According to Donald Trump, Russia has agreed to halt strikes on Ukrainian cities for one week. The US president said he had made an appeal to Vladimir Putin to do this citing the extreme cold in Ukraine. The Kremlin has not commented. However, a long-discussed "energy ceasefire" may already be in effect, as both parties have reported hardly any air strikes on their energy infrastructure since Thursday. The media take a closer look.
After the bloody crackdown on mass protests in Iran, there are growing signs of a military reaction from the US. President Donald Trump has ordered the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and accompanying warships to be deployed to the region. Tehran has threatened to respond "immediately and powerfully" in the event of an attack. Commentators question the motives behind a military strike.
The ICE officers involved in the fatal shooting in Minneapolis at the weekend have been placed on administrative leave, a spokesperson for the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency has confirmed. US President Donald Trump had recently attempted to de-escalate the tense situation in the city, describing the death of intensive care nurse Alex Pretti as a "very unfortunate incident".
Hundreds of thousands of Romanians have signed a citizens' petition to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 14 after a case in which a 15-year-old boy was killed with a knife and axe and then burned and buried by three other minors, including a 13-year-old, in the western Romanian municipality of Cenei. Romanian Justice Minister Radu Marinescu has announced plans to review the criminal laws applying to minors.
The free trade agreement concluded between the EU and India will abolish or reduce customs duties on 90 percent of the bilateral trade and save European exporters up to four billion euros annually in duties, according to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The media highlight the global political significance of the partnership and the associated risks.
In the dispute over President Petr Pavel's refusal to appoint Filip Turek, honorary president of the co-governing party Motorists for Themselves, to a ministerial post, the party's leader, Czech Foreign Minister Petr Macinka, has upped the stakes. He has threatened that if Pavel continues to refuse he will inform Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte that Pavel is disregarding the constitution and therefore unfit to represent the country at the 2026 Nato Summit in Ankara in July.
France may follow Australia's example and introduce a ban on social media for children and young teenagers after its National Assembly voted in favour of a bill to this effect. If approved by the Senate, the ban could apply to children under 15 from this September. President Emmanuel Macron has enthusiastically endorsed the draft law. While many commentators applaud the move, some present alternatives.
Even before the tug-of-war with Washington over Greenland, Europe was pondering whether and how it could take its military security into its own hands. Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte has now dismissed such ideas with the words "keep on dreaming", stressing that Europe cannot defend itself without the US. Commentators take stock of the security situation on the continent.
The Spanish government has approved a plan to grant legal status to hundreds of thousands of people without valid residence permits. The regularisation, which is to be enacted by decree, applies to migrants who entered the country before 31 December 2025, have been living in the country for at least five months and have no criminal record.
Representatives of the Russian opposition are now also members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). A total of 15 Russians and representatives of ethnic minorities living in exile are to participate in the assembly's Platform for Dialogue with Russia's Democratic Forces. Russia was expelled from the Council of Europe in 2022 following its attack on Ukraine.
Agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency have shot and killed a person in Minneapolis for the second time within a month. According to the US Department of Homeland Security, the officers were acting in self-defence. However video footage broadcast by US media shows no evidence that the victim, intensive care nurse Alex Pretti, had threatened them with a weapon. Europe's media fear a dangerous spiral of violence.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, a speech by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney attracted particular attention when he declared the end of the old rules-based order and the "beginning of a harsh reality". Carney explained that middle powers must join forces to act together against threats from the major powers. Commentators also see the need to act.