Closing summary
We are now closing the blog. Here is a summary of events today:
Polish president Andrzej Duda could be the first European leader to meet with US president Donald Trump, after Polish media reported that he will travel to Washington on Saturday (17:14). According to the media, the pair is expected to meet early afternoon, but we are yet to have a formal confirmation of the meeting (17:43).
US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, who was involved in the US-Russia talks in Riyadh, claimed that Ukraine was about to sign the new mineral deal with the US “in the very short term” as he praised US president Donald Trump for starting talks about the conflict (16:25).
Austria may finally be close to getting a new government as the conservative People’s Party (OVP) and Social Democrats (SPO) confirmed they are in talks over forming a new coalition with the support of the liberal Neos party (16:48).
French far-right leader Jordan Bardella has cancelled his speech at the US Conservative Political Action Conference conference after former Trump aide Steve Bannon appeared to make a Nazi salute at the end of his speech last night, French media are reporting. (15.08)
US special envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg has praised his talks with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “extensive and positive” in a social media post at the end of his visit to Kyiv. (13.37)
Pope Francis, who is being treated in hospital for double pneumonia, is not in danger of death, but has not been fully cured and his condition could yet change, one of his doctors said on Friday. (17.19)
Sweden is investigating a possible breach of an undersea cable off the island of Gotland on the country’s southwestern coast in the Baltic Sea, the coastguard said on Friday, in an area where multiple seabed cables have been damaged in recent months. (09.27)
Pope Francis not yet cured, but not in danger of death, doctor treating him says
Pope Francis, who is being treated in hospital for double pneumonia, is not in danger of death, but has not been fully cured and his condition could yet change, one of his doctors said on Friday.
“Is he out of danger? No. But if the question is ‘is he in danger of death’, the answer is ‘no’,” Sergio Alfieri told a press conference.
His medical team said the pope was able to get out of bed and sit in an armchair to do some work, but predicted that he would remain in hospital “at least” through the coming next week, Reuters reports.
Alfieri said that given the pope was 88, with prior health concerns, he was obviously a fragile patient.
He added that the pope did not have sepsis, a potentially life-threatening condition when a body responds to an infection by harming its own tissue and organs.
However, he said there was always a risk that the infection could spread in his body.
