JAKARTA: Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto will depart for Russia on Sunday (Apr 12) for talks with counterpart Vladimir Putin on oil, Prabowo's office said.

The presidency in Jakarta confirmed to AFP that Prabowo would leave on Sunday evening.

Foreign Minister Sugiono said on Saturday that oil, which is "of strategic importance for the Indonesian nation", would be on the agenda.

"He will meet with President Putin and will also discuss global geopolitics and, certainly, the energy situation," said Sugiono, who like many Indonesians has only one name.

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Prabowo, who recently travelled to South Korea and Japan, has defended his foreign travels.

"Brothers and sisters, it's to secure oil, I have to go everywhere," he said in an address to his cabinet last week.

Like many nations, Indonesia has come under pressure from soaring global oil prices over the war in the Middle East.

Southeast Asia's largest economy, where fuel is heavily subsidised, is an oil producer but nevertheless a net importer.

Last month, Prabowo's government announced fuel rationing and mandated a day-per-week work-from-home policy for civil servants to conserve energy stocks.

It has vowed not to increase the price of fuel in the near future.

Russia's ambassador to Indonesia Sergei Tolchenov told reporters in March that his country was open to selling oil to Indonesia.

"If Indonesia needs it, so please tell us and you will have it," Tolchenov said as the countries prepared for joint military exercises at a Jakarta port.

Last year, Jakarta joined the BRICS bloc of emerging economies that includes Russia and China. 

But Prabowo has also signed a trade deal with US President Donald Trump and joined his so-called "Board of Peace".

TAIPEI: The top US diplomat in Taiwan said China should abandon its threats and military pressure against Taiwan and talk to the island's leaders as that would avoid misunderstandings and stabilise relations.    

Raymond ​Greene, the de facto ambassador as head of the American Institute in ‌Taiwan, ⁠which handles relations in the absence of formal diplomatic ties, said the consistent US policy has been to support exchanges across the Taiwan Strait.

He was discussing the visit of Taiwan's opposition leader to China on a Taiwanese political talk show on Saturday (Apr 11). 

"However, we also expect China - Beijing - to maintain open communication channels with all of Taiwan's political parties, especially the leaders elected by the Taiwanese people, in order to avoid misunderstandings and to stabilise cross-strait relations," Greene said in Mandarin.

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"We further expect China to abandon threats against Taiwan or military pressure. I believe this would help ease cross-strait tensions."

China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.    China views Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control. Taiwan's government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims.

Beijing refuses to speak to Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, saying he is a "separatist", but Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday met Cheng Li-wun, chairwoman of Taiwan's largest opposition party, the Kuomintang, during what she called a mission of peace to China.

The Chinese military operates daily around Taiwan, activities that have continued while Cheng has been in China.

Taiwan's opposition, which has a majority in parliament, has stalled government military spending plans, including an extra US$40 billion special defence budget which has provisions to buy US weapons and which Washington has backed.

Despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties, the US is Taiwan's most important arms supplier and international backer.

Greene said that while the US supports dialogue, that cannot replace deterrence.

"I don't think there is a conflict here, because if there is sufficient deterrence capability, it will lead to a more equal dialogue," he added.

"There are three ways to resolve cross-strait differences: the first is dialogue, the second is coercion and the third is war. So if Taiwan can have sufficient deterrence capability, it can take the option of war off the table."

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: United States Vice President JD Vance said on Sunday (Apr 11) that negotiations between the US and the Iranians have ended without a deal as the Iranians refused to accept American terms to not develop a nuclear weapon.

The high-stakes talks in Pakistan's capital Islamabad ended after 21 hours, with Vance in constant communication with President Donald Trump and others in the administration.

“But the simple fact is that we need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon, and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon,” Vance told reporters, adding that the main sticking point was Iran’s nuclear programme.

“That is the core goal of the president of the United States. And that’s what we’ve tried to achieve through these negotiations."

WINDOW REMAINS OPEN

Vance signalled that he was still giving time to Iran to consider the offer from the US, which on Tuesday said it would pause attacks with Israel for two weeks pending negotiations.

"We leave here with a very simple proposal, a method of understanding that is our final and best offer. We'll see if the Iranians accept it."

Iran insists it is not pursuing an atomic bomb, and the US and Israel bombed sensitive Iranian sites both in the war launched on Feb 28 as well as last year.

"The simple question is, do we see a fundamental commitment of will for the Iranians not to develop a nuclear weapon - not just now, not just two years from now, but for the long term?" Vance said.

"We haven't seen that yet. We hope that we will."

In response, Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency said that excessive demands by the US hindered a common framework and agreement.

"The Iranian delegation negotiated continuously and intensively for 21 hours in order to protect the national interests of the Iranian people; despite various initiatives from the Iranian delegation, the unreasonable demands of the American side prevented the progress of the negotiations," state broadcaster IRIB added on Telegram.

"Thus the negotiations ended."

Vance also said he spoke with Trump “a half dozen times, a dozen times, over the past 21 hours” as well as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Admiral Brad Cooper, head of the United States Central Command.

"We were constantly in communication with the team because we were negotiating in good faith."

Vance led the US delegation, while parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf led the Iranian delegation. 

Vance boarded Air Force Two at 7.08am local time (10.08am Singapore time) and waved to Pakistani officials from the top of the stairs, before departing.

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday (Apr 11) that the joint US-Israeli campaign against Iran had succeeded in "crushing" Tehran's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

Netanyahu's comments came as Iranian and US officials held two rounds of face-to-face talks in Pakistan in a bid to end the Middle East war, with a third round expected later on Sunday, Iranian state TV reported.

"We have succeeded in crushing the nuclear programme, and crushing the missile programme," Netanyahu said in a televised statement, adding that the war against Tehran had also weakened Iran's leadership and its regional allies.

"We have reached a situation in which Iran no longer has a single functioning enrichment facility."

Netanyahu said the US and Israel had prevented Iran from acquiring a nuclear bomb by launching a war in June 2025, followed by the current campaign that began on Feb 28.

He said the latest war was launched after intelligence indicated that the now deceased Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei had sought to expand the country's nuclear and missile programmes even after the June 2025 war.

"He sought to bury both missile production and nuclear production deep, deep beneath a mountain, in a way that even B-2 aircraft could not reach. Once again, we could not stand by. We acted," Netanyahu said.

"Most of its missile production capacity has disappeared. They still have missiles, they still have stockpiles, but it is shrinking."

He said there were "enormous achievements" in the war effort.

"They are reflected in this weakened regime, which is now even seeking a ceasefire," he said.

Netanyahu added that, for decades, Iran's leadership and its allies had threatened Israel.

"They wanted to strangle us, and (now) we are strangling them. They threatened us with annihilation, and now they are fighting for survival."

On Lebanon, Netanyahu said the country had approached Israel regarding a potential peace deal.

"In the past month, it has reached out several times to begin direct peace talks," Netanyahu said.

"I have given my approval, but on two conditions: we want the dismantling of Hezbollah's weapons, and we want a real peace agreement that will last for generations."

On Friday, Lebanon's presidency said that a meeting would be held with Israel in Washington next week to discuss a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war and the potential start of negotiations between the neighbours.

Hezbollah and Israeli forces have been clashing since Mar 2, two days after the start of the Iran war, following rocket fire by the Lebanese armed group at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Khamenei.

Since then, Israel has killed at least 2,020 people in Lebanon, including 248 women, 165 children and 85 medical and emergency personnel, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

Israel carried out its largest air attack this week on Lebanon since Mar 2, which it says left hundreds of Hezbollah fighters dead.

For many women, the cumulative weight of what sociologists call the “mental load” – the invisible labour of managing households, relationships and careers – can make rest feel less like an indulgence and more like a necessity.

With rising costs, economic uncertainty and the constant negotiation of work and family responsibilities, the last few years have been marked by widespread emotional fatigue.

Perhaps that’s why so many women are now reading stories where the emotional investment is guaranteed to pay off: the world of romantasy – a genre that mixes fantasy settings with central love stories and sometimes explicit sex scenes.

According to Bloomberg, by 2024, the industry was estimated to be a US$610 million (S$788 million) market.

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A Circana BookScan report, which tracks physical book sales in the United States and countries including the United Kingdom, Spain, Australia and India, noted that in the first quarter of 2025, adult fiction grew by 1.9 million book sales.

Romance and romantasy led all genre groupings in the US – but the numbers are only part of the story.

In romantasy, the heroes would rather risk everything to protect the heroine than worry about everyday problems. Male partners are already emotionally aware. Female pleasure is a priority, and most importantly, the relationships always last.

Books like A Court Of Thorns And Roses by Sarah J Maas and Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros have drawn millions of readers precisely because they offer something real life rarely delivers: emotional certainty.

Yarros’ Onyx Storm, the third book of her The Empyrean series, sold 2.7 million copies in its first week when it launched in January 2025, becoming the fastest-selling adult novel in 20 years, according to The New York Times.

What may appear to be a surge in popularity reveals something deeper about how women are reading, desiring and imagining intimacy today.

SO, WHAT IS ROMANTASY, EXACTLY?

There is no single agreed-upon definition of romantasy. The genre covers a wide range, from closed-door romance to very explicit content. What brings these stories together is the blend of fantasy worlds with central romantic relationships.

Romance novels focus on emotional connection, while fantasy centres on magical worlds and quests. Romantasy brings these together. Characters pursue both love and survival while navigating romantic and sometimes explicit relationships with friends, enemies or supernatural beings.

In fantasy books like Tolkien’s The Lord Of The Rings, romance is minor. Romantasy flips this, making the romantic relationship the focus, even though world-building still matters.

These stories offer classic fantasy elements like battles between good and evil, magical schools, mythical creatures, and made-up worlds, but focus more on personal experiences. 

Female protagonists embark on their own journeys, confronting power, danger, and responsibility while building relationships that are central to the story.

They may find themselves drawn to rivals, forced into uneasy alliances, or compelled to cross social or political boundaries. These dynamics create emotional tension as compelling as the quest itself.

For instance, in Empire Of Sand (2018) by British author Tasha Suri, a young woman with forbidden magical abilities is forced into a political marriage, where survival depends as much on navigating a dangerous relationship as it does on power or strategy. The book is the first of The Books Of Ambha duology.

YES, IT’S ABOUT SEX – BUT NOT HOW YOU THINK

Some might dismiss romantasy as just smut. Romantasy is partly known for its sexually explicit content, and fans often talk about a book’s "spice level".

What sets romantasy apart from erotica isn’t how much sex is in the story, but what it means. Erotica is mostly about sexual encounters, while romantasy weaves intimacy into a bigger emotional story.

For many readers, having sexuality centred on female pleasure feels almost like a fantasy itself. In these books, devotion itself is seen as erotic.

Love interests are often shown as emotionally caring, protective and deeply loyal – qualities often missing in traditional fantasy and sometimes, in real life.

More importantly, these stories focus on intimacy that grows from emotional safety and true devotion. It’s the kind of relationship where loyalty is unwavering, even when everything else is falling apart.

THE FEMALE GAZE, REWRITTEN

The readership is overwhelmingly female. According to Nielsen, 84 per cent of romance readers are women, with more than half aged between 18 and 44.

One of the biggest characteristics of romantasy is its focus on the female perspective – many romantasy authors are women, unlike the mostly male world of traditional high fantasy.

In classic fantasy, women are often shown as trophies or tragic characters. In romantasy, women take an active role.

The stories put female characters at the centre, showing them as both strong and emotionally complex. They seek power, handle politics, and make choices that shape not only their love lives but also the fate of entire kingdoms.

ASIAN ROMANTASY BOOKS – A GROWING TREND

Many top-selling romantasy books are set in Western worlds and feature traditional beauty standards, but this is starting to change. Asian authors are increasingly bringing their cultural heritage into romantasy.

Korean-American authors like Jayci Lee and Axie Oh incorporate Korean mythology, while Filipino author Thea Guanzon’s The Hurricane Wars trilogy (2023) weaves Southeast Asian weather patterns into fantasy romance.

Malaysian author Sue Lynn Tan’s Daughter Of The Moon Goddess (2022), which draws on Chinese mythology, won a 2023 Alex Award, given by the American Library Association to adult books with crossover appeal to young readers.

Singapore has fantasy writers who include romance in their stories, but there aren’t any well-known romantasy authors yet.

FROM CULT CLASSICS TO A GLOBAL BOOM

Fantasy stories with explicit sexual relationships are not new. Kushiel’s Dart (1999) by Jacqueline Carey explored kink and sexual autonomy in ways unusual for mainstream fantasy.

Paranormal romance became popular in the 21st century, with the Twilight (2005-2008) series making supernatural love triangles famous. Vampire Academy (2007-2010) and The Mortal Instruments (2007-2014) followed, making magical schools and forbidden love even more appealing.

The romantasy boom likely started during the pandemic. Studies show that reading during COVID-19 helped people deal with stress and loneliness.

BookTok made emotional reactions to favourite novels go viral, giving older books new attention. Maas’ A Court Of Thorns And Roses series, first published in 2015, became a sensation as videos of readers reacting to plot twists spread online during the pandemic lockdown.

The momentum continues, extending beyond English stories. In March, Chinese streaming platform iQIYI and Netflix released Pursuit Of Jade, a 40-episode Chinese historical drama adapted from Tuanzi Laixi’s novel Chasing Jade.

The series blends slow-burn romance with war-driven storytelling. According to China Daily, the country’s national English newspaper, the show’s debut topped iQIYI’s international chart for Chinese-language dramas.

Pursuit Of Jade was a Top 10 hit on Netflix in nine countries, including Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, according to figures on its website. The show drew 1.8 million views in a single week. 

The adaptation’s success demonstrates romantasy’s global reach and its commercial appeal beyond Western markets.

THE REAL FANTASY

What draws people most to this genre is what it promises about love itself. In romantasy, relationships require effort. Characters deal with conflict, betrayal, and pain. They must be open, choose to trust and fight for what they want.

In romantasy, emotional effort always pays off – vulnerability is rewarded, and perseverance leads to lasting love. In real life, however, you can be vulnerable, work through conflict, fight for a relationship – and it can still fall apart.

Romantasy offers something reality often cannot – the assurance that doing everything right will be enough. Where courage and devotion survive every trial. Where love, once earned, endures.

That kind of certainty might be the biggest fantasy of all.

SYDNEY: In early March, a week after the first US-Israeli strikes on Iran, the White House posted a video of real American attacks mixed with clips from popular movies, television series, video games and anime.

Iran and its sympathisers responded to the strikes by flooding social media with outdated war footage allegedly from the current conflict alongside AI-generated content depicting attacks on Tel Aviv and US bases in the Persian Gulf.

More recently, viral video clips reportedly created by a team of Iranians depict Donald Trump, Jeffrey Epstein, Satan, Benjamin Netanyahu, Pete Hegseth, Ayatollah Khamenei, and others as Lego figurines.

Welcome to the brave new world of slopaganda.

THE RISE OF SLOPAGANDA

Late last year, in a paper published in Filisofiska Notiser, we coined the portmanteau “slopaganda” to refer to AI-generated slop that serves propagandistic purposes.

By propaganda we mean communication intended to manipulate beliefs, emotions, attention, memory and other cognitive and affective processes to achieve political ends. Add generative artificial intelligence and the result is slopaganda.

The slopaganda situation has since become far worse than we expected.

In October 2025, US President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated video depicting himself piloting a fighter jet while wearing a crown and dumping faeces on American protesters. More recently, he posted an AI-generated video envisaging his presidential library as an enormous gaudy skyscraper, complete with a golden elevator.

Lego-themed Iran-created slopaganda is just the latest example. The material isn’t just videos. It can also be images, text, or whatever else AI can generate.

HOW SLOPAGANDA SLIPS THROUGH OUR DEFENCES

What is the point of all this slopaganda? We have several answers so far.

First, through repeated exposure in both legacy and social media, slopaganda can penetrate our usual mental defences. It works when it is attention-grabbing, emotionally arresting - typically in a negative way - and delivered to a distracted audience, such as people scrolling social media or switching between browser tabs.

Second, it is a very effective way of diluting the epistemic environment - the world of what we think we know - with falsehoods and half-truths. As philosophers have argued, ChatGPT and other generative AI tools can be machines for content that is indifferent to truth.

Slopaganda can be understood as a special kind of AI-generated content, but its unique features become clearer when we look at its use in campaigns such as the Iranian Lego videos.

No one is misled into thinking Trump can pilot an F-16 and drop faeces out of it. No one (we hope) believes plastic Trump Lego figurines are in cahoots with a plastic Satan figurine. Rather than aiming for accuracy, the slopaganda is expressive and emblematic of feelings and emotions, and meant to create an association. The intended linkages are something like Satan is associated with Trump while the United States is associated with evil, and so on.

WHAT SLOPAGANDA MEANS FOR SHARED TRUTH

A third point is that some slopaganda is indeed misleading. This may be by design, or because a joke or trolling escapes its intended context and is misunderstood as serious - a phenomenon scholars call “context collapse”. Misleading slopaganda, including deepfakes, can be generated quickly during conflicts, crises and emergencies, when people want information but authoritative sources are scarce.

Once misleading information or a particular association enters someone’s mind, it can be hard to shake. Because slopaganda can reach huge audiences, even a small misleading effect in the general population may have significant consequences. State actors, corporations, and private individuals can potentially influence group beliefs and decisions, including election results, protest movements, or general sentiment about an unpopular war.

Fourth, the prevalence of slopaganda may make us doubt everything else. People will no doubt become better at spotting this kind of material, but they will also become more likely to misidentify authentic content as slop. As a result, public trust in genuinely trustworthy individuals and institutions may also fall.

When this occurs, the overall effect is likely to be a general lowering of public trust in genuinely trustworthy individuals and institutions, leading to a kind of nihilistic doubt in really knowing anything.

When it’s hard or impossible to identify trustworthy sources, you can choose to believe whatever you find comforting, invigorating or infuriating. In increasingly polarised societies struggling with interlocking economic, political, military and environmental crises, the breakdown of shared sources of truth will only make things worse.

3 WAYS TO STAVE OFF SLOPAGANDA

What can be done about the slopaganda situation? In our paper, we discuss interventions at three different levels.

First, individuals can become more digitally literate, for instance by looking for telltale signs of AI in text, images and video. They can also learn to check sources rather than merely glancing at headlines and other content, as well as to block sources that routinely spread slopaganda, rather than attempting to evaluate each piece of content in a vacuum. This will help them avoid falling for slopaganda while still trusting authentic sources of news and other information.

Second, industry and regulators can implement technological fixes to watermark AI-generated content. Some content may even need to be removed from platforms where people see news and other important information.

Third, large tech companies such as OpenAI, Google and X can be held accountable for what they have made. This could be done through taxation and other interventions to fund both regulatory efforts and education in digital literacy.

Slopaganda is probably here to stay. But with sufficient foresight and courage, we may still be able to adapt to it – and even control it.

Mark Alfano is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Macquarie University. Michal Klincewicz is Assistant Professor of the Department of Computational Cognitive Science at Tilburg University. This commentary first appeared on The Conversation.

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Saturday (Apr 11) he was not bothered about the outcome of US-Iran talks in Pakistan, insisting the United States had come out ahead from the war.

"Whether we make a deal or not makes no difference to me. The reason is because we've won," Trump told reporters.

"We're in very deep negotiations with Iran. We win regardless. We've defeated them militarily," Trump said.

Trump was speaking as top-level peace talks between the US and Iran entered a second day on Sunday, with Washington piling on pressure by saying it had sent minesweeping ships through the vital Strait of Hormuz - a claim Tehran denied.

In the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, Vice President JD Vance on Saturday became the highest-ranking American to meet directly with Iranian officials since the 1979 Islamic revolution, days after the US and Israel halted their war that had plunged the Middle East and global economy into tumult.

The White House said talks extended beyond midnight, but Iranian media accused the US of making "excessive demands" on the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world's oil transits.

A Pakistani official told AFP talks were "progressing in the right direction".

"I can say that discussions are moving positively and the overall atmosphere is cordial," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

In a break with precedent, Iranian and US officials were meeting directly, alongside Pakistan, and not speaking through mediators who shuttled between rooms.

Iran had sought the presence of Vance due to his top position and his reported initial opposition to the war.

Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump's special envoy and son-in-law respectively, joined Vance. 

The 70-strong Iranian delegation was led by Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the powerful speaker of parliament, and included Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

Iran demands for any agreement to end the war include unfreezing sanctioned Iranian assets and ending Israel's war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, which Vance has said will not be up for discussion in Islamabad.

Experts said Iran's delegation showed it was serious about leaving Pakistan with a deal.

"The size, seniority and breadth of the Iranian delegation ... signal both Tehran's sincerity in these negotiations and its expectations and confidence," said Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and author of a book on US-Iran diplomacy.

Trump had earlier repeated the US military's statement that US Navy warships on Saturday transited through the strait to begin clearing it of Iranian mines.

"We have minesweepers out there. We're sweeping the strait," Trump said.

"We'll open up the strait even though we don't use it, because we have a lot of other countries in the world that do use it that are either afraid or weak or cheap," Trump said.

The Iranian military denied that any American warships had entered the waterway and threatened to respond if they do so.

"Any attempt by military vessels to pass through the Strait of Hormuz will be dealt with severely," the Revolutionary Guards' Naval Command said in a statement, according to state broadcaster IRIB. 

It said that Iranian promises of safe passage during a two-week ceasefire applied only to "civilian vessels under specific conditions".

Trump also voiced frustration with allies from NATO, who stayed on the sidelines during the war, and who were not consulted in advance.

"We were not helped by NATO, that I can tell you," Trump said.

GENEVA: UN agency chiefs on Saturday (Apr 11) demanded an end to impunity for widespread international law violations in the Middle East, as casualties pile up six weeks into the war unleashed by US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

In a joint statement, the heads of multiple United Nations agencies said they were "alarmed by the sustained violations of the rules of war and international humanitarian law" in the region.

"Even wars have rules, and these rules must be respected," the statement from the UN Inter-Agency Standing Committee said.

The joint statement - penned by UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher along with the heads of the UN agencies for human rights, health, food, refugees and children among others - decried the soaring toll since the Middle East war erupted on February 28.

"In just the last month across the Middle East, thousands of civilians have been killed and injured. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced, many multiple times," it said.

"The numbers continue to rise and essential services are increasingly difficult to access.

"Health workers, hospitals and ambulances have been targeted. Schools have been struck. Civilian infrastructure - including bridges, residential buildings, houses, water facilities and power plants - has been destroyed," it said.

The agency chiefs voiced particular concern about the impact on "women and children and others with specific needs", as well as on global supply chains, "with food and fuel prices on the rise".

At the same time, they highlighted that "our humanitarian colleagues have been caught up in the hostilities".

Just since the beginning of this year, they said, "14 aid workers have been killed or injured in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, eight in Iran and five in Lebanon".

"This is an alarming toll."

The agency chiefs said they "strongly condemn all attacks on civilians, including humanitarian and health workers, as well as civilian objects". 

"We demand that all parties – whether Member States of the United Nations or armed groups – respect their legal obligation to protect civilians, including humanitarian personnel, and civilian infrastructure," they said.

"All violations must be met with accountability."

VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo lashed out against warmongers on Saturday (Apr 11) while calling on billions of people around the globe to embrace peace and "believe once again in love, moderation and good politics".

In one of his most passionate entreaties yet to end the raging conflict in the Middle East, the American pope said faith was needed "in order to face this dramatic hour in history together". 

"Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war! True strength is shown in serving life," Pope Leo implored in an address during a prayer vigil for peace at St Peter's Basilica.

Uttered in measured tones, as is customary for the soft-spoken head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics, the comments by the 70-year-old Leo nevertheless marked some of the most pointed criticism yet of the wave of conflicts inflaming the globe.

"Dear brothers and sisters, there are certainly binding responsibilities that fall to the leaders of nations. To them we cry out: Stop! It is time for peace! Sit at the table of dialogue and mediation, not at the table where rearmament is planned and deadly actions are decided!"

As he has done in the past, the Chicago native did not cite politicians by name, and did not call out specific countries. 
 

"DELUSION OF OMNIPOTENCE"

Responsibility also fell to the "immense multitude" that rejects war, Leo said, urging them to build a "Kingdom of peace...in our homes, schools, neighbourhoods, and civil and religious communities."

"A Kingdom that counters polemics and resignation through friendship and a culture of encounter. Let us believe once again in love, moderation and good politics." 

The pope described the Kingdom of God as a "bulwark against that delusion of omnipotence that surrounds us and is becoming increasingly unpredictable and aggressive."

It also was a place with "no sword, no drone, no vengeance, no trivialisation of evil, no unjust profit, but only dignity, understanding and forgiveness."

Leo painted a grim picture of the current state of the world, "where there never seem to be enough graves, for people continue to crucify one another and eliminate life, with no regard to justice and mercy."

Pope Leo, who was elected pontiff last May following the death of his predecessor Francis, is moderate and known as a bridge-builder. But he has been increasingly denouncing the conflicts dividing the world, most recently on Friday when he railed against the "senseless and inhuman violence" spreading across the Holy Land. 

Leo has repeatedly urged de-escalation in the current US-Israeli war on Iran and the need for a diplomatic solution.