VATICAN: Pope Francis held a lunch for hundreds of homeless people and refugees today in a rebuke to Italy’s far-right government, which blocked rescued refugees from disembarking on its shores last week. The event marked the Catholic Church’s World Day of the Poor and saw the pontiff warn crowds not to be “enchanted by the sirens of populism” and to respect people who “migrate in search of hope”.

TURKEY: An explosion in Istanbul’s Istiklal Avenue today has left four people dead and hurt 38, the city’s governor Ali Yerlikaya has said. The cause of the blast was unclear. Turkey was hit by a string of terrorist bombings from 2015-17, some by Islamic State terrorists. It is engaged in an ongoing war with the Kurdistan Workers Party, which has also sometimes targeted city centres in the past.

ISRAEL: President Isaac Herzog asked ex-PM Benjamin Netanyahu to form a government today. Netanyahu, who was dislodged by a coalition government a year ago, has six weeks to negotiate a governing coalition. He is likely to take power again after five elections in four years, and continues to face corruption charges. The new coalition is expected to include the Religious Zionism party, with extremist figures like convicted terror group supporter Itamar Ben-Gvir in key roles.

VENEZUELA: The government has condemned an EU decision to renew sanctions for another year. The “unilateral coercive measures” Brussels imposes in imitation of the United States limit Venezuelans’ access to “food, medicine, machinery, spare parts and equipment,” Caracas said on Saturday. The “tools of political blackmail” would be no more successful than before in overthrowing Venezuela’s elected government, it warned.