The Vatican issued an update Saturday on the health of Pope Francis, who remains in Rome’s Gemelli hospital under the care of doctors, saying that while his prognosis remains “complex,” the pope is no longer in “imminent danger” of death.
On Friday, the Vatican’s Holy See Press Office announced that since Francis’ condition is now considered stable, barring any major developments, updates on his health will be less frequent. The 88-year-old pontiff has spent four weeks in the hospital and is receiving treatment for double pneumonia.
Medical bulletins from the pope’s doctors, which had been almost a daily occurrence since his admission to Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14, will be issued only when there is new information, the press office said Friday. The office emphasized that Francis’ recovery is progressing, but that it will require time to make sure the improvements continue.
This also means the Holy See’s daily morning update about how the pope spent the night will no longer be issued, which leaves only the evening news briefing for journalists.
The Vatican said that this is a “a positive sign” for the Catholic faithful, meaning that no news is essentially good news.
Francis is continuing his prescribed medical treatments, which included motor physiotherapy Friday. He alternates between noninvasive mechanical ventilation at night and high-flow oxygenation with nasal cannulas during the day, according to the Vatican.
Francis had part of a lung removed as a young man after a pulmonary infection and has in recent years battled recurring bouts of bronchitis.
On Thursday, the press office said Francis celebrated the 12th anniversary of his papal election surrounded by health care staff.
Part of the pope’s hospital stay comes during the Christian season of Lent. It is the annual 40-day period of prayer, fasting and almsgiving that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sundown on Holy Thursday. Lent began on March 5.
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Relations between Russia and China are indeed closer than at any point since the 1950s, but they are shaped more by pragmatism, economic necessity and shared opposition to Western influence than by deep trust or historical affinity.
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CHARLEVOIX, QUEBEC, CANADA — Top diplomats from the Group of Seven leading democracies urged Russia on Friday to accept a U.S.-proposed ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war or face the possibility of additional sanctions.
“We called for Russia to reciprocate by agreeing to a ceasefire on equal terms and implementing it fully,” the diplomats said in a joint statement from the site of their talks talks in Canada. “We discussed imposing further costs on Russia in case such a ceasefire is not agreed, including through further sanctions, caps on oil prices, as well as additional support for Ukraine, and other means.”
The statement said the G7 countries affirmed their “unwavering support for Ukraine in defending its territorial integrity and right to exist, and its freedom, sovereignty and independence.”
The statement comes as the Kremlin said that much remains to be done on a Ukraine ceasefire deal, signaling its reluctance to fully endorse the U.S. proposal.
The White House said U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday.
On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that U.S. officials would convene this weekend after Witkoff returns to Washington to closely examine Russia’s position and determine the next steps.
“Suffice to say, I think there is reason to be cautiously optimistic. But by the same token, we continue to recognize a difficult and complex situation,” Rubio told reporters following his meetings with counterparts.
On Friday, Canadian Foreign Minister Malie Joly said, “All G7 foreign ministers agree with the U.S. proposal of a ceasefire that is supported by Ukrainians,” and the focus now is on Russia’s response.
She added, “The ball is now in Russia’s court when it comes to Ukraine.”
British foreign minister David Lammy echoed this sentiment during interviews with the media, saying, “there is unity that now is the time for a ceasefire with no conditions. Ukraine has set their position out. It is now for Russia to accept it.”
Lammy also noted that a “coalition of the willing” is forming to provide Ukraine with the necessary “security architecture” and monitoring mechanisms to support the ceasefire.
The G7 joint statement comes as the Kremlin said that much remains to be done on a Ukraine ceasefire deal, signaling its reluctance to fully endorse the U.S. proposal.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Putin still awaits answers after raising several questions about the ceasefire’s implementation.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Putin’s response as “deliberately” setting conditions that complicate and “drag out the process.”
“An unconditional 30-day interim ceasefire is the first crucial step that could bring us significantly closer to a just and lasting peace,” Zelenskyy wrote Wednesday in a post on the social media platform X.
The G7 talks in Charlevoix, Quebec, brought together ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
Position on China
Beyond Ukraine, G7 foreign ministers also discussed China’s role in global security, stability for the Indian and Pacific Ocean regions, and maritime security behind closed doors.
On Friday, G7 foreign ministers held a session focused on strategic challenges posed by China, North Korea, Iran and Russia. Many foreign policy analysts and military officials refer to these four nations as the “Axis of Upheaval,” describing their growing anti-Western collaboration.
The G7 joint statement said the group remains “concerned with China’s military build-up and the continued, rapid increase in China’s nuclear weapons arsenal.” They called on China “to engage in strategic risk reduction discussions and promote stability through transparency.”
The foreign ministers also reaffirmed their serious concerns over the situations in the East and South China Seas, strongly opposing any unilateral attempts to alter the status quo, particularly through force or coercion.
G7 members also emphasized the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, reiterating their opposition to any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion.
On Friday, Secretary of State Rubio told VOA during a press gaggle that he believes leaders from the U.S. and China will meet at some point.
“Whether they agree on things or not, they should communicate for the safety and well-being of the world,” Rubio said after wrapping up meetings with G7 foreign ministers.
A potential ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war could affect the U.S. presence in the Indo-Pacific, as officials and analysts suggest that ending the conflict would allow Washington to redirect resources toward addressing challenges in the region.
“I don’t think an endless, ongoing conflict in Europe or in Ukraine is good for the Indo-Pacific region. It diverts a lot of the world’s attention, time and resources away from areas where we continue to see growing threats,” Rubio told VOA earlier this week during a briefing aboard a military plane.
“In many ways, we could be spending even more time focused on the Indo-Pacific if somehow we could bring peace to the European continent,” the top U.S. diplomat noted.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia had trapped the remaining Ukrainian soldiers in its western Kursk region, where they have held on for more than seven months in one of the most important battles of the war.
Putin told reporters in Moscow that the situation in Kursk was “completely under our control, and the group that invaded our territory is in isolation,” according to Reuters.
Ukraine launched a surprise incursion into Kursk last August to divert Russian forces away from the front lines and grab land to trade for its own occupied territory. Ukraine’s top commander denied this week that his men were being encircled.
Putin on Wednesday made a surprise visit to troops in Russia’s western Kursk region Wednesday, ordering soldiers to swiftly retake the region from Ukrainian forces.
“If a physical blockade occurs in the coming days, then no one will be able to leave at all, there will be only two ways — to surrender or die,” Putin said at the Thursday press conference, according to Reuters.
At the press conference, Putin also offered his qualified support for a U.S. ceasefire plan.
Putin’s comments came after Russian aerial attacks overnight killed at least two people in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson, officials said Thursday.
Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on Telegram that his region came under attack by Russian drones and shelling, and that one other person was injured.
In the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region, Governor Serhiy Lysak said at least three people were hospitalized after a Russian attack hit the city of Dnipro.
Lysak said on Telegram the attack damaged multiple apartment buildings, including blowing out windows.
Officials in the Sumy region reported Thursday that Russian drones fell on a set of garages, setting about 20 of them on fire.
Ukraine’s military said Thursday it shot down 74 of the 117 drones that Russian forces launched overnight.
The intercepts took place over the Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Sumy, Vinnytsia and Zaporizhzhia regions, the military said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it shot down 77 Ukrainian drones, most of them in regions located along the Russia-Ukraine border.
Vladislav Shapsha, governor of the Kaluga region, said the attacks injured one person and damaged an industrial building, a communication tower and a power line.
The Russia military said it destroyed 30 of the drones over Bryansk, while officials in the region reported no damage or casualties.
Russian air defense also shot down drones over Kursk, Voronezh, Rostov and Belgorod, the military said.
The daily aerial attacks continue amid a U.S. push to secure a cease-fire in the conflict. The U.S. has proposed a 30-day halt in fighting, which Ukraine has said it would accept.
U.S. officials are expected to discuss the plan with Russian officials in the coming days.
Some information for this report was provided by Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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The national assembly of Bosnia’s Serb-controlled Republika Srpska on Thursday adopted the draft of the new Republic Constitution, introduced by the autonomous republic’s president, Milorad Dodik, that includes articles that violate Bosnia’s constitution.
Bosnian state prosecutors on Wednesday had ordered the arrest of Dodik and his aides for ignoring a court summons for allegedly trying to undermine Bosnia’s constitution. Republika Srpska is an entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Last month, a Bosnian court sentenced Dodik to one year in prison and banned him from politics for six years over his separatist activities and for defying decisions by the international High Representative that oversees the 1995 Dayton Accords.
That agreement ended an ethnically rooted war that lasted more than three years and killed 100,000 people.
Dodik rejected the arrest warrant, telling journalists in the regional capital, Banja Luka, on Wednesday that it was politically motivated and that he would ask Russia to veto an extension of the presence of EUFOR, the European Union’s peacekeeping force in Bosnia, at the U.N. Security Council.
In an interview Thursday with VOA’s Bosnian Service, Dodik’s lawyer, Anto Nobilo, said Dodik does not recognize either the Bosnian court or state prosecutor’s office, and thus does not need legal defense.
“I do not believe there will be Dodik’s arrest,” Nobilo said. “Mr. Dodik will not cooperate, or name his defense team, because he does not consider the proceedings legitimate. … Bosnia needs this situation defused immediately. This is a huge constitutional and legal and political crisis and has to be resolved politically.”
Nenad Stevandic, president of Republika Srpska’s national assembly and a close ally of Dodik, denounced the moves against the Serb-controlled autonomous republic as an attack on the constitutional order.
“We are absolutely right,” he said Wednesday. “However, to be right in Bosnia and Herzegovina means to be persecuted.”
Meanwhile, in Washington, three members of the U.S. Senate — Chuck Grassley, Jeanne Shaheen and Jim Risch — led a group of nine other members of the U.S. Congress in calling on Secretary of State Marco Rubio to prevent further deterioration in Bosnia.
“We are deeply concerned about the recent actions of Milorad Dodik, the leader of the Republika Srpska entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina,” they wrote in a letter to Rubio. “For years, he has engaged in secessionist activity, challenging Bosnia and Herzegovina’s state institutions, undermining the constitution and threatening the territorial integrity of the country.”
The U.S. imposed sanctions on Dodik and his “patronage network” in 2023 and again in January of this year.
Asked by VOA while en route Monday to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, if the U.S. was considering “any punitive action against Dodik,” Rubio said the Trump administration did not want to see a partition of Bosnia.
“The last thing the world needs is another crisis, and we’ve spoken out about that already,” he said. “As far as what we maybe do next, we’re reviewing those options. But it’s been abundantly clear that whatever differences may exist internally there, this cannot lead to a country breaking apart, and it cannot lead to another conflict.”
Experts say the actions of Dodik and the Republika Srpska national assembly have precipitated Bosnia’s most serious constitutional crisis since 1995.
“First of all, it is a reflection of [Dodik’s] disrespect for fundamental state institutions, meaning, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and all those fundamental postulates on which the constitutional-legal order rests,” Milos Davidovic, professor of law at the University of Sarajevo, told VOA’s Bosnian Service.
Ahmed Kico, a political and security expert, told VOA the actions of Dodik and the Republika Srpska national assembly were among “hybrid operations … realized at the behest of the Russian Federation and Serbia … therefore, it is a really dangerous situation where they are trying to show and prove that Bosnia and Herzegovina’s survival is not possible as a democratic state.”
Amid the growing crisis, additional European peacekeepers arrived in Bosnia on Wednesday to bolster those of EUFOR.
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PARIS — On the way to investigate the scene of a historic asteroid collision, a European spacecraft swung by Mars and captured rare images of the red planet’s mysterious small moon Deimos, the European Space Agency said Thursday.
Europe’s HERA mission is aiming to find out how much of an impact a NASA spacecraft made when it deliberately smashed into an asteroid in 2022 in the first test of our planetary defenses.
But HERA will not reach the asteroid — which is 11 million kilometers from Earth in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter — until late 2026.
On the long voyage there, the spacecraft swung around Mars on Wednesday.
The spacecraft used the planet’s gravity to get a “kick” that also changed its direction and saved fuel, mission analyst Pablo Munoz told a press conference.
For an hour, HERA flew as close as 5,600 kilometers from the Martian surface, at a speed of 33,480 kilometers an hour.
It used the opportunity to test some of its scientific instruments, snapping around 600 pictures, including rare ones of Deimos.
The lumpy, 12.5-kilometer-wide moon is the smaller and less well-known of the two moons of Mars.
Exactly how Deimos and the bigger Phobos were formed remains a matter of debate.
Some scientists believe they were once asteroids that were captured in the gravity of Mars, while others think they could have been shot from a massive impact on the surface.
The new images add “another piece of the puzzle” to efforts to determine their origin, Marcel Popescu of the Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy said.
There are hopes that data from HERA’s “HyperScout” and thermal infrared imagers — which observe colors beyond the limits of the human eye — will shed light on this mystery by discovering more about the moon’s composition.
Those infrared imagers are why the red planet appears blue in some of the photos.
Next, HERA will turn its focus back to the asteroid Dimorphos.
When NASA’s DART mission smashed into Dimorphos in 2022, it shortened the 160-meter-wide asteroid’s orbit around its big brother Didymos by 33 minutes.
Although Dimorphos itself posed no threat to Earth, HERA intends to discover whether this technique could be an effective way for Earth to defend itself against possibly existence-threatening asteroids in the future.
Space agencies have working to ramp up Earth’s planetary defenses, monitoring for potential threats so they can be dealt with as soon as possible.
Earlier this year, a newly discovered asteroid capable of destroying a city was briefly given a more than 3% chance of hitting Earth in 2032.
However further observations sent the chances of a direct hit back down to nearly zero.
Richard Moissl, head of the ESA’s planetary defense office, said that asteroid, 2024 YR, followed a pattern that will become more common.
As we get better at scanning the skies, “we will discover asteroids at a higher rate,” he said.
The ESA is developing a second planetary defense mission to observe the 350-metre-wide asteroid Apophis, which will fly just 32,000 kilometers from Earth on April 13, 2029.
If approved by the ESA’s ministerial council, the Ramses mission will launch in 2028, reaching the asteroid two months before it approaches Earth.
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U.S. and Russian officials are expected to meet in Moscow to discuss a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The Kremlin said Thursday that U.S. negotiators were on the way to Russia. That followed comments Wednesday from the White House saying special envoy Steve Witkoff would head to Moscow.
“People are going to Russia right now as we speak,” U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters Wednesday. “And hopefully we can get a ceasefire from Russia.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that national security adviser Mike Waltz spoke to his Russian counterpart on Wednesday.
U.S. officials met earlier this week with Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia to present the ceasefire plan.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the U.S. effort, saying Wednesday Ukraine is “ready for a ceasefire for 30 days as proposed by the American side.”
Zelenskyy said the halt in fighting could be used to create a broader peace deal for the conflict, which began with Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis marks 12 years as head of the Catholic Church on Thursday, seemingly out of danger after a month in hospital but with his health casting a shadow over his future.
The 88-year-old was, for a time, critically ill as he battled pneumonia in both lungs at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, where he was admitted on Feb. 14.
The Argentine’s situation has markedly improved since then, with the Vatican confirming his condition as stable on Wednesday evening, and talk is now turning to when he might go home.
But his hospitalization, the longest and most fraught of his papacy, has raised serious doubts about his ability to lead the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Catholics.
Slowing down
Francis had before now refused to make any concessions to his age or increasingly fragile health, which saw him begin using a wheelchair three years ago.
He maintained a packed daily schedule interspersed with frequent overseas trips, notably a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region in September, when he presided over huge open-air masses.
But experts say his recovery could take weeks given his age and recurring health issues, not helped by having part of one lung removed as a young man.
“The rest of his pontificate remains a question mark for the moment, including for Francis himself,” said Father Michel Kubler, a Vatican expert and former editor in chief of the French religious newspaper La Croix.
“He doesn’t know what his life will be like once he returns to the Vatican and so, no doubt, reserves the option of resigning if he can no longer cope,” he told AFP.
Francis has always left the door open to resigning were his health to deteriorate, following the example of Benedict XVI, who in 2013 became the first pope since the Middle Ages to voluntarily step down.
But the Jesuit has distanced himself from the idea more recently, insisting the job is for life.
While in hospital, Francis has delegated masses to senior cardinals but has kept working on and off, including signing decrees and receiving close colleagues.
But he has missed a month of events for the 2025 Jubilee, a holy year organized by the pope that is predicted to draw an additional 30 million pilgrims to Rome and the Vatican.
And it is hard to imagine he will be well enough to lead a full program of events for Easter, the holiest period in the Christian calendar that is less than six weeks away.
Many believe that Francis, who has not been seen in public since he was hospitalized, has to change course.
“This is the end of the pontificate as we have known it, until now,” Kubler said.
Unfinished reforms
Francis struck a sharp contrast to his cerebral predecessor when he took office, eschewing the trappings of office and reaching out to the most disadvantaged in society with a message that the Church was for everyone.
A former archbishop of Buenos Aires more at home with his flock than the cardinals of the Roman Curia, Francis introduced sweeping reforms across the Vatican and beyond.
Some of the changes, from reorganizing the Vatican’s finances to increasing the role of women and opening the Church to divorced and LGBTQ members, have been laid down in official texts.
But a wide-ranging discussion on the future of the Church, known as a Synod, is not yet finished.
And there are many who would happily see his work undone.
Traditionalists have strongly resisted his approach, and an outcry in Africa caused the Vatican to clarify its authorization of non-liturgical blessings for same-sex couples in 2023.
“Whether we like him or not, he has shifted the dial, but many things are still pending,” a Vatican source said.
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As the U.S. seeks to strengthen ties with resource-rich Central Asia, the European Union is also reaching out to the region. Having adopted a new strategy for Central Asia in 2019, the bloc appears to be making renewed efforts to implement it. EU Commissioner for External Relations Jozef Sikela has begun a tour of the region ahead of an EU-Central Asia summit in Uzbekistan in April.
Click here for the full story in Uzbek.
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ROME — Pope Francis’ recovery from double pneumonia continued Wednesday as a chest X-ray confirmed improvement, two days after doctors declared he is no longer in imminent danger of death.
The latest medical bulletin said the pope’s condition remained stable but indicated a complex picture considering his overall fragility.
The Vatican said Francis, 88, again followed its spiritual retreat remotely and resumed physical and respiratory therapy after a quiet night. He continues to receive high flows of oxygen through nasal tubes during the day and a noninvasive mechanical mask to aid his rest at night.
His weekly Wednesday general audience was canceled since the Vatican hierarchy is on retreat this week as part of the Lenten spiritual exercises that have been a mainstay of the Jesuit pope’s pontificate.
Francis faces important milestones this week.
On Thursday, he marks the 12th anniversary of his election as the 266th pope. The Holy See has not said how the anniversary, a public holiday in the Vatican, might be commemorated. No medical bulletin will be issued.
The former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected on the fifth ballot of the 2013 conclave that was called after Pope Benedict XVI resigned.
While Francis has praised Benedict’s humility in stepping down and said he might follow in his footsteps, more recently he has said the papacy is a job for life.
Another milestone comes Friday, when Francis marks four weeks of hospitalization.
St. John Paul II holds the record for a hospital stay, at 55 days, when in 1981 he underwent a minor surgical operation and then was treated for a cytomegalovirus infection.
Francis is on track to equal the second-longest stay, 28 days, which John Paul recorded in 1994, when he had surgery to repair his right hip joint after he fractured his right femur in a fall, according to Gemelli hospital.
The Vatican has released no photos or video of Francis since he was admitted. The pope recorded an audio message last week to thank people for their prayers, though the weakness and breathlessness of his voice made clear how frail he was.
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SARAJEVO — Bosnian state prosecutors on Wednesday ordered the arrest of Russian-backed Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik and his aides for ignoring a court summons, raising the stakes in a standoff that threatens the Balkan country’s stability.
The decision was taken two weeks after a separate case in which Dodik was sentenced to a year in jail for defying the rulings of an international peace envoy, a spokesperson from the state security agency, SIPA, said.
Prosecutors have sought the help of Bosnia’s State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) in the arrest, which comes after Dodik and aides ignored a court summons. It was not clear if the plan was to detain Dodik or to accompany him to answer the summons.
The state prosecutors’ office was investigating Dodik, the pro-Russian nationalist president of Bosnia’s autonomous Serb Republic, for what it described as an attack on constitutional order after he initiated the adoption of laws barring state judiciary and police from the region after his sentencing.
“We have received a request from the court police of Bosnia and Herzegovina to assist them,” SIPA spokeswoman Jelena Miovcic said.
Serb Republic television, citing the regional government, reported that the state prosecution has also ordered the arrest of Serb Republic Prime Minister Radovan Viskovic and regional parliament president Nenad Stevandic over ignoring summons in the case of the attack on constitutional order.
The Serb Republic is one of two regions created to end a 1992-95 war that killed more than 1000,000 people in multi-ethnic Bosnia. They are linked by a weak central government in a state supervised by an international authority to stop it slipping back into conflict.
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WASHINGTON — For more than 70 years, Irish leaders have visited the White House for the annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration of Irish-America heritage.
But this year, Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheal Martin will need to present President Donald Trump with more than just the traditional gift of a bowl of shamrock, as he navigates potential friction over Ireland’s low defense spending, support for Palestinians in Gaza and Ukrainians, and the large trade imbalance between the two countries.
While past Irish prime ministers enjoyed warm White House hospitality from former President Joe Biden, who often highlighted his “fierce pride” of his Irish ancestry, Wednesday’s meeting will largely be a test of Martin’s diplomatic acumen as he navigates the relationship with a crucial partner his country depends on economically.
Martin appeared clear-eyed about the stakes of his visit.
“I am very, very conscious that in a very challenging world, thousands and thousands of jobs depend on the economic relationship between the United States and Ireland,” he said Monday at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, where he began his U.S. tour.
“And my overriding objective is to copper fasten that for the time ahead and to protect those people who are working in jobs,” Martin said.
The meeting comes amid concern in Ireland about Trump’s moves to impose steep new tariffs on Canada and Mexico, neighboring countries that have large trade imbalances with the United States.
According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Ireland holds the fourth-largest trade surplus with the U.S., about $87 billion, behind Vietnam, Mexico and China but ahead of Canada. Trump has also threatened to apply tariffs on goods from the European Union, which would also affect Ireland, an EU member.
Ireland is also highly dependent on long-standing investment from U.S. multinational companies for jobs, tax revenue and exports. According to data from the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland, around 970 U.S. companies directly employ 211,000 people and indirectly support a further 168,000 jobs across Ireland.
Major American companies including Apple, Google, Microsoft, Meta and Pfizer have established European headquarters in the country, lured by its English-speaking and skilled workforce, access to the European single market, and its low corporate tax rate of 12.5%.
As president-elect, Trump pledged to slash the U.S. corporate tax rate to match the Irish rate and “reshore” American companies, bringing back their business activities and their tax dollars.
The U.S. is an “absolutely critical partner,” and the Irish have “a lot of trepidation” on what Trump might bring up during this meeting, said Eoin Drea, senior researcher at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies.
“The best-case scenario would be if there is no public bust up or major disagreement” between the leaders, Drea told VOA.
Ukraine and Gaza
Taxes and tariffs aside, Martin will also need to navigate geopolitical divides, including on Ukraine and Gaza.
The Irish prime minister will be the first foreign leader to visit the White House following the fiery exchange between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 11 days ago. Dublin’s position mirrors that of Kyiv’s, in that Ukraine needs U.S.-backed security guarantees to secure a ceasefire with Russia.
But out of all the potential irritants, Gaza might be the issue that needs the most delicate handling from Martin. Irish opposition leaders including Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and Labour Party politician Duncan Smith have pressed Martin to stand up to Trump and advocate for the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza.
Dublin is one of Europe’s staunchest critics of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, and one of only three European states, along with Norway and Spain, that in 2024 recognized the State of Palestine. It has also joined a South African legal action at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
The Irish delegation would be wise to keep the focus on economic issues, where the two countries are “less diametrically opposed” as they are compared to their positions on Gaza, Drea said.
As Trump presses European countries to boost spending and rely less on Washington for its security, Ireland’s low defense spending, only 0.2% of the gross domestic product, is another area where the U.S. can exert pressure.
Ireland is not a member of NATO and relies heavily on the United Kingdom for its defense, including to protect the massive network of undersea cables that make the backbone of global internet and communication systems. Seventy-five percent of all transatlantic cables go through, or are close to, Irish waters.
To counter pressures from the deal-making American president, the Irish government “would be clever to induce some kind of personalized incentives,” Drea said, noting Trump’s properties in Ireland, including one of the country’s most famous golf courses.
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NUUK, Greenland — Polling stations closed in Greenland on Tuesday in a parliamentary election brought into the international spotlight by U.S. President Donald Trump’s pledge to take control of the mineral-rich island, firing up a debate over its independence.
Voting had been extended by half an hour past a 2200 GMT deadline amid high turnout at several of the 72 polling stations across the arctic island, where 40,500 people were eligible to cast their ballots.
There were no exit polls, and a final tally of the vote could take between three and five hours to complete, Greenland’s election authority has said.
Since taking office in January, Trump has vowed to make Greenland — a semiautonomous territory of Denmark — part of the United States, saying it is vital to U.S. security interests.
The vast island, with a population of 57,000, has been caught up in a geopolitical race for dominance in the Arctic, where melting ice caps are making its resources more accessible and opening new shipping routes. Both Russia and China have intensified military activity in the region.
Greenland is a former Danish colony and a territory since 1953. It gained some autonomy in 1979 when its first parliament was formed, but Copenhagen still controls foreign affairs, defense and monetary policy and provides just under $1 billion a year to the economy.
In 2009, it won the right to declare full independence through a referendum, even though it has not done so out of concern living standards would drop without Denmark’s economic support.
“I strongly believe that we will very soon start to live a life more based on who we are, based on our culture, based on our own language, and start to make regulations based on us, not based on Denmark,” said Qupanuk Olsen, candidate for the main pro-independence party Naleraq.
Inge Olsvig Brandt, a candidate for the ruling Inuit Ataqatigiit Party, said:
“We don’t need the independence right now. We have too many things to work on. I think we have to work with ourselves, our history, and we are going to have a lot of healing work with us before we can take the next step.”
Trump’s interest has shaken up the status quo, and coupled with the growing pride of the Indigenous people in their Inuit culture, put independence front and center in the election.
In the final debate on Greenland’s state broadcaster KNR late on Monday, leaders of the five parties currently in parliament unanimously said they did not trust Trump.
“He is trying to influence us. I can understand if citizens feel insecure,” said Erik Jensen, leader of government coalition partner Siumut.
A January poll suggested a majority of Greenland’s inhabitants support independence but are divided on timing.
Early on, the election campaign focused on the anger and frustration aimed at historical wrongdoings by former colonial ruler Denmark, according to Julie Rademacher, a consultant and former adviser to Greenland’s government.
“But I think the fear of the U.S. imperialist approach has lately become bigger than the anger towards Denmark,” said Rademacher.
Reuters spoke to more than a dozen Greenlanders in Nuuk, all of whom said they favored independence, although many expressed concern that a swift transition could damage the economy and eliminate Nordic welfare services like universal health care and free schooling.
The island holds substantial natural resources, including critical minerals such as rare earths used in high-tech industries, ranging from electric vehicles to missile systems.
However, Greenland has been slow to extract them because of environmental concerns, severe weather, and China’s near-total control of the sector, which has made it difficult for companies elsewhere to make a profit or secure buyers.
Trump initially declined to rule out military force, alarming many Greenlanders, although he later softened his stance, stating he would respect the will of the local people and was “ready to invest billions of dollars” if they joined the U.S.
Greenland’s prime minister, Mute Egede, has stressed the island is not for sale and advocated for a broad coalition government to resist external pressure. In an interview aired on Monday by Danish broadcaster DR, he dismissed Trump’s offer as disrespectful, expressing willingness to cooperate with other countries instead.
Denmark’s prime minister has said Greenland is not for sale but made it clear that it is up to the local people to decide their future.
The pro-independence Naleraq Party, the leading opposition force, has gained momentum ahead of the election, bolstered by U.S. interest and fresh accusations of Denmark’s historic exploitation of Greenland’s mineral wealth.
The party believes the U.S. attention strengthens Greenland’s position in secession talks with Denmark and aims to bring a deal with Copenhagen to a vote before the next election in four years.
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Belgrade, Serbia — Several hundred student protesters have blocked Serbia’s public television station building in Belgrade as tensions soar in the Balkan country, days ahead of a large rally planned for the weekend and billed as an endgame in months of anti-government demonstrations.
The students first blocked the TV building in central Belgrade, Serbia’s capital, late on Monday and several hundred gathered again on Tuesday, after announcing that their blockade will last for at least 22 hours. A similar blockade was organized in the country’s second-largest city of Novi Sad.
University students in Serbia are behind almost daily rallies that started after a concrete canopy crashed down in November at a railway station in Novi Sad, killing 15 people. The protests have rocked the populist rule of President Aleksandar Vucic and his firm grip on power.
During the blockade late Monday, riot police briefly intervened with batons as the crowd tried to block one of the entrances to the TV building with metal security fences. At least one plainclothes police officer was injured in skirmishes after apparently being struck in the head by a uniformed officer, according to a video released on social media.
The students blame public TV for biased reporting and for siding with Vucic and the government during the demonstrations. The Serbian president was the guest of the main TV news bulletin on Monday evening.
During the interview, Vucic insulted the student-led protests, warning that security forces will use force against participants of the big rally planned for Saturday. He pledged never to step down because of the massive nationwide demonstrations.
“You will have to kill me if you want to replace me,” he said,
The TV reporter who interviewed Vucic called the protesting students “a mob,” which the president appeared to approve of. The station, RTS, issued a statement, denouncing the blockade.
“Forcibly preventing RTS employees from coming to their workplaces represents a dangerous step into open conflicts with unpredictable consequences,” it said.
Some of the TV station’s employees apparently managed to enter the building through a side entrance that’s not publicly known, allowing the program to continue uninterrupted.
Meanwhile, Vucic met with U.S. President Donald Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., who arrived in Belgrade on Tuesday. The purpose of his visit was not immediately known. Pro-Russian Vucic is a vocal supporter of the U.S. president.
Many in Serbia believe that the huge concrete construction fell down because of poor renovation work fueled by government corruption. The students have insisted on full accountability in the tragedy, a call that has garnered widespread support among citizens who are largely disillusioned with politicians and have lost trust in state institutions.
Student-led rallies have drawn tens of thousands of people, becoming among the biggest ever in Serbia, which has a long history of anti-government protests. Vucic has described the rallies as a Western-orchestrated ploy to oust him from power.
The next big rally is planned on Saturday in Belgrade and Vucic has alleged the protesters “will try to achieve something with violence and that will be the end.” Many demonstrators “will end up behind bars accused of criminal acts,” he added.
All student-led protests in the past months have mostly been peaceful, while incidents were recorded when opponents drove their cars into protest blockades or attacked the protesters.
Vucic and his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party have held a firm grip on power in Serbia for over a decade, facing accusations of stifling democratic freedoms despite formally seeking European Union entry for Serbia.
Authorities have indicted 16 people over the canopy collapse, but many doubt that the actual culprits will face justice.
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Russian officials said Tuesday that Ukrainian attacks involving more than 90 drones killed at least one person and injured three others in the Moscow region.

The assault was part of an overall attack overnight that included more than 300 Ukrainian drones targeting 10 Russian regions stretching from border areas to the Russian capital.

Andrei Vorobyov, governor of the Moscow region, said on Telegram that in addition to those hurt, there was also damage to an apartment building from falling drone debris.

The attack also forced flight restrictions at Moscow airports and interrupted train services.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it shot down 91 drones in the Moscow area, and a total of 337 across all regions.

The ministry said it intercepted 126 drones over the Kursk region, 38 over Bryansk, 25 over Belgorod, 22 over Ryazan and others over Kaluga, Lipetsk, Oryol, Voronezh and Nizhny Novgorod.

Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram that drone debris knocked out power to some part of his region and damaged multiple residential buildings.

Officials in Kaluga also reported damage to several buildings, while one person was reported hurt in Lipetsk.

Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Russian documentary filmmaker Vitaly Mansky produces Artdocfest, an annual film festival that showcases documentary features from independent film directors. He says most documentary films reflect the negative impact of the war in Ukraine, from resettling Ukrainian refugees to daily struggles of Russians who fled the war and try to set up their life anew in other countries.

Click here for the full story in Russian. 
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Russia said Monday it was expelling two British diplomats based at the embassy in Moscow over spying allegations that the U.K. called “malicious and baseless.” 

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said in a statement quoted by the state news agency RIA Novosti that the two diplomats had provided false personal data while seeking permission to enter the country and had engaged in alleged intelligence and subversive activities that threatened Russia’s security. It didn’t offer any evidence. 

According to the RIA Novosti report, a decision has been made to revoke the diplomats’ accreditations, and they have been ordered to leave Russia within two weeks. The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a separate statement that it summoned a British Embassy official. “Moscow will not tolerate the activities of undeclared British intelligence officers on Russian territory,” it said. 

The Foreign Office in London said in a statement: “This is not the first time that Russia has made malicious and baseless accusations against our staff.” It did not say whether the U.K. planned any retaliatory moves. 

The FSB last year accused seven British diplomats of spying. Six expulsions were announced in September, and one more in November. The U.K. called the moves at the time “baseless.” The expulsions came amid soaring tensions over the war in Ukraine and after London decided to revoke the credentials of an attaché at the Russian Embassy and limit Moscow’s diplomatic activities in Britain. 

Last month, London expelled a Russian diplomat in response to the November expulsion. 

In May 2024, the U.K. expelled Russia’s defense attaché in London, alleging he was an undeclared intelligence officer, and it closed several Russian diplomatic properties in Britain that it said were being used for spying. Days later Russia reciprocated and expelled Britain’s defense attaché. 

Expulsions of diplomats — both Western envoys working in Russia and Russians in the West — have become increasingly common since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. 

In 2023, the Russian news outlet RBC said Western countries and Japan had expelled a total of 670 Russian diplomats between the start of 2022 and October 2023, while Moscow responded by expelling 346 diplomats. According to RBC, that was more than in the previous 20 years combined.
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Berlin — A one-day strike by workers at 13 German airports, including the Frankfurt and Munich hubs and all the country’s other main destinations, caused the cancelation of most flights on Monday.

The 24-hour walkout, which started at midnight on Sunday, involves public-sector employees at the airports as well as ground and security staff.

At Frankfurt Airport, 1,054 of the day’s 1,116 scheduled takeoffs and landings had been canceled, German news agency dpa reported, citing airport traffic management.

All of Berlin Airport’s regular departures and arrivals were canceled, while Hamburg Airport said no departures would be possible. Cologne/Bonn Airport said there was no regular passenger service and Munich Airport advised travelers to expect a “greatly reduced flight schedule.”

The ver.di service workers union’s strike also targeted the Bremen, Hannover, Duesseldorf, Dortmund, Leipzig/Halle and Stuttgart airports. At the smaller Weeze and Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden airports, only security workers were called out.

The German airports’ association, ADV, estimated that more than 3,500 flights in total would be canceled and about 560,000 passengers affected.

The union announced the strike last Friday. But at Hamburg Airport, it added a short-notice walkout on Sunday to the strike on Monday, arguing that it must ensure the measure was effective.

The so-called “warning strike,” a common tactic in German wage negotiations, relates to two separate pay disputes: negotiations on a new pay and conditions contract for airport security workers, and a wider dispute over pay for employees of federal and municipal governments.

The latter already has led to walkouts at Cologne/Bonn, Duesseldorf, Hamburg and Munich airports. Pay talks in that dispute are due to resume on Friday, while the next round of talks for airport security workers is expected to start on March 26.
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Paris — France is preparing a new military aid package for Ukraine worth more than $211 million from the interest earned on frozen Russian assets, its defense minister said in an interview published Sunday.

Sebastien Lecornu, a close ally of President Emmanuel Macron, in the interview with the Tribune Dimanche newspaper, described the suspension of U.S. weapons deliveries to Ukraine as a “heavy blow” to Kyiv’s fight against the Russian invasion.

“This year we will mobilize, thanks to the interests of frozen Russian assets, a new package of 195 million euros ($211,253,250)” for Ukraine, he said.

This will enable the delivery of 155-millimeter shells as well as AASM air to surface weapons that arm the French Mirage 2000 fighter jets that Paris has delivered to Ukraine for the war.

Lecornu did not make any comment on whether France would consider using the frozen Russian assets themselves to help Kyiv, a potentially far more significant move supported by its ally the U.K. but over which Paris as so far been wary.

But he warned that away from the battlefield, the “Russians are reinventing war, that is their great strength” by targeting “our democracy and our economy.”

France’s next 2027 presidential elections “could be the subject of massive manipulations as was the case in Romania” where the first round was topped by a far-right outsider, only for the results to be annulled by the Constitutional Court, he said.

He sought to play down any rupture in transatlantic relations after Donald Trump won the U.S. presidency and changed Washington’s policy on Ukraine, saying: “For my part, I still consider them as allies, despite their great unpredictability.”

Turning to the “heavy blow” of the U.S. suspension of weapons deliveries to Ukraine, he said: “They (Ukraine) can hold out for a while, but this suspension must not last.”

Lecornu said that French intelligence had no indication that Russia was planning to attack a NATO member in the next five years but did say there is a “temptation to destabilize Moldova” through its breakaway region of Transnistria.

With Macron and others urging EU states to ramp up defense spending as the U.S. wavers, Lecornu pointed to ammunition and electronic warfare as the most urgent issues for France’s military in the years to come.  

“Second priority, is the drone-ization and robot-ization of armies,” he added, also noting the roles of artificial intelligence and space.
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Even as U.S.-led peace negotiations to end Russia’s war on Ukraine recently faced setbacks, talks between Washington and Kyiv are set to take place this week in Saudi Arabia. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias has details.
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State Department — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will arrive in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Monday for U.S.-Ukraine talks as President Donald Trump pushes to broker a swift end to the Russia-Ukraine war.

While in Jeddah, Rubio will also meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud to discuss ways to advance shared interests in the region and strengthen the U.S.-Saudi relationship, said State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce.

According to the State Department, Rubio has “underscored President Trump’s determination to end the war as soon as possible and emphasized that all sides must take steps to secure a sustainable peace” in a Friday call with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.

On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit the Gulf kingdom for a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Afterward, a Ukrainian diplomatic and military delegation led by Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, will remain in Saudi Arabia for talks with U.S. officials. The Ukrainian team will also include Sybiha, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, and military commander Pavlo Palisa.

Rubio will join U.S. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, for the Jeddah talks with Ukrainian officials.

Witkoff has told reporters that “the idea is to get down a framework for a peace agreement and an initial ceasefire as well.”

The U.S.-Ukraine talks will take place three weeks after senior U.S. officials held talks with Russian officials in Riyadh.

Ukraine said it is “fully committed” to constructive dialogue with the U.S. and hopes to “discuss and agree on the necessary decisions and steps.”

“Ukraine has been seeking peace from the very first second of this war. Realistic proposals are on the table. The key is to move quickly and effectively,” Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X on Saturday.

G7 foreign ministers

Following his visit to Saudi Arabia, Rubio will travel to Charlevoix, Canada, for the Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers’ meeting from March 12 to 14.

In a joint statement following talks on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in February, G7 foreign ministers underscored their commitment to helping “achieve a durable peace” and “reaffirmed the need to develop robust security guarantees” for Ukraine.

“Any new, additional sanctions after February should be linked to whether the Russian Federation enters into real, good-faith efforts to bring an enduring end to the war against Ukraine,” the joint statement added.
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ASHBOURNE, ENGLAND — This ancient form of football has a rule forbidding players from murdering each other.

Every year, thousands of people descend on a small town in the English countryside to watch a two-day game of mass street football that, to the casual observer, could easily be mistaken for a riot. This is Royal Shrovetide — a centuries-old ball game played in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, that, frankly, looks nothing like the world’s most popular sport. Or any other game for that matter.

“It’s like tug of war without the rope,” says Natalie Wakefield, 43, who lives locally and has marshaled the event in the past. “It’s mad in the best possible way.”

Hundreds of players

Played between two teams of hundreds of players, the aim is to “goal” at either end of a 5-kilometer sector that could take the match through rivers, hedgerows, high streets and just about anything or anywhere except for churchyards, cemeteries and places of worship. The ball is thrown into a crowd that moves like a giant herd, as each team tries to carry it toward their desired goal.

Rules are limited but “no murder” was an early stipulation for the game that dates back to at least the 1600s. Good players need to be “hard, aggressive and authoritative,” says Mark Harrison, who “goaled” in 1986 and is one of multiple generations of scorers in his family.

“You can’t practice,” the 62-year-old Harrison adds. He stopped competing seven years ago and now serves up burgers to throngs of spectators from a street food truck.

“You’ve just got to get in there and be rough. I am a rugby player … I’m also an ex-boxer so that helps.”

Royal approval

Harrison had the honor of carrying the then-Prince Charles on his shoulder when in 2003 the now-King of England opened that year’s game. “He loved it!” Harrison says.

Played over Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday each year, the event is a source of immense pride for the people of Ashbourne in Derbyshire’s Peak District.

Yet, such a unifying tradition is actually based upon splitting the town into two halves between the “Up’ards” and the “Down’ards,” determined by whether players are born on the north or south of the River Henmore.

Don’t park there

On any other days, Ashbourne, around a three-hour drive from London, is quiet and picturesque with a high street lined by antique shops, cafes and traditional pubs. Visitors include hikers, cyclists and campers.

For two days that all changes.

Large timber boardings are nailed up to protect shop fronts. Doorways are barricaded. “Play Zone” signs are strapped to lampposts, warning motorists not to park there for fear of damage to vehicles, which can be shoved out of the way by the force of the hoards of players trying to move the ball.

In contrast, colorful bunting is strewn high above from building to building and revelers congregate, eating and drinking as if it is a street party. Parents with babies in strollers watch on from a safe distance. School holidays in the area have long since been moved to coincide with the festival.

“There are people who come and they have a drink and they’re just like, ‘This is a bit of a crazy thing and it’s a spectacle, and now I’ve seen it, box ticked off,'” says Wakefield, who also used to report on Royal Shrovetide for the local newspaper. “And there are people who are absolutely enthralled by it all, and they get the beauty and complexity of the game and those people follow it year on year.”

Where’s the ball?

Play begins with an opening ceremony in a car park, no less, in the center of town. The national anthem and Auld Lang Syne are sung. Competitors are reminded, “You play the game at your own risk.” A leather ball, the size of a large pumpkin, filled with cork and ornately painted, is thrown into what is called a “hug” of players. And they’re off.

As a spectator sport, it can be confusing. There can be little to see for long periods during the eight hours of play each day from 2 p.m. local time. Players wear their own clothes — such as random football or rugby jerseys — rather than matching uniforms.

On Tuesday, it took more than 45 minutes to move the ball out of the car park. Onlookers stand on bins, walls and park benches, craning their necks to look down alleyways to try to get a better view. “Can you see the ball?” someone will ask. The answer is often “No.”

One person thinks it might be in line with a tree over to the right of the car park, but can’t be sure. Later that day there had been no sight of the ball for almost two hours until rumors started to circulate that the Down’ards scored what turned out to be the only goal over the two days of play for a 1-0 victory.

Deception and cunning

With so many players, the hug can be difficult to maneuver but gathers pace quickly, prompting crowds of spectators who’d previously been trying to get a closer look to suddenly run away from the action. The ball can be handled and kicked. Play can be frantic, with players racing after a loose ball wherever it may take them, diving into the river and up and out the other side.

While strength is needed in the hug, speed is required from runners if the ball breaks free. Royal Shrovetide, however, can be as much about deception and cunning as speed and strength, it seems.

“There’s a bit of strategy involved in that somebody’s pretending they’ve still got the ball in the middle of the hug,” Wakefield says. “And they’re quietly passing it back out to the edge to get it to a runner who has to sneak away in a kind of, I imagine, very nonchalant manner and then leg it down an alleyway.”

A famous goal in 2019 came as a result of the hug not realizing it didn’t have the ball until it was too late. Hidden by two schoolboys standing meters away, the ball was passed to a player who ran, largely unimpeded, for 2 1/2 kilometers before scoring.

A ball is goaled when it is hit three times against one of the millstones at either end of the town in Clifton or Sturston.

The beautiful game

Scorers have likened the achievement to winning Olympic gold. They are carried on shoulders, paraded through the town and celebrated like heroes.

“If you can imagine playing for Manchester United in their heyday and they’re at Wembley in a cup final. You score the winner. You’re there,” Harrison says. Scorers also get to keep the balls, which are repainted and become treasured family possessions.

It is the game, however, that is treasured most of all. “I just live and breathe it,” says Janet Richardson, 75, from Ashbourne, who has been going to Royal Shrovetide since she was a 1-year-old. “I can’t sleep because I’m excited. It’s so lovely to think that all these people still want to come here and watch this beautiful game that we’ve got in our town.” 
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