By Robert Greenall BBC News China has distanced itself from the remarks of one of its envoys who questioned the sovereignty of Ukraine and other former Soviet countries. Paris ambassador Lu Shaye’s comments last week caused widespread outrage, leading on calls to Beijing to clarify. On Monday, China’s foreign ministry said it respected […]
By Hugh Schofield BBC News, Paris More than 42 years after the deadly bombing of a Paris synagogue, a court in Paris has convicted a Lebanese-Canadian university professor of carrying out the attack. The judges decided that Hassan Diab, 69, was the young man who planted the motorcycle bomb in the Rue Copernic on […]
Russia-Ukraine war More than 3,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in the Russian city of Belgorod after an undetonated explosive was found. It comes two days after Russia accidentally dropped a bomb on the same city, damaging houses and injuring several people. It’s not known if the bomb discovered on Saturday came […]
By Antoinette Radford BBC News A US journalist detained by Russia on spying charges is “in good health”, according to the US ambassador to Russia. Lynne Tracy said she visited 31-year-old Evan Gershkovich on Monday, marking the first time US officials have been granted access to him. Mr Gershkovich was arrested on 29 […]
Russia-Ukraine war By Steve Rosenberg and Kathryn Armstrong BBC News, Moscow and London Opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza has been sentenced to 25 years in jail in Russia for charges linked to his criticism of the war in Ukraine. He was found guilty of treason, spreading “false” information about the Russian army and […]
France pension reforms By Kathyrn Armstrong BBC News French President Emmanuel Macron has signed into law his government’s highly unpopular pension reforms, which raise the state pension age from 62 to 64. It happened hours after France’s top constitutional body cleared the change. The Constitutional Council rejected opposition calls for a referendum – but […]
Good Friday Agreement President Joe Biden has reinforced his pride in his family links to Mayo in the Republic of Ireland saying the county was now “part of my soul”. He was addressing tens of thousands of people on the final part of his four-day visit to the island of Ireland. Mr Biden said the 25th […]
By Kathryn Armstrong BBC News At least four people have died in an avalanche in the French Alps, the country’s interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, has said. The incident happened at the Armancette glacier near Mont Blanc in south-eastern France around midday on Sunday local time. It’s thought the victims were among a group […]
By Aleem Maqbool in Vatican City Religion Editor, BBC News In the early hours on a stunning Easter morning in Vatican City, thousands of people from around the world waited to be let into St Peter’s Square for Pope Francis’ Mass. Once access was opened, nuns and priests were among those who ran […]
Russia-Ukraine war By Will Vernon BBC News, Moscow A Russian activist who revealed details of the burials of Wagner mercenaries killed in Ukraine has left Russia. Vitaly Votanovsky, who began documenting the deaths of Russian soldiers in Ukraine by monitoring graveyards in his home region, fled the country on 4 April after receiving numerous […]
