Pope Leo XIV yesterday warned of the risk of “a new arms race” as the last US-Russia nuclear treaty is set to expire.
New START, the last nuclear treaty between Washington and Moscow after decades of agreements dating to the Cold War, is due to expire today, and with it restrictions on the two top nuclear powers.
“I urge you not to abandon this instrument without seeking to ensure that it is followed up in a concrete and effective manner,” the US pope said at his weekly general audience.
Photo: EPA
“The current situation requires us to do everything possible to avert a new arms race, which further threatens peace between nations,” he said.
Leo, the Catholic Church’s first US pontiff, said it was “more urgent than ever to replace the logic of fear and mistrust with a shared ethic capable of guiding choices towards the common good.”
The Kremlin has offered a one-year extension of the treaty, but while US President Donald Trump said in September last year that an extension of the New START “sounds like a good idea,” little has changed since then.
The treaty, which included a monitoring mechanism, was signed in 2010 by then-Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and then-US president Barack Obama.
However, Russia suspended monitoring inspections during the COVID-19 pandemic and talks on extending the agreement have broken down due to tensions over the Ukraine war.
Moscow had also accused Washington of impeding monitoring missions on US soil.
In 2023, Russia froze its participation in New START, but it has continued to voluntarily adhere to the limits set in the treaty.
Moscow last year tested its latest nuclear weapon carriers without atomic warheads, and Trump said he was moving two nuclear submarines closer to Russia.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
RSS