2024 was the deadliest for Russian forces since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine - at least 45,287 people were killed. The latest BBC Russian investigation into Russia's invisible losses by Olga Ivshina: www.bbc.com/news/article...

Many congratulations to Andrew Harding and the BBC team in Europe whose reporting on the deadly people smuggling across the English Channel has been nominated for an Emmy www.bbc.com/news/article...

How TikTok became central to an extraordinary election scandal in Romania that is being closely watched from Washington to Brussels to Moscow. Great piece from BBC World Service and BBC Trending www.bbc.com/articles/cqx...

Journalists from BBC Russian are facing serious threats under the country’s foreign agents legislation. Listen to editor Sergei Rakin on the challenges facing Russian journalists from the BBC and other organisations www.bbc.co.uk/sounds...

#Ukraine may have signed a minerals deal with the US but is it actually going to buy a sustainable peace as a result? @jameswaterhouse.bsky.com reports www.bbc.com/news/article...

The hard right League Party - whose leader Matteo Salvini is Italy’s deputy PM - is using AI generated fake images of violent incidents committed by ethnic minorities in its political communications reports @lorenzo_tondo www.theguardian.com/...

It's a seriously big week for the Italian-American relationship. Meloni in the White House yesterday. Today JD Vance is in Rome. But will one of the most influential Catholics in the world meet with Pope Francis? www.bbc.com/news/art...

Fear and resistance in Russian occupied regions of #Ukraine - a rare snapshot of life inside: www.bbc.co.uk/news/a...

I am a month late, but this programme by my friend Sarah Birke is one of the smartest things I’ve heard on Syria after Assad. A portrait of Damascenes in a space between processing and reconciling the history of their shattered city and country economist.com/podcas...

“The question is whether Americans can ever understand that we are living in a continuous experience that has no end,” Kissinger said. “[As Europeans] we knew that we were living in a continuous history. It never comes to an end.” Great read: on.ft.com/43QWEXJ

Fantastic being back in Perugia for the International Journalism Festival - energising and inspiring - and great conversations with amazing journalists from Ukraine, Russia, Hungary, Azerbaijan and beyond @journalismfestival.com

More immediate military aid for Ukraine seems to be back on the agenda as 50 allies of the country meet in Brussels today - the US not attending, in person at least. £450m from the UK. BBC reporting live from NATO HQ www.bbc.com/news/liv...

German government agreed but challenge for Merz seems immense: revolutionary defence and debt expansion, economic weakness, demand for rapid infrastructure improvements and AfD now polling one point ahead of his party for first time www.bbc.com/news/art...

Ursula von der Leyen has just welcomed Trump’s tariff pause: ‘Clear, predictable conditions are essential for trade and supply chains to function.’

Has President Zelensky's international diplomacy failed to keep track with changing politics in the US and Europe? Great read from @jameswaterhouse.bsky.social on the Ukrainian leader under pressure www.bbc.com/news/art...

Great piece by @ionewells.bsky.social on how important Ecuador is for flows of cocaine to Europe, often involving Albanian mafia bbc.com/news/article...

Italy's Meloni to meet Trump on April 17th in Washington - can Europe’s ‘Trump whisperer’ pull off a diplomatic coup? www.reuters.com/world/italys...

The EU is an economic powerhouse and a market to rival the US - but will political divisions limit its response to Trump’s tariffs? Katya Adler analysis - www.bbc.com/news/article...

Assad’s fall brings joy and the call of home - lovely piece from Asser Khattab on the uprising in Syria and the exile experience Assad’s fall brings joy and the call of home on.ft.com/4getNjf

Must read by Kim Ghattas - yes recent Mid East history cools hope. But when my father in law from Aleppo expresses such joy despite years of grief - ‘the future will be fine’ - who am I to disagree? Need to guard against hopeless pessimism not just naive optimism on.ft.com/4gteP92

www.bbc.com/news/article... Germany and UK sign agreement to toughen action against those facilitating people smuggling across the Channel based in Germany. Follows five month investigation into legal loopholes by BBC’s Jess Parker and team

Brilliant reporting from BBC World. Service this morning including Barbara Plett-Usher from Damascus

Breathtaking news. Thinking mainly this morning of all the Syrians I have met who lost family at the hands of Assad and his father and those worried about fate of prisoners inside. Hope for stability and peace but prepare for trouble to come.

Outside Georgia’s parliament building tonight...

Ever since the UK left the EU, talks have been going on with all parties to resolve the issues for Gibraltar - which barely register in the UK. They're still unresolved as the BBC's Guy Hedgecoe finds. Listen here - www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/.... Pick of the radio in Guardian and Sunday Times

Massive interest from audiences in the first images of the restored Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. A bit of hope and an example of amazing craftsmanship? Lovely piece from Hugh Schofield here www.bbc.com/news/article...

Berlin airport at its best. 45 minute line for X-ray machine. Mediocre flat white for Euros 6.20.

The BBC’s Adam Easton went along to the sparsely attended international premiere of Alec Baldwin’s movie Rust in the northern Polish city of Torun… www.bbc.com/news/article...

Appreciate this may not be a universally popular opinion but the less you treat BlueSky as a crusade or cause, and the more you position it as simply a superior user experience with a better governance approach, the more sustainable the growth will be.

What are the farmers planning?!?!!

Weekend reading: finished this fascinating, complicated look at community that seems to speak to our times. Inspired to read it after a reference in a piece by ⁦‪Tobias Jones‬⁩ - interested in suggestions for other articles about Weil’s ideas and similar books?

Millions of Swedes today receive a new edition of advice on how to prepare to survive war. The approaches of Scandinavian countries to public information and risk management is fascinating - and seems unimaginable in western Europe www.bbc.com/news/article...

Good reporting from @annaholligan.bsky.social in Amsterdam one week on from a night of disturbing violence which left unanswered questions and deep tensions www.bbc.com/news/article...

Interested to see what this new platform brings - whether it becomes a space with diversity of perspectives but transparent algorithms and better conversations