US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has slammed Spain's government for refusing to allow the US to use its airspace for the Iran war. In an interview he said that Nato could not be "a one-way street" and announced that the alliance would have to be re-examined. Italy also recently denied US fighter jets the right to land in Sicily. Europe's press sees the alliance in grave danger.
According to a leaked audio recording published by investigative media, Hungarian Foreign Affairs Minister Péter Szijjártó promised his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, that he would do his utmost to have the sister of a Russian oligarch removed from the EU sanctions list. He also reportedly promised Russian Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin that he would work towards having the sanctions against the Russian shadow fleet lifted.
The Israeli parliament has voted to introduce the death penalty for terrorists. Of 120 members, 62 voted in favour of the legislation initiated by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party. The law applies to deadly attacks deemed acts of terrorism by military courts in the occupied territories – meaning that in practice it applies only to Palestinians. Europe's press is alarmed.
Local elections in ten small Serbian municipalities on Sunday were marred by widespread obstructions and outbreaks of violence. Commentators see this as an indication of just how much President Aleksandar Vučić fears losing power and how strong the protest movement that emerged eighteen months ago still is.
More than 20 Czech editors-in-chief have called on Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and other politicians to respect free, independent and critical journalism. Their appeal comes in response to a social media post by the Prime Minister over the weekend in which he had attacked news outlets Seznam Zprávy and Novinky.cz and the daily newspaper Právo.
In recent days, facilities in the Russian Baltic ports of Primorsk and Ust-Luga came under renewed attack and were set on fire by Ukrainian drones. Several drones crashed inside Finnish territory. Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo suggested that Russia’s capabilities for “electronic jamming” were causing Ukrainian drones to veer off course, describing this as a “serious matter”.
One month after the US-Israeli attack on Iran and still no peace in sight. Pakistan's government may have announced that it is ready to host talks between Washington and Tehran. Yet media reports say that the US is preparing to send in ground troops. In a further twist, the Houthis in Yemen have also declared war and fired rockets at Israel.
With parliamentary elections just a fortnight away, things are getting nastier. Long-term Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is trailing behind in the polls and is accusing the opposition party Tisza of being an EU-Ukraine puppet. The challengers, for their part, are accusing the government of ignoring the nation's problems. Meanwhile, Brussels is investigating allegations that the Hungarian foreign minister has been feeding internal information to Moscow.
The 25-year-old Noelia Castillo died by legal euthanasia in a Catalan hospice on Thursday. She had applied for the procedure two years ago, but her father had taken legal action to prevent it. Castillo, who had been placed in foster care by the state, had attempted suicide after experiencing traumatic sexual violence; she had been paraplegic ever since and suffered from chronic pain.
A US court has ordered Meta and Google to pay a 20-year-old plaintiff millions in compensation after ruling that tech companies can be held liable for addiction caused by social media use. The two companies have announced they will appeal the decision. Commentators debate whether this hails a fundamental shift.
The US government has reportedly delivered a 15-point plan to the Iranian regime to end the war. Iran has rejected the proposals, which called among other things for a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and denies that any negotiations are underway. Claiming that 'very good' talks being conducted, Donald Trump has pushed back his already extended ultimatum – this time until 6 April.