Author’s articles
Actress Viktoria Bilan reacted sharply to a post by her ex-husband Volodymyr Rashchuk, in which he dedicated his sporting achievements to their son Yarema. She accused the actor of hypocrisy and stated that the child “does not need” his lies.
Ukrainian singer Sofia Rotaru has no plans to return to the stage whilst the war is ongoing. According to her former concert manager, Sergei Lavrov, the artist was offered €200,000 for a performance in Dubai, but she turned it down due to the hostilities in Ukraine.
Spotify is launching a new artist verification system designed to help listeners distinguish real musicians from content created by artificial intelligence. A “Verified by Spotify” badge, in the form of a green tick, will gradually start appearing on artist profiles and in search results.
American actress Cameron Diaz and her husband, musician Benji Madden, have become parents for the third time. The couple have welcomed a son, whom they have named Nautas Madden.
Austria has declared three Russian diplomats persona non grata over suspicions that they were using equipment on the roofs of diplomatic buildings for electronic espionage. According to the government, the diplomats have already left the country.
On 1 January 2026, Bulgaria officially adopted the euro and became the 21st member of the eurozone. The final decision to introduce the single European currency was taken by the Council of the EU back in July 2025, when it adopted the necessary legal acts and set the fixed exchange rate for the Bulgarian lev.
The organisers of the Eurovision Song Contest want to bring back the countries that have boycotted the contest over Israel’s participation. At the same time, they have no plans to exclude Israeli performers from the contest, despite protests, political pressure and controversy surrounding the war in Gaza.
In Ukraine, the system for deferring military service obligations needs to be reviewed, and the current deferrals need to be examined. The Verkhovna Rada believes that the problem lies not only in the possibility of deferral itself, but also in the approaches to monitoring, as some of these decisions may be unjustified.
A drone attacked an external radiation monitoring laboratory near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. According to the IAEA, there were no casualties, but it is not yet known whether the facility sustained any damage. The agency’s inspectors at the plant have requested access to the laboratory.
Geologists have discovered that the rifting of the African continent has progressed further than previously thought. In the Turkana Rift region of Kenya and Ethiopia, the Earth’s crust has thinned to approximately 13 km, indicating a transition to a critical phase, after which the formation of a new ocean becomes almost inevitable from a geological perspective.
European governments fear that Vladimir Putin may use the next year or two as a “window of opportunity” to test the West’s willingness to defend NATO. At the same time, within the Alliance itself and among some European governments, the threat of a direct Russian attack is considered to be exaggerated, as Moscow remains heavily tied up in the war against Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Armenia on 3 May, where he spent the first day holding meetings ahead of the European Political Community summit. According to him, the talks focused on three key areas: ending the war, accelerating European funding of €90 billion, and strengthening Ukraine’s air defence and energy support.
