Live from St. Peter's Square: White smoke! The 133 Cardinal electors gathered in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel have elected the new Pope. He will appear soon at the central window of St. Peter’s Basilica. (Vatican News)

■ Pope Leo XIV (Wikipedia)
■ New Pope live updates: American cardinal Prevost elected pope, takes name Leo (Reuters)
■ BREAKING: New pope elected, white smoke from the Vatican (LifeSiteNews)
■ Black smoke as Vatican conclave fails to elect new pope on first ballot (05/08/25)

Plus this: 💬 🇷🇸🇷🇺🇪🇺 Vucic said he does not care how foreign countries react to his visit to Moscow. "I am here to fight for my people and my country. I don't care what anyone else in the world thinks or says." (More)

Chay Bowes: 💬 Reliable sources here in Moscow are telling me that Ukraine is planning to attempt to "disrupt" Victory Day with "Serious provocations, worse than Drones." So serious that Zelenskys' inner circle is moving their families out of Kiev in anticipation of a massive Russian response.

■ Russia and China will never forget WWII victims – Putin (RT)
■ Russia’s 72-hour ‘Victory Day’ truce begins (RT)
✅ Eighty years since Victory: Why we need to remember German atrocities in World War II (Raphael Machado)
✅ The inconvenient truth: Confessions of German generals about the strength of the Russians (Pravda-EN) (Original in Russsian)
✅ Europe is erasing WWII’s truth – but Nazi crimes must never be forgotten (Sonja van den Ende)
✅ Wake Up, Europe! Before It’s Too Late (Phil Butler)
✅ SITREP 5/7/25: Ukraine Launches New Kursk Attempt to Spoil May 9th 'Victory Day' (Simplicius)

Israel has not allowed any goods to enter Gaza for more than 60 days | The World Central Kitchen (WCK), a US-based charity, said on Wednesday that it was forced to shut down aid operations in Gaza due to the total Israeli blockade on the Palestinian territory.

💬 “After serving more than 130 million total meals and 26 million loaves of bread over the past 18 months, World Central Kitchen no longer has the supplies to cook meals or bake bread in Gaza,” the WCK said in a statement on its website. ● “Since Israel closed border crossings in early March, WCK has been unable to replenish the stocks of food that we use to feed hundreds of thousands of Gazans daily,” the statement said. ● The charity said that in recent weeks, its team in Gaza “stretched every remaining ingredient and fuel source using creativity and determination” but has now “reached the limits of what is possible.”

WCK field kitchens in Gaza have run out of ingredients, and its mobile bakery has run out of flour. The charity said that it has trucks loaded with food and cooking fuel ready to enter Gaza, but they are being blocked by Israel.

Tens of thousands of people gathered in Vatican City’s St Peter’s Square as cardinals voted in first ballot. | Thick black smoke has emerged from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney, signalling that the cardinals sealed off inside have failed to elect a new pope in their first conclave vote. Tens of thousands of people gathered in Vatican City’s St Peter’s Square to await the smoke, which came about three hours and 15 minutes after the 133 cardinals were sequestered.

■ Cardinals continue voting in 2025 Papal Conclave to elect new Pope (Al Mayadeen)
■ Second session of conclave to elect new pope begins (LifeSiteNews)

Simplicius | SITREP 5/2/25: Major Frontline Breakthrough Signals Start of Russian Spring Offensives | There is a lot of news buzzing about today regarding the so-called ‘mineral deal’ and the tiresome retreads of US ‘pulling out of mediations’ in Ukraine. At this point, it’s safe to say most of this chaff is nothing but that—a red herring meant to propagate the image of US as ‘in charge’ and taking ‘initiative’ in leading the world. It’s nothing but smoke and mirrors and noise at this point, clatter meant to distract from mounting Russian military successes. ■ The real consequential news as always came from the front, where Russian forces made a series of shock breakthroughs in the Pokrovsk direction, signaling a true start of wider Spring offensives. The most notable of which came by way of an instructive video showcasing some of the tactics oft-discussed here.