Author: staff

The image — which Trump first posted on Truth Social late Sunday and deleted sometime Monday morning — is a rendering of Trump dressed in white robes in a Christ-like pose, placing a glowing hand over a sick man lying in a hospital bed, as if healing him. The image was adorned with patriotic imagery in the background, including the American flag, the Statue of Liberty and bald eagles.The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment on either the criticism or deleting the post. But Trump denied any reference to Jesus, telling reporters at the White House…

Updated: 13/04/2026 – 16:51 GMT+2 Pope Leo XIV said he has no intention to debate with Donald Trump after the US president criticised him over his comments on the Iran war. “I have no fear of the Trump administration nor of speaking out loudly about the message of the gospel,” the pope told reporters aboard the papal plane. … More

Climate change and damaged ecosystems are making urban heat waves more intense, research shows, while air and noise pollution continues to be a problem across the continent. Increasing the number of trees and green spaces in cities could significantly reduce these pressures, however. Europe is a long way away from fully implementing the “3-30-300 principle,” a common guideline used in urban planning that says people should be able to see at least three mature trees from their houses, while tree canopies should cover 30 percent of all neighborhoods, and all urban dwellers should live within 300 meters of green spaces…

According to the zoo and Guinness World Records, Fatou, the world’s oldest known gorilla, was born around 13 April 1957 and brought to Berlin Zoo in 1959, when she was still very young. She has lived far beyond the 35 to 40 years typically seen in the wild, underlining the much longer lifespans gorillas can reach in well-managed zoo environments. In April 2026, Berlin Zoo marked her 69th birthday with a special meal of soft vegetables and other suitable food rather than cake, reflecting the dietary needs of an elderly gorilla. The zoo has increasingly emphasised long-term care for ageing…

She warned that the war in Iran, which quickly engulfed surrounding countries, has “caused immense instability and cost far too many lives” while sending shockwaves through global energy markets and supply chains. Kallas also took aim at what she described as a shift toward “coercive power politics,” warning against a world shaped by competing spheres of influence. “We are hearing a lot about multipolarity today. But let’s be clear: Multipolarity, unrestrained by the U.N. Charter or international law … has never been peaceful, stable … and ultimately it always ends in devastation,” she said. “A new world is now in…

Published on 13/04/2026 – 21:18 GMT+2•Updated 21:29 Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem urged Lebanon on Monday to cancel a planned meeting with Israel in Washington the following day, reiterating his group’s rejection of direct negotiations with Israel. “We reject negotiations with the usurping Israeli entity…We call for a historic and heroic stance by cancelling this negotiating meeting,” Qassem, whose Iran-backed group has been at war with Israel since 2 March, said in a televised address. The Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the United States are scheduled to meet in Washington on Tuesday to discuss holding direct negotiations between the two countries.…

That vow, in turn, opens another can of worms. The Ukrainian public (and Zelenskyy himself) opposes renewing Russian oil flows that would boost the Kremlin’s finances. Magyar, meanwhile, says that Hungary will rely on Russian oil and gas “for some time” to come. The Brussels bonanza Another disappointment for Kyiv could be a lack of support from Budapest for fast-track Ukrainian accession to the EU. Magyar has previously said he doesn’t support the idea, given that the rules say all countries need to meet the bloc’s accession criteria before being invited to join. Ukraine, meanwhile, sees fast-track accession as a…

False claims are spreading on social media that the European Council has established a UK Office of Strategic Alignment in Brussels to bring the country back into the EU. One post says the office has been set up in the “main EU building” and implies that Brexit will soon be over, while another says it shows the EU wants to move on “graciously” and urges Brits not to waste the opportunity. However, unfortunately for any Remainers or Re-joiners, this isn’t the case. A spokesperson for the European Council described it as a “typical misinformation case”, as no such office has…

A US naval blockade of Iran’s ports has come into effect on Monday, with President Donald Trump warning that any attack ships will be “eliminated” if they attempt to break it. “Iran’s navy is laying at the bottom of the sea, completely obliterated – 158 ships. What we have not hit are their small number of, what they call, ‘fast attack ships,’ because we did not consider them much of a threat,” Trump wrote in a post on his platform Truth Social. “Warning: If any of these ships come anywhere close to our blockade, they will be immediately eliminated, using…

In a social media post over the weekend, Trump bemoaned that the Pope’s criticism of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran and claimed without evidence that his own presidency had enabled the Leo’s accession to the papacy. And, speaking outside the White House on Monday afternoon, Trump repeated his criticism of Leo as “weak,” adding “there’s nothing to apologize for.” Trump’s aggressive rhetoric against the Pope presents a challenge for conservative, right-wing and far-right European leaders like Meloni, whose voter bases typically contain plenty of Christians. More than half of Italians identify as Catholic. While such leaders are have reason to…