ACERRA, Italy (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Saturday greeted one by one families who lost loved ones to illegal toxic dumping in an area near Naples, as many paused to share photographs and other mementos of children and young people who have died or are battling cancer — illnesses tied to a multi-billion criminal racket run by the mafia.

Leo’s visit to the so-called Terra dei Fuochi, or Land of Fires, came on the eve of the 11th anniversary of Pope Francis’ big ecological encyclical Laudato Si (Praised Be), and indicates Leo’s commitment to carry on his predecessor’s environmental agenda.

“I have come first of all to gather the tears of those who have lost loved ones, killed by environmental pollution caused by unscrupulous people and organizations who for too long were able to act with impunity,” Leo said in remarks to family members and local clergy inside Acerra’s cathedral.

The pontiff recalled that the area now dubbed the Land of Fires was once called “Campania felix,” Latin for blessed or fruitful countryside, “capable for enchanting for its fertility, its produce and its culture, like a hymn to life.

“And yet — here is death, of the land and of men,’’ the pope said.

The European Court of Human Rights last year validated a generation of residents’ complaints that mafia dumping, burial and burning of toxic waste led to an increased rate of cancer and other ailments in the area of 90 municipalities around Caserta and Naples, encompassing a population of 2.9 million people.

The court found Italian authorities had known since 1988 about the toxic pollution, blamed on the Camorra crime syndicate that controls waste disposal, but failed to take necessary steps to protect the residents. The binding ruling gave Italy two years to set up a database about the toxic waste and verified health risks associated with living there.

Bishop says the dumping continues

Bishop Antonio Di Donna in opening remarks estimated 150 young people had died in the city of some 58,000 over the past three decades — emphasizing that the number didn’t take into account adults and victims in other municipalities.

He urged the pope to admonish those who continue to pollute, noting that the dumping of tons of toxic waste was reported a day earlier near Castera. Di Donna said that Italian officials had identified dozens more human-caused contamination sites throughout the country, including the Venetian port of Marghera, and the leaching of PFAS forever chemicals into groundwater near Vicenza.

“We say to those brothers of ours ensnared in evil and seized by a mirage of fabulous earnings: Convert, change your ways, because what you are doing is not only a crime, it is a sin that cries out to God for vengeance,’’ the bishop said.

The pope later greeted the mayors of the 90 communities impacted by the toxic dumping, and greeted thousands of people waving yellow flags and chanting “Papa Leone” along the route of his popemobile and in a central piazza.

Families of young victims appeal to the pope

The victims include Maria Venturato, who died of cancer in 2016 at the age of 25. Her father, Angelo, said he hopes to speak with the pope to explain their reality, “not for me … for the next generation.”

“I’d like to give these young people a future, so I’m asking for the pope’s help with this. That is, I’m making a strong appeal to him to go to those in power and say, ‘Look, let’s heal this land of fires,’” he said on the eve of the pope’s visit.

Inside the cathedral, Filomena Carolla presented the pope with a book containing memories from the life of her daughter, Tina De Angelis, who died of cancer at the age of 24.

“I’m just angry at the people who poisoned the soil, because what did our children have to do with it? What did they have to do with it, so young,” Carolla told The Associated Press on Friday.

Francis’ plans to visit the area in 2020 were canceled due to the pandemic.

A Ukrainian drone attack caused a fire at another Russian oil terminal overnight, local officials in Russia’s Krasnodar region said Saturday, in what appeared to be the latest attack on Moscow’s vital oil industry.

Authorities in the city of Novorossiysk said falling drone debris sparked a fire at an oil terminal, injuring two people, without naming the facility.

Russia’s Astra news outlet said Ukrainian drones struck the Sheskharis oil terminal and depot, the terminus for Russian state-controlled pipeline company Transneft’s main oil pipelines in the region. Images posted by Astra appeared to show smoke rising above the oil terminal, but they could not be verified. Ukraine did not immediately comment on the attack.

Ukraine has expanded its mid- and long-range strike capabilities, deploying drone and missile technology that it has developed domestically to battle Russia’s 4-year-old invasion. Attacks on Russian oil assets that play a key part in funding the invasion have become almost daily occurrences.

Meanwhile, the death toll from a Ukrainian drone strike overnight into Friday on a college dormitory building in Starobilsk, a city in Ukraine’s Russia-occupied Luhansk region, rose to 11, Moscow-installed officials said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday denounced the attack on the dormitory as a “crime” and ordered the military to submit its proposals for retaliation. He said there were no military or law enforcement facilities near the college.

At a U.N. Security Council emergency meeting on the strike, held at the request of Russia, Ukrainian Ambassador Melnyk Andrii denied his Russian counterpart’s accusations of war crimes, calling them a “pure propaganda show” and asserting that the May 22 operations “exclusively targeted the Russian war machine.”

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A single dose of psilocybin eased symptoms of depression within days, with benefits lasting for more than three months compared to placebo, our new study has found.

The study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open involved 35 people with recurring depression. We randomly assigned participants to either receive psilocybin or a placebo. The placebo (vitamin B3) mimicked some physical effects of the psychedelic, such as temporary skin flushing.

Both groups also received psychological support before, during and after dosing.

Although several studies have explored psilocybin for depression, many have focused on people whose symptoms had not responded to other treatments (so-called “treatment-resistant depression”). We wanted to test whether the drug could also help people with more common forms of depression.

At just eight days, those who received psilocybin showed noticeable improvements in mood. And by the end of the six-week follow-up period, more than half of participants in the psilocybin group no longer met the criteria for depression. In the placebo group, only one person showed the same level of improvement.

The treatment was generally well tolerated, although two participants experienced anxiety that lasted for several weeks.

We followed participants for a full year to understand how long the benefits might last. The benefits in the psilocybin group lasted for just over three months on self-rated outcomes. After that, the gap between the two groups began to narrow as the placebo group also improved. This is not unusual. Depression often comes in waves, and symptoms can ease over time without treatment.

Just over a third of participants in both groups started antidepressant medication in the follow-up period, on average about four months after the start of the trial.

The problem of blinding

One major challenge was “blinding” – preventing participants from knowing whether they had received psilocybin or a placebo. Despite using identical capsules and an active placebo, almost all participants correctly guessed which treatment they had received, largely because psilocybin produces a distinctive and unmistakable altered state.

That matters because expectations can shape outcomes. For participants who received psilocybin, the strong effects on the dosing day may have amplified hopes that the treatment would help. For those who received a placebo and felt no such effects, expectations may instead have turned into disappointment. Neither response is neutral when people later report their mood and symptoms.

People generally feel somewhat better simply from taking part in a trial, even if they are in the placebo group. They receive attention, support and regular follow-up. But previous research suggests that people given a placebo in psilocybin studies often improve less than people given a placebo in traditional antidepressant trials. We saw a similar pattern.

If placebo groups in psilocybin trials do not improve in the usual way, the gap between psilocybin and placebo can become larger, making the drug’s effect look bigger than it really is.

Taken together, our findings add to evidence that psilocybin may offer a fast-acting and relatively long-lasting treatment for depression, including for people with more common forms of the condition, not only those with treatment-resistant depression. These are qualities that could make a real difference for patients.

At the same time, they underline a central challenge for the field: how to disentangle the drug’s biological effects from the powerful role of expectation and experience. Answering that question will be crucial for understanding where psilocybin fits into future mental health care.

All Saints Church in Thirkleby, known for its spire visible from the A19, is gathering memories from anyone who has marked special moments at the church—whether meeting a loved one, marrying, or saying goodbye.

All Saints Church in Thirkleby is celebrating its 175th anniversary (Image: Supplied)

A memory wall will feature shared stories and photographs as part of the September 19 to 20 anniversary celebrations.

Gill Walmsley, one of the volunteers organising the event, said: “A special church deserves a very special celebration and that’s what we plan for September but it’s the people who make the place.

“This church building has been an historic anchor to the community for 175 years and will have played an important part in many families’ lives, leaving precious memories.

Volunteers Gill Walmsley, left, and Ann Stoney look through one of the church’s many wedding registers and share memories of their own (Image: Supplied)

“We want to create a wall of memories of words and pictures, whatever people would like to share.

“If you said hello or goodbye to someone, or even ‘I do’.

“If this church is carried in your heart like it is in ours, then we would love to hear from you.”

The weekend will include a visit from Thirkleby-born TV personality Peter Wright of The Yorkshire Vet, a community choir performance, and a Victorian-themed afternoon tea.

Mr Wright will share stories from his early life in the village.

Performances will include the Sessay Songbirds, and the church will be decorated in Victorian style.

Ms Walmsley said: “We also invite you to celebrate with us.

“Come and hear from our very own Yorkshire Vet about his early life in the village, sing with our community choir, enjoy a Victorian afternoon tea or just take in this perfect corner of the world.

“We will be decorating All Saints with a Victorian theme too.”

Anyone wishing to contribute photos or memories, or who would like more details about the anniversary events, is asked to contact Ms Walmsley at gillwalmsley@tiscali.co.uk or call 07969 571002.

There is anger, there is bitterness, there is real sadness. There is some disbelief, there are also some sticking of heads in the sand

The blows have kept coming for Labour. Devastating polls. Slap. Election hammering, left hook. Leader humiliated. Right hook. Welsh secretary in excoriating attack on both Welsh and UK Labour? Roundhouse kick.

Former cabinet secretaries taking their turn? Jab. Jab. Not one, but two First Ministers entering the ring? Ouch. UK Labour infighting – boom, hit, whack.

All in all, there is barely an inch of Labour left without a bruise in the two weeks since the Senedd Election in Wales. The postmortem is in its early stages and will continue for some time. Some of it publicly, some amongst whatsapp groups.

The emojis, the swearing, the disbelieving comments each tell a story.

There is anger, there is bitterness, there is real sadness. There is some disbelief, there are also some sticking of heads in the sand. For some of those that Labour overlooked in selection battles, there is relief they got an effective get out of jail free card.

While the rest of the new 2026 members are walking about the Senedd with smiles on their faces, the emotions for the Labour gang are different.

To those elected for the first time, or promoted to cabinet, the natural greeting as you see them around the estate is “congratulations”.

The tone when you say that to a Labour member is different. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here

Are they really glad to be there?

As I sat and watched plenary on Tuesday from the public gallery, the starkness of Labour’s defeat was obvious.

With one of the nine on maternity leave, and one in the speaker’s chair, when Ken Skates looks behind him for support, there were just six pairs of eyes there to meet his.

His group isn’t on the front benches, it is packed in to a section of the new chamber that is shared by the Tories, Lib Dems, Greens and a spillover of Plaid.

One thing that is clear, even already, is there are few that have anything bad to say about Eluned Morgan’s approach. She tried, she threw everything at it.

One of her aides told me in the days before it was “hyper marginal”. In the event, it wasn’t. She was roundly defeated

While she knew, she didn’t let on.

When the tiredness, so patently obvious when she told voters to “vote Plaid Cymru” rather than her own “Plaid Llafur” she styled it out like a pro.

More than one person has praised her grace at the count, and her stoic statement in the hours after her defeat.

She has maintained a dignified silence.

That isn’t the same for others.

Within hours the opinion pieces started circulating. Carwyn Jones, Mick Antoniw, Jo Stevens all immediately had their say.

Then, as Welsh Labour felt the dust had settled enough to put Ken Skates up for interviews, Mark Drakeford had his say.

In an opinion piece and then a TV interview, he tore into Welsh and UK Labour, he said Prime Minister Keir Starmer needed to stand down and backed Andy Burnham.

Meeting Ken Skates this week, the eternally enthusiastic veteran politician’s smile was notably absent. He spoke of needing to be humble, and boy was he.

He vowed to conduct a “listening exercise” – a phrase we’ve heard before.

But there are questions about how much that is just words. There is anger in the ranks of those who spent weeks on the doorsteps only to be publicly humiliated on stages across the country.

There is anger about what, if anything, is changing behind the scenes.

There is anger that some of those who have been there throughout are failing to acknowledge their own mistakes.

While Jo Stevens criticised others, people asked what she had been doing at the cabinet table.

Vaughan Gething spoke on TV about how things wouldn’t have been have as bad if he’d not been ousted. He said he wasn’t responsible in any way, yet when Mark Drakeford had his say, he disagreed.

But Mark Drakeford’s comments triggered others too – questions immediately arrived in my inbox about why he didn’t admit what he personally got wrong.

Ken Skates said he was “generously” appointed interim leader, and that he wants the rebuilding job himself.

That rebuilding job is huge.

His resources in the group will be vastly depleted. The support it has had to help staff, draw up policy and operate will be sliced, dramatically.

There have long been questions about whether Labour has put the right people in the right jobs or appointed from within – he admitted he will need to be ruthless.

The words he says about being humble, about being ruthless about listening, simply have to be more than words.

Morison Gardens remains closed after a 54-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene early on Friday morning.

A man has been arrested and charged following an alleged stabbing in South Queensferry. Emergency services were called to Morison Gardens at around 6.10am on Friday after reports a man had been attacked.

Despite efforts from paramedics, a 54-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene. Police Scotland confirmed the death is being treated as suspicious and a post-mortem examination will be carried out in due course.

Police confirmed the 58-year-old who was arrested on Friday has since been charged. He is due to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Monday.

Morison Gardens remains closed, along with a partial closure of Stewart Terrace, as officers conduct enquiries. Forensic teams were working at the scene throughout Friday, with a blue forensic tent erected in the front garden of a property and officers also seen carrying out searches in nearby woodland.

Additional patrols have been deployed in the area to reassure the local community, with residents told they can approach officers if they have concerns. A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Police received a report a man had been assaulted on Morison Gardens, South Queensferry, around 6.10am on Friday.

“Emergency services attended, however, the 54-year-old man died at the scene. Officers are treating the death as suspicious and a postmortem examination will be carried out in due course.

“A 58-year-old man has been arrested and charged in connection. He is due to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Monday, 25 May.

“Morison Gardens remains closed, along with a partial closure of Stewart Terrace, as officers conduct enquiries.”

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Andy Robertson wasn’t born when Sir Kenny Dalglish stepped down after his first managerial spell at Liverpool in 1991.

But when he joined the Reds in 2017, he was all too aware of the legacy of some great Scots who had trodden the same path before him.

Talking to Kelly Cates and Dalglish – her father – in a BBC interview, Robertson recalled those conversations after moving to Anfield.

“When I first signed, all the names were thrown at me,” he told Cates. “Your dad, Alan Hansen and [Graeme] Souness…

“I know the Liverpool fans do love a Scottish player in their team. And I know usually if there’s a Scottish player, it brings a bit of success as well.”

The connection between Liverpool and Scotland has run deep since the days of legendary former manager Bill Shankly, and there is perhaps no living figure more beloved on the Kop than Dalglish.

In an initial 14-year stint as captain then player-manager, Dalglish scored 172 goals and helped deliver 18 major trophies, including eight league titles and three European Cups.

More than 30 years on, Robertson – set to play his final match at Anfield on Sunday – will depart as the latest in a line of men from north of the border to have left an indelible impact.

The defender arrived on Merseyside nine years ago, when Jurgen Klopp signed him from Hull City for £8m. Four years prior, he had been playing in Scotland’s fourth tier for Queen’s Park.

From those humble beginnings, the 32-year-old has gone on to help redefine the role of a full-back under Klopp and later Arne Slot, notching 60 Premier League assists – the second most by defender behind former team-mate Trent Alexander-Arnold.

He has won nine major trophies in that time, including two league titles and the Champions League.

But his legacy will be as someone who played like a fan on the pitch. Dalglish called him “a great credit” to Liverpool.

Once Sunday’s match is done, Robertson’s focus will turn to captaining Scotland at their first men’s World Cup for 28 years. He is just 10 caps away from equalling Dalglish’s record of 102.

“I’m just a wee bit upset with the number of caps you’ve got with Scotland,” the 75-year-old told him.

“And I think you should retire after the World Cup!”

Pope Leo has issued a stark condemnation of companies prioritising “dizzying” profits over environmental protection, during a visit to a region of Italy notorious for illegal toxic waste dumping.

On Saturday, the first US pontiff travelled to Acerra, approximately 220 kilometres south of Rome, urging the world to “reject temptations of power and enrichment linked to practices that pollute the land, water, air, and social coexistence.”

The area, near Naples, is grimly known as the “Land of Fires,” where the European Court of Human Rights ruled last year that authorities had failed to safeguard residents from waste dumping since at least 1988. Pope Leo stated his desire to visit to “gather the tears” of families who have lost loved ones to related illnesses.

Arriving by popemobile to an outdoor square on a sunny spring day, Pope Leo was greeted by crowds waving small yellow and white Vatican flags and wearing yellow hats, some holding posters of deceased family members.

Pope Leo, who has adopted a more forceful tone in recent months and is set to issue his first major document on Monday, declared that “unscrupulous people and organizations have been allowed to act with impunity for too long.” During his four-hour visit to Acerra, he also criticised “the dizzying profits of a few, blind to the needs of people, their work and their future,” and met with victims.

For years, waste collection, treatment, and disposal in southern Italy were largely controlled by a small group of private entities, with contracts sometimes linked to the Camorra, a Naples-based mafia group.

In January 2025, the European court found that Italian authorities had repeatedly failed to halt illegal dumping in a region also dubbed the “Triangle of Death” due to abnormally high cancer rates among local residents. The court granted the Italian government two years to establish a comprehensive database of toxic waste sites and communicate the risks to the public.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni responded in February 2025 by appointing an Italian general to lead a task force aimed at assisting victims and overseeing environmental clean-up efforts.

Pope Leo’s first encyclical, a significant text for the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, is expected on Monday. It is anticipated to address the rise of artificial intelligence and its implications for warfare and workers’ rights.