europe

New opinion poll finds seven in 10 US adults disapprove of President Donald Trump’s handling of Greenland issue.

Denmark’s prime minister and Greenland’s premier met ⁠with United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio and agreed that talks would be pursued on the running of Greenland, the semi-autonomous Danish territory that President Donald Trump has threatened to take over.

Rubio held a 15-minute meeting with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland’s Premier Jens-Frederik Nielsen on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Friday.

Greenland’s leader Nielsen said in a post on social media that during the meeting with Rubio, “it was emphasised that the conversations being made are the right way forward and the interests of Greenland were once again clearly highlighted”.

Prime Minister Frederiksen said on X after the meeting: “Constructive talk with Secretary of State Marco Rubio together with Jens-Frederik Nielsen, Chairman of Naalakkersuisut, at the Munich Security Conference.”

“Work will continue as agreed in the high-level working group,” she said.

The meeting between the Danish and Greenlandic leaders and the US state secretary comes amid severely strained ties between Europe and Washington, and NATO allies, amid President Trump’s repeated threats to take over Greenland and criticism of European nations as “decaying” and “weak”.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Trump said, “We’re negotiating ‌right ‌now for Greenland.”

“I ‌think Greenland’s going to want us, but we get along very well with Europe. We’ll see how it all works out,” he said.

After months of bellicose language regarding the US’s necessity to acquire Greenland, Trump abruptly stepped back from his threats last month, saying that he had reached an understanding with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte that would give the US greater influence in the mineral-rich Arctic territory.

Late last month, the US, Denmark and Greenland also launched talks to find a diplomatic path out of the crisis.

Poll finds most US adults disapprove of Trump’s Greenland plan

The US administration has cited key national security concerns related to Russia and China to justify its demand to take control over Greenland and has accused Denmark, and Europe more broadly, of being unable to defend the strategic territory.

But, according to a new opinion poll conducted by The Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, Trump’s push to seize control of Greenland has gone down badly with the US public and members of his own party.

The survey, conducted between February 5-8, found that about seven in 10 US adults disapprove of how Trump is handling the Greenland issue – a higher disapproval rating than the share of those who dislike how he is handling foreign policy generally.

Even among Republican supporters, about half disapprove of his attempt to turn Greenland into US territory, according to the poll.

Sweden said on Thursday that it would send fighter jets to patrol Greenland as part of a newly launched NATO mission in the Arctic aimed at placating Trump’s concerns over the threats posed by Moscow and Beijing.

The government said in a statement that Swedish-made Gripen fighter jets would patrol Greenland as part of the newly-launched NATO mission, Arctic Sentry.

“As a NATO ally, Sweden has a responsibility to contribute to the security of the entire territory of the Alliance. The Arctic region is becoming increasingly important from a strategic perspective,” Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said.

In a separate statement, the Swedish Armed Forces said the fighter jets would be based out of Iceland, where six aircraft have been stationed since early February as part of the rotating incident response force, NATO Air Policing.

Swedish special forces would also be sent to Greenland to take part in training exercises for a couple of weeks, the military said.

Jury chair Wim Wenders said filmmakers ‘have to stay out of politics’ when asked about German support for Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.

Indian author Arundhati Roy has announced that she is withdrawing from the Berlin International Film Festival after what she described as “unconscionable statements” by its jury members about Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

Writing in India’s The Wire newspaper, Roy said she found recent remarks from members of the Berlinale jury, including its chair, acclaimed director Wim Wenders, that “art should not be political” to be “jaw-dropping”.

“It is a way of shutting down a conversation about a crime against humanity even as it unfolds before us in real time,” wrote Roy, the author of novels and nonfiction, including The God of Small Things.

“I am shocked and disgusted,” Roy wrote, adding that she believed “artists, writers and filmmakers should be doing everything in their power to stop” the war in Gaza.

“Let me say this clearly: what has happened in Gaza, what continues to happen, is a genocide of the Palestinian people by the State of Israel,” she wrote.

The war is “supported and funded by the governments of the United States and Germany, as well as several other countries in Europe, which makes them complicit in the crime,” she added.

During a panel to launch the festival on Thursday, a journalist asked the jury members for their views on the German government’s “support of the genocide in Gaza” and the “selective treatment of human rights” issues.

German filmmaker Wim Wenders, who is the chair of the festival’s seven-member jury, responded, saying that filmmakers “have to stay out of politics”.

“If we made movies that are dedicatedly political, we enter the field of politics. But we are the counterweight to politics. We are the opposite of politics. We have to do the work of people and not the work of politicians,” Wenders said.

Polish film producer Ewa Puszczynska, another jury member, said she thought it was “a bit unfair” to pose this question, saying that filmmakers “cannot be responsible” for whether governments support Israel or Palestine.

“There are many other wars where genocide is committed and we do not talk about that,” Puszczynska added.

Roy had been due to participate in the festival, which runs from February 12 to 22, after her 1989 film, In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones, was selected to be screened in the Classics section.

Germany, which is one of the biggest exporters of weapons to Israel, after the US, has introduced harsh measures to prevent people from speaking out in solidarity with Palestinians.

In 2024, more than 500 international artists, filmmakers, writers and culture workers called on creatives to stop working with German-funded cultural institutions over what they described as “McCarthyist policies that suppress freedom of expression, specifically expressions of solidarity with Palestine”.

“Cultural institutions are surveilling social media, petitions, open letters and public statements for expressions of solidarity with Palestine in order to weed out cultural workers who do not echo Germany’s unequivocal support of Israel,” organisers of the initiative said.

Huda Ammori, the co-founder of Palestine Action, says the UK government’s ban has backfired after the High Court ruled that proscribing the group as a “terror” organisation was unlawful.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said a “deep rift” has opened between Europe and the United States and called to “repair and revive transatlantic trust”.

London, United Kingdom – The United Kingdom’s ban on Palestine Action has “backfired”, its cofounder said, after the High Court ruled that proscribing the group as a “terror” organisation was unlawful.

Critics from the United Nations human rights chief to the Irish author Sally Rooney decried the UK’s ban last June as an illiberal overreach, since it put Palestine Action on par with ISIL (ISIS), al-Qaeda and dangerous far-right organisations.

On Friday, High Court judges dealt a massive blow to the government of Labour leader Keir Starmer, saying, “The decision to proscribe Palestine Action was disproportionate.”

“Today is a victory for Palestine,” Palestine Action cofounder Huda Ammori told Al Jazeera. The ban has “backfired on [the government] massively. They’ve made Palestine Action a household name.

“They have spread the message and the power that ordinary people have to shut down weapons factories across the country and across the world. So for that, I thank them.”

Founded in 2020, Palestine Action’s stated objective has been to counter Israeli war crimes – and what it says is British complicity in them – by targeting weapons manufacturers and associated companies.

Its main target is Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms company, which has several sites in the UK.

“Rather than ask somebody else to stop those weapons going and being used to commit genocide, we go to the source, and we stop those weapons ourselves,” said Ammori, a 31-year-old Briton of Iraqi and Palestinian heritage.

“That is what direct action is about. If you saw a building burning down with children inside, you wouldn’t hesitate to bang down the door to save those children’s lives. It is exactly the same principle. You don’t care about the value of the door. It is about those lives. It is about the liberation of Palestine. And so we do our bit to shut down the Israeli weapons trades from Britain.”

The group has been a thorn in Starmer’s side since Israel began its genocidal onslaught in Gaza.

Palestine Action-linked activists have carried out several raids, often leaving their mark in red spray paint intended to symbolise blood.

Dozens are currently being held on remand in relation to two actions.

Some prisoners, known as part of the “Filton 24”, are alleged to have participated in a break-in at a UK subsidiary of Elbit Systems in Bristol.

Others are accused of involvement in a break-in at the UK’s largest air base in Oxfordshire, where they were alleged to have spray-painted two Voyager refuelling and transport planes. It was after this raid that the government banned Palestine Action.

They all deny the charges against them, such as burglary and criminal damage.

Six of the “Filton 24” were recently acquitted of aggravated burglary; five of them were bailed.

“At its core, Palestine Action is an organisation that promotes its political cause through criminality and encouragement of criminality. A very small number of its actions have amounted to terrorist action,” the High Court judges said.

Tens of thousands of people have protested against the ban. Almost 3,000 of them have been arrested for raising placards with slogans such as: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”

“The government committed a huge crime against its own population,” said Ammori. “It was unlawful for them to ban Palestine Action, and when they banned Palestine Action, they subsequently did thousands of unlawful arrests against their own citizens and tried to prosecute them through the courts for terrorism offences, for holding up signs.”

Despite Friday’s ruling, the ban remains in place pending appeal.

The UK’s Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said she was “disappointed” by Friday’s ruling and intends to appeal – earning further criticism from rights groups and some fellow Labour politicians.

John McDonnell, an MP who voted against the proscription, said on X, “I thought it was unjust. We have a right to protest, to assemble, and to speak freely in this country – that has been secured largely by direct action over centuries. I am urging the government to abide by that tradition and not to appeal this judgement.”

“Shabana Mahmood needs to take a step back,” said Ammori. “She’s completely betrayed the Palestinian people since she’s become minister … it’s only going to backfire on her.

“Palestine Action’s ban will be lifted … We won today in the High Court … If they try and appeal, we’ll beat them again.”

Ukraine’s Vladyslav Heraskevych had his appeal dismissed as images on his helmet breached an Olympic ‘sacred principle’.

⁠The Court of ⁠Arbitration for Sport on Friday dismissed an appeal by Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych to be reinstated in the Milano Cortina Olympics after he was disqualified over his “helmet ⁠of remembrance”.

The 27-year-old was removed from the Olympic programme on Thursday when the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation jury ruled that imagery on the helmet — depicting athletes killed since Russia invaded Ukraine ⁠in February 2022 — breached rules on political neutrality.

“The CAS ad Hoc division dismissed the application and found that freedom of expression is guaranteed at the Olympic Games but not on the field of play which is a sacred principle,” CAS Secretary-General Matthieu Reeb said, reading from a statement following an eight-hour ‌hearing.

Heraskevych, who was seeking reinstatement or at least a CAS-supervised run, pending a decision by sport’s highest court in advance of the final two runs set for Friday evening, said he would look at his legal options now.

“CAS has failed us. We will consider our next steps,” Heraskevych told Reuters.

The case has dominated headlines in the first week of the Olympics, with the International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry meeting the athlete on Thursday morning at the sliding venue ⁠in Cortina d’Ampezzo in a last-minute attempt to broker a compromise and ⁠have him race without the specific helmet.

The IOC instead offered that he wear a black armband and display the helmet before and after the race, but said using the helmet in competition breached its rules on political protests and slogans ⁠in the field of play.

In a statement, CAS said the IOC guidelines for athletes’ expression in the Games were fair.

“The Sole Arbitrator found these ⁠limitations reasonable and proportionate, considering the other opportunities for athletes ⁠to raise awareness,” CAS said.

“The Sole Arbitrator considers these Guidelines provide a reasonable balance between athletes’ interests to express their views, and athletes’ interests to receive undivided attention for their sporting performance on the field of play.”

Ukraine’s Olympic Committee has backed their ‌athlete, who is also the team’s flagbearer for the Games and also displayed a “No War in Ukraine” sign at the Beijing 2022 Olympics, days before Russia’s invasion. Heraskevych has also received support ‌from ‌Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

CAS was established in 1984 by the International Olympic Committee as an independent judicial authority to settle sports disputes worldwide.

The case has dominated headlines in the first week of the Olympics.

Before the ruling, Heraskevych accused the Milano-Cortina Games as acting as “propaganda” for Russia.

Who: Real Madrid vs Real Sociedad
What: Spanish La Liga
Where: Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, Spain
When: Saturday, February 14, at 9pm (20:00 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the buildup on Al Jazeera Sport from 17:00 GMT in advance of our text commentary stream.

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s Real Madrid career has not got off the ground yet, but fit again after injury, the England right-back could be crucial for the Spanish giants in the second half of the season.

With Alvaro Arbeloa’s side still taking shape following the coach’s arrival in January, Alexander-Arnold has the chance to make himself a key part of the club’s battle for silverware.

Pellegrino Matarazzo’s in-form Real Sociedad visit the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday in La Liga, in what promises to be an enticing clash.

Arbeloa’s Madrid are looking to move two points clear of Barcelona and take the lead in La Liga before the Catalans visit Girona on Monday.

Al Jazeera Sport takes a look at Saturday’s headline fixture in La Liga.

Will Alexander Arnold start for Real Madrid against Sociedad?

Former Liverpool full-back Alexander-Arnold, who came off the bench last weekend as Madrid beat Valencia, could potentially start for the first time since December 3.

After a decent early showing for Madrid at the Club World Cup last year, hamstring and thigh injuries have stopped him from settling in, limiting him to 12 appearances across all competitions this season.

“After [he’s had] a long time out, we will proceed with caution,” said Arbeloa after Alexander-Arnold’s return, with Spanish newspaper AS reporting Madrid’s aim is for him to start against Benfica in the Champions League playoff round on February 17.

Even if Arbeloa uses veteran Dani Carvajal or youngster David Jimenez to start against Real Sociedad, the expectation is for Alexander-Arnold to get more crucial minutes under his belt.

How are Real Sociedad faring in La Liga this season?

Real Sociedad are unbeaten in nine matches but are eighth in the table – 14 points off fourth place and the crucial UEFA Champions League qualification spots.

Matarazzo’s side did, however, defeat champions Barcelona last month and have one foot in the Copa del Rey final after a semifinal first leg win at rivals Athletic Bilbao this week.

Sociedad are also coming off a 1-0 win at Basque Country rival Athletic Bilbao in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals.

Will Vinicius and Mbappe’s dinner give Madrid food for thought?

Real Madrid is counting on a team-bonding dinner reportedly paid for by its biggest stars to boost its late-season pursuit of the La Liga and Champions League trophies.

Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe paid the bill at the restaurant in Madrid on Tuesday, midfielder Dani Ceballos told reporters. The tab ran in excess of 1,000 euros ($1,100), according to accounts by Spanish media.

Vinicius posted a photo of the entire squad during the dinner near the city centre in a fancy location that features an “Art Dining Club.”

Fans waited outside the restaurant to try to talk to the players after the dinner, which went well past midnight.

Coach Alvaro Arbeloa and his assistants were not part of the dinner, Spanish media said.

The show of unity came a week before Madrid faces Benfica in the first leg of the knockout playoffs of the Champions League. The team dropped out of the top eight that automatically qualified for the round of 16 after a 4-2 loss at the same as Benfica in the final round of the league phase.

Defender Raul Asencio told media that after the dinner, the team was “very united.”

Why has Real Madrid struggled this season?

Madrid went through turmoil at the end of last year, with some players reportedly not on the same page with coach Xabi Alonso.

Under Arbeloa, Madrid was eliminated by second-tier Albacete in the Copa del Rey round of 16, and lost to Benfica in the match that relegated the team to the Champions League’s knockout playoffs.

With the bad-tempered Bernabeu crowd on their own team’s backs in recent weeks, the chance to move top of the table could settle the natives.

How is the La Liga race shaping up for Real Madrid and Barcelona?

Madrid has won seven in a row to be one point behind leader Barcelona.

Barcelona will look to win its fourth in a row in the league against a Girona that was in 12th place and was winless in its last three matches.

Barcelona is coming off a resounding 4-0 loss to Atletico Madrid in the first leg of the Copa del Rey on Thursday, when it conceded all goals in a disastrous first half.

It had won 17 of its last 18 matches in all competitions before the defeat. The last setback had been losing 2-1 at Sociedad in the league last month.

Third-placed Atletico will face lowly Rayo Vallecano on Sunday, while fourth-placed Villarreal is at mid-table Getafe.

What happened the last time Real Madrid met Sociedad?

Los Blancos were 2-1 winners against Sociedad in September’s reverse fixture in La Liga.

Kylian Mbappe and Arda Guler scored either side of Dean Huijsen’s sending off in the first half.

Mikel Oyarzabal’s 56th-minute penalty offered the home side hope, but they were unable to further make the most of their numerical advantage.

Head-to-head

This is the 184th meeting between the teams, with Madrid winning on 103 occasions and Sociedad claiming the spoils in 38 of the contests.

The first fixture was played in April 1905, with Madrid winning the Copa del Rey meeting 3-0.

Real Madrid team news

Mbappe trained separately from the squad on Thursday because of a knee issue and became doubtful for Saturday’s game.

He had already been held to gym work on Wednesday. The club did not immediately give any details about his condition.

Vinicius was set to be back with Madrid after missing the previous league game because of a yellow card suspension, but Jude Bellingham will remain sidelined with a hamstring injury.

Predicted Real Madrid starting lineup (4-3-3)

Courtois; Alexander-Arnold, Asencio, Huijsen, Carreras; Valverde, Tchouameni, Camavinga; Brahim, Mbappe, Vinicius

Real Sociedad team news

Brais Mendez is suspended for the trip to Madrid, while Takefusa Kubo and Unai Marrero are both absent with hamstring and facial injuries, respectively.

Arsen Zakharyan, Ander Barrenetxea and Luka Sucic have slight niggles and face late fitness tests.

Predicted Real Sociedad starting lineup (4-2-3-1)

Remiro; Odriozola, Martin, Caleta-Car, Gomez; Gorrotxategi, Turrientes; Marin, Soler, Guedes; Oyarzabal

Ukrainian skeleton racer Heraskevych says 2006 Winter Olympics ‘acts as propoganda for Russia’ after IOC decision.

The Court ⁠of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) began hearing Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych’s appeal on Friday, with a decision expected later in the day on whether he can return to competition at ⁠the Milano Cortina Olympics after his disqualification over his “helmet of remembrance”.

The 27-year-old was removed from the Olympic programme on Thursday when the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation jury ruled that imagery on the helmet — depicting ⁠athletes killed since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 — breached rules on political neutrality at the Games.

Heraskevych is seeking reinstatement or at least a CAS-supervised run, pending a decision by sport’s highest court in advance of the final two runs set for Friday evening.

“I’m pretty positive about how it went,” he told reporters outside the office of CAS ‌in Milan following his appearance before the court. “I hope the truth will prevail, and I know that I was innocent.”

The racer said he was now getting threats from Russians and blamed the IOC’s decision for that.

“I believe that these Games now and this act of the IOC also serves as an instrument of propaganda for Russia,” Heraskevych said. “I still receive a lot of threats from the Russian side.”

The IOC, whose president, Kirsty Coventry, met Heraskevych on Thursday in a last-ditch effort to break the impasse, has ⁠allowed the athlete to keep his credentials despite his disqualification, so he can ⁠stay at the Milano Cortina Games.

“For me, sitting down with Vladyslav and his dad, the conversation was extremely respectful,” Coventry told a news conference on Friday. “After that, I asked the disciplinary commission to re-look at not pulling his accreditation, out of respect for him ⁠and his dad. I thought that was the right thing to do.”

The case has dominated headlines in the first week of the Olympics.

CAS Secretary-General Matthieu Reeb ⁠could not say exactly when they were likely to reach a ⁠decision, despite the tight schedule.

“We hope to have a final decision announced today, but it’s difficult for me to say when,” Reeb told reporters. “Obviously, we know the schedule of the competition, and it is an objective for CAS to be able to run the decision ‌before the start of the race, but we don’t know how long the hearing will take.

“We have only one arbitrator from Germany, and she will be in charge of this case. We have participants attending in ‌person, ‌like the IOC, the athlete is here, the father of the athlete is here.

“We have a representative of IBSF attending remotely. The athlete is also assisted by legal counsel speaking from Kyiv.”

The UK’s High Court has ruled that the government ban on the pro-Palestinian campaign group Palestine Action as a ‘terror group’ was unlawful. The case was brought by the group’s co-founder Huda Ammori. Rory Challands is outside the court in London.

Winning tip: Out-of-body experience in Sorrento

We had our wedding reception at the Grand Hotel Royal in Sorrento, south of Naples. We danced to two guitarists playing Justin Bieber’s Despacito with our 50 guests singing and dancing along with us. We watched as the sun began to melt into the Mediterranean Sea from this time-capsule hotel balancing on the edge of a cliff. I floated out of my body and felt a rush of euphoria – perhaps it was the limoncello spritzers. We’ve returned many times and I get the same rush – the gelato, the pizza, the people, it feels as if I’m in a Richard Curtis film.
Charlotte Sahami

A cosy whisky bar amid the majesty of Skye

Skye’s dramatic landscape and stunning viewpoints make the perfect romantic getaway. It’s steeped in history and captivating walks, such as the otherworldly Fairy Pools and the isolated Neist Point. We stayed at the Cuillin Hills Hotel where there’s a cosy drawing room with a fireplace and a great whisky bar. The rooms are comfortable, stylish and each one has a super-king-sized bed. However, the highlight is the Michelin-recommended restaurant which offers exquisite food with expansive views out over Loch Portree and the pretty harbour.
Nic

The silence of Slovenia’s Lake Bled

My girlfriend rowed us across the glassy water of Lake Bled in a wooden pletna, the only sound the creak of oars and the occasional splash of a swan settling nearby. The place is famously picturesque, but the island in the middle of the lake itself felt like a secret; quieter, stiller. It felt like ours for the evening. We climbed up the 99 steps to the Church of the Assumption, then sat on the worn stone as the sun dropped behind the Julian Alps, turning the lake amber and rose. Neither of us spoke. We didn’t need to.
Tom Cowie

A second honeymoon in San Sebastían

San Sebastián always does it whatever your romantic life stage! Amazing food (of course); two iconic, beautiful, sweeping beaches; views to die for; hotels to fit all budgets. My partner and I went first in 2001, pre-kids and marriage. We enjoyed the cheap wine and clubbing till 4am. We went back in 2013 – a second honeymoon – Hotel Monte Igueldo on the cliff top (reached by funicular) still has the best view of any hotel we’ve ever been to. We went back in 2023, with our late-teens kids renting an apartment – they did their own thing (loved it), and we recreated those bar crawls and walks on the beach – wonderful.
James

Chilling on the Seine in Paris

The best place for a romantic weekend? Off Paris Seine is a floating hotel and bar, permanently docked on the Seine River near the Gare d’Austerlitz, with an infinity swimming pool. It does brilliant breakfasts that are worth every euro. Walk it off by heading out to stroll along the quays to Île Saint-Louis. Hopefully, you’ll work up an appetite in time for wonderful Bouillon de l’île, a vegetarian restaurant only open to 3pm. So delicious. Carry on strolling Le Marais and then chill with the Monet water lilies at Musée de l’Orangerie. The city centre is a lot more pedestrian and cycle-friendly these days. Paris has been transformed.
Sarah Ackroyd

Fairytale gardens near Stuttgart

The Ludwigsburg Palace Gardens close to Stuttgart has an area called the Fairytale Garden where fairytales have been recreated in beautiful surroundings. You can ask Rapunzel to let down her hair and see Hansel and Gretel’s house. This may sound childish, but it is actually a very nice outing, including for couples who can be childish together (and are perhaps inspired about future sons and daughters!).
Asa

A roof terrace sunset in Venice

Two bedraggled tourists; after hours spent tramping the streets of Venice in the rain, we had one mission remaining. Arriving at the Danieli Hotel in soaked kagouls but sporting our most charming smiles, we pleaded with the concierge to be allowed up to the hotel’s renowned roof terrace. Our reward? As the clouds finally parted, a glorious sunset and unrivalled panoramic views over tiny gondolas in San Marco basin, the Grand Canal, and the Venetian lagoon beyond. With a couple of gins, we celebrated 30 years of love, life, and the thrill of romance.
Kate Harris

The love language of Seville

The gardens of the Real Alcázar in Seville are exquisite with their orange tree-lined avenues and pristinely kept paths – perfect for an afternoon walking hand-in-hand in the Seville sunshine. It’s easy to find a quiet corner of the enormous grounds to sit and contemplate life together or while away an afternoon at the easygoing cafe enjoying the warm air and each other’s company. The palace is also a maze of fabulous courtyards and if your love language involves visiting scenes from Game of Thrones together, then this also ticks the boxes (the Real Alcázar was the setting for the Martell family’s gardens and palace in Dorne).
Layla Astley

These are the key developments from day 1,450 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here is where things stand on Friday, February 13 :

Fighting

• Russia launched a barrage of ballistic missiles and drones at Ukrainian cities in overnight attacks on Thursday, officials reported, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Moscow was “hesitating” about another round of United States-brokered talks on stopping the war.
• Russian forces launched 219 drones and 24 ballistic missiles on Thursday night, causing injuries, deaths and damage to energy infrastructure in Kyiv, Odesa and Dnipro, President Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
• Two people were killed and six more wounded in an attack on the railway hub of Lozova in the northeastern Kharkiv region bordering Russia, local prosecutors said.
• Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram that close to 2,600 high-rise apartment buildings were left without heating following the latest Russian attacks, particularly in the capital’s Desnyanskyi, Dniprovskyi, Pecherskyi and Solomyanskyi districts.
• The attack on the capital came as 1,100 high-rise buildings in the Dniprovskyi and Darnytskyi districts were already “without heat after the previous shelling”, Klitschko said, as temperatures in Kyiv are forecast to fall as low as -13 degrees Celsius (8.6 degrees Fahrenheit) this week.
• ⁠More than 220,000 people in Russia’s ⁠Belgorod region ⁠have been left without electricity after a Ukrainian ‌attack caused an accident at a substation, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov ⁠said.
• In Odesa, the State Emergency Service said that Russian drones hit a nine-storey residential building, an outdoor market and a supermarket, causing multiple fires to break out. The drone attack also damaged energy infrastructure, the emergency service added in a post on Facebook.
• Ukraine’s General Staff said that, according to preliminary reports, Ukrainian forces hit an oil refinery in Ukhta in Russia’s Komi Republic, about 1,750km (1,087 miles) from the border with Ukraine, causing a fire to break out.
• A Russian attack last month on the Ukrainian branch of ⁠the Soviet-built Druzhba oil pipeline halted the transit of Russian oil to eastern Europe, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said. Despite its war with ⁠Russia, Ukraine continues to transport Russian oil to Slovakia and Hungary even though it stopped the transit of Russian gas last year.
• Ukraine said the bodies of two Nigerians fighting for Russia have been found in the east of the country. Hamzat Kazeem Kolawole and Mbah Stephen Udoka both served in the 423rd Guards Motor Rifle Regiment of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, according to a statement by Ukrainian intelligence.

Military aid

• Ukraine’s allies have pledged about $35bn in military aid to Kyiv this year, British Defence Minister John Healey said. The figure includes new commitments by individual countries, but also previous promises of weapons made by Ukraine’s allies, including the 11.5 billion euros ($13.6bn) already announced by Germany, a diplomat told the Reuters news agency.
• German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said his country was ready to deliver five new PAC-3 interceptors for Ukraine’s air defence, provided Ukraine’s other allies deliver at least 30 more of their own.
• Norway announced it was buying a “large volume” of French glide bombs as part of a bilateral agreement to support Ukraine militarily against Russia’s invasion.
• The United Kingdom announced it will “urgently provide” air defence missiles and systems worth more than 500 million British pounds ($681m) “to protect Ukraine from [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s brutal attacks on energy sites and homes”.
• US military aid to Ukraine fell by 99 percent in 2025 compared with 2024, according to a report from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a think tank based in Germany. “European military aid rose by 67 percent above the 2022–2024 average” in 2025, the Kiel report found.

Peace talks

• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that another round of talks on ending the war in Ukraine was expected “soon” but gave no further details.
• Ukrainian Foreign Minister Sybiha said that Russia’s more recent overnight attacks on Ukraine further undermined efforts to end the war through dialogue. “Each such strike is a blow to peace efforts aimed at ending the war. Russia must be forced to take diplomacy seriously and de-escalate,” Sybiha wrote on X.

Regional security

• Estonia is to buy 12 more Caesar self-propelled howitzer artillery pieces from France to strengthen its defence capabilities.
• European Union leaders broadly agreed Thursday on a plan to restructure the 27-nation bloc’s economy to make it more competitive as they face antagonism from US President Donald Trump, strong-arm tactics from China and hybrid threats blamed on Russia.
• Ukraine will begin exporting weapons, including drones, in the coming weeks, Ukrainian Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said in a news conference, according to Ukraine’s Ukrinform news agency.

Energy

• Power plants in Ukraine that have been damaged by Russian missile and drone attacks continue to produce far too little electricity to supply the country’s citizens, Ukraine’s Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal told a parliamentary energy committee.

Politics and diplomacy

• French President Emmanuel Macron said there was no rush to open dialogue with Russian leader Putin, stressing the need for Europeans to fine-tune their objectives. Macron raised the prospect of reviving dialogue with Putin in an interview published on Tuesday by several newspapers.
• Six more Russian and Ukrainian children are being reunited with ⁠their families, Washington and Moscow said. One child would return to Russia, and five children would be reunited with their families in ‌Ukraine, Russia’s presidential commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, said in a post on Telegram.
• Ukraine has accused Russia of abducting thousands of children, and the International Criminal Court has called for the arrest of President Putin and Lvova-Belova on suspicion of unlawful deportation of children.
• ⁠US Secretary of State Marco Rubio ⁠said he would have a chance to ‌meet Zelenskyy at this week’s Munich Security Conference.

Sport

• Ukrainian athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych has lodged an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after he was barred from competing in the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. The skeleton racer was banned over a dispute concerning a helmet he wanted to wear in the event to honour Ukrainian athletes killed in the war with Russia.
• The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said in a statement: “[The decision] was taken by the jury of the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) based on the fact that the helmet he intended to wear was not compliant with the rules.”
• Zelenskyy reacted to the decision, accusing the IOC of playing “into the hands of aggressors” as Ukraine’s Sport Minister Matviy Bidnyi said Ukraine would go through legal channels to reverse the decision.
• “We are proud of Vladyslav and of what he did. Having courage is worth more than any medal,” Zelenskyy said.

Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby says current NATO approach ‘no longer fit for purpose’.

Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby has called for NATO “partnerships not dependencies”, saying Europe must take primary responsibility for its defence.

The US official was in Brussels to meet with NATO’s defence ministers on Thursday, where he delivered remarks calling for “clear-eyed realism and fundamental adaptation by all”.

Noting that the current approach of the military alliance was “no longer fit for purpose”, he said a new “NATO 3.0” required “much greater efforts by our allies to step up and assume primary responsibility for the conventional defence of Europe”.

Insisting that the US’s reprioritising of its interests was not a retreat from Europe, he said it was an “affirmation of strategic pragmatism and a recognition of our allies’ undeniable ability to step up”.

Colby said the US would continue to provide its extended nuclear deterrent and, “in a more limited and focused fashion”, contribute to NATO’s defence, as well as “train, exercise, and plan alongside our allies”.

“But we will also continue to press, respectfully but firmly and insistently, for a rebalancing of roles and burdens within the Alliance,” he added.

PURL pledges

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said at a news conference on Thursday that the meeting was “one of the most pivotal” that he had been part of.

He said that he believed that the longer term would see the US’s “nuclear umbrella as the ultimate guarantor of our security here in Europe and Canada, but also a strong conventional presence of the US here in Europe.”

He told reporters that NATO states have announced hundreds of millions of dollars in support for the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL). The initiative supplies Ukraine with US-made equipment and munitions.

Rutte thanked the United Kingdom, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Lithuania for their contributions, and said he expected more pledges soon.

“The good news is that the billions are coming in,” he said.

On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for more protection from Russian strikes.

“It is the ‘Patriots’ that work most effectively against Russian ballistics, and the supply of missiles to these systems is needed every day,” he said, thanking those who contribute to the PURL programme.

“Everything that is currently in the air defence programme should come faster. Thank you to the leaders who understand this and help.”

Pal Lonseth, chief of the specialised Okokrim economic crimes unit, says Jagland suspected of ‘aggravated corruption’.

Norwegian police say that they had conducted searches of properties owned by former Prime Minister Thorbjorn Jagland as part of a corruption investigation into his connections with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The probe was initiated after documents released by the US Department of Justice in January indicated that Jagland and/or members of his family may have stayed at or vacationed at Epstein’s residences between 2011 and 2018, the AFP news agency reported.

Norwegian television footage showed investigators carrying several boxes from Jagland’s apartment in Oslo during the searches on Thursday.

Jagland, 74, served as Norway’s prime minister from 1996 to 1997 and during the period mentioned in the files, he was serving as chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee and as secretary-general of the Council of Europe.

In the documents released by the US Justice Department, Epstein referred to him as “the Nobel big shot”, the AFP news agency reported.

Pal Lonseth, chief of the specialised Okokrim economic crimes unit, said that Jagland’s residence in Oslo had been searched and that he was now formally suspected of “aggravated corruption”.

His lawyer, Anders Brosveet, confirmed the searches and stated that they were standard procedure in these types of investigations.

“Jagland wishes to contribute to ensuring that the case is thoroughly clarified, and the next step is that he will appear for questioning by Okokrim – as he himself has stated he wants,” Brosveet said.

The raids were enabled by the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers by waiving Jagland’s diplomatic immunity on Wednesday, following a request from Norwegian authorities. Police told the council in the request that they are investigating whether the benefits Jagland may have received could amount to “passive bribery”.

Okokrim cited repeated instances, between 2011 and 2018, when Jagland and/or members of his family made use of Epstein’s apartments in Paris and New York, as well as stays at his property in Palm Beach, Florida.

“For at least one of these private vacations, travel expenses for six adults appear to have been covered by Mr. Epstein,” Okokrim wrote.

After previously maintaining that his ties with Epstein were part of normal diplomatic activities, Jagland told the newspaper Aftenposten this month that he had shown “poor judgement”.

BRITS flying to or from a popular holiday destination in Europe will face delays and cancellations today.

Major flight disruptions are expected today on Lufthansa Group flights which includes Lufthansa and short-haul carrier CityLine, as pilots and cabin crew strike.

While Lufthansa has not provided cancellation numbers, German airport association ADV estimated that more than 460 flights will be cancelled – affecting 70,000 passengers.

Sun Travel found that 14 flights from Frankfurt Airport to the UK today have been cancelled from Frankfurt Airport.

Lufthansa often uses aircraft for these routes that have between 150 and 180 passengers.

If 165 passengers are travelling in each flight, then the total number of people impacted by the cancellations could be more than 2,000.

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Ten flights from London Heathrow to either Frankfurt or Munich have been cancelled.

One flight to Munich and one flight to Frankfurt have been cancelled from Birmingham Airport.

Two flights to Frankfurt have been cancelled from Manchester Airport.

German pilots’ union VC (Vereinigung Cockpit) called the 24-hour strike on Tuesday, to demand more generous retirement benefits.

A spokesperson for Lufthansa said the announcements were “extremely short-notice” and “disproportionate”, adding that they would hit passengers hard.

The spokesperson continued: “Sustainable solutions can only be found through dialogue; strikes must always remain a last resort.

“We therefore call on the unions to resume talks with us.

“We are ready to do so at any time.”

The spokesperson also said that passengers would be notified if the strike impacted their flight.

The strike action comes just three days after Lufthansa City Airlines officially commenced flight operations from Frankfurt Airport, which is also the Lufthansa Group’s largest hub.

Sun Travel has contacted Lufthansa for comment.

Flight compensation rules

A look at your rights if a flight is delayed or cancelled, when your entitled to compensation and if your travel insurance can cover the costs.

What are my rights if my flight is cancelled or delayed?

Under UK law, airlines have to provide compensation if your flight arrives at its destination more than three hours late.

If you’re flying to or from the UK, your airline must let you choose a refund or an alternative flight.

You will be able to get your money back for the part of your ticket that you haven’t used yet.

So if you booked a return flight and the outbound leg is cancelled, you can get the full cost of the return ticket refunded.

But if travelling is essential, then your airline has to find you an alternative flight. This could even be with another airline.

When am I not entitled to compensation?

The airline doesn’t have to give you a refund if the flight was cancelled due to reasons beyond their control, such as extreme weather.

Disruptions caused by things like extreme weather, airport or air traffic control employee strikes or other ‘extraordinary circumstances’ are not eligible for compensation.

Some airlines may stretch the definition of “extraordinary circumstances” but you can challenge them through the aviation regulator the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

Will my insurance cover me if my flight is cancelled?

If you can’t claim compensation directly through the airline, your travel insurance may refund you.

Policies vary so you should check the small print, but a delay of eight to 12 hours will normally mean you qualify for some money from your insurer.

Remember to get written confirmation of your delay from the airport as your insurer will need proof.

If your flight is cancelled entirely, you’re unlikely to be covered by your insurance.

In other aviation news, there are 37 new flights launching from a major UK airport this year including budget routes to Asia and Jet2’s first ever.

Plus, a woman’s plane was hit by birds – blood splattered the windows and it had to do an emergency landing.

The Norwegian diplomat who was a key architect of the 1993 Oslo Accords is facing a storm of corruption and blackmail allegations after new documents revealed he was deeply embedded in the inner circle of late sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Terje Rod-Larsen, a central figure in the Middle East “peace process” in the 1990s, is implicated in newly released United States Justice Department files and Norwegian media investigations that expose a relationship involving illicit loans, visa fraud for sex-trafficked women, and a beneficiary clause in Epstein’s will worth millions of dollars.

The revelations have sent shockwaves through the diplomatic community and led to the resignation of Rod-Larsen’s wife, Mona Juul – herself a pivotal figure in the Oslo negotiations – from her post as Norway’s ambassador to Jordan and Iraq this month. Her security clearance was also revoked.

Palestinian leaders are now questioning whether Oslo’s foundational agreements of the two-state solution were brokered by a mediator vulnerable to elite blackmail and foreign intelligence pressure.

The plan was heralded in the Western world at the time, and in the 30 years since, has been trampled on by successive Israeli governments, with the far-right leadership now openly pushing for annexation of the occupied West Bank.

Investigations by the Norwegian broadcaster NRK and newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) detail how Rod-Larsen used his position as president of the International Peace Institute (IPI) think tank in New York to launder the reputation of Epstein’s associates.

According to the files, Rod-Larsen wrote official letters of recommendation to US authorities to secure visas for young Russian women in Epstein’s orbit, claiming they possessed “extraordinary abilities” suitable for research roles.

In reality, these women were often models with no academic background who were allegedly trafficked and abused by the financier. One victim told NRK she believed Epstein sent her to Rod-Larsen’s institute “to manipulate” her, while another described how the diplomat facilitated her visa after a direct request from Epstein’s assistant.

The transactional nature of the relationship was explicit. Documents show Epstein loaned Rod-Larsen $130,000 in 2013. More damningly, reports indicate that Epstein’s last will and testament included a clause bequeathing $5m each to Rod-Larsen’s two children – a total of $10m.

‘Oslo was a trap’

For Palestinians living under the reality of the failed agreements Rod-Larsen forged, the scandal offers a disturbing explanation for a “peace process” that many believe was rigged.

Mustafa Barghouti, general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative political party, told Al Jazeera he was “not surprised at all” by the corruption allegations.

“We never felt comfortable with this person from the very first moment,” Barghouti said. “Oslo was a trap … and I have no doubt that Terje Rod-Larsen was being effectively influenced by the Israeli side all along.”

Barghouti argued that the revelation of millions of dollars potentially flowing from a Mossad-linked figure like Epstein to the Rod-Larsen family suggests the corruption was “directed to serve Israel’s interests against the interests of the Palestinian people”.

The ties between the disgraced Epstein and Israel have come into sharp focus after the release of millions of documents.

The documents have revealed more details of Epstein’s interactions with members of the global elite, including former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. But they also document his funding of Israeli groups, including Friends of the IDF (Israeli army), and the settler organisation the Jewish National Fund, as well as his ties to members of Israel’s overseas intelligence services, the Mossad.

The missing archive

The scandal has reignited calls in Norway to open the “private archive” Rod-Larsen kept regarding the 1993 secret negotiations.

Media investigations have revealed that documents from the critical period between January and September 1993 are missing from the official Foreign Ministry archive. Critics argue these missing files could obscure the extent to which personal leverage or blackmail played a role in the concessions extracted from the Palestinian leadership during the secret talks.

Governing by blackmail

Analysts argue the Rod-Larsen case is symptomatic of a wider system of global governance driven by systematic blackmail and intelligence operations.

Wissam Afifa, a political analyst based in Gaza, drew a parallel between the exploitation of minors on Epstein’s island and the geopolitical treatment of Palestinians.

“We, as Palestinians, were treated as minors … considered as having no right to demand our rights,” Afifa said. “Today we discover that a large part of the international system is essentially ‘Epstein Island’”.

Afifa suggested that the “silence” of the international community regarding the current genocidal war on Gaza could be linked to similar networks of influence and extortion.

“The world was managed from Epstein’s island … in dark rooms,” Afifa added. “We are victims of the influence network that Epstein managed with politicians, leaders and states”.

As Norwegian authorities, including the economic crime unit Okokrim, open investigations into the scandal, the legacy of the diplomat who once shook hands on the White House lawn lies in tatters, casting a long shadow over the history of deeply flawed Middle East peacemaking.

Jeffrey Epstein used a former Russian official with links to Moscow’s FSB intelligence services to collect information on a woman he claimed was attempting to blackmail his business associates, according to documents released by the United States Department of Justice.

Epstein reached out to Sergei Belyakov, a former deputy minister of economic development, for advice in 2015 about what he described as an attempt to blackmail a group of “powerful” businessmen in New York, the documents contained in the latest tranche of the so-called Epstein files show.

“I need a favor,” Epstein wrote to Belyakov in a July 2015 email, describing an extortion attempt by a Russian woman who had arrived at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York the previous week.

Epstein said the situation was “bad for business for everyone involved” and asked for “suggestions”.

Belyakov, a graduate of the FSB Academy, Moscow’s institute for training intelligence personnel, wrote back that he needed some time to “get information about her” and that he would meet a man who knew the woman the next day.

Several days later, Belyakov sent Epstein a roughly 100-word description of the woman’s background and what the ex-official described as her “sex and escort” business.

“She has nobody behind her,” Belyakov said, adding that she was believed to have “no patronage”.

Belyakov said “business problems” may have led the woman to resort to blackmail, and suggested that denying her entry to the US would be a “real threat” to her business.

Epstein, the FSB Academy graduate and US billionaires

Belyakov, who took up the position of board chairman at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum after leaving the Kremlin in 2014, relied on Epstein for access to high-profile figures in the financier’s orbit, according to the documents.

After a meeting with Epstein in May 2014, Belyakov told the convicted sex offender that he did not know many people who could offer “new horizons and prospects”.

“And I’m looking forward for next meeting with you,” he told Epstein.

In July 2015, Belyakov sought Epstein’s help to organise meetings with American venture capitalist Peter Thiel and the billionaire heir and businessman Thomas Pritzker.

“Sergey – let me know when you are in SF and it would be good to find a time to meet,” Thiel wrote to Belyakov in an email in July 2015, following an introduction by Epstein.

A little over a week later, Belyakov told Epstein that Thiel and Pritzker had shared their views on Russia’s economy and other topics, calling the meetings “very helpful”.

“By the way I was surprised that they had a lot of information about Russian economy and their view about our society,” Belyakov wrote, adding he hoped to see both businessmen again in Moscow.

In 2016, Belyakov sought Epstein’s feedback on proposals he wished to discuss with business leaders in the US.

Epstein told Belyakov he liked the idea, which was not specified in the emails, but that he should get a “good English speaking editor” before sharing business proposals, and there were “pretty women” who could fill the role.

Efforts by Al Jazeera to contact Belyakov, including through the St Petersburg International Economic Forum and the e-commerce company Ozon, where he served as managing director from 2021 to 2024, were unsuccessful.

Thiel’s foundation did not respond to a request for comment. Pritzker declined to comment through a spokesperson for his foundation.

Epstein also sought to arrange meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, according to the documents, though there is no indication he was successful.

“I think you might suggest to putin, that lavrov, can get insight on talking to me,” Epstein wrote in an email to former Norwegian Prime Minister Thorbjorn Jagland in June 2018.

Jagland, who is under investigation in Norway on suspicion of corruption in his dealings with Epstein, wrote back that he would “suggest” the idea to Lavrov’s assistant.

Epstein, who died in 2019 while in prison awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, has long been the focus of speculation that he worked for or with intelligence agencies on behalf of various countries, including Israel.

He had close ties with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak during his lifetime, with the two men exploring numerous business ventures and regularly exchanging correspondence on personal matters.

Barak’s former aide Yoni Koren, an ex-Israeli military intelligence officer who died in 2023, also stayed at residences belonging to Epstein for long stretches while receiving cancer treatment in the US in the late 2010s.

Russia will operate only return flights from Cuba as ‘evacuation’ of Russian citizens visiting the Caribbean island gets under way.

Russia is preparing to evacuate its citizens who are visiting Cuba, Moscow’s aviation authorities said, after a United States-imposed oil blockade on the island nation has choked off supplies of jet fuel.

“Due to the difficulties with refuelling aircraft in Cuba, Rossiya Airlines and Nordwind Airlines have been forced to adjust their flight schedules to airports in the country,” Russia’s federal aviation regulator Rosaviatsia said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Rossiya Airlines will operate a number of return flights only – from Havana and Varadero to Moscow – to ensure the evacuation of Russian tourists currently in Cuba,” the regulator said.

About 5,000 Russian tourists may be on the island, Russia’s Association of Tour Operators said earlier this week.

Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development separately called on citizens not to travel to Cuba amid its worst fuel crisis in years, caused by the US choking off supplies of oil from Venezuela following the US military’s abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in early January.

Russia’s TASS news agency said the Russian embassy in Havana is in contact with national carrier Aeroflot and Cuban aviation authorities to “ensure our citizens return home safely”.

Aeroflot has announced repatriation flights for Russians, TASS said, reporting also that the embassy in Havana told Russian media outlet Izvestia that Moscow plans to send humanitarian aid shipments of oil and petroleum products to Cuba.

Humanitarian ‘collapse’ in Cuba

A traditional ally of Havana, Moscow has accused Washington of attempting to “suffocate” the Caribbean island nation.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Moscow was discussing “possible solutions” to provide Havana with “whatever assistance” it needs.

More than 130,000 Russians visited Cuba in 2025, according to reports, the third-largest group of visitors to the island after Canadians and Cubans living abroad.

Air Canada and the Canadian airlines Air Transat and WestJet have also cut flights to Cuba due to the fuel shortages.

While Cuba has been in a severe economic crisis for years, largely caused by longstanding US sanctions due to Washington’s antipathy towards Havana’s socialist leadership, the situation has become dire since the return of President Donald Trump to the White House.

Trump has directly threatened Cuba’s government and passed a recent executive order allowing for the imposition of trade tariffs on countries that supply oil to Cuba.

Cuba, which can produce just a third of its total fuel requirements, has seen widespread power outages due to the lack of fuel. Bus and train services have been cut, some hotels have closed, schools and universities have been restricted, and public sector workers are on a four-day work week.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned last week of a humanitarian “collapse” in Cuba if its energy needs go unmet.

Measures would let authorities impose a 30-day blockade on sea arrivals if there is a ‘serious threat to public order”.

Italy’s government has signed off on a new bill to curb undocumented immigration, including using the navy to block incoming migrant ships in “exceptional” cases.

The cabinet of Italy’s conservative Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni greenlighted the migration bill on Wednesday. It also calls for stricter border surveillance and expands the list of convictions for which a foreigner can be expelled.

Before going into effect, the bill must be approved by both chambers of parliament.

One of the most controversial elements allows authorities to impose a 30-day naval blockade on sea arrivals if there is a “serious threat to public order or national security”.

Such a threat could include “exceptional migratory pressure that could compromise the secure management of borders”, says the bill. It also cites the “concrete risk” of terrorist acts or infiltration in Italy, global health emergencies and high-level international events.

Those violating the rules would face fines of up to 50,000 euros ($59,400) and would see their boats confiscated in the case of repeated violations, a measure that seems to target humanitarian rescue ships.

If approved by parliament, the bill could help revive Italy’s beleaguered “return hub” migrants centre in Albania, which has failed to take off due to a series of legal challenges and has been roundly condemned by rights groups.

Migrant boat arrivals to Italy down

The draft legislation comes a day after the European Parliament adopted two flagship texts tightening European Union migration policy, which Italy had pushed for. That EU legislation allows member states to deny asylum and deport migrants to designated “safe” countries outside the bloc, provided there is an agreement with the receiving country.

Meron Ameha Knikman, senior adviser for the International Rescue Committee, said those measures are “likely to force people to countries they may never have set foot in – places where they have no community, do not speak the language, and face a very real risk of abuse and exploitation.”

Meloni, the head of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, was elected in 2022 on a promise to stop the tens of thousands of migrants who land in small boats on Italy’s shores each year.

Her government has signed accords with North African countries to limit departures, while also restricting the activities of the charities that operate rescue boats in the Central Mediterranean.

The number of migrants arriving in Italy by sea this year has fallen to 2,000 compared with 4,400 during the same period last year, according to government figures.

Still, large numbers of migrants continue to die crossing the Central Mediterranean, with nearly 490 people reported missing this year, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov did not say why he believed the US would respect the limits set out in New START.

Russia has said it will abide by limits on its nuclear weapons as set out in a lapsed arms control treaty with the United States, as long as Washington continues to do the same.

The New START agreement expired earlier this month, leaving the world’s two biggest nuclear-armed powers with no binding constraints on their strategic arsenals for the first time in more than half a century and sparking fears of a new global arms race.

In an address to parliament on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow was in no rush to start developing and deploying more weapons – backtracking on comments made by his ministry last week that said Russia considered itself no longer bound by the treaty’s terms.

“We proceed from the fact that this moratorium, which was announced by our president, remains in effect, but only while the United States does not exceed the outlined limits,” said Lavrov.

“We have reason to believe that the United States is in no hurry to abandon these limits and that they will be observed for the foreseeable future,” he said, without explaining the basis for that assumption.

US President Donald Trump rejected an offer from Russian President Vladimir Putin to voluntarily abide by the limits set out in New START for another year, saying he wanted a “new, improved and modernised” treaty rather than an extension of the old one.

Russia has also indicated it wants to strike a new arms control agreement.

Washington is pushing for China to be included in the talks, pointing to its growing nuclear arsenal.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), China’s nuclear arsenal is growing faster than that of any other country by about 100 new warheads a year since 2023.

However, Beijing refuses to negotiate with the US and Russia because it says it has only a fraction of their warhead numbers – an estimated 600, compared with about 4,000 each for Russia and the US.

As the treaty expired, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said that China would not be joining the bilateral arms-reduction talks.

Moscow says if China is brought into a new deal, then so too should the US’s nuclear allies, the United Kingdom and France, which have 290 and 225 warheads, respectively.

New START, first signed in Prague in 2010 by the then-presidents of the US and Russia, Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev, limited each side’s nuclear arsenal to 1,550 deployed strategic warheads – a reduction of nearly 30 percent from the previous limit set in 2002.

Deployed weapons or warheads are those in active service and available for rapid use as opposed to those in storage or awaiting dismantlement.

It also allowed each side to conduct on-site inspections of the other’s nuclear arsenal, although these were suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic and have not resumed since.

Russia in 2023 rejected inspections of its nuclear sites under the treaty, as tensions rose with the US over its nearly four-year war in Ukraine.

But it said it had remained committed to the quantitative limits set down.

Anti-government protesters in Albania hurled petrol bombs and fireworks at police, who responded with tear gas and water cannons during demonstrations in the capital Tirana.

These are the key developments from day 1,448 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here is where things stand on Wednesday, February 11:

Fighting

• A Russian attack killed four people, including three small children, in the Ukrainian city of Bohodukhiv, west of Kharkiv, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said on the Telegram messaging app early on Wednesday.

• “Two one-year-old boys and a two-year-old girl died as a result of an enemy strike,” as well as a 34-year-old man, Syniehubov said. A 74-year-old woman was also injured, he added.
• Russian attacks on energy infrastructure left the Lozova community in the Kharkiv region without electricity, local official Serhii Zelenskyy said. Syniehubov later declared an energy emergency, citing “constant enemy fire” across the region.
• A Russian missile attack killed a mother and her 11-year-old daughter, and injured 16 people, the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office said in a post on Facebook.
• Five people were killed in a Ukrainian attack on Vasylivka, in a Russian-occupied area of Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region, Moscow-appointed local official Natalya Romanichenko told Russia’s TASS state news agency.
• A priest was killed in a Ukrainian attack on a funeral procession in Skelki, also in Russian-occupied Zaporizhia, according to TASS, citing Russian officials who widely condemned the attack.
• Ukrainian attacks caused power outages in Russian-occupied areas of Zaporizhia and heating outages in Enerhodar, also in Russian-occupied Zaporizhia, Russian-appointed officials said, according to TASS.
• One of two external power lines supplying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, occupied by Russia, has been cut as a result of a Ukrainian attack, the Russian-installed management of the power station said on Tuesday.
• A man was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack on a van in the Shebekinsky district of Russia’s Belgorod region, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
• Russian air defence systems shot down three guided aerial bombs and 72 Ukrainian drones in one day, TASS reported.

Military aid

• The US ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, said in an online briefing that 21 NATO allies and two partners have pledged to buy more than $4.5bn in US weapons through the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative. Whitaker said he expects more announcements of pledges to buy weapons for Kyiv when defence ministers meet in Brussels on Thursday.
• Ukrainian forces received an additional injection of 4.5 billion Ukrainian hryvnias ($104.5m) to order drones and electronic warfare systems over the past month, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

Politics and diplomacy

• South African President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed his country’s support for efforts to end Russia’s war on Ukraine in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the president’s office said. The Kremlin also confirmed that the two leaders discussed the war.
• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that France has not officially re-established relations with Russia, but that Moscow had “noted Mr Macron’s statement on the need to restore relations with Russia”, referring to French President Emmanuel Macron. “We are impressed by such statements,” Peskov added.
• Moscow’s communications watchdog Roskomnadzor said it would further restrict the Telegram platform in Russia, saying the messaging app was not “observing” Russian law, that “personal data is not protected”, and that the app has “no effective measures to counter fraud and the use of the messaging app for criminal and terrorist purposes”.
• Telegram’s Russian-born founder, Pavel Durov, defended the app, which is used widely in Ukraine and Russia, saying Telegram would remain committed to protecting freedom of speech and user privacy, “no matter the pressure”.

Sanctions

• The management of the PCK Schwedt refinery in Germany, controlled by Russia’s Rosneft energy company, made an “urgent appeal” to German Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Katherina Reiche, saying the threat of US sanctions could harm fuel supply to Berlin and the region. Berlin had secured a sanctions exception for the refinery, but it is set to expire on April 29.

United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer has emerged rattled but ultimately unscathed after a day and night of drama during which a key member of his Labour Party called for him to resign over revelations about a former ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson, in the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Starmer has faced more than a week of mounting pressure since the release of the latest tranche of documents from the US Department of Justice relating to the criminal cases against the late sex offender. They revealed that Mandelson had maintained a close friendship with the disgraced financier even after Epstein had pleaded guilty to solicitation of sex with a minor and was jailed in 2008.

They include documents and emails that suggest Mandelson may have received payments from Epstein and passed sensitive information to him during the 2008-2009 financial crisis.

Since then, Starmer has admitted that he knew of the pair’s friendship when he appointed Mandelson as ambassador but said the peer had lied about the extent of it. The affair has caused outrage in parliament. Two key members of Starmer’s inner circle have resigned and a third is under pressure to go. On Monday, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar called for the prime minister to do the same.

While Starmer’s position has been shored up for now by a rally of support from his cabinet on Monday night, just how badly has this affair shaken his government?

Why did Anas Sarwar call for Starmer to resign?

Sarwar said at a news conference early on Monday afternoon that he had called Starmer and told him it was time for him to resign. “I spoke to the prime minister earlier today, and I think it’s safe to say he and I disagreed,” Sarwar said.

He said “too many mistakes” had been made in relation to the appointment of Mandelson.

“The distraction needs to end, and the leadership in Downing Street has to change,” Sarwar said as he became the first Labour heavyweight to stand against the prime minister.

While Sarwar said he believed Starmer to be a “decent man”, the fury over the Epstein files had severely damaged the government’s support and wrecked its chances in the upcoming Scottish parliament elections. Opinion polls put Scottish Labour some distance behind the Scottish National Party, followed by the far-right Reform party, led by Nigel Farage.

But cabinet members came out in support of Starmer, ultimately ending the coup that never was. Angela Rayner, former deputy prime minister and a senior member of the Labour Party, was the first to show him support. She said in a post on X that while she did not defend Starmer’s judgement, “the worst possible response [to the scandal] would be to play party politics or factional games.”

“I urge all my colleagues to come together, remember our values and put them into practice as a team,” she wrote on X. “The Prime Minister has my full support in leading us to that end.”

Within hours, nearly every minister had followed suit. Wes Streeting, the health secretary, urged people to “give Keir a chance”. Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, said he hoped the prime minister would stay on, and Douglas Alexander, Scotland secretary, said he “respected” Sarwar’s stance but backed the prime minister.

On Monday night, Starmer addressed more than 400 MPs and peers at a Labour Party meeting. “I have won every fight I’ve ever been in. I fought to change the Labour Party to allow us to win an election again,” he told them.

“But I’ll tell you this, after having fought so hard for the chance to change our country, I’m not prepared to walk away from my mandate and my responsibility to my country or to plunge us into chaos as others have done.”

Who has resigned from Starmer’s team and why?

Two key figures have already resigned, and a third is under pressure to do so, UK media has reported.

Amid growing outrage over the new revelations about Mandelson and Epstein, Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, resigned on Sunday, taking “full responsibility” for advising the prime minister to appoint Mandelson to the ambassadorship, which he took up in 2025, despite the risks.

“The decision to appoint Mandelson was wrong,” McSweeney said. “He has damaged our party. … I advised the prime minister to make that appointment and I take full responsibility for that.”

Mandelson was dismissed from the post in September after serving seven months after the UK daily The Sun obtained other emails between him and Epstein that showed the depth of their friendship.

After the release of the latest tranche of Epstein documents on January 30, Mandelson resigned from the Labour Party and the House of Lords.

Tim Allan, Starmer’s communications chief, resigned on Monday, saying he was leaving to pave the way for a “new No 10 team” to be built as Starmer tries to reset his government.

Allan, who founded the Portland Communications firm specialising in reputation management, had been in the job for only five months, and Starmer is now looking to hire his fifth communications chief since taking office in 2024.

Chris Wormald, the cabinet secretary and senior-most civil servant in Downing Street, is also reportedly under pressure to resign and is said to be currently negotiating his exit from the role, which he has been in for less than a year.

The UK’s Guardian newspaper reported that some people close to Starmer view him as a “disastrous” appointment.

What did the Epstein files reveal about Mandelson?

The latest release of files showed Mandelson maintained his relationship with Epstein after the latter was jailed in 2008.

They also suggested Mandelson received payments from the late financier and may have shared market-sensitive information with him that was of financial interest to Epstein.

Leaks of sensitive information by Mandelson allegedly took place in 2009 while he was serving as the UK’s business secretary.

The UK police have launched a criminal investigation over suspected misconduct in public office linked to Mandelson’s relationship with Epstein.

In one of the emails revealed in the most recent tranche of documents released from the US Justice Department, Mandelson told Epstein to “fight for early release” shortly before he was sentenced in 2008.

“I think the world of you,” Mandelson told Epstein, adding about his prosecution: “I can still barely understand it. It just could not happen in Britain. You have to be incredibly resilient, fight for early release and be philosophical about it as much as you can.”

How damaging has this all been for Starmer?

Starmer has apologised publicly for appointing Mandelson as ambassador to the US despite knowing of his ties – but not the extent of them, he said – to the disgraced financier.

“None of us knew the depth and the darkness of that relationship,” Starmer said on Thursday as he apologised to Epstein’s victims.

“I am sorry – sorry for what was done to you, sorry that so many people with power failed you, sorry for having believed Mandelson’s lies and appointing him.”

But this has not been enough to let him off the hook entirely, experts said.

Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, said the scandal has been hugely damaging for Starmer. “A more popular PM might have been able to ride it out, but he was already facing a good deal of hostility from voters before it blew up,” Bale told Al Jazeera. “He’s managed so far to hold on to his cabinet, but he’s completely lost the trust of the electorate – and that’s hard to get back.”

Bale said “people are disgusted by” Starmer’s decision to appoint Mandelson “despite knowing that he’d stayed friends with Epstein after he’d been convicted”.

Can Starmer’s leadership still be challenged?

While Starmer has survived Monday night, his position is still weak with low approval ratings, experts said.

Labour is expected to suffer losses in crucial Scottish elections in May. A parliamentary by-election is also due on February 26.

“The immediate danger [to Starmer] is that [Labour] suffers catastrophic losses in a by-election and then a big set of elections in May,” Bale said. “That will reignite calls for Starmer to resign and, if he doesn’t, a challenge from one or more of his colleagues.”

Among the top runners to replace Starmer are Rayner, his former deputy prime minister who resigned from the cabinet last year over a tax scandal.

A website pitching Rayner as leader, angelaforleader.co.uk, went live in January briefly, The Guardian newspaper reported. Rayner has denied any links to the website.

Another politician gearing up to replace Starmer is Wes Streeting, the health secretary.

Streeting, 43, has also been called out for his ties with Mandelson. In a bid to distance himself from the former ambassador, Streeting this week shared private chats he had with Mandelson that questioned the government’s growth plan.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, 45, is another possible successor to Starmer. She has grown popular among several right-aligned leaders of the Labour Party with her moves to tighten border controls and crack down on unauthorised immigration.

What other issues has Labour faced under Starmer?

The Labour Party swept to power in July 2024, ending nearly 14 years of Conservative rule. However, the prime minister has since had a difficult time in Downing Street.

In the 2024 elections, Reform UK, the right-wing, populist, anti-immigration party led by Farage, won just five of the 650 seats in parliament. However, it has gone on to become one of the best polling British parties. In July, a YouGov poll put Reform in the lead, predicting it could win 271 seats if elections were held then.

In his speech on Monday, Starmer called the challenge posed by the rise of the Reform party, which has won over a number of high-profile defectors from the Conservative Party in recent weeks, “a fight for our lives”.

Starmer is also facing domestic pressure to put a stop to undocumented immigration to the UK. More than 32,000 people tried to cross the English Channel from France in small boats last year. These crossings are dangerous and have resulted in many deaths.

The UK and France have laid the blame on each other for the rising numbers. This led to a “one-in-one-out” migrant deal signed between the UK and France last year, under which the UK returns one migrant to France for each accepted refugee. The scheme has had little success, however, with only a handful of migrants returned.

Starmer himself has dropped in popularity by 20 percentage points from July 2024 to January this year, according to YouGov.

“Reform has obviously spooked some in the Labour Party,” Bale said, adding, however, that Reform is eating into the Conservatives’ base more. “And Labour probably needs to worry more about the Greens and the Liberal Democrats at this stage.”

“The break-up of the two-party duopoly that has dominated British politics for a century is no longer simply an aspiration among challenger parties but an ongoing reality,” Bale said.