内容摘要："There are not starving children. I repeat again." He said that there had been allegations months ago of famine, ethnic cleansing and genocide in Gaza "which was crap".

"There are not starving children. I repeat again." He said that there had been allegations months ago of famine, ethnic cleansing and genocide in Gaza "which was crap".

The Vatican prides itself on its diplomacy: that's why, when others severed ties with Moscow after it began bombing Ukraine, the Catholic Church sent a cardinal envoy to talk to the Kremlin. It made no impact.Pope Francis, like Donald Trump, always avoided openly identifying Russia as the aggressor. Vatican sources say that was to keep the door for dialogue ajar, even when it seemed hopeless.

But Francis upset Ukrainians more by suggesting that Russia had been "provoked" by Nato into its invasion. He then agreed it might be wise for Kyiv to "raise the white flag" and surrender.For Kyiv, Pope Leo might be a preferable potential peace-broker. He is on record as bishop denouncing Russia's invasion as an imperialist war and condemning crimes against humanity being committed by Putin's troops.That's unlikely to faze the Kremlin, if the Vatican were ever to host talks.

"Putin can explain his position to the Pope, he believes it's just. In his mind, it's Ukraine that's not serious about peace talks," argued Tatiana Stanovaya, from the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre."I don't believe for one second that the Pope could affect Putin's understanding in any way."

At this point, Russia is under no major pressure to give ground: all Donald Trump's talk of punishing Putin for his intransigence has turned into talk of trade with Russia. Offering incentives, not threating sanctions.

It's true that Moscow wanted a lot more.He said members had to wait a year for dividends and they had told CI Coop they wanted "something a bit more immediate" so the member pricing scheme had been launched.

"Of course we'd love to get back to a 4% dividend rate but I think that balance between delivery of a share of profit and giving immediate benefits is really important," he added.Dividends were available to be collected at CI Coop member services desks but there could be delays over the next few days, he advised.

Mr Cox said the past few weeks had been "nothing short of horrific" afterand