Author: staff
Published on 14/02/2026 – 20:38 GMT+1 Lucas Pinheiro Braathen won gold in the giant slalom in Milan-Cortina, becoming the first athlete to win a medal at the Winter Olympics for Brazil. Braathen completed the two descents in 2 minutes and 25 seconds (1’13″92 in the first and 1’11″08 in the second), 58 hundredths ahead of Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt, considered the favourite to win this category, who won the silver medal. Loïc Meillard, also from Switzerland, finished third in the giant slalom. The Brazilian athlete was the first to descend, as per the draw published a day prior to the event,…
His comments came after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave a speech in Munich that touched on Make America Great Again themes, highlighting Europe and America’s common heritage and shared Christian values, and also underlined that the U.S. still sees European countries as allies. U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker, a close Trump ally, also stressed in an interview with POLITICO: “The Americans are not leaving.” That was a marked contrast to the overt hostility toward the continent displayed last year by U.S. Vice President JD Vance when he appeared on the Munich main stage. But Stubb noted that…
Published on 14/02/2026 – 20:00 GMT+1 Some 200,000 people demonstrated on Saturday against Iran’s government on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference where world leaders gather, answering a call from Iran ’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi for cranked up international pressure on Tehran. Protesters carried placards, waved flags, banged drums and chanted for regime change as they participated in the protest Pahlavi described as a “global call to action” to support Iranians from abroad amid their continued struggle in the ongoing anti-government protests. “Change, change, regime change” the huge crowd chanted, waving green-white-and-red flags with lion and sun…
Zelenskyy underlined that his country is making enormous sacrifices to hold Russia at bay, and reiterated his call for more and speedier arms deliveries from its allies. A particular sore point is delays in missiles for air defense systems while Russia pounds critical power and heating plants during a freezing winter. Ukraine is also hitting targets deep in Russia, and Zelenskyy noted that is what seems to make Russia more serious about peace negotiations. “The stronger we are, the more realistic peace becomes,” he said. Zelenskyy has continued to push hard at Munich for Tomahawk missiles from the U.S. During a…
Published on 14/02/2026 – 15:41 GMT+1 Kazakhstan has crowned its first-ever Olympic champion in figure skating after Mikhail Shaidorov produced a stunning free skate to win gold at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympic games on Friday. Shaidorov, skating second in the final group, made a bold decision shortly before taking the ice, altering elements of his programme in a calculated gamble. He executed five clean quadruple jumps for the first time in his career. “I can’t believe it. The whole season I fought with myself. This season was extremely hard. I tried several times in competitions to land five quadruple…
Navalny died in a Russian penal colony in February 2024. The Russian authorities said he died of natural causes. But poisoning was “highly likely the cause of his death,” the five countries said in a joint statement on Saturday. Sky News reported that British scientists from Porton Down, the U.K.’s top secret laboratory, played a key role in the findings. Navalny, a longtime thorn in the side of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was filmed the day before his death at a court hearing cracking jokes and seemingly in high spirits. Yulia Navalnaya, his widow, announced the finding at a press…
“We know some in the administration have a harsher tone on these topics,” she conceded, without naming the American president or vice president. Democratic Party politicians in Munich said Rubio’s speech marked a change in tone, but they were uncertain it would affect the substance of the transatlantic relationship. “He was clearly trying to escape the vituperative ghost of JD Vance in seeking to be calming and reassuring, but it was so lacking in substance and specificity that in the end, its impact will be very limited,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee. …
The message from Rogers appeared to be another sign of the Trump administration trying to send conciliatory signals to Europe, despite the recently published National Security Strategy calling on the U.S. to “cultivate resistance” to the political status quo on the continent. And it came just hours after Secretary of State Marco Rubio called for a “strong and revitalized Europe” on the Munich stage. Rogers has courted controversy by taking to her official social media accounts to launch public attacks, from characterizing immigrants to Germany as “imported barbarian rapist hordes” to connecting Sweden’s migration policy to instances of sexual violence,…
U.S. President Donald Trump is considering John Hurley, a senior official at the U.S. Treasury, for the role of ambassador to Germany, the Financial Times reported Friday. Hurley, who currently holds the position of undersecretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, has been interviewed by the White House for roles including ambassador to Germany, according to the FT report. The post has been held on an interim basis by a career diplomat since July 2024. According to the Financial Times report, no decision has yet been made on whether Hurley will get the German ambassador job, and he…
America’s top diplomat Marco Rubio called on Europe to work with Washington in a civilisational quest to save the West during a speech at the Munich Security Conference. In a softer tone compared to US Vice President JD Vance a year ago at the same gathering, Rubio reiterated that the West is facing civilisational decline by choice, as a result ill-designed policies stemming from a climate “cult” and mass migration. In his address on Saturday, he urged Europeans to join a common cause with the United States to lead a new century of prosperity. He said the two sides are…