China and the US have agreed to significantly reduce their mutual tariffs in their escalating trade dispute. Following consultations between the two sides in Geneva, US tariffs on Chinese imports will drop to 30 percent and Beijing's levies on US imports will drop to 10 percent as of Wednesday. Prior to the deal the tariffs had been raised to 145 and 125 percent respectively. The new arrangement will initially apply for 90 days. The media weigh in.
The leaders of Britain, Germany, Poland and France visited Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Saturday, where they made a joint phone call to Donald Trump and also reiterated the demand for a 30-day ceasefire as a starting point for negotiations - threatening that otherwise new sanctions against Russia would follow. European media outlets assess the impact of the EU leaders' visit.
Bulgaria is on track to join the Eurozone on 1 January 2026. On 4 June the EU Commission is expected to publish a positive convergence report confirming that Bulgaria has met all the accession criteria and giving it the green light. Now, however, President Rumen Radev has applied the brakes and called for a referendum that could stop the introduction of the single currency. The national press objects.
The Catholic Church has a new pope, Leo XIV, after the conclave elected Chicago-born Robert Francis Prevost, a cardinal with US and Peruvian citizenship, on the second day of voting yesterday. In his first address, Leo emphasised the importance of world peace. Commentators discuss his qualifications as leader of the Church - and to what extent an American in the Holy See can act as a counterweight to Donald Trump.
Russia is celebrating the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany with a large military parade today. State guests from around 30 countries including Belarus, China, Slovakia and Brazil are attending. Commentators examine the symbolism of the ostentatious celebrations as the country wages war against Ukraine, as well as the motives of those attending.