At high-level talks with the USA in Saudi Arabia, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has declared that Russia will not accept NATO peacekeeping forces in Ukraine under any peace agreement. The discussions marked the first known face-to-face…
Former foreign minister Radosław Sikorski has responded to US vice-president JD Vance’s critique of Europe regarding migration and free speech. Vance, speaking at the Munich Security Conference, criticised European leaders for disregarding the will of their…
Vatican: Pope Francis suffering from pneumonia
20 Feb 2025
After being admitted to hospital on 14 February, Pope Francis has developed pneumonia in both lungs, and his condition remains ‘complex’. The 88-year-old pontiff has been battling a respiratory infection for over a week. A follow-up…
US secretary of state Pete Hegseth has defended Donald Trump’s push for peace talks on Russia’s war in Ukraine, insisting it was not a betrayal of Kyiv. Speaking before a NATO meeting in Brussels, Hegseth emphasised…
Lina Ishaq, a 52-year-old Swedish woman, has been sentenced to twelve years in prison for genocide and war crimes against Yazidis in Syria. She enslaved three Yazidi women and six children in Raqqa between 2014 and…
Austria: coalition government talks collapse
13 Feb 2025
Talks to form Austria’s first far-right-led coalition collapsed after negotiations between the Freedom Party (FPO) and the conservative People’s Party (OVP) failed. The FPO, which won the most votes in September’s election, has struggled to reach…