Zelensky says Russian oil pipeline to Hungary will reopen by end of April

With a key Russian oil route still crippled by wartime strikes, Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine expects to restore enough of the damaged pipeline to resume operations to Hungary and Slovakia before April is out. "As for the oil pipeline, as we promised, it will be repaired by the end of April - not completely, but enough for it to function," Mr Zelensky told reporters in Berlin. The pipeline’s condition had become a flashpoint in Mr Zelensky’s fraught relationship with Hungary's outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Orban, as the…

Israeli Fire Kills 6 Palestinians in Gaza, Including 2 Children, Medics Say

A fresh burst of Israeli fire has killed at least six Palestinians, among them two children, in separate incidents across Gaza, local health officials said, adding another strain to the fragile US-brokered ceasefire. In Gaza City, four people, including a young child, were killed when a strike hit a police vehicle, according to the Hamas-run Interior Ministry. The ministry said one of those killed was a police officer and that nine bystanders were wounded, some of them critically. Farther north, near Jabalia, three-year-old…

Three children born into war every minute as maternal deaths rise, health services deteriorate

PORT SUDAN, 14 April 2026 – As Sudan passes the three-year mark of its conflict, an average of three infants have been born into war every minute, Save the Children warns, painting a stark picture of mothers and newborns facing life-threatening conditions amid collapsing health services and repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure. New analysis of data from Sudan’s Ministry of Health shows roughly 5.6 million babies arrived between April 2023 and April 2026 — more than 5,000 births per day on average, or at least three…

Wife of Spanish prime minister charged in corruption case

A corruption case involving Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s wife, Begoña Gómez, has escalated sharply after a court formally charged her following a criminal investigation that has stretched on for years, according to a judicial ruling. The inquiry is among several corruption cases touching the Socialist prime minister’s inner circle, including relatives and former close allies, and it has intensified pressure on his fragile minority coalition government. Judge Juan Carlos Peinado launched the investigation in April…

Trump refuses to apologize to Pope Leo, whom he calls ‘very weak’

Donald Trump has declined to apologise for attacking Pope Leo XIV, escalating an extraordinary public clash after the pontiff renewed his call for an end to the violence in the Iran war. "There's nothing to apologise for. He's wrong," Mr Trump told reporters, doubling down a day after a social media post and public remarks aimed at the US-born pope. "Pope Leo said things that are wrong. He was very much against what I'm doing with regard to Iran, and you cannot have a nuclear Iran," said Trump, who also argued that Leo was…

Carney wins majority government in Canadian special elections

Mark Carney has won a parliamentary majority for Canada’s Liberal government, handing the prime minister a stronger mandate as he confronts the trade war launched by US President Donald Trump. The result caps a remarkable stretch in Canadian politics, during which several opposition lawmakers crossed the floor to join Mr Carney’s Liberals. The party said on X that it captured two Ontario districts, known in Canada as ridings, in special elections. The victories came in University-Rosedale and Scarborough Southwest, two…

Ukraine and Russia Renew Drone Strikes After Easter Truce Ends

Hours after a brief Orthodox Easter truce expired, Ukraine and Russia returned to overnight drone warfare, with both sides trading accusations that the 32-hour pause had been violated on a massive scale. Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 98 drones overnight and reported that air defence units shot down 87 of them. Officials in Ukraine said an infrastructure site in the central-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region was struck, adding that casualty details were still being established. Russia, for its part, said that “on April…

How Viktor Orban’s ouster could unblock EU over Ukraine loan, frozen funds

For years, Viktor Orban was the European Union’s perennial blocker. His decisive election defeat in Hungary has now prompted a wave of relief across the bloc. Mr Orban, Hungary’s nationalist prime minister, conceded defeat yesterday after parliamentary elections delivered victory to conservative Peter Magyar, a former government insider turned political newcomer who campaigned on a promise of “system change”. Whether the issue was support for Ukraine or sanctions on Russia, Mr Orban repeatedly slowed or stopped some of the…

Tusk says Hungary vote deals blow to authoritarian rule

Hungary’s election has delivered a sharp political jolt across Europe, and Polish Prime Minister ⁠Donald Tusk said the result shows the continent is not destined to slide toward authoritarianism after the centre-right Tisza party broke Viktor Orban’s 16-year hold on power. "Everyone feared there was a trend toward authoritarian, corrupt regimes," Mr Tusk said during an official visit to South Korea, according to Polish state-owned news agency PAP. "That's not the case. First ‌Warsaw, then Bucharest, Chisinau, ⁠now Budapest."…

Inquiry finds Southport attack could and should have been prevented

Warnings about a teenager who would go on to kill three young girls in Southport were plain long before the attack, and the atrocity at a children’s dance class “could and should have been prevented”, a public inquiry in the UK has concluded. Nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar, six-year-old Bebe King and seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe were killed when Axel Rudakubana entered the Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop at The Hart Space in Southport carrying a knife on 29 July 2024. Rudakubana, who was sentenced to a minimum…