After more than 25 years of negotiations, the free trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur is close to being finalised after a qualified majority of EU ambassadors approved it on Friday, overruling countries like France and Poland. Now, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen can put her signature to it with the partners in South America, and then the EU Parliament must also vote on it.

Reacting to ongoing protests in Iran that have claimed many lives, US President Trump has threatened Tehran with military intervention. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has also urged the Iranian authorities not to use violence against demonstrators. For the past two weeks, people in several cities across the country have been taking to the streets to protest against the regime. Angry merchants in Tehran initiated the demonstrations.

Protests against the violent actions of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) and Donald Trump's harsh immigration policy spread across the US over the weekend. They began after an officer shot and killed a woman who was acting as an observer in her car during an ICE raid in Minneapolis on Wednesday. According to US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, the government will deploy an additional 2,000 federal police to the city.

Relations between major powers and smaller neighbouring states seem to be guided less by legal norms and more by naked power politics these days. After the US captured Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, seized two shadow fleet tankers and repeated threats to take over Greenland, all within the space of a week, Europe's media voice grave concern about the decline of international law and rules.

Maria Karystianou, a paediatrician and mother of one of the victims of the Tempi train crash, has announced in a TV interview that she is founding a new political party which will channel the discontent many citizens feel towards the political system. According to a recent poll, Karystianou's popularity stands at 33 percent - ahead of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (26 percent) and all other top politicians in Greece.

Danish toy manufacturer Lego has unveiled its Smart Bricks as part of the new Lego Smart Play system. With built-in computer chips, Smart Bricks can interact with their surroundings and produce sounds and lights. Is this a breakthrough or an end to creative play?

France, the UK and Ukraine signed a declaration of intent in Paris on Tuesday to send a European multinational force to Ukraine. At the 'coalition of the willing' meeting, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff also pledged to support Ukraine's security. Reactions in the press range from hope to scepticism.

After initial steps last year, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer now plans concrete measures to bring the UK closer to the EU: new laws harmonising British regulations with those of the EU in many areas are to be introduced in 2026. The British press debates whether watering down Brexit is a good idea for the UK.

Filip Turek of the Motorists' Party, who was a candidate for the post of Czech Minister of Environmental Affairs, will not be joining the government after all. Turek has been accused of racism, homophobia and sexism due to various statements he has made in the past. On Wednesday, during a New Year's dinner in Prague with Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, President Petr Pavel refused to appoint Turek to a ministerial post.

After US President Donald Trump reiterated his threats to take over Greenland, several European leaders have voiced opposition to the move. "It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland," reads a joint statement by Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Spain, the UK and Denmark. Commentators discuss how Europe can respond.

The Slovakian parliament passed a new law in December that makes criticism of the Beneš decrees a criminal offence. In the post-war period, these decrees led to the expatriation and expropriation of the German and Hungarian minorities in Czechoslovakia. In Hungary, there have been protests against the law, but only by the opposition, while Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has remained silent on the issue.

Following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by the United States, his former deputy Delcy Rodríguez has been sworn in as interim president in the parliament in Caracas. Rodríguez condemned the "kidnapping" of Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, only to declare her willingness to cooperate with Washington shortly afterwards.