M23 rebels withdraw from Congo peace talks, citing international sanctions – The Associated Press

  1. M23 rebels withdraw from Congo peace talks, citing international sanctions  The Associated Press
  2. M23 rebels pull out of peace talks with Congo after EU sanctions  Reuters
  3. Rwanda Severs Diplomatic Relations With Belgium  Bloomberg
  4. Angola urges ceasefire ahead of DRC-M23 peace talks  Africanews English
  5. DR Congo’s M23 rebels say they will no longer join peace talks in Angola  Al Jazeera English
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Pope remains in stable condition with slight improvement – Vatican News – English

  1. Pope remains in stable condition with slight improvement  Vatican News - English
  2. Vatican Releases First Photo of Pope Francis Since He Was Hospitalized  The New York Times
  3. First Photo of Pope Francis Since Entering Hospital  National Catholic Register
  4. Photo of Pope Francis released as Vatican says his health continues to improve  National Catholic Reporter
  5. Pope Francis seen praying in first photo since his hospitalization a month ago  NPR
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EU’s foreign policy chief laments US funding cuts to Radio Free Europe

Kaja Kallas says the bloc cannot automatically fill the gap left by the US

The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, expressed disappointment over US funding cuts to Radio Free Europe and said the EU could not automatically fill the gap.

The US Agency for Global Media stopped grants over the weekend to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), which was founded during the cold war and broadcasts to 23 countries, including Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Iran and Afghanistan.

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Surrogate parents too afraid to return to Italy after ‘procreative tourism’ law

The gay couple, who travelled to the US for the birth of their son, could be among the first Italians prosecuted under a new ban on domestic surrogacy

The Italian parents of a child who was recently born in the US via surrogacy say they are too afraid to return home since Giorgia Meloni’s government enacted the west’s most restrictive law against what she described as “procreative tourism”.

The gay couple could be among the first Italians to be prosecuted under the law, enacted in early December, which extended an outright ban on domestic surrogacy by making it a universal crime that transcends borders, putting them on a par with terrorists, paedophiles and war criminals.

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French politician jokes US should return Statue of Liberty for siding with ‘tyrants’

Raphaël Glucksmann quips that US should give back 19th-century gift from France over Trump’s approach to Ukraine

A French European parliament member has quipped that the US should return the Statue of Liberty, which it received as a gift from France about 140 years ago, after Donald Trump’s decision “to side with the tyrants” against Ukraine.

Trump’s White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, then responded to Raphaël Glucksmann on Monday by calling him an “unnamed low-level French politician” and saying the US would keep the statue.

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Nightclub fire: Protesters vent fury after North Macedonia disaster – BBC.com

  1. Nightclub fire: Protesters vent fury after North Macedonia disaster  BBC.com
  2. Video shows fire starting to burn during performance at North Macedonia nightclub  The Associated Press
  3. Ukraine  The Guardian
  4. North Macedonia nightclub fire: crowds call for justice for 59 killed  Reuters
  5. Teen Survives Escape from Deadly Nightclub Fire That Killed 59, Including Her Sister: 'I Was Saved and She Wasn't'  PEOPLE
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