Three skiers from Russia and six from Belarus — including former Olympic and world champions — were approved Wednesday to compete in qualifying events for the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games in February.
The International Ski and Snowboard Federation said it cleared the applications of the nine to get neutral athlete status and return to competitions for the first time since the full military invasion of Ukraine nearly four years ago. FIS did not state if it rejected some applications, or how many.
Athletes and their entourages must not have publicly supported the war and not have ties to military or state security agencies.
Freestyle skier Hanna Huskova took gold in women’s aerials for Belarus at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics and silver four years later in Beijing.
Anastasia Tatalina was a Big Air world champion for Russia in 2021, and was fourth in freeski slopestyle at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
Russian cross-country skiers Savelii Korostelev and Dariya Nepryaeva also got neutral status ahead of World Cup races this weekend at Davos, Switzerland.
The Russian ski federation and athletes won a ruling last week at the Court of Arbitration for Sport forcing FIS to start processing applications for neutral status.
Russian athletes and team officials could face challenges getting visas to enter some countries that host qualifying events on the World Cup circuits in Alpine, cross-country and freestyle skiing, and snowboarding. (JapanToday)
U.S. President Donald Trump deepened his rift with Europe in an interview published Tuesday, calling it “decaying” and blasting key allies as “weak” over immigration and Ukraine.
Speaking to Politico, Trump also called on Ukraine to hold elections despite Russia’s invasion and questioned whether the country is truly democratic under President Volodmyr Zelenskyy.
Trump doubled down on his recent extraordinary criticisms of Europe, following the release of the new U.S. national security strategy last week that recycled far-right tropes as it warned of civilizational decline on the continent.
“Most European nations, they’re, they’re decaying. They’re decaying,” Trump told Politico in the interview, conducted Monday.
The 79-year-old billionaire, whose political rise to power was built on inflammatory language about migration, echoed far-right talking points as he said that Europe’s policies on migrants were a “disaster.”
“They don’t want to send them back to where they came from,” Trump said.
The Trump administration’s strategy sparked alarm in Europe — where most countries are part of the U.S.-led NATO alliance — by calling for the cultivation of “resistance” in the EU.
Asked if European countries would not remain U.S. allies if they failed to embrace his migration policies, Trump replied that “it depends.”
“I think they’re weak, but they also want to be so politically correct,” Trump said.
He listed countries including Britain, France, Germany, Poland and Sweden that he said were being “destroyed” by migration, and launched a new attack on the “horrible, vicious, disgusting” Sadiq Khan, London’s first Muslim mayor.
Trump also brushed off the Kremlin hailing the new U.S. strategy as echoing its own views, saying Putin “would like to see a weak Europe, and to be honest with you, he’s getting that. That has nothing to do with me.”
The U.S. president then criticized Europe’s role in resolving the war between Russia and Ukraine, saying: “They talk but they don’t produce. And the war just keeps going on and on.”
Washington and its European allies are increasingly at odds over Trump’s plan to end the war, which many European capitals fear will force Kyiv to hand over territory to Moscow.
Trump also had sharp words for Ukraine and for Zelenskyy, in his latest see-saw in relations with the leader whom he called a “dictator without elections” in January and then berated in the Oval Office in February.
“I think it’s an important time to hold an election. They’re using war not to hold an election.” Trump said. “You know, they talk about a democracy, but it gets to a point where it’s not a democracy anymore.”
Elections in Ukraine were due in March 2024 but have been postponed under the imposition of martial law since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Fresh elections were included in the draft U.S. plan to end the war. (JapanToday)
Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Kyiv’s European allies Tuesday of sabotaging U.S.-led efforts to end the nearly 4-year-old war in Ukraine, shortly before he met with a delegation sent by President Donald Trump.
“They don’t have a peace agenda, they’re on the side of the war,” Putin said of the Europeans prior to talks in the Kremlin with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Putin’s accusations appeared to be his latest attempt to sow dissension between Trump and European countries and set the stage for exempting Moscow from blame for any lack of progress.
He accused Europe of amending peace proposals with “demands that are absolutely unacceptable to Russia,” thus “blocking the entire peace process” and blaming Moscow for it.
“That’s their goal,” Putin said.
He reiterated his long-held position that Russia has no plans to attack Europe — a concern regularly voiced by some European countries.
“But if Europe suddenly wants to wage a war with us and starts it, we are ready right away. There can be no doubt about that,” Putin said.
Russia started the war in 2022 with its full-scale invasion of a sovereign European country, and European governments have since spent billions of dollars to support Ukraine financially and militarily, to wean themselves from energy dependence on Russia, and to strengthen their own militaries to deter Moscow from seizing more territory by force.
They worry that if Russia gets what it wants in Ukraine, it will have free rein to threaten or disrupt other European countries, which already have faced incursions from Russian drones and fighter jets, and an alleged widespread Russian sabotage campaign.
Trump’s peace plan relies on Europe to provide the bulk of the financing and security guarantees for a postwar Ukraine, even though no Europeans appear to have been consulted on the original plan. That’s why European governments have pushed to ensure that peace efforts address their concerns, too.
Speaking with Putin via a translator before the talks, Witkoff said he and Kushner had taken “a beautiful walk” around Moscow and described it as a “magnificent city.”
Coinciding with Witkoff’s trip, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy went to Ireland, continuing his visits to European countries that have helped sustain his country’s fight against Russia’s invasion.
In what could be a high-stakes day of negotiations, Zelenskyy said he was expecting swift reports later Tuesday from the U.S. envoys in Moscow on whether talks could move forward, after Trump’s initial 28-point plan was whittled down to 20 items in Sunday’s talks between U.S. and Ukrainian officials in Florida.
“They want to report right after that meeting to us, specifically. The future and the next steps depend on these signals. Such steps will change throughout today, even hour by hour, I believe,” Zelenskyy said at a news conference in Dublin with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin.
“If the signals show fair play with our partners, we then might meet very soon, meet with the American delegation,” he said.
“There is a lot of dialogue, but we need results. Our people are dying every day,” Zelenskyy said. “I am ready … to meet with President Trump. It all depends on today’s talks.”
After months of frustration in trying to stop the fighting, Trump deployed officials to get traction for his peace proposals. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin’s talks with Witkoff and Kushner would take “as long as needed.”
The talks have followed parallel lines so far, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sitting down with Ukrainian officials. (JapanToday)
Ukrainian sumo wrestler Danylo Yavhusishyn said Monday that he had surprised even himself by becoming the first from his country to win a tournament in the ancient Japanese sport.
The 21-year-old, who fled the war in Ukraine three years ago, is set to be promoted to sumo’s second-highest rank this week after winning the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament.
The victory earned Yavhusishyn, who is known by his ring name Aonishiki, his first title in only his 14th tournament.
He did it by beating Mongolian grand champion Hoshoryu on Sunday.
“To be quite honest I wanted to win the tournament but I didn’t really think that I could,” he told reporters in Fukuoka. “I’m really happy.”
Yavhusishyn was born in central Ukraine and took up sumo at the age of seven, becoming a national champion at 17.
His age meant he narrowly avoided Ukraine’s military draft for men aged 18 and older after Russia invaded and he sought refuge in Germany, before moving to Japan.
His parents stayed in Germany and he arrived in Japan knowing nothing of the language.
Yavhusishyn said he spoke to his parents after winning the tournament and that he had also received messages from friends in Ukraine.
“I’ve had lots but I haven’t been able to reply to them all yet,” he said. “It will take time to reply to them all but I’ll start doing them one by one after this.”
Yavhusishyn became the second Ukraine-born professional sumo wrestler when he made his debut in July 2023, following in the footsteps of Serhii Sokolovskyi, better known as Shishi.
Yavhusishyn’s promotion to sumo’s upper divisions was the fifth fastest since the current system of six tournaments a year was introduced in 1958.
He kept his title hopes alive at the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament by beating Hoshoryu on the penultimate day, then triumphed over the Mongolian again to clinch the title.
“It was the last tournament of the year, so I wanted to give a good account of myself so that I wouldn’t end the year with any regrets,” said Yavhusishyn. (JapanToday)
US President Donald Trump arrived in Britain on Tuesday for an unprecedented second state visit, with the UK government rolling out a royal red carpet welcome to win over the mercurial leader.
“A lot of things here warm my heart,” the 79-year-old Republican told reporters after he arrived with First Lady Melania Trump. “It’s a very special place.”
King Charles III will host Trump at Windsor Castle for a lavish banquet and carriage ride on Wednesday, before Trump meets Prime Minister Keir Starmer at his country residence on Thursday.
In a sign of the pomp and pageantry to come, a guard of honour greeted the Trumps as they stepped off Air Force One at Stansted Airport near London.
Trump then expressed his admiration for the British monarch.
“He’s been a friend of mine for a long time, and everyone respects him, and they love him,” Trump said as he arrived by helicopter at Winfield House, the US ambassador’s residence in London, where he will spend the night.
“Tomorrow’s going to be a very big day.”
Trump is the first US president to be invited for two state visits, after previously being hosted by Queen Elizabeth II during his last term in office in 2019 — as Britain tries to keep the so-called special relationship alive.
The British government has been unapologetic about its efforts to get on the right side of Trump, whose mother was Scottish and who owns a number of golf courses in the UK.
But the British public will be kept far away from Trump, with the visit taking place entirely behind closed doors and heavy security.
A large anti-Trump demonstration has been called in London on Wednesday, while protesters projected images of Trump and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein onto the towers of Windsor Castle late Tuesday.
The shadow of the Epstein scandal has hung over Trump for weeks after his administration declined to release files on the issue.
It has also embroiled British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who sacked his ambassador to Washington Peter Mandelson on the eve of the visit over the envoy’s emails to Epstein.
Starmer’s government is however counting on the sheer scale of the state visit to keep Trump onside, despite his unpredictability over everything from tariffs to Ukraine and Gaza.
In Windsor on Wednesday, Trump will get a ceremonial carriage ride and a flypast by both UK and US jets in what officials call the largest military show for a state visit in living memory.
In the evening King Charles will host Trump for a lavish state dinner where both men will give speeches.
Trump may also relish the royal part of the visit as a chance to escape a turbulent period at home, where the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk has caused turmoil.
Politics will take over again on Thursday when Starmer hosts Trump at his country residence Chequers for talks focusing on trade and the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
The visit has been timed to line up with announcements of several investments in Britain — the latest being a pledge by Microsoft to spend $30 billion over four years.
Starmer needs the visit to go well after a miserable few days in which some in his Labour party have openly questioned whether he can remain as leader over the Mandelson resignation.
Downing Street has said Trump’s visit would see the “unbreakable friendship” between the countries “reach new heights”.
The visit is “a huge moment for both” men, said Evie Aspinall, director of the British Foreign Policy Group think-tank.
“For Trump, the state visit is an opportunity to revel in the pomp and ceremony he loves,” she told AFP.
“For Starmer, the visit is a chance to distract from domestic discontent and shift the limelight onto international issues where he has had greater success.” (France24)
President Emmanuel Macron has named close ally Sébastien Lecornu as the new French prime minister, 24 hours after a vote of confidence ousted François Bayrou as head of government.
Lecornu, 39, was among the favourites to take over, and he has spent the past three years as armed forces minister focusing on France’s response to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
In a statement the Elysée Palace said Lecornu – the seventh PM in the Macron presidency – had been given the task of consulting political parties with the aim of adopting France’s next budget.
Pushing through a budget as head of a minority government was what brought down Bayrou, with left and far-right opponents condemning Lecornu’s appointment.
Bayrou had visited the president hours earlier to hand in his resignation, paving the way for Sébastien Lecornu to become the fifth prime minister of Macron’s second term as president.
Lecornu wrote on social media that he had been entrusted by the president with “building a government with clear direction: defending our independence and our strength, serving the French people, and [ensuring] political and institutional stability for the unity of our country”.
His immediate task is tackling France’s spiralling public debt, which hit €3.3tn (£2.8tn) earlier this year and represents 114% of the country’s economic output or GDP.
Bayrou had proposed €44bn in budget cuts, and his decision to put his plans to a vote of confidence was always going to fail. In the end France’s National Assembly decided to oust his government by 364 votes to 194.
Lecornu’s appointment was welcomed by centrist allies such as Marc Fesneau from Bayrou’s MoDem party. He called on every political force to reach a compromise – “for the stability of the country and its recovery, especially its budget”.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon of the radical left France Unbowed was unimpressed, complaining that nothing had changed and it was time for Macron’s departure from the presidency.
There had been suggestions that Macron might try to approach the centre left to broaden his minority government, and Olivier Faure of the Socialists had offered his services the night before.
It soon became clear that Faure would not be getting the call: “I slept pretty soundly so I didn’t hear the phone ring.”
On the far right, Marine Le Pen said the president was ”giving Macronism its last shot from his bunker, along with his little circle of loyalists”.
France has had a hung parliament since Macron surprised his country by calling snap national elections last year, after a poor performance in the June 2024 European vote. There are broadly three main political blocs: the left, far right and the centre.
Édouard Philippe, who was Macron’s first prime minister from 2017-20, thought Lecornu was a good choice as he had learned a lot as defence minister.
“I’ve known him for a long time because he was elected like me in Normandy,” the Horizons party leader told TF1 TV. “He knows how to debate and he’ll need this talent for debate and listening to find a deal in circumstances he knows are pretty complicated.”
Philippe believed Lecornu would have to find some way of bringing the Socialists on board. It was certainly possible to find a majority and also necessary, he thought, because without a compromise on a budget deal, a fresh political crisis would erupt and new elections would be inevitable.
More immediately, a grassroots movement called Bloquons Tout – “Let’s Block Everything” – is planning widespread anti-government protests on Wednesday and authorities are planning to deploy 80,000 police.
Then on Friday the credit agency Fitch will reassess France’s debts and could make its borrowing costs higher if it lowers its rating from AA-. (BBC)
Kyiv has warned that an interruption of US weapons shipments will encourage Russia to prolong the war in Ukraine, now in its fourth year.
On Tuesday the White House said it had cut off some weapons deliveries to Ukraine.
The decision was taken “to put America’s interests first” following a defence department review of US “military support and assistance to other countries”, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the two countries were now “clarifying all the details on supplies”, while the foreign ministry warned any delays “would only encourage the aggressor to continue war and terror, rather than seek peace”.
The ministry particularly emphasised the need for Kyiv to strengthen its air defences – as Russia continues to pummel the country with missiles and drones on a near-nightly basis.
A Kyiv-based US diplomat was invited to the foreign ministry for talks on Wednesday.
However, Ukraine’s defence ministry said it had not received any official notification from the US about the “suspension or revision” of the weapons deliveries, and urged people not to speculate on the basis of partial information.
But in a statement the defence ministry also said the path to ending the war was “through consistent and joint pressure on the aggressor”.
At the weekend Ukraine endured its biggest aerial attack since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, with more than 500 drones and ballistic and cruise missiles launched at its cities.
US officials did not immediately say which shipments were being halted.
According to American broadcaster NBC, the weapons being delayed could include Patriot interceptors, Howitzer munitions, missiles and grenade launchers.
The US has sent tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, leading some in the Trump administration to voice concerns that US stockpiles are too low.
The Kremlin, for its part, welcomed news of the reduction in weapons shipments, saying reducing the flow of weapons to Kyiv will help end the conflict faster.
“The fewer the number of weapons that are delivered to Ukraine, the closer the end of the special military operation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Fedir Venislavskyi, an MP for Ukraine’s ruling party, said the decision was “painful, and against the background of the terrorist attacks which Russia commits against Ukraine… it’s a very unpleasant situation”.
A Ukrainian military source quoted by the AFP news agency said Kyiv was “seriously dependent on American arms supplies, although Europe is doing its best, but it will be difficult for us without American ammunition”.
Ukraine’s European allies have spent billions in military aid over the last three-and-a-half years.
However, military support for Kyiv is not endorsed by everyone on the political spectrum.
Czech President and former top Nato official, Petr Pavel, has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine – but he told BBC Russian he could “not guarantee” continued ammunition support for Kyiv, as that was dependent on the result of forthcoming Czech elections.
“I don’t know what will be the priorities of a new government,” he said.
The Pentagon’s move is based on concerns that US military stockpiles are falling too low, a source told CBS News, although Anna Kelly stressed “the strength of the United States Armed Forces remains unquestioned – just ask Iran”.
Separately, the US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, Elbridge Colby, said in a statement the Pentagon “continues to provide the President with robust options to continue military aid to Ukraine”.
However, he added “the department is rigorously examining and adapting its approach to achieving this objective while also preserving US forces’ readiness for Administration defence priorities”.
The pause comes less than a week after President Donald Trump discussed air defences with Volodymyr Zelensky at the Nato summit in the Netherlands.
Trump said US officials “are going to see if we can make some of them available” when asked by the BBC about providing extra Patriot anti-missile systems to Ukraine.
Referring to his conversation with Zelensky, Trump said: “We had a little rough times sometimes, but he couldn’t have been nicer.”
The two had a heated confrontation in the Oval Office in February. Afterwards, Trump said he was pausing military aid to Ukraine that had been earmarked by the previous Biden administration. Intelligence sharing with Ukraine was also suspended. (BBC)
The government will spend £1.5bn on at least six new munitions and explosives factories to “better deter our adversaries”, Defence Secretary John Healey has said.
The factories will support up to 7,000 UK-built long-range weapons and create about 1,800 new jobs, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.
The announcement is part of the government’s strategic defence review (SDR), which is due to be published on Monday.
The Conservatives said they welcomed investment in new munitions but shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge called for “greater ambition for the pace and scale of rearmament our armed forces require”
The war in Ukraine has highlighted serious deficiencies in the West’s ability to produce weapons and munitions, and senior British military officers have long warned about the UK’s depleted stockpiles.
As part of its review, the government said it would build new factories to make key munitions and explosives as part of its plans to have an “always on” munitions production capacity that could be scaled up quickly.
It also said the UK would purchase more than 7,000 British-built long-range weapons, including drones and missiles, over several years.
According to the MoD, the new funding will see UK munitions spend hit £6bn during this parliament.
Ministers said the extra investment – which came after Healy said that UK defence spending would rise to 3% of GDP by 2034 at the latest – would strengthen the armed forces and boost British jobs.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “A strong economy needs a strong national defence, and investing in weaponry and munitions and backing nearly 2,000 jobs across Britain in doing so is proof the two go hand-in-hand.
“We are delivering both security for working people in an uncertain world and good jobs, putting more money in people’s pockets.”
Healey said the UK’s defence industry would become an “engine for economic growth” and would “boost skilled jobs in every nation and region”.
“The hard-fought lessons from [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine show a military is only as strong as the industry that stands behind them,” he added. (BBC)
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