Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been granted parole in a case involving excess spending on the 2012 election campaign, RTL radio reported, citing a source in the judiciary. Sarkozy himself asked to soften the procedure for serving the sentence. The court approved his request on May 5. The decision in Sarkozy's favor was made due to his age - he is 71 years old. It will come into force on May 7. We are talking about the punishment in the Bygmalion case.

The United States has held "very good" talks with Iran over the past 24 hours, United States President Donald Trump said. “It is entirely possible that we will make a deal,” he told reporters in the Oval Office of the White House. “Everything is going well for us now and we should get what we should get. If we don't do this, we will have to take a big step further. But at the same time, they want to make a deal,” Trump said about the negotiations.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a call to all accredited diplomatic missions and representative offices of international organizations to evacuate diplomats from Kyiv, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. She quoted a note sent by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Sounds confusing? Laptops will become more expensive, explains Forbes Maxim Zmeev / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA On May 27, parallel import rules will change in Russia - laptops and other equipment of some foreign brands will be excluded from the list of goods. These include Acer, Asus, Samsung and Toshiba. The Ministry of Industry and Trade assures that this will not lead to a reduction in the range. Retailers add that products will not disappear from shelves.

Israel struck Beirut, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said. This is the first Israeli strike on the Lebanese capital in a month, notes The Times of Israel. According to Netanyahu and Katz, the target of the strike was the commander of Hezbollah's Radwan forces. This unit is said to be responsible for shelling Israeli populated areas and harming the military. The Israel Defense Forces have not yet commented on the attack on Lebanon.

20-year-old activist, member of the Scarlet Swan chat Sofia Chepik left Russia. She told the publication “Verstka” about this. According to the activist, at one of the borders she was questioned longer than the others, but overall the departure went smoothly. “I feel better than ever. I feel safe,” Chepik told reporters. On May 3, Chepik was released from a special detention center in Moscow, where she spent 15 days on a case of petty hooliganism.

The war continues. Zelensky, in response to Russian strikes, promises to “act in a mirror manner” Viacheslav Madiievskyi / Ukrinform / SIPA / Scanpix / LETA Rescuers are extinguishing a private house that caught fire after being hit by a Russian drone. Kharkov, May 6 Russia and Ukraine announced on May 4 that they were going to temporarily cease fire - but they did not agree on their decisions.

A technical support employee at an American bank hung up on Pope Leo XIV when he told her that he was the Pope. The New York Times writes about this with reference to a priest from Illinois, Tom McCarthy, who has been in close contact with the pope for many years. The conversation, McCarthy said, took place about two months after the enthronement of Leo XIV. Dad called the American bank to notify him of the change in phone number and address. He introduced himself by his name - Robert Prevost.

In Berlin, from the morning of May 8 until the evening of May 9, the use of Soviet and Russian symbols near military memorials will be prohibited. The city police published a corresponding decree on May 6, Deutsche Welle reports. The ban will include Soviet and Russian military uniforms and insignia, St.

Rapper Kanye West will perform in Tbilisi for the first time. Information about this appeared on the musician’s official website. The concert will take place on June 12 at the Dynamo stadium, tickets will go on sale exactly one month before the event - May 12. The performance in Tbilisi will take place as part of a tour in support of the rapper’s new album “Bully”, which was released at the end of March.

American businessman, philanthropist, and CNN founder Ted Turner has died at the age of 87. This was reported on the channel's website. David Goldman / AP / Scanpix / LETA Turner was born on November 19, 1938 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of an advertising agency owner. In 1960, he began working in his father's company, heading one of the departments of his agency. Three years later, Turner took over the agency after his father's suicide.

Three days until May 9 Pavel Bednyakov / AP / Scanpix / LETA On May 6, the intensity of mobile Internet blocking in Russia decreased noticeably. The day before, as part of the authorities’ preparations for the celebration of Victory Day, problems with network access were recorded in many regions of the country, including Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Hungary returned to Ukraine gold and Oschadbank money seized in February. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky announced this on social networks. Seizure of money from Oschadbank Seven Oschadbank collectors were detained on March 5 while transporting money and gold through Hungarian territory. Hungarian authorities said that this could be money from the “Ukrainian military mafia.” It was about 40 million dollars, 35 million euros and nine kilograms of gold.

One of them is now asking for help from Estonian diplomats Jürgen Puistaja / Scanpix / LETA Patrol boat of the Mejikoorma border post on Lake Teploe on the border of Estonia and Russia, January 17, 2026 In the winter of 2026, two Estonian citizens independently crossed the border with Russia across the ice of the lake within one week. Both wanted to ask for international protection. One believed that the Estonian state abuses people with special needs and hides it.

In 2025, EU countries issued 620 thousand Schengen visas to Russian citizens, which is 10.2% more than a year earlier. This is reported by the publication Euractiv, which has the relevant statistics at its disposal. For the entire 2025, Russians submitted more than 670 thousand applications for visas - this is 8% more than in 2024. Last year, Russians were issued more than 477 thousand tourist visas, which is approximately 77% of all visas issued to Russian citizens.