray for him – hoping he might come to the window, as has happened in the past.

But although the Vatican recently described the Pope’s condition as stable, he remains too sick even to greet the crowd below.

The Pope was admitted to hospital on 14 February after experiencing breathing difficulties for several days.

He was first treated for bronchitis before being diagnosed with pneumonia in both lungs.

The pontiff is particularly susceptible to pneumonia, an infection of the lungs that can be caused by bacteria, viruses or fungi, after he contracted pleurisy – an inflammation of the lungs – as a young man and had a partial lung removal.

Vatican sources stress, as they have all along, that the Pope’s condition remains complex – his doctors remain cautious – and he is not out of danger.

(BBC News)

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Last hospital in North Gaza governorate evacuated after Israeli order

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The last hospital providing health services in the North Gaza governorate is out of service after the Israeli military ordered its immediate evacuation, the facility’s director has said.

Dr Mohammed Salha told the BBC patients were evacuated from al-Awda hospital in Jabalia on Thursday evening after “two weeks of siege”, and there was now “no health facility working in the north”.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) is yet to respond to enquiries.

It comes as efforts continue to secure a ceasefire. Hamas says it is “thoroughly reviewing” a US plan, which the White House has said has been “signed off” by Israel.US President Donald Trump said on Friday he believed a deal was “very close”. But Hamas has said the plan does not satisfy its core demands including Israel’s commitment to ending the war.

The deal would reportedly involve a 60-day pause in fighting, with Hamas releasing 28 hostages – alive and dead – in the first week, with the remaining 30 hostages freed once a permanent ceasefire is in place. More than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners would be released, while humanitarian aid would be sent to Gaza via the United Nations and other agencies.

Israel has continued its military operation in the territory – at least 72 people were killed in strikes over the past 24 hours, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said on Friday.

On Thursday evening, the Israeli military ordered the evacuation of areas including the al-Awda hospital, saying there was terrorist activity in the region which warranted the IDF to “expand its offensive activity”.

(BBC News)

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India says over 1,000 nationals deported by US since January

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More than a thousand Indians have “come back or [been] deported” from the United States since January, India’s foreign ministry has said.

Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that around 62% of them came on commercial flights, without providing more details.

This comes in the wake of President Donald Trump’s campaign against undocumented migrants to the US. Trump had earlier said that India “will do what’s right” on the deportation of illegal migrants.

In February, the US had deported more than hundred Indians on a US military flight, with reports saying some of them were brought back shackled.

“We have close cooperation between India and the United States on migration issues,” Mr Jaiswal said during the ministry’s weekly briefing, adding that India verifies nationalities before “we take them back”.

In total, the US is said to have identified about 18,000 Indian nationals it believes entered the country illegally.

Earlier this month, the US Embassy in India issued a warning that overstaying in the US could lead to deportation or a permanent ban on entry in the country, even for those who entered legally.

Mr Jaiswal also spoke about the Trump administration’s updated policy on student visas which is likely to impact Indian students planning to enrol in US universities.

The US had announced on Thursday that it had halted the scheduling of new visa interviews for foreign students as it considered expanding the screening of their social media activities.

“While we note that issuance of a visa is a sovereign function, we hope that the application of Indian students will be considered on merit, and they will be able to join their academic programs on time,” Mr Jaiswal said.

Mr Jaiswal also said that 330,000 Indians students had gone to the US for studies in 2023-24 – which makes India the largest source of international students in the country.

On Thursday, expanding its new visa policy, the US further announced that it was working to “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields”.

(BBC News)

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US trade court blocks Trump tariffs

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A US federal court has blocked President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, in a major blow to a key part of his economic policies.

The Court of International Trade rules that the emergency law invoked by the White House does not give the president unilateral authority to impose tariffs on nearly every country.

It also blocks the separate levies the US imposed on China, Mexico and Canada.

Within minutes the Trump administration lodged an appeal, saying: “It is not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency”.

So there will be no change at the border just yet, business reporter Katie Silver writes – as the decision goes through the appeals process.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of five small businesses that import goods from abroad.

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