🇷🇺🇺🇦Putin calls for 'direct talks' with Ukraine as European leaders demand ceasefire
Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited Ukraine to take part in "direct talks" on 15 May, hours after European leaders urged Moscow to agree to a 30-day ceasefire.
In a rare televised late-night address from the Kremlin, Putin said Russia was seeking "serious negotiations" aimed at "moving towards a lasting, strong peace".
Earlier on Saturday, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer travelled to Kyiv with counterparts from France, Germany and Poland to put pressure on Russia to commit to an unconditional ceasefire, starting Monday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said Moscow would "have to think this through" - but warned that "trying to pressure us is quite useless".
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🇺🇸US cuts aid to 🇿🇲Zambia over 'systematic' medicine theft
The US has announced that it is cutting $50m (£37m) in aid to Zambia's health sector, due to the country's failure to address the "systematic theft" of donated drugs and medical supplies.
This "difficult" decision was taken after repeated warnings to the Zambian government to safeguard vital drugs meant for the country's most vulnerable patients, said US ambassador to Zambia Michael Gonzales.
"We are no longer willing to underwrite the personal enrichment of fraudsters or the corrupt when patients go without or have to buy life-saving medications that we have provided for free," he added.
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🇺🇸🇬🇧US and UK agree deal slashing Trump tariffs on cars and metals
The US has agreed to reduce import taxes on a set number of British cars and allow some steel and aluminium into the country tariff-free, as part of a new agreement between the US and UK.
The announcement offers relief for key UK industries from some of the new tariffs President Donald Trump has announced since his return to the White House in January.
But it will leave a 10% duty in place on most goods from the UK.
Though hailed by the leaders of the two countries as significant, analysts said it did not appear to meaningfully alter the terms of trade between the countries, as they stood before the changes introduced by Trump this year.
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🇺🇸Fed holds rates because of tariff 'uncertainty'
The US central bank has warned that President Donald Trump's tariffs have created "so much uncertainty" that it is unsure what to do about interest rates.
The Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday it would keep interest rates unchanged, despite pressure from Trump to lower borrowing costs.
But Fed chairman Jerome Powell said the economic fallout from Trump's tariffs meant it was "not at all clear" what the bank should do next.
The decision marked the third in a row without action, leaving the bank's key lending rate hovering around 4.3%.
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😍Disney to open theme park in the Middle East
Walt Disney has announced plans to open its first theme park in the Middle East.
The resort, which will be in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Abu Dhabi's Yas Island, is a collaboration between Walt Disney and local leisure and entertainment company Miral.
Disney already has six theme parks spanning North America, Europe and Asia. Its most recent opening was in 2016 in Shanghai.
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🇨🇦🇺🇸Carney tells Trump that Canada 'won't be for sale, ever'
Mark Carney has told Donald Trump that Canada "is not for sale" as the president raised the prospect of the country becoming the 51st US state while welcoming the prime minister to the White House.
Carney won the election last month promising to "stand up" to Trump, who has imposed tariffs on some Canadian products and sometimes talks about annexing the country.
The former central banker responded with a firm but measured tone after the president proposed a "wonderful marriage" of incorporating Canada into the US.
Despite a strained relationship recently between the once-close neighbours, the two men also lavished praise on each other in what was a largely cordial Oval Office meeting.
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🇬🇧Visa applications for some nationalities could be restricted
Visa applications from nationalities thought most likely to overstay and claim asylum in the UK could be restricted under a new government crackdown.
Under Home Office plans, first reported in the Times, people from countries such as Pakistan, Nigeria and Sri Lanka may find it more difficult to come to the UK to work and study.
Ministers believe there is a particular problem with those who come to the UK legally on work or study visas and then lodge a claim for asylum - which if granted, would allow them to stay in the country permanently.
A Home Office spokesperson said: "Our upcoming Immigration White Paper will set out a comprehensive plan to restore order to our broken immigration system."
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🇸🇩Sudan paramilitaries escalate attacks on key city
Explosions have been heard in the Sudanese city of Port Sudan as a paramilitary force targeted the de-facto capital of the country's military-led government for the third consecutive day.
Thick black smoke could be seen at dawn on the skyline of the previously safe city where thousands of people fleeing the two-year civil war have sought refuge.
Flights have been cancelled after drones hit the international airport and a hotel near the current presidential palace, reports say.
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🇺🇸Harvard head apologises as scathing reports on campus prejudice released
Harvard University President Alan Garber has apologised following the release of internal reports into antisemitic and anti-Muslim prejudice at America's oldest university.
The reports included testimony from students who described feeling alienated and pressured to conceal their identity from their peers and educators.
In response to the findings, Harvard pledged to review its academic offerings and admissions policies - a key demand of the White House, which accuses the Ivy League institution of failure to stamp out campus antisemitism.
A pair of taskforces were established to look into bias at Harvard in the aftermath of last year's pro-Palestinian protests over the Israel-Gaza war.
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🇲🇹Malta's golden passport scheme breaks EU law, top court rules
Malta's so-called golden passport scheme that lets people become citizens through financial investment is contrary to European law, the EU's top court has ruled.
The EU commission took Malta to court in 2022 over the scheme, which grants foreigners a Maltese passport and thereby the right to live and work in any EU country in return for paying at least €600,000 (£509,619), buying or renting property of a certain value, and donating €10,000 to charity.
The EU's Court of Justice said the scheme "amounts to rendering the acquisition of nationality a mere commercial transaction".
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🇨🇦Watch: How Canada's election night unfolded
Mark Carney's Liberal Party has won the Canadian election. In his victory speech, Carney told supporters that "President Trump is trying to break" Canada so that "America can own" the country.
In his concession speech, defeated Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said "hard lessons" had been learned from the election.
This is how the unprecedented election night unfolded.
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🇦🇺Australian PM dismisses warning over AAA credit rating
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has dismissed concerns that election spending promises could jeopardise the country's prized AAA sovereign credit rating.
Analysts at S&P Global this week wrote that Australia's public spending was at "post-war highs", and warned both major parties that the country's rating was at risk if savings were not found.
Party leaders have made big spending promises in Australia's tightly-fought election, scheduled for 3 May - with the cost of living a critical issue for voters.
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🇳🇦Namibian minister sacked after being accused of rape
Namibia's agriculture minister has been sacked after being accused of raping a 16-year-old girl five years ago.
Mac-Albert Hengari was arrested on Saturday after allegedly attempting to bribe the victim, now 21, to withdraw the case against him, local media quote the police as saying.
Hengari, who has denied any wrongdoing, is expected to appear in court in the coming hours.
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🇬🇱Greenland not a piece of property, says PM after Trump threats
Greenland's new prime minister has said the island is not a "piece of property that can be bought", in response to Donald Trump's repeated calls for the US to take control of the autonomous Danish territory.
On a visit to Copenhagen on Sunday, Jens-Frederik Nielsen said Greenland and Denmark must stand together in the face of "disrespectful" US rhetoric.
He was speaking alongside Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in what has been viewed as another show of unity between the two leaders.
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🇨🇩DR Congo and 🇷🇼Rwanda vow to agree peace plan within days
Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo have signed an agreement to respect each other's sovereignty and come up with a draft peace deal by 2 May.
The deal was signed by the two countries' foreign ministers in Washington, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also present at Friday's ceremony.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been displaced in recent months as Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have seized swathes of mineral-rich territory in eastern DR Congo.
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🇺🇸New Jersey mayor arrested in protest at migrant centre
The mayor of New Jersey's largest city has been released following his arrest on Friday after allegedly trying to force his way into a migrant detention facility.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka "committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings" to leave Delaney Hall, a facility being run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to acting US attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba.
Baraka was accompanied by three Democratic members of Congress who were not arrested. They say they were there to conduct "oversight" to ensure the facility was not violating any building safety ordinances.
Baraka told CNN he did not break any laws and was "exercising my right and duty as an elected official".
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🇬🇧UK to announce fresh sanctions on Putin's 'shadow fleet'
A fleet of Russian oil tankers which have been used to avoid existing sanctions on oil and gas exports are set to be hit with new restrictions.
Downing Street has said action will be taken against up to 100 vessels which have carried more than £18 billion worth of cargo since the start of 2024.
Sir Keir Starmer is due to make the announcement at a summit of north European leaders known as the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) in Oslo, Norway.
The PM has vowed the UK will do everything in its power to "destroy" Russian President Vladimir Putin's "shadow fleet operation, starve his war machine of oil revenues and protect the subsea infrastructure".
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🇦🇺Australia Greens leader loses seat, cites 'Trump effect'
The leader of Australia's third-largest political party, the Greens, has conceded his seat in Melbourne after a tight electoral vote count that lasted several days.
Adam Bandt, who had safely held the seat of Melbourne since 2010, told reporters on Thursday afternoon that he had called Labor candidate Sarah Witty to congratulate her on her victory.
Australia's centre-left Labor party won Saturday's federal election by a landslide, decimating the conservative Liberal-National Coalition while also gutting the left-leaning Greens.
While the Greens got the highest vote in Melbourne, Bandt said the main reason for their loss was the preference votes for Liberal and the far-right One Nation party.
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🇿🇦South African opposition politician hits out after failing to get UK visa
South African firebrand opposition politician Julius Malema says he has been denied a visa to attend a conference in the UK on 10 May.
Malema said the UK had no "substantial justification" for its decision, and he saw it as an "attempt to silence a dissenting political perspective".
In a leaked letter to Malema's deputy, the UK High Commissioner to South Africa, Antony Phillipson, said the Home Office had been unable to process his visa application in time for his trip.
Malema, the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, is a fierce critic of what he sees as "Western imperialism", and also advocates the nationalisation of white-owned land in South Africa.
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🇮🇳India to stop water flowing across international borders, Modi says
India has announced that it will stop its water from flowing over international borders.
"Now, India's water will flow for India's benefit, it will be conserved for India's benefit, and it will be used for India's progress", Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday.
While he did not mention Pakistan specifically, Modi's comments come about two weeks after India suspended a 65-year-old water sharing treaty with its neighbour.
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💶EU plans to end 🇷🇺Russian gas imports by end of 2027
The European Commission has published a "roadmap" outlining its plans to end Europe's reliance on Russian energy in the coming years.
Under the plans, imports of all Russian gas and liquefied natural gas to European Union member states will be banned by the end of 2027.
"No more will we permit Russia to weaponise energy against us... No more will we indirectly help fill up the [Kremlin's] war chests," European Commissioner for Energy Dan Jorgensen said in a news conference in Strasbourg on Tuesday.
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🇩🇪Germany's Merz falls short of majority in vote for chancellor
Germany's conservative leader has unexpectedly fallen short of the numbers needed to form a majority in parliament to become chancellor.
Friedrich Merz needed 316 votes in the 630-seat Bundestag but only secured 310, in a significant blow to the Christian Democrat leader, two and a half months after winning Germany's federal elections.
His coalition with the centre-left has enough seats in parliament but it appears 18 MPs who had been expected to back him dissented. Merz's failure in the first vote is seen as unprecedented in modern German history.
The Bundestag will now have another 14 days to choose either Merz or another candidate as chancellor.
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🇷🇴Romanian PM resigns and pulls out of coalition after nationalist vote win
Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu has resigned and his Social Democrat party is to leave the government after a right-wing nationalist candidate won the first round of the presidential election.
George Simion, a eurosceptic who has promised to put Romania first, won 40.9% of Sunday's vote and is expected to win a run-off vote on 18 May.
He will face liberal Bucharest Mayor Nicușor Dan, who narrowly defeated the Social Democrat (PSD) candidate.
Sunday's result plunged Romania - an EU state on Nato's eastern flank - into further political turmoil. Ciolacu told colleagues that as their coalition had failed to meet its objective and "has no legitimacy", they should pull out of the government.
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🇨🇦Canada will deal with Trump 'on our terms', Carney tells BBC
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has said his country deserves respect from the US and will only enter trade and security talks with President Donald Trump "on our terms".
Speaking exclusively to the BBC as the polls were closing, Carney said he would only visit Washington when there was a "serious discussion to be had" that respected Canada's sovereignty.
Carney and Trump have since spoken and agreed to meet in the near future, according to the Canadian prime minister's office.
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🇹🇹Opposition sails to victory in Trinidad and Tobago
The opposition in the Caribbean twin-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago has won a decisive victory in Monday's parliamentary election, preliminary results suggest.
The win by the centrist United National Congress (UNC) party means that Kamla Persad-Bissessar will be appointed as the next prime minister.
The 73-year-old already held the post once before, from 2010 to 2015, but her party was defeated in the last two elections by the centre-left People's National Movement (PNM).
Preliminary results suggest the UNC, which campaigned on a promise to raise wages and create employment, managed to win a number of parliamentary seats previously held by the PNM.
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🇺🇸Trump set to ease tariff impact on US car makers
President Donald Trump is set to take action to ease the impact of his tariffs on US car makers, a top White House official says.
"This deal is a major victory for the President's trade policy by rewarding companies who manufacture domestically," Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a statement provided to the Reuters news agency.
The president will announce measures to reduce some import duties on parts from abroad that are used in vehicles manufactured in the US.
In addition, while cars made outside the country will still be subject to automotive tariffs, they will not be hit with further levies like those on steel and aluminium products, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier.
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🇷🇺🇺🇦Putin announces three-day Russian ceasefire in Ukraine from 8 May
Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a temporary ceasefire for the war in Ukraine.
The Kremlin said the ceasefire would run from the morning of 8 May until 11 May - which coincides with victory celebrations to mark the end of World War Two.
In response, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called for an immediate ceasefire lasting "at least 30 days".
While US President Donald Trump, who has been attempting to broker a truce between the two sides, said he wants to see a permanent ceasefire, the White House said.
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🇰🇵N Korea confirms it sent troops to fight for 🇷🇺Russia in 🇺🇦Ukraine war
North Korea has for the first time confirmed that it sent troops to fight for Russia against Ukraine.
In a report on state news agency KCNA, Pyongyang's military claimed its soldiers helped Russian forces "completely liberate" the Kursk border region, according to an order given by leader Kim Jong Un.
Pyongyang's announcement comes just days after Russian Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov praised the "heroism" of North Korean troops, the first time Moscow has publicly acknowledged their involvement.
Western officials had earlier told the BBC they believed at least 1,000 of the 11,000 troops sent from North Korea had been killed over three months.
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🥹Watch: How the Vatican said goodbye to Pope Francis
Politicians and royalty joined thousands of mourners as Pope Francis' funeral was held in St Peter's Square.
Later, huge crowds lined the streets of Rome to watch as the Pope's coffin was carried in a procession to his final resting place, Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica.
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🇺🇸Trump administration reverses termination of visas for foreign students
The Trump administration is restoring visas for hundreds of foreign students who had their legal status abruptly terminated stoking panic among many who feared immediate deportation, government officials confirmed.
Justice department attorney Elizabeth Kurlan told a federal court that immigration officials are now working on a new system for reviewing and terminating visas for international students.
The announcement follows more than 100 lawsuits filed by students who were abruptly stripped of their legal right to study in US universities.
An estimated 1,800 students and 280 universities have been impacted , according to a tally from Inside Higher Ed.
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