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US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he hoped clashes between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan end “very quickly,” after New Delhi’s forces launched strikes and Islamabad vowed retaliation.”It’s a shame, we just heard about it,” Trump said at the White House, after the Indian government said it had hit “terrorist camps” on its western neighbor’s territory following a deadly attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir.”I guess people knew something was going to happen based on the past. They’ve been fighting for many, many decades and centuries, actually, if you really think about it,” he added.India and Pakistan have fought three full-scale wars since gaining independence from the British in 1947. Both claim Kashmir in full but administer separate portions of the disputed region. “I just hope it ends very quickly,” said Trump.India had been widely expected to respond militarily since gunmen shot dead 26 people in Indian-administered Kashmir, mostly Hindus. New Delhi has blamed militants that it has said were from Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba, a UN-designated terrorist organization.Pakistan’s army said the Indian strikes targeted three sites in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and two in Punjab province, the country’s most populous. Islamabad said that three civilians, including a child, had been killed in Indian strikes.The Indian strikes came just hours after the US State Department issued a fresh call for calm.”We continue to urge Pakistan and India to work towards a responsible resolution that maintains long-term peace and regional stability in South Asia,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters.Her statement came after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned of stopping water from flowing across borders following the Kashmir attack.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Tuesday that water from India that once flowed across borders will be stopped, days after suspending a key water treaty with arch-rival Pakistan.New Delhi has blamed Islamabad for backing a deadly attack on tourists on the Indian side of contested Kashmir last month, sparking a series of heated threats and diplomatic tit-for-tat measures.Pakistan rejects the accusations, and the nuclear-armed neighbours have exchanged nightly gunfire since April 24 along the de facto border in Kashmir, the militarised Line of Control, according to the Indian army.Modi did not mention Islamabad specifically, but his speech comes after New Delhi suspended its part of the 65-year-old Indus Waters Treaty, which governs water critical to Pakistan for consumption and agriculture.”India’s water used to go outside, now it will flow for India,” Modi said in a speech in New Delhi.”India’s water will be stopped for India’s interests, and it will be utilised for India.”Pakistan has warned that tampering with its rivers would be considered “an act of war”.But experts also pointed out that India’s existing dams do not have the capacity to block or divert water, and can only regulate timings of when it releases flows.International pressure has been piled on both New Delhi and Islamabad, who have fought several wars over Kashmir.”We continue to urge Pakistan and India to work towards a responsible resolution that maintains long-term peace and regional stability in South Asia,” US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters.- ‘Not natural’ -Earlier on Tuesday, Islamabad accused India of altering the flow of the Chenab River, one of three rivers placed under Pakistan’s control according to the now suspended treaty.”We have witnessed changes in the river (Chenab) which are not natural at all,” Kazim Pirzada, irrigation minister for Pakistan’s Punjab province, told AFP.Punjab, bordering India and home to nearly half of Pakistan’s 240 million citizens, is the country’s agricultural heartland, and “the majority impact will be felt in areas which have fewer alternate water routes,” Pirzada warned.”One day the river had normal inflow and the next day it was greatly reduced,” Pirzada added.In Pakistan-administered Kashmir, large quantities of water from India were reportedly released on April 26, according to the Jinnah Institute, a think tank led by a former Pakistani climate change minister.”This is being done so that we don’t get to utilise the water,” Pirzada added.The Indus River is one of Asia’s longest, cutting through ultra-sensitive demarcation lines between India and Pakistan in contested Muslim-majority Kashmir — a Himalayan territory both countries claim in full.- Air raid drills -Modi has said India will “identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backer” who carried out the attack at Pahalgam last month in which 26 mainly Hindu men were shot dead.Indian police have issued wanted posters for three suspects — two Pakistanis and an Indian — who they say belong to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, a UN-designated terrorist organisation.The Pakistani military has said it has launched two missile tests in recent days, including of a surface-to-surface missile with a range of 450 kilometres (280 miles) — about the distance from the Pakistan border to New Delhi.India is set to hold several civil defence drills Wednesday preparing people to “protect themselves in the event of a hostile attack”.Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is expected in New Delhi on Wednesday, two days after talks in Islamabad with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.Tehran has offered to mediate between the two nuclear-armed nations, and Araghchi will be first senior foreign diplomat to visit both countries since the April 22 attack sent relations plunging.Rebels in Indian-run Kashmir have waged an insurgency since 1989, seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan.India regularly blames its neighbour for backing gunmen behind the insurgency.Modi had already threatened to use water as a weapon in 2016.”Blood and water cannot flow together,” he said at the time.burs-pjm/mlm/st

India’s space agency said Tuesday it planned to launch an uncrewed orbital mission later this year before its first human spaceflight in early 2027.”It represents India’s rise as a global space power”, Jitendra Singh, the country’s science and technology minister, said in a statement.The world’s most populous country has flexed its spacefaring ambitions in the last decade with its space programme growing considerably in size and momentum.Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced plans to send a man to the Moon by 2040.”The uncrewed orbital Gaganyaan (“space craft”) mission is on track for launch later this year, with recovery trials already conducted with the Indian Navy, and more sea recovery simulations planned,” the Department of Space said in a statement.Along with other tests, this will lead to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) sending astronauts into space.”These milestones will culminate in India’s maiden human spaceflight in 2027, launching Indian astronauts into orbit aboard an Indian rocket from Indian soil,” it added.ISRO said the spaceflight was scheduled for “the first quarter” of 2027.”Training of astronauts is also progressing steadily,” the statement added.”Four Indian Air Force pilots, selected as astronaut-designates, have completed training in Russia and are undergoing further mission-specific training in India.”India has matched the achievements of established powers at a much cheaper price tag.In August 2023, it became just the fourth nation to land an unmanned craft on the Moon after Russia, the United States and China.This month, Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, 39, is expected to fly to the International Space Station — becoming the first Indian astronaut to do so and the second in orbit ever.The mission, which is jointly being undertaken by NASA and the ISRO, will be launched from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.Shukla, who is set to pilot the Axiom Mission 4, is likely among the top candidates for ISRO’s spaceflight programme.Shukla’s travel to space will come four decades after India’s Rakesh Sharma’s iconic spaceflight onboard a Russian spacecraft in 1984.

Britain on Tuesday struck a free trade agreement with India, its biggest such deal since leaving the European Union, after negotiations relaunched in February following US tariff threats.Britain has sought to bolster trade ties across the world since it left the EU at the start of the decade under Brexit, a need that became more pressing after the United States unleashed tariffs that risk causing weaker economic growth.”Today we have agreed a landmark deal with India — one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, which will grow the economy and deliver for British people and business,” UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement. His Labour government said it is “the biggest and most economically significant bilateral trade deal the UK has done since leaving the EU”. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the deal as “ambitious and mutually” beneficial.The pact will help “catalyse trade, investment, growth, job creation, and innovation in both our economies”, Modi said in a post on social media platform X.His office said in a statement that the deal will “unlock new potential for the two nations to jointly develop products and services for global markets”. It added that Modi had invited Starmer to visit India at an unspecified date.- Whisky and shoes -The accord will slash tariffs on imports of UK goods into India, including whisky, cosmetics and medical devices.Whisky and gin tariffs will be halved to 75 percent, while automotive tariffs will be slashed from more than 100 percent to 10 percent. In exchange, the UK will cut tariffs on imports of clothes, footwear and food products, including frozen prawns, from India. The deal comes after US President Donald Trump hiked tariffs on trading partners and launched sector-specific levies on steel, aluminium and cars.The UK and India are the sixth and fifth largest global economies respectively, with a trade relationship worth around £41 billion ($54.8 billion) and investment supporting more than 600,000 jobs across both countries.The sides hope the free-trade agreement will increase trade between the two countries by £25.5 billion, as well as boosting the British economy and wages.The UK called it “the best deal India has ever agreed”.Talks were relaunched between the two countries in February after stalling under Britain’s previous Conservative administrations.In previous negotiations, India pushed for more UK work and study visas for its citizens in exchange for lowering tariffs.The Federation of Indian Export Organisations welcomed Tuesday’s announcement, saying that the deal “eliminates or significantly reduces tariffs on a wide range of Indian goods, giving our exporters preferential access to one of the world’s most affluent and consumption-driven markets”. Mike Hawes, chief executive of British automotive lobby group SMMT also praised the outcome.”While the agreement will likely feature compromises, and might not offer unfettered market access to all UK automotive goods, we appreciate the considerable effort British negotiators have devoted to secure the first partial liberalisation of the Indian automotive market.”- UK trade deals -Britain has secured other trade deals since exiting the EU, including with Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. However, a much sought-after agreement with the United States remains elusive.The European Union remains Britain’s biggest trading partner, and Starmer has sought to bring the UK and the EU closer together since his Labour party won re-election last July.A landmark EU-UK summit is due this month, but Starmer has ruled out Britain rejoining the neighbouring bloc.Britain joined the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership in December.The CPTPP alliance comprises fellow G7 members Canada and Japan, plus long-standing allies Australia and New Zealand, alongside Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. burs-ajb/bcp/rlp

Four decades after she moved to India from Pakistan, got married and had six children, Nasreen Akhtar Bi’s life was upended — a case illustrating in one family the fractured history of contested Kashmir.Bi, 55, was not caught up in the April 22 attack in Indian-administered Kashmir when gunmen targeting tourists killed 26 mainly Hindu men, killings that New Delhi blames on its arch-rival Islamabad. Pakistan rejects the accusations.But the furious arguments since have triggered regular gunfire between their troops along the de facto frontier in Kashmir and sweeping tit-for-tat punitive diplomatic sanctions — including cancelling visas.Bi and her family, living in the usually sleepy farming village of Salwah in the Himalayan hills under Indian control, were dragged into a bitter quarrel between the leaders of the nuclear-armed nations.She, her four brothers and four sisters, were detained by police and taken to the border with Pakistan.”It was a very big shock,” Bi said. “I did not know what to do, I was shivering with chills and fever all over my body.”- ‘Roots and history’ -India and Pakistan have fought multiple times since the violent end of British rule in 1947, when colonial officers drew straight-line borders on maps to partition the nations, dividing communities.Muslim-majority Kashmir — claimed by both India and Pakistan — has been a repeated flashpoint.Rebels in the Indian-run area of Jammu and Kashmir have waged an insurgency since 1989, seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan.During previous conflict in 1965, her parents had fled fighting — and ended in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.But in 1982, when borders eased, they returned to the Indian side.”All their lands, family roots and history were here,” said Bi’s older sister, Nasheen Akhtar, 60.Akhtar’s son, Faisal Majeed, 35, said they were shocked at the attack at Pahalgam, but had not thought it would impact them.”When the civilians were killed in Kashmir and our government announced expulsions, we didn’t think it could have a direct bearing on us,” said Majeed, Bi’s nephew.”It was like a ton of bricks had fallen on me.”Many of their neighbours were unaware of their family history.Bi arrived at the border with Pakistan, a place she barely has a memory of. “I’ve never been there since I came here with my late parents as a child,” she said. “All my siblings, family and relatives are here.”Bi said she understood the angry grief in response to the Pahalgam attack but that it was ordinary people like her who were suffering in the sweeping response.”I felt the pain for the people killed,” she said. “I also feel for those who’re being asked to leave after all these years.”But as Bi and her siblings readied to cross into Pakistan, a last minute Indian court order stopped their expulsion.”Thank God, it didn’t happen,” Bi’s husband Fazal Hussain said, sitting alongside his wife on the veranda of their simple hillside home.”We’d all have been orphaned,” 65-year-old Hussain said, with a long grey beard. “I’d have been just as lost here as she’d have been there, alone on the other side.”- ‘Boiling point’ -Bi is now back home on her farm, in Indian-run Jammu and Kashmir.The wider situation remains a concern.UN chief Antonio Guterres said on Monday relations between Pakistan and India had reached a “boiling point”, warning that “now is the time for maximum restraint and stepping back from the brink”.India’s army said on Tuesday its troops had exchanged gunfire with Pakistani soldiers overnight across the Line of Control in multiple sites, which it says has taken place every night since April 24.That includes gunfire near Bi’s home village.But for Bi and her family, her return was something to celebrate. “I realised I was home after I saw my buffaloes, goats and my husband, who cried with joy and put a garland of flowers on me,” she said. 

Bangladesh’s ex-prime minister Khaleda Zia, chair of the powerful Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), returned home to cheering crowds on Tuesday after months abroad for medical treatment. Zia, 79, led the South Asian nation twice but was jailed for corruption in 2018 during the tenure of Sheikh Hasina, her successor and lifelong rival who barred her from travelling abroad for medical care.The 79-year-old was released from house arrest after a student-led mass uprising ousted Hasina in August 2024.She flew to Britain in January and returned on Tuesday, BNP spokesperson Shairul Kabir said.Thousands of party activists welcomed her, gathering on either side of the road leading to the airport, carrying photographs of Zia and waving party flags and placards with welcome messages.Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, 84, who has led an interim government since Hasina fled into exile as crowds stormed her palace, has said elections will be held as early as December, and by June 2026 at the latest. “This is a significant day for the country and the people of Bangladesh,” Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, the BNP’s secretary general, told reporters.”The celebration we are witnessing is not only an outpouring of emotion but also a demonstration of our strength.”Zia’s rival Hasina remains in self-imposed exile in India and has defied an arrest warrant from Dhaka over charges of crimes against humanity.

Sri Lanka’s leftist government faced its first electoral test with local polls on Tuesday since sweeping parliamentary and presidential votes last year, as the country emerged from economic meltdown.President Anura Kumara Dissanayake urged voters to return all 339 local council bodies to his ruling National People’s Party (NPP) coalition, which enjoys a sweeping two-thirds majority in parliament.Dissanayake, who upset the more established political parties to win the September presidential election, built on his popularity to secure the parliamentary vote held two months later.Since coming to power, Dissanayake, 56, has made a U-turn on his pledge to renegotiate the terms of an unpopular IMF bailout loan agreed by his predecessor, and has maintained high tariffs.”We must understand the nature of the reality before us — an economy that has collapsed to the bottom,” Dissanayake said at his May Day rally in Colombo.He said it was essential for his party to sweep the local councils so that all layers of the administration were “free of corruption and endemic waste”.He also urged trade unions not to agitate over “small issues”, and to give his government more time to deliver on its promises of increased welfare.Some 17.1 million people — the same number that voted in the two previous national elections — are eligible to vote on Tuesday to elect 8,287 councillors from 75,589 candidates.The campaign has been lacklustre, with no high-profile figures in the running. Results are expected by midday on Wednesday.

The excited little girl who first touched a plane two decades ago is now flying high as the face of India’s fast-modernising military and its only woman Rafale fighter pilot.”This is where my adventure began,” Shivangi Singh, 29, told AFP at the Air Force Museum in New Delhi, recalling her first visit as a child when she “gawked” and “immediately knew that I wanted to become a pilot”.Women were first inducted into the fighter pilot ranks in 2015, two decades after they were allowed to join the Indian Air Force (IAF).”There have been many of us,” said Singh, a lieutenant. “This not only reflects modernisation (of our society) but also the fact that we can now realise our dreams.”Singh, who is married to a fellow fighter pilot, is the first Indian woman to fly the French-made single-seat Rafale jets.New Delhi last month signed a multi-billion dollar deal for 26 of the aircraft from Dassault Aviation, adding to 36 already ordered.The jets are part of a major modernisation of the IAF to replace its ageing fleet of Russian-made MiGs.The deal comes as tensions with arch-rival Pakistan rise after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for an attack in contested Kashmir in April that killed 26 people.Pakistan has rejected any link to the assault, the worst attack on civilians in the Muslim-majority region for a quarter of a century.India has also eyed with worry its northern neighbour China, especially since a deadly 2020 clash between their troops along their disputed Himalayan border.- ‘Be independent’ -Singh, born in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi, had to excel in both academics and sports to break into a job once seen by many as something only men could do.”My mother was a great source of inspiration as she didn’t just want me educated — she wanted me to be independent, and backed all my endeavours,” the pilot added.India’s Air Force had more than 1,600 woman officers, including many pilots, according to official statistics from 2023.The world’s most populous nation also has highest proportion of woman commercial pilots — at about 14 percent of the total strength.Singh detailed her experience of flying, from “nervous and anxious” when she first sat in the cockpit, to the “incredibly exhilarating” moment when flying solo.The first time Singh took the controls of a fighter jet, a MiG-21, was when she “realised how much skill it takes to control” to fly.- Aiming for space -Singh was among the first to try the new Rafale jets.After a rigorous selection process, she was in 2020 shortlisted for simulator training with French instructors before stepping into the cockpit.”Its responsiveness is impressive… the cockpit is incredibly comfortable, you feel like it was designed for you,” Singh added.But her dreams are even bigger.India is planning a manned space mission, and the pilot hopes that challenge will be her next frontier.”I succeeded in a field that was long reserved for men, and if I succeeded, then women can now work in any sector,” she said, adding she had applied for training courses to be a test pilot.”I want to be an astronaut,” she said. “So let’s hope.”

Bangladesh hoped to celebrate progress towards eradicating tuberculosis this year, having already slashed the numbers dying from the preventable and curable disease by tens of thousands each year.Instead, it is reeling from a $48 million snap aid cut by US President Donald Trump’s government, which health workers say could rapidly unravel years of hard work and cause huge numbers of preventable deaths.”Doctors told me I was infected with a serious kind of tuberculosis,” labourer Mohammed Parvej, 35, told AFP from his hospital bed after he received life-saving treatment from medics funded by the US aid who identified his persistent hacking cough.But full treatment for his multidrug-resistant tuberculosis requires more than a year of hospital care and a laborious treatment protocol — and that faces a deeply uncertain future.”Bangladesh is among the seven most TB-prevalent countries globally, and we aim to eradicate it by 2035,” said Ayesha Akhter, deputy director of the formerly US-funded specialised TB Hospital treating Parvej in the capital Dhaka.Bangladesh had made significant progress against the infectious bacteria, spread by spitting and sneezing, leaving people exhausted and sometimes coughing blood.TB deaths dropped from more than 81,000 a year in 2010, down to 44,000 in 2023, according to the World Health Organization, in the country of some 170 million people.Akhter said the South Asian nation had “been implementing a robust programme”, supported by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).”Then, one fine morning, USAID pulled out their assistance,” she said.- Starving children -More than 80 percent of humanitarian programmes funded by USAID worldwide have been scrapped.Tariful Islam Khan said the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) had, with US funding, carried out mass screening “improving TB case detection, particularly among children” from 2020 to 2024.”Thanks to the support of the American people… the project has screened 52 million individuals and diagnosed over 148,000 TB cases, including 18,000 children,” he said.Funding cuts threatened to stall the work.”This work is critical not only for the health of millions of Bangladeshis, but also for global TB control efforts,” he said.Growing rates of infectious diseases in one nation have a knock-on impact in the region.Cuts hit further than TB alone.”USAID was everywhere in the health sector,” said Nurjahan Begum, health adviser to the interim government — which is facing a host of challenges after a mass uprising toppled the former regime last year.US aid was key to funding vaccines combatting a host of other diseases, protecting 2.3 million children against diphtheria, measles, polio and tetanus.”I am particularly worried about the immunisation programme,” Begum said.”If there is a disruption, the success we have achieved in immunisation will be jeapordised.”Bangladeshi scientists have also developed a special feeding formula for starving children. That too has been stalled.”We had just launched the programme,” Begum said. “Many such initiatives have now halted”. – Pivot to China -US State Department official Audrey M. Happ said that Washington was “committed” to ensuring aid was “aligned with the interests of the United States, and that resources are used as effectively and efficiently as possible”.Bangladesh, whose economy and key garment industry are eyeing fearfully the end of the 90-day suspension of Trump’s punishing 37 percent tariffs, is looking for other supporters.Some Arab nations had expressed interest in helping fill the gap in Muslim-majority Bangladesh.China, as well as Turkey, may also step into Washington’s shoes, Begum said.Jobs are gone too, with Dhaka’s Daily Star newspaper estimating that between 30,000 and 40,000 people were laid off after the United States halted funding.Zinat Ara Afroze, fired along with 54 colleagues from Save the Children, said she worried for those she had dedicated her career to helping.”I have seen how these projects have worked improving the life and livelihoods of underprivileged communities,” she said, citing programmes ranging from food to health, environmental protection to democracy.”A huge number of this population will be in immediate crisis.”- Babies dying  -Those with the least have been hit the hardest.Less dollars for aid means more sick and dead among the Rohingya refugees who fled civil war in their home in neighbouring Myanmar into Bangladesh since 2017.Much of the US aid was delivered through the UN’s WHO and UNICEF children’s agency.WHO official Salma Sultana said aid cuts ramped up risks of “uncontrolled outbreaks” of diseases including cholera in the squalid refugee camps.Faria Selim, from UNICEF, said reduced health services would impact the youngest Rohingya the hardest, especially some 160,000 children under five.Hepatitis C, with a prevalence rate of nearly a fifth “is likely to increase in 2025”, Selim said.Masaki Watabe, who runs the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) in Bangladesh working to improve reproductive and maternal health, said it was “trying its best to continue”.Closed clinics and no pay for midwives meant the risk of babies and mothers dying had shot up.”Reduced donor funding has led to… increasing the risk of preventable maternal and newborn deaths,” he said.

All 133 Catholic cardinals who will vote for a new pope have arrived in Rome, the Vatican said on Monday, two days before they gather in a conclave to elect the next head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.Hailing from 70 countries across five continents, the group — summoned following the death of Pope Francis on April 21 — is the largest and the most international ever.At stake is the direction of the Catholic Church, a 2,000-year-old institution with huge global influence but which is struggling to adapt to the modern world and recover its reputation after the scandal of widespread child sex abuse by priests.The 133 cardinals who will vote — all those aged under 80, minus two who are absent for health reasons — will gather on Wednesday afternoon under the frescoed splendour of the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel.They are sworn to secrecy, risking excommunication if they reveal what happens — as are their support staff, from medics to lift operators, canteen and cleaning staff, who took their oath on Monday.The Vatican announced on Monday that it would also cut the phone signals within the tiny city state for the duration of the conclave, although this will not cover St Peter’s Square, where thousands of pilgrims are expected to gather to see the new pope.On Monday morning, technicians installed red curtains on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica overlooking the square, where the new pontiff will make his first appearance.Cardinals of all ages had met earlier on Monday for the latest in a series of closed-door preparatory meetings.Discussions so far have covered everything from the Vatican’s finances to the abuse scandal and Church unity.On Monday morning “the focus was on the missionary nature of the Church: a Church that must not withdraw into herself”, the Vatican said.Cardinals discussed the profile of the next pope — “a figure who must be present, close, capable of being a bridge and a guide, of favouring access to communion for a disoriented humanity marked by the crisis of the world order”.He should be “a shepherd close to the real life of the people”, the Vatican added.- ‘Spectacular’ conclave -Francis was an energetic reformer from Buenos Aires who helped open up the Church during his 12-year-long papacy but was accused by critics of failing to defend key Catholic doctrine.The question now is whether his successor will follow a similar progressive line, or take the Church on a more conservative, traditionalist path.Francis appointed 80 percent of the current cardinal electors — but experts caution that they may not choose someone in his mould, with many warning that there could be surprises.Vatican affairs specialist Marco Politi told AFP that, given the unknowns, the conclave could be “the most spectacular in 50 years”.  The conclave begins on Wednesday afternoon and could continue for days, weeks or even months — although both Francis and his predecessor were elected within two days.The cardinals will vote once the first day and four times a day thereafter until one of them has the two-thirds majority to be elected pope.They will stay at the nearby Santa Marta guesthouse and are forbidden from contacting the outside world until they have made their choice.Under a centuries-old ritual, they will inform the waiting world of their progress by burning their ballots, with black smoke indicating no winner, and white smoke signalling a new pope.- ‘Tough pope’ -Italy’s Pietro Parolin, who was secretary of state under Francis, is one of the favourites, as is Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.Amongst the so-called “papabili” are also Luis Antonio Tagle from the Philippines and Hungarian conservative Peter Erdo.But many more names have been discussed and a surprise candidate could emerge, as was the case when Francis — then an Argentinian known as Jorge Bergoglio — was picked in 2013.Amongst the pilgrims and sightseers who gathered in St Peter’s Square on Monday, opinions varied widely about who could or should take over.”Maybe more of Pope Francis than Pope Benedict,” said German visitor Aurelius Lie, 36.”As long as he’s not too conservative (and) influenced by modern political leaders — (Giorgia) Meloni, (Donald) Trump,” he said, referring to the Italian prime minister and the US president.”Maybe the Church will be thinking: ‘We need a tough pope now to deal with these people’. But their terms will end in a couple of years.”burs-ar/db/bc