Chris Bell BBC News Investigations Tom Beal BBC News Investigations Daniel De Simone BBC News Investigations Correspondent BBC Roman Dobrokhotov is used to looking over his shoulder. The Russian journalist’s investigations into Vladimir Putin’s regime – one of which unmasked the agents responsible for the 2018 Salisbury poisonings – have …

Work is underway to make all men in Poland undergo military training, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said. In a speech to the Polish parliament, Tusk said the government aimed to give full details in the coming months. Efforts are being made to “prepare large-scale military training for every adult male …

Pope Francis has released an audio message thanking people across the world for their support after being admitted to hospital on 14 February. It is the first time the 88-year-old has been heard by the public since entering hospital to be treated for bronchitis, before being diagnosed with pneumonia in …

US-Ukraine talks will be held in Saudi Arabia next week, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said, expressing hopes that it will be “a meaningful meeting”. The Ukrainian leader, who will be in the Gulf kingdom but not take part in the talks, said Kyiv was working to reach a “fast and …

Five members of a German far-right group have been jailed for plotting to overthrow the government and kidnap its health minister. Four of the group were described as “ringleaders” of a “terrorist organisation” which planned to use violence to trigger civil war-like conditions in Germany. The group had planned to …

Hugh Schofield BBC News, Paris Macron says France is open to extending nuclear deterrent to protect European Allies So in the end Charles de Gaulle was right. As president of France in the 1960s, it was he who launched the policy of French strategic independence. Of course, he said, Americans …

Caroline Darian, the daughter of Dominique and Gisèle Pelicot, is pressing charges against her father, accusing him of drugging and raping her – something he has always denied. Last December, Dominique Pelicot was sentenced to 20 years in jail for drugging his ex-wife, Gisèle, raping her and inviting dozens of …

Guy Hedgecoe, in Madrid, and Alex Boyd BBC News Reuters Prosecutors have previously called for Rubiales to be jailed over the incident Spanish prosecutors have demanded a retrial in the case of former football federation president Luis Rubiales, who was found guilty of sexual assault for kissing player Jenni Hermoso …

European leaders are gathering in Brussels on Thursday for a special council on defence, as France’s President Emmanuel Macron warned that the continent was at a “turning point of history”. As well as rearmament, leaders are expected to discuss how the EU can further support Kyiv in the face of …

Nick Thorpe Eastern Europe correspondent in Bucharest BBC Tens of thousands of Romanians marched on Bucharest’s Victory Square, the seat of the Romanian government, at the weekend, after the presidential election favourite was taken in for questioning. Calin Georgescu was picked up on his way to register as a candidate, …

Paul Kirby Europe digital editor RALF HIRSCHBERGER/AFP Friedrich Merz hopes to form a new government by late April Friedrich Merz, who’s expected to become Germany’s next chancellor, has announced a political deal to raise hundreds of billions of euros in extra spending on defence and infrastructure. “In view of the …

PARSA/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock Over the weekend, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer hosted what he called a ‘coalition of the willing’ “It’s certainly one way of focusing our minds — and wallets! Donald Trump is doing us a favour, if we choose to think about it that way. And we may as …

Pope Francis has remained stable after suffering two episodes of respiratory failure on Monday. In its nightly update, the Vatican said the Pope did not present any further episodes of respiratory failure or bronchospasm. “He remained afebrile, always alert, cooperative with therapies and well-oriented”, the statement said. The 88-year-old pontiff …

A young woman is due to testify in a Spanish court today in a bid to persuade a judge to let her die voluntarily against the wishes of her father, in the first case of its kind. The 23-year-old woman who wants to end her life is paraplegic due to …

Paul Kirby Europe digital editor Reuters Ukraine’s president has few options now that the US has paused aid to Ukraine Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky is in a bind. After last Friday’s disastrous meeting in the Oval Office, it seems nothing that he says goes down well with President Donald Trump. And …

Could a partial month-long truce between Russia and Ukraine be the key to unlocking a lasting peace between the two sides? President Emmanuel Macron of France believes so and he floated the idea during Sunday’s summit of European leaders in London. In an interview with Le Figaro newspaper, he proposed …

Swedish police are investigating a suspected sabotage incident on a water pump on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. Police told the BBC that the local government’s water unit received an alarm for a water pump on Sunday at 17:30 local time (16:30 GMT). “Technicians found that someone …

Laura Gozzi Europe reporter Thomas Mackintosh BBC News, London Reuters Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is back in Kyiv after three frantic days, which saw him ordered to leave the White House on Friday after a tense and public showdown with Donald Trump and JD Vance in Washington. He found a …

Volodymyr Zelensky did “not prepare” for public negotiations in front of the media during his recent trip to the White House and confrontation with President Trump, he told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg. President Zelensky, who had been visiting the UK to round off a frenetic week of diplomatic meetings, chose …

BBC As a Ryanair flight from London approached Vilnius, Lithuania, on 17 January, its descent was suddenly aborted. Just minutes from touching down, the aircraft’s essential Global Positioning System (GPS) suffered an unexplained interference, triggering an emergency diversion. The Boeing 737 MAX 8-200 had already descended to around 850ft (259m) …