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Leo, ​who last year became the first US-born pope, has emerged as an outspoken critic of the US-Israeli ⁠war on Iran.

United States President Donald Trump has unleashed a storm of criticism at Pope Leo XIV, calling him “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy”.

Trump delivered the unusual criticism of the head of the Catholic Church in a Sunday night post on social media, saying he does not “want a Pope who criticises the President of the United States”.

Trump’s outburst appeared to be triggered by recent remarks from Pope Leo critical of the US-Israel war on Iran.

Last week, Leo issued a rare direct rebuke of Trump’s threat to destroy Iranian civilisation, calling it “truly unacceptable“. And then, on Sunday, the 70-year-old pontiff implored leaders to end ongoing bloodshed, condemning what he described as a “delusion of omnipotence” fuelling war – comments that appeared directed at Trump.

The pope has also previously questioned the Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies, saying, “I don’t know if that’s ⁠pro-life.”

Taking to Truth Social, Trump wrote: “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela.”

“Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician,” said the US president.

Trump also claimed credit for Leo’s leadership in the Catholic Church, suggesting the Vatican picked the first US-born pontiff – elected last year – to curry favour with the White House. “If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican,” Trump said.

Asked about the comments later on Sunday, Trump reiterated that he is “not a big fan” of Leo, who he said “is not doing a very good job”.

“He likes crime, I guess,” said Trump. “He’s a very liberal person.”

Trump also had a rocky relationship with Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, who criticised Trump’s ‌immigration ‌policy proposals when he first ran for president and suggested Trump was “not a Christian“. Trump had called Francis “disgraceful” in early 2016.

Leo is set to begin an 11-day trip to Africa on Monday, starting with a historic visit to Muslim-majority Algeria.

In a record turnout at the polls, Hungarians have voted out their long-serving, far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orban, handing victory to the Tisza party’s Peter Magyar who ran a pro-EU campaign.

Peter Magyar has won Hungary’s election, defeating longtime nationalist leader Viktor Orban. In a victory speech in Budapest, Magyar celebrated his party’s success in bringing down Orban and ‘taking back the homeland’.

Hungary’s Viktor Orban has conceded defeat to opposition leader Peter Magyar after 16 years as prime minister.

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Thousands gathered at Barcelona’s port as the largest ever Global Sumud Flotilla prepared to depart for Gaza, aiming to break Israel’s blockade. Al Jazeera’s @Mohammadfff_ reports, as organisers and volunteers insist they will sail to Gaza despite the risks.

Follow the build-up, analysis and live text commentary of the game as Chelsea host City at Stamford Bridge.

The parliamentary election could end Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s 16-year hold on power.

Polls have opened in Hungary’s parliamentary elections with incumbent Prime Minister Viktor Orban facing his biggest electoral challenge after 16 years in power.

Voting in the election for the 199-seat parliament started at 6am local time (0400 GMT) and is due to close at 7 pm (0500 GMT).

Opinion polls over the last two weeks have shown Orban’s Fidesz party trailing Peter Magyar’s upstart centre-right opposition Tisza party by 7-9 percentage points, with Tisza at around 38-41 percent.

Orban, a eurosceptic nationalist, has cast the election as a choice between “war and peace”. During campaigning, the government blanketed the country with signs warning that Tisza leader Magyar would drag Hungary into Russia’s war with Ukraine, something he strongly denies.

“I am looking forward to Sunday’s election with the best hope,” Orban told supporters in his birthplace Szekesfehervar.

“If we know ourselves well, if we know our country well and if we know our own people well, then I must say Hungarians will vote for safety on Sunday,” he added.

Many Hungarians have however grown increasingly weary of 62-year old Orban, after three years of economic stagnation and soaring living costs as well as reports of oligarchs close to the government amassing more wealth.

“I am very excited but also very scared,” Kriszta Tokes, a 24-year-old who sells postcards and trinkets in Budapest, told the Reuters news agency.

“I know that my future depends on this,” she said, adding that she plans to leave Hungary if Orban wins.

Swiss musician To Athena has performed inside a cave in a melting glacier to highlight accelerating ice loss in the Alps. Scientists say the Morteratsch glacier is shrinking by around 50 metres a year, with the cave itself unlikely to survive another summer as temperatures rise.

Israel says it has reprimanded Spain’s top diplomat in Tel Aviv over the blowing up of an effigy of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during Easter celebrations in the Spanish town of El Burgo. Israel’s foreign ministry blamed ‘incitement’ by Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez. The municipality has previously used effigies of US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the annual event which draws hundreds of onlookers.

Tyson Fury beats Arslanbek Makhmudov in a unanimous points decision as he makes his heavyweight comeback.

Former world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury marked his return to the ring with a comprehensive and unanimous points win over Arslanbek Makhmudov at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

British boxer Fury won 120-108 on two of the judges’ scorecards, with the other ruling he had defeated his Russian opponent 119-109 after the maximum 12 rounds on Saturday.

Makhmudov made a strong start to the first round, throwing a left and connecting with an overhand right.

But by the third round, Makhmudov was already showing signs of fatigue, with Fury switching stances and hitting a one-two off the Russian’s chin.

The fight continued in a similar fashion until the final bell, as Fury moved closer to a “Battle of Britain” super-fight with fellow former world champion Anthony Joshua, who was watching from ringside.

“I’ve never had a problem getting in the ring with you. I punched you out when we were kids, and I’ll punch you out again,” Joshua said as Fury shouted at him from the ring.

“With all due respect, tonight is your night, and you know I’ll [be] in that ring across from you in due time,” Joshua added.

“You aren’t going to tell me what to do. I’ve been chasing you for the last 10 years. When you’re ready, you come and see me … I’m the boss. You work for me.”

Pope Leo XIV on Saturday called on world leaders to reject war as a means of settling their differences, urging a global commitment to peace.

Dozens gathered in Madrid for a vigil honouring the victims of Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon a day after a ceasefire was announced between the US and Iran. The strikes killed 357 people according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

Libya shows it is ‘capable of overcoming its differences’ with rare budget deal, central bank says.

Libya’s rival legislative bodies have approved a unified state budget for the first time in more than a decade, in a rare moment of cooperation in a country fractured by years of conflict.

The Central Bank of Libya confirmed on Saturday that both chambers had endorsed the budget, describing the move as a step towards restoring financial stability after prolonged division.

Governor Naji Issa said the agreement showed the country could overcome internal rifts.

“This is a clear declaration that Libya is capable of overcoming its differences when a unified vision for its future is forged,” he said during a signing ceremony in Tripoli.

Libya has remained split since the 2014 civil war, which created rival administrations in the east and west. The last time the country operated under a single national budget was in 2013.

The deal brings together the eastern-based House of Representatives (HoR) and the Tripoli-based High Council of State, two institutions that have long competed for authority.

Representatives from both sides signed the agreement in the capital, where the internationally recognised Government of National Unity is based under Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah.

Despite the breakthrough, political divisions remain entrenched. In the east, forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar maintain control over large parts of the country, including key oil-producing regions.

His self-styled Libyan National Army dominates major export terminals along the northeastern coast, as well as significant oil fields in the south and southeast.

The timing of the agreement underscores Libya’s growing importance in global energy markets. Demand for its crude has increased amid disruptions linked to the Israel-US war on Iran and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

Libya’s geographic position offers a critical advantage. Oil shipments from its ports reach European refineries quickly and avoid the risks associated with Gulf routes, including military escorts and high insurance costs.

Its light, sweet crude also meets the needs of European refiners facing ongoing supply challenges.

Previous attempts to stabilise Libya’s energy sector have relied on informal arrangements rather than institutional agreements. In 2022, during another period of energy crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine, key figures from rival factions struck a deal to keep oil flowing.

The new budget agreement signals a shift towards more formal cooperation, even as Libya’s political fragmentation persists.

A bill laying out plans to return the Indian Ocean archipelago, home to the US-UK Diego Garcia base, has been paused.

The United Kingdom is setting aside a bill to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius amid a lack of support from United States President Donald Trump.

“We have always said we would only proceed with the deal if it has US support,” a UK government spokesperson said in a statement, according to the Reuters and AFP news agencies on Saturday.

This followed reports in the UK media that said a bill laying out plans to cede sovereignty of the 60-plus Indian Ocean islands had been dropped from the next parliamentary agenda.

Last May, the UK and Mauritius jointly announced a deal that would return full sovereignty of Chagos to Mauritius, which is some 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) away from the archipelago.

Britain would then pay to lease Diego Garcia – the largest island and a strategic location in the middle of the Indian Ocean between Asia and Africa, which is home to the military base – on a 99-year lease to preserve US operations there.

But Trump opposed the move, calling it an “act of great stupidity” in January.

“Diego Garcia is a key strategic military asset for both the UK and the US. Ensuring its long-term operational security is and will continue to be our priority – it is the entire reason for the deal,” the UK government spokesperson added in his statement.

“We are continuing to engage with the US and Mauritius.”

The statement added that the UK “continue[s] to believe ⁠the agreement is the best way to protect ⁠the long-term future of the base”.

‘Big mistake’

After Trump’s initial opposition, he appeared to momentarily back down in February after speaking with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, saying Starmer had made the “best deal he could make”.

But he then attacked the prime minister again on Truth Social weeks later.

“He is making a big mistake,” Trump wrote, adding that ceding the Chagos Islands would be “a blight on our Great Ally”.

Over the last six weeks, relations between Trump and Starmer have been further strained by the US-Israel war on Iran.

The UK is now leading a coalition of more than 30 countries to protect vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, without US participation in the initial talks.

Britain has controlled the Chagos since 1814, including after Mauritius gained independence in the 1960s. The Diego Garcia base has played a key role in US military operations in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Chagossians – thousands of whom were forcibly evicted to make way for the base – have brought compensation claims to British courts, culminating in a 2019 International Court of Justice recommendation that the archipelago be returned to Mauritius.

Opinion polls in Hungary suggest longtime Prime Minister Viktor Orban has a battle on his hands in Sunday’s election.

Washington, Moscow, Kyiv and Brussels will be eagerly awaiting the outcome.

So why is this election so important outside of Hungary?

Presenter: Tom McRae

Guests:

Gabor Scheiring – Former member of Hungary’s National Assembly

Istvan Kiss – Director of the Danube Institute, a political scientist and former political adviser to Orban

Daniel Kelemen – Professor of law and politics and McCourt chair at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University

A spokesperson for Prince Harry said he “categorically” rejects the “offensive and damaging” libel claim.

An African AIDS charity cofounded by the United Kingdom’s Prince Harry in honour of his late mother Princess Diana has sued him for defamation after he stepped down as a patron last year, following a management dispute.

“Sentebale has commenced legal proceedings in the High Court of England and Wales,” the charity said in a statement on Friday.

“The charity seeks the court’s intervention, protection and restitution following a coordinated adverse media campaign conducted since 25 March 2025 that has caused operational disruption and reputational harm to the charity, its leadership and its strategic partners,” it said.

A spokesperson for Prince Harry said he “categorically” rejects the “offensive and damaging” libel claim, the Reuters news agency reported.

Online court filings show the prince is a defendant in the suit alongside Mark Dyer, who was also previously a trustee of the Sentebale charity, according to UK media reports.

“The proceedings have been brought against Prince Harry and Mark Dyer, identified through evidence as the architects of that adverse media campaign, which has had significant viral impact and triggered an onslaught of cyber-bullying directed at the charity and its leadership,” Sentebale added.

Harry cofounded Sentebale about 20 years ago in memory of his mother, who was a prominent advocate for the treatment of HIV and AIDS and helped reduce stigma around the disease. Prince Seeiso of Lesotho was the cofounder.

Disagreements at the charity surfaced in 2023 over a new fundraising strategy, and the two founders stepped down as patrons in March 2025 in support of trustees who had quit.

At the time, they said the relationship between the board and its chair, Sophie Chandauka, was beyond repair. Chandauka later accused Harry of orchestrating a campaign of bullying and harassment to try to force her out.

After a months-long inquiry, the UK’s Charity Commission said in August that it had found no evidence of bullying – a charge Chandauka had levelled at Harry in March 2025.

However, it said there had been weak governance and criticised all parties for allowing an internal dispute to become public.

Harry’s spokesperson had criticised the commission’s report while Chandauka welcomed it.

Harry – the youngest son of the UK’s King Charles III – and cofounder Prince Seeiso of Lesotho announced last year they were resigning from the charity, after the trustees quit.

Speaking to British media after accusing the prince of trying to force her out, Chandauka criticised Harry for his decision to bring a Netflix camera crew to a fundraiser in 2024.

She also objected to an unplanned appearance by his wife Meghan, the duchess of Sussex, at the event.

The accusations were a new blow for the prince, who kept only a handful of his private patronages, including with Sentebale, after a dramatic split with the British royal family in 2020.

Harry chose the name Sentebale as a tribute to Diana, who died in a Paris car crash in 1997 when the prince was just 12.

Sentebale means “forget me not” in the Sesotho language and is also used to say goodbye.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) said a Sudanese man was detained on suspicion of ‘endangering another during a journey by sea to the UK’.

British police have arrested a Sudanese man on suspicion of “endangering another” person after four people died while trying to cross the English Channel from France.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) said on Friday that a 27-year-old man, who remains unnamed, was detained at a migrant processing centre in Manston, southern England.

According to an NCA statement, the suspect was arrested on suspicion of “endangering another during a journey by sea to the UK” under the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act.

The arrest comes a day after two men and two women were swept away by the current after trying to board a small boat with dozens of others off the coast of Saint-Etienne-au-Mont, near Calais in northern France, on Thursday.

So-called water-taxis are inflatable boats that cruise along the coastline picking up migrants and refugees who wade into shallow waters to climb on board, in a method to avoid security forces from stopping the boats from launching.

Last week, two men, one Sudanese and the other Afghan, died trying to make a similar crossing in the first reported deaths in the Channel this year.

The NCA said the suspect was being held and interviewed by officers who are also speaking to those who made the journey, which included 74 people, of whom 38 were returned to France.

The statement added that there was an ongoing investigation into the circumstances of the deaths of the four people and the launch of the boat, led by French prosecutors.

NCA Deputy Director Craig Turner said the agency would work with “colleagues at home and abroad” to do “all we can to identify and bring to justice those responsible for these four tragic deaths”.

The minister for migration and citizenship, Mike Tapp, said law enforcement teams would continue to prevent these “perilous journeys and bring those responsible to justice”, adding that every death in the Channel was a “tragedy”.

“Through our Border Security Act, officers now have stronger powers to act earlier and disrupt, intercept and take down the operations of criminal smuggling gangs who bring illegal migrants to our shores,” he said.

The casualty rate for Russian soldiers in Ukraine increased to a new monthly high in March, according to Ukraine’s armed forces. They say drone production enabled a record number of strikes.

Ukraine tallied Russian casualties at 35,351 last month, with drones causing 96 per cent of them while artillery and small arms fire accounted for the rest. That casualty rate was a 29 per cent increase on February, said Ukraine’s commander in chief.

“These are clearly confirmed losses: we have video footage of each such strike in our system,” said Ukrainian Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov.

The losses are slightly above a previous record set in December, and appear to confirm Ukraine’s claim that Russian casualty rates are rising inexorably this year. Ukrainian Presidential Office Deputy Head Colonel Pavlo Palisa told RBC-Ukraine that Russia had suffered 316 casualties for every square kilometre it captured in the first three months of 2026, compared with 120 casualties per square kilometre last year.

Ukraine’s defence ministry said Russia has been unable to replace all of the losses since December. Russia aimed to recruit 409,000 contract soldiers this year, Ukraine’s armed forces said in January.

That means a daily average recruitment rate of 1,120. But Ukraine’s “I Want to Live” initiative, which provides communication channels for Russian soldiers wishing to surrender, said Russia recruited 940 troops a day in the first quarter.

If sustained, that meant Russian recruitment was on track for a 65,000-man shortfall this year. Ukraine now sees manpower shortages as a Russian strategic weakness it can exploit. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, set a goal of 50,000 Russian casualties a month in January, which he called the “optimal level” to ensure Russian forces weaken irrecoverably.

“We are confidently moving towards our strategic goal – 50,000+ eliminated occupiers per month,” said the Ukrainian defence ministry.

The territory Russia is capturing for its mounting losses is also in long-term decline, according to estimates by the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank. Russian forces captured an average of 5.5sq km a day this year, compared to 10.66sq km a day in the middle of last year and 14.9sq km a day at the end of 2024, said the ISW.

Zelenskyy said the stark reality of manpower weakness lay behind Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ceasefire demand that Ukraine hand over the heavily fortified quarter of the eastern Donetsk region it held last August.

“They believe that if we retreat, they won’t lose hundreds of thousands of people,” Zelenskyy told the Associated Press in an interview this week.

Drones are the key

Ukrainian officials credit drone production and training for their armed forces’ growing lethality. Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskii said the armed forces struck 151,207 targets in March using drones, a 50 per cent increase on February. That’s the result of 11,000 drone sorties a day.

“This is all a historical maximum,” Syrskii said.

Palisa said that’s because Ukraine’s drone manufacturing had managed to outpace Russia’s to achieve a 1.3:1 overall ratio in First Person View drones on the frontlines.

Other reports suggested Ukraine was raising drone production. Fedorov said Ukrainian interceptor drones shot down a record 33,000 Russian UAVs of various types in March – twice as many as in the previous month.

His deputy, Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov said he was working with interceptor drone manufacturers to develop the next generation of interceptors capable of flying at 400-550km/h to counter the jet-powered Shahed drones to which Russia was gradually converting.

Fire Point, Ukraine’s biggest manufacturer of long-range drones used in the majority of strikes deep inside Russia, told Reuters that it had designed two ballistic missiles of 300km and 850km range, which were approaching the deployment stage.

The longer-range type is capable of reaching Moscow.

Ukraine gains defensive ‘strategic initiative’

Syrskii thinks that Ukraine’s forces, although still ceding small amounts of territory, have now gained “the strategic initiative” because they “do not allow Russian troops to resume a large-scale offensive.”

He said an increase in mid-range strikes against logistics, warehouses, command posts and oil depots 30-120 km into the Russian rear had been particularly effective in hamstringing Russian assaults – one of the top operational priorities.

Syrskii said on April 5 that fighting was most intense in Dnipropetrovsk, where Ukraine’s forces have recaptured eight settlements and 480sq km of territory.

Ukraine’s leadership has long believed that Russia harbours territorial ambitions to seize the Odesa and Mykolaiv regions to control Ukraine’s entire Black Sea coastline, and to carve out a buffer zone across northern Ukraine.

Palisa told RBK-Ukraine on April 8 that Russia also planned to create a southern buffer zone in Ukraine’s southwestern Vinnytsia region next to Moldova’s Russian-speaking territory of Transnistria.

That was the first time a Ukrainian official has suggested such an ambition. “I am 100 per cent convinced that the Russians want to completely occupy us,” Zelenskyy told the AP.

United States President Donald Trump’s disdain for NATO allies dates back to even before he became president the first time. From anger over their relatively low defence spending to — more recently — threats to take over Greenland, the territory of fellow NATO member Denmark, the American leader has long left the alliance on edge.

But the decision of NATO allies not to join Trump’s war on Iran has deepened the fracture to unseen levels, say analysts. This week, Trump called their lack of support a stain on the alliance “that will never disappear”. Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany put it even more bluntly, hours later: The conflict “has become a trans-Atlantic stress test”.

That back and forth underscores a central question exposed by the Middle East crisis that experts say NATO can no longer put off: can the transatlantic alliance survive, especially if the US pulls out?

“There will be no return to business as usual in NATO, during neither this US administration nor the next one,” said Jim Townsend, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. “We are closer to a break than we have ever been.”

Trump can’t pull the US out of the alliance on a whim.

To formally do so, he needs a two-thirds majority in the US Senate or an act of Congress — scenarios that are unlikely to come to pass any time soon, with NATO still enjoying broad support among many legislators in both major American parties.

But there are other things Trump can do. The US has no obligation to come to the aid of allies should they come under attack. The treaty’s Article 5 states members’ collective‑defence obligation, but it does not automatically force a military response — and there is scepticism among allies over whether Washington would ever come to help.

The US can also move the about 84,000 American troops spread across Europe out of the continent. The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Trump was considering moving some US bases from countries deemed unhelpful during the Iran war and transferring them to more supportive countries. He could close down US military bases and cease military coordination with allies.

Since US security guarantees to Europe have undergirded NATO since its founding, such disengagement would do enough damage.

“He doesn’t need to leave NATO to undermine it; by just saying he might, he has already eroded its credibility as an effective alliance,” said Stefano Stefanini, former Italian ambassador to NATO from 2007 to 2010 and former senior adviser to the Italian Presidency.

Still, allies are not helpless. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine revealed the weakened state of European defence industries and their deep reliance on the US. That, coupled with the numerous diplomatic crises in the US-NATO partnership – including Trump’s threat to take control of Greenland – has pushed European allies to invest more in defence capabilities. Between 2020 and 2025, member states’ defence expenditure increased by more than 62 percent.

However, areas where Europe suffers from overdependence on the US include the ability to strike deep into enemy territory, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, space-based capabilities such as satellite intelligence, logistics and integrated air and missile defence, according to a report by the International Institute for Security Studies (IISS).

These challenges remain considerable. It will take the next decade or more to fill them and about $1 trillion to replace key elements of the US conventional military capabilities. Europe’s defence industries are struggling to ramp up production quickly, and many European armies can’t hit their recruitment and retention targets, the IISS report said.

Still, some experts believe a European NATO is possible. Minna Alander, an analyst at the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies of the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, says NATO has, over the years, become a structure for military cooperation between European countries.

“NATO can therefore survive the Iran war — and even a US withdrawal — as European members have an incentive to maintain it, even if in a radically different form,” Alander said.

For some, the deadline is 2029. That is when Russia may have reconstituted its forces sufficiently to attack NATO territory, according to estimates by Germany’s chief of defence, General Carsten Breuer. “But they can start testing us much sooner,” Breuer said in May last year, ordering the German military to be fully equipped with weapons and other material by then. Others estimate that Moscow could pose that threat as early as 2027.

And what about the US — would it do better without NATO?

According to Stefanelli, the former ambassador, the debate about NATO is often “twisted” to portray the alliance’s raison d’être as solely in function of protecting Europe from Russia, as a US favour to the continent.

NATO was a network of alliances born at the onset of the Cold War against the Soviet Union. For decades, the US fought to attract into the alliance as many countries as possible, treating those that refused as friends of the enemy.

Following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US, NATO invoked for the first and only time Article 5 to rally behind Washington and sent troops to fight in Afghanistan. Thousands of servicemen died there, including nearly 500 from the United Kingdom, and dozens from France, Denmark, Italy and other countries.

And during the war in Iran, European bases were beneficial staging sites for the US military — even if many countries publicly distanced themselves from the conflict.

“NATO served US interests and Trump comfortably overlooks these aspects,” Farinelli, the former ambassador, said. “Europe has its own responsibility by not investing in defence and creating strong dependence, but thinking that NATO serves only European strategic interests is simply not true.”

WE all know that a holiday abroad can often be far cheaper than one in the UK.

And mum Rhona Paton has revealed how she and her son have been travelling to Europe for years by going on extreme day trips – and they’re about to board their 40th flight.

Talking to BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast, Rhona revealed she had actually “lost count” of the amount of times she and her six-year-old son, Riley, have been abroad.

The mother and son duo, who hail from Glasgow, have already been to France, Italy, Switzerland and Latvia – and this weekend are heading to Bergen in Norway.

While you don’t get long to spend in one destination, Rhona said: “You feel like you’ve had a holiday, packed lots in – without the price tag.”

When it comes to keeping costs down, Rhona has a rule not to spend more than £100 on flights and her tactic has worked so far.

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This includes return flights to Belfast for £45, as well as £80 for flights to and from Italy.

Rhona and Riley recently went on a trip to Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen which Rhona claimed was less than she’d pay to somewhere similar in the UK.

The pair even managed to tick off three countries in 24 hours; France, Italy and Monaco – and it came to just £110.

She added: “We loved going to the theme park in Denmark, but we equally loved sampling all the food in Italy.

“A particular memory for me is watching Riley dance around a Christmas tree at a market in Latvia.”

If you want to see more from Rhona and her travels, check out her TikTok account; Flying Solo Plus One.

She’s so passionate about extreme day trips that she runs a Facebook Group dedicated to it called ‘Extreme Day Trips From Scotland‘.

Research by Confused.com found that almost a third of Brits have been on an ‘Extreme Day Trip’ – where you go to a certain destination and back in one day.

It also found that France, Spain and Ireland topped the list for most desirable locations.

For more holidays with quick flights – here are our favourite breaks in Spain…

*If you click on a link in this box, we will earn affiliate revenue.

Hotel Best Punta Dorada, Salou

The Spanish resort is a popular destination near PortAventura World, a theme park with over 40 attractions and huge rollercoasters. It’s also close to sandy beaches like Platja de Llevant, and the scenic Camí de Ronda coastal walk.The hotel itself has an outdoor swimming pool to enjoy, as well as two bars along with evening entertainment and shows.

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Sun Club El Dorado, Majorca

With its palm tree-lined pool and Mediterranean backdrop, it’s a miracle this Majorca resort is so affordable. Expect a classic family holiday feel – where days revolve around soaking up the Spanish sunshine, chilling by the spacious pool and sipping on frozen cocktails. Set away from the busier resorts, it’s a good option if you’re after a more out-of-the-way escape.

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Magic Aqua Rock Gardens, Benidorm

The Magic Aqua Rock Gardens Hotel is African-themed and less than a mile from the beach. It has two outdoor pools, including a children’s freshwater pool with a waterfall and a tipping water bucket for the little ones. There’s also an aquapark with slides, and a kids club for both younger children and teens.

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Globales Montemar, Ibiza

For a calmer side of Ibiza, this hillside resort has two pools, a kids’ splash zone, and an all-inclusive buffet with a poolside bar. It’s a 10-minute walk from Cala Llonga’s shallow turquoise bay, offering a scenic, family-friendly base away from the island’s main party zone.

BOOK HERE

Rhona and Riley aren’t the only ones to take advantage of short trips and cheap flights to explore different countries.

One couple flew to the Alps for a day of skiing which was still cheaper than a day out in London.

Hannah West, 39, and her husband Simon 52, took a flight from Gatwick to Geneva for five hours of skiing and cheese fondue.

The day trip cost a total of £671.80, working out to £335.90 per person – which is still cheaper compared to a day out in London.

The average ticket price for the best seats at a London West End costs around £160 each.

If they were to have dinner before the show, that could easily set them back between £60 and £100 total.

And if they had travelled from Brighton on the train, an open train ticket is £42.70.

Another woman and her mum flew out to Romania’s Bucharest for a spa weekend because it was cheaper than in the UK.

Kara wanted to treat her mum to a spa weekend but realised it would set them back £400.

By going to Bucharest, the pair spent £315 – including flights, a hotel stay and day pass at its Therme Spa.

For more on day trips – here are Sun Travel’s favourite ones abroad with free attractions and cheap flights.

And here are five affordable day trips you can go on from the UK that are less than 1hr30 away.

GETTING into Europe for your holiday is now different and there are things you must know.

The EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) started a phased rollout on October 12, 2025 in 29 European countries and is fully operational from today – April 10, 2026.

What is EES?

EES is a new automated IT system that has been introduced across airports, ferry terminals and Eurostar stations across the Schengen area.

The system tracks short stays in Europe – up to a maximum of 90 days in any 180-day period.

Why has it been introduced?

EES has been introduced to replace the need for passport stamps.

Instead, going forward, visitors will automatically be checked-in when they enter and exit an EU country.

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The aim of the system is to tighten border control, prevent illegal immigration and prevent identity fraud.

Is it also designed to make border crossings more efficient in the long run?

What travel does it impact?

No matter how you are travelling, whether that be by train, plane or sea, Brits (as well as all non-EU nationals) visiting Europe will have to follow the new rules.

If you are going on holiday to any of the following 29 countries, you will be required to follow EES.

• Austria
• Belgium
• Bulgaria
• Croatia
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• Iceland
• Italy
• Latvia
• Liechtenstein
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Malta
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• Romania
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland

How will it work?

All non-EU nationals – which includes Brits – are required to register their details on their first visit to a Schengen area country.

This will be done by using specific EES machines which will be at airports, ferry terminals and the Eurostar terminals.

The machines will log your fingerprints, facial images and scan your passport as well.

From today, every traveller has to register with EES.

Once you have registered (such as taking fingerprints and a photo), it is valid for three years.

Each time you travel within those three years, you must complete a shorter and faster check in, which, for example, usually involves scanning your fingerprints already on the system every time you enter or exit the Schengen Area.

If your passport expires before the three year mark, you will need to re-register with your new passport.

You will also have to re-register when the three years expires.

Will it cost me anything?

EES does not cost anything and is free for all travellers.

It is not a paid visa.

Will it make my journey time longer?

There have already been some reports of delays due to travellers registering for EES, including long queues and lengthy wait times.

Travel Reporter Alice Penwill spent three hours getting through the arrivals hall at Lanzarote Airport last month.

And delays have been reported at other airports like Brussels, Lisbon and Prague.

Some airports have put preparations in place to avoid travel chaos.

For example, Spanish operator, Aena, has said that is adapting security and border control for Brits at Ibiza, Menorca, Malaga and Palma, Majorca airports.

Tips to help with EES

The FCDO has recently updated its advice for countries impacted by EES.

On the website it states: “EES may take each passenger extra time to complete so be prepared to wait longer than usual at the border.

“EES is replacing the previous system of manually stamping passports when visitors arrive in the Schengen area for short stays. You may be asked to input biometric details every time you enter or exit.

“If you enter the Schengen area through the Port of Dover, Eurotunnel at Folkestone or Eurostar at St Pancras International, any information will be taken at the border before you leave the UK.

“Your digital EES record is valid for 3 years.”

While you might not be able to beat the long queues, Sun Travel has a few tips to make the process less stressful.

For example, book a seat at the front of the plane – this will help you get off the plane and to border control before the rest of passengers on your flight.

Where possible, booking the first flight of the day may help as they are generally fewer flights scheduled at this time and could mean less disruption.

If you have a connecting flight, try and go to a bigger airport when connecting as they are likely to be better equipped for the introduction of EES.

If travelling with children, think about the entertainment you can take with you, like an iPad.

This could help to keep them occupied and calm in long queues.

If you are disabled, make sure to let the airline know in advance as after landing, staff should escort you straight through to the front of the border control queues.

And last but not least, if you are going to be waiting in line for a while you want to make sure you are comfortable – so ditch the uncomfortable shoes, head to the toilet on the plane before you land and make sure you have some water with you.

In other travel rules news, here are all the strict new rules to know about this summer in Italy from outdoor dining bans to daily tourist caps.

Plus, new passport rules are set to affect more than one million Brits – who risk being banned from flights.

Moscow and Kyiv signal a short Easter truce as diplomacy stalls and war pressures mount.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has announced a 32-hour ceasefire for Orthodox Easter, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirming that Ukraine will honour it.

The Kremlin said on Thursday that the pause in fighting will begin at 4pm Moscow time (13:00GMT) on Saturday and run until midnight on Sunday, covering Easter celebrations observed in both countries.

“We proceed on the basis that the Ukrainian side will follow the example of the Russian Federation,” the Kremlin said in a statement.

It added that Defence Minister Andrei Belousov had instructed Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov to halt military operations during the period. Russian forces, however, would remain ready to respond to any violations.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine had already proposed a similar pause and would act in kind.

“Ukraine has repeatedly stated that we are ready for reciprocal steps. We proposed a ceasefire during the Easter holiday this year and will act accordingly,” he wrote on Telegram.

“People need an Easter without threats and a real move towards peace, and Russia has a chance not to return to attacks even after Easter.”

Hours after the announcement, the governor of Dnipropetrovsk region said Russian artillery and aerial attacks had killed two people.

“The enemy attacked three districts of the region almost 30 times with drones and artillery,” Oleksandr Ganzha said on Telegram on Friday.

This weekend’s planned ceasefire echoes a similar, short-lived pause declared by Moscow last year, which both sides accused each other of breaching.

The ceasefire comes as wider diplomatic efforts to end the war remain stalled, with attention in Washington shifting towards escalating tensions in the Middle East.

Difficult months ahead

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow had not discussed the Easter proposal in advance with the United States, nor did it signal any immediate revival of three-way peace talks.

Despite the limited pause, humanitarian channels between the two sides remain active. Speaking from Moscow, Al Jazeera’s Yulia Shapovalova said Russia and Ukraine recently carried out another exchange of soldiers’ remains.

“Moscow handed over the remains of 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers to Kiev in exchange for 41 bodies of the Russians,” she said.

“More than 500 bodies of Russian servicemen have been returned this year during these regular exchanges and over 19,000 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers have been returned to Kiev,” she added.

These exchanges, often mediated by Turkiye, remain one of the few functioning lines of communication between the warring sides, alongside periodic prisoner swaps.

Zelenskyy has repeatedly pushed for temporary ceasefires, including a halt to attacks on energy infrastructure, but said Moscow had largely rejected proposals. He added that Ukraine now faces growing pressure, both on the battlefield and from international partners.

“This spring–summer period will be quite difficult politically and diplomatically. There may be pressure on Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said. “There will also be pressure on the battlefield.”

He warned that the coming months could prove decisive, as Kyiv confronts both sustained Russian attacks and shifting geopolitical priorities among its allies.

“I believe it will be very difficult for us until September.”