The former president’s closeness to Vladimir Putin and isolationism bode ill for Kyiv. Accelerating US support is essential

Even Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s extraordinary communication skills were stretched as he rushed to congratulate Donald Trump on the victory that Kyiv had been dreading . The Ukrainian president wrote that Mr Trump’s commitment to “peace through strength” was exactly the principle that could bring a just peace closer. Vladimir Putin’s riposte came almost immediately, via a massive drone attack on the capital , and the Kremlin’s call on the west to stop arming Ukraine to save its people.

For Joe Biden, supporting Ukraine was about defending the post-second-world-war order. It was a relatively cost-effective way for the US to degrade the capabilities of a key adversary with no risk to its own personnel. But Mr Trump is an isolationist who has a strikingly close relationship with the Russian president – and who, according to a former aide, made it very clear that he believed Ukraine “must be part of Russia”. Mr Trump said during his campaign that he could end the war “in a day” and blamed Mr Zelenskyy for the conflict.

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Dads say rule change granting both parents equal time off has helped build bond between children and fathers

Paternity leaves in Finland have nearly doubled in length after a 2022 reform of the parental leave system, the social benefits agency has said.

The change granted both parents equal amounts of leave for the first time: 160 days each of paid leave, to be used before the child turns two. Sixty-three of the days can be transferred to the other parent, if desired.

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Scientists studying DNA find one person in scene of cowering family was a man and not a ‘mother’

It is a tragic moment, frozen in time: a family of four shelters beneath a staircase as ash and pumice rains down on Pompeii. But now scientists studying DNA from the victims say this famous scene is not what it seems, with the “mother” of the group actually a man.

When Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD79, the Roman town of Pompeii was destroyed, its remaining inhabitants buried beneath a thick blanket of ash and pumice. These victims were later immortalised by archaeologists who used plaster to fill the voids left by their bodies.

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German opposition leader, Friedrich Merz, opposes timetable laid out by chancellor in news conference

Germany’s centre-right opposition leader has called for an immediate vote of confidence to be held in parliament, after Olaf Scholz’s ruling coalition collapsed.

Friedrich Merz, chair of former chancellor Angela Merkel’s party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), stands to profit most from the bombshell developments in Berlin, one day after Donald Trump’s election as US president upended the global political landscape.

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Partner in company due to receive shipment arrested after 13 tonnes of drug discovered at port of Algeciras

Spanish police and customs officers have intercepted the largest consignment of cocaine ever to reach the country, seizing more than 13 tonnes of the drug, hidden in a cargo of bananas shipped from Ecuador.

Spain’s Policía Nacional said the seizure was the second largest recorded in Europe and one of the largest anywhere in the world.

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EPC summit in Budapest to discuss Ukraine, migration and global trade may reveal stark divisions within bloc

European leaders are gathering in Budapest for two days of top-level talks that should give an indication of how united the continent can remain in response to Donald Trump’s second term as US president, but could also reveal its divisions.

Hosted by Hungary’s authoritarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, a Trump ally who has enthusiastically hailed the Republican candidate’s re-election, the EU 27’s leaders are being joined on Thursday by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the UK’s Keir Starmer, the Nato secretary general Mark Rutte and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

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