CNN
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Former President Joe Biden criticized President Donald Trump for suggesting Ukraine may have to give up territory in exchange for peace, calling it a “modern-day appeasement,” in reference to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s efforts to appease Adolf Hitler as he sought to annex land in the 1930s.

“I just don’t understand how people think that if we allow a dictator, a thug, to decide he’s going to take significant portions of land that aren’t his, and that’s going to satisfy him. I don’t, I don’t quite understand,” Biden said, referencing Russian President Vladimir Putin in an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today program.

The former president also said he found it “beneath America” the way Trump berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier this year in a tense Oval Office meeting, while also questioning Trump’s comments on the Gulf of America and desire to acquire Panama, Greenland and Canada.

“What the hell’s going on here? What president ever talks like that? That’s not who we are. We’re about freedom, democracy, opportunity, not about confiscation,” Biden said.

When asked if Biden believes there is a greater threat to democracy now than any other time since World War II, the former president said, “Yes, I do because, I mean, look at, look at the number of European leaders in European countries. They’re wondering, well, what do I do now? What’s the best route for me to take? Can I rely on the United States? Are they going to be there?”

Asked if Trump was behaving more like a king than a president, Biden said, “He’s not behaving like a Republican president.” Biden added that history will judge Trump’s time in office but he has not seen anything “triumphant” in his first 100 days in office.

The former president also said he is less concerned about democracy being under threat in the US than he was in the past “because I think the Republican Party is waking up to what Trump is about.”

Biden additionally was asked about whether he should have left the 2024 campaign earlier and said “I don’t think it would have mattered.”

“We left at a time when we had a good candidate, she’s fully funded. And what happened was I had become what we had set out to do. No one thought we could do and become so successful, our agenda. It was hard to say now I’m going to stop now,” Biden said.

He continued, “I meant what I said when I started that I think I’m preparing to hand this to the next generation, the transition government. But things moved so quickly that it made it difficult to walk away. It was a hard decision.”

Biden spent much of his presidency grappling with the war in Ukraine, working to rally European allies to aid the country and attempting to apply pressure on Russia through sanctions. In his final months in the White House, Biden approved the use of long-range American missiles in Russia and surge in remaining approved US aid to the country as possible US support for Ukraine under Trump remained in question. Under Biden’s watch, the US provided more than $65 billion in aid since the war began in 2022.

The conversation with the BBC marks Biden’s first interview since leaving office and coincides with 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, which celebrates the end of the World War II in Europe. He is also slated to appear on the ABC’s The View on Thursday.

Biden has largely stayed out of the public spotlight since leaving office, but last month, he slammed the Trump administration’s approach to the Social Security Administration.

“Look what’s happened now. Fewer than 100 days, this new administration has made so – done so much damage and so much destruction. It’s kind of breathtaking it could happen that soon,” Biden said at a conference for disabilities advocates.

Before voting begins, the College of Cardinals will gather for a special mass at 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. ET) in St. Peter’s Basilica.

The service, known as “Pro Eligendo Romano Pontifice,” will be led by Cardinal Giovanni Re, the Dean of the College of Cardinals.

During the service, Cardinal Re will deliver a homily — the result of conversations with the cardinals gathered in Rome since Pope Francis’ death — expounding the church’s priorities for the next papacy.

At around midday, the cardinals will break for a long lunch and a final period of reflection.

At 4:30 p.m. (10:30 a.m. ET), the cardinals will begin their elaborate procession into the Sistine Chapel. Once seated beneath Michelangelo’s fresco, the cardinals will chant “Spiritus Sanctus,” a Latin hymn. In a final ritual, all 133 cardinals will swear both a collective and individual oath, pledging perpetual secrecy about the papal election.

The chapel will then enter “extra omnes,” meaning “everybody out.” The doors of the chapel will close to outsiders, leaving the cardinals to cast their ballots.

Then begins a waiting game. If white smoke billows from the chapel’s chimney, this means a new pope has been chosen — and he will be revealed to the public from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.

If the smoke is black, it means no cardinal has garnered two thirds of the votes. A second round — and potentially a third, fourth and fifth — would then be held Thursday.

London
Reuters
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The official coronation portrait of Britain’s King Charles was made public on Tuesday, two years after he was crowned, in a tradition dating back more than 400 years to a time when such a painting often became the defining image of a monarch.

The portrait of Charles, in his Robe of State standing beside the Imperial State Crown, and one of his wife, Queen Camilla, will go on display in London’s National Gallery for a month before being moved to Buckingham Palace, their permanent home, Buckingham Palace said in a statement on Tuesday.

Charles, 76, who was diagnosed with an unspecified form of cancer early last year some 10 months after his coronation, has been sitting for the portrait while he undergoes treatment.

The king and queen commissioned the paintings shortly after the coronation ceremony at London’s Westminster Abbey, choosing different artists. Charles was painted by Peter Kuhfeld, while Camilla selected Paul Benney, Buckingham Palace said.

“I have tried to produce a painting that is both human and regal, continuing the tradition of royal portraiture,” Kuhfeld said in a statement of the image of the king whose backdrop is the Throne Room in St James’s Palace.

Camilla is seen wearing her Coronation Dress of ivory colored silk, next to a different crown. Benney said he wanted to acknowledge the historic nature of the coronation while also showing “the humanity and empathy of such an extraordinary person taking on an extraordinary role.”

Historically, the paintings were used as a show of power. The earliest example in the royal collection is the state portrait of James I of England, James VI of Scotland, from 1620.