European leaders in a conference call this week voiced distrust of US efforts to negotiate an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to German news weekly Der Spiegel, which said it had obtained written notes on the call.German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron had expressed scepticism in the call Monday with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and others that US negotiators would safeguard Kyiv’s interests, the report said.The magazine quoted Macron as saying during the call that “there is a chance that the US will betray Ukraine on territory without clarity on security guarantees”.An Elysee source told AFP the reported quote did not match the French presidency’s own record of the call.”The president has publicly stated his position on the ongoing negotiations between Russia and the United States, which is no different in private,” the source added.According to the report, Merz warned Zelensky to be “very careful in the coming days” and added that “they are playing games with both you and us”.The German chancellery told AFP: “We cannot comment on individual media reports. Furthermore, we cannot, as a matter of principle, report on confidential conversations.”Zelensky’s communications adviser Dmytro Lytvyn, asked about the Der Spiegel report by AFP, said: “We do not comment on provocations.”- ‘Protect’ Zelensky -According to the magazine, Finland’s President Alexander Stubb expressed distrust of US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who went to the Kremlin for talks earlier this week.”We cannot leave Ukraine and Volodymyr alone with these guys,” Stubb said, Der Spiegel reported. His office told AFP: “We do not comment on confidential discussions held by the President of the Republic.”NATO chief Mark Rutte said in the call that “we must protect Volodymyr”, Der Spiegel said, citing what it said were notes on the call, not a verbatim transcript, without naming the author of the notes.A NATO official said: “As a general rule, we do not comment on leaks. As for the Secretary General’s stance on the ongoing work to end the war against Ukraine, he has been clear in his support for the efforts led by President Trump and his team.”Washington last month put forward an initial 28-point proposal to halt the war in Ukraine, drafted without input from Ukraine’s European allies and criticised as too close a reflection of Moscow’s maximalist demands on Ukrainian territory.A flurry of diplomacy followed, with US and Ukrainian negotiators holding talks in Geneva and Florida before Witkoff and Kushner headed to Moscow on Tuesday.Der Spiegel said two unnamed participants in the call on Monday had confirmed that the notes accurately reflected the content of the conversation.They would not, howevever, confirm the quotes word for word as the leaders’ conservation was confidential.

Spanish star Rosalia on Thursday announced 2026 world tour dates for her critically acclaimed new album “Lux”, with shows across Europe, the United States and Latin America.The 33-year-old, hailed for her genre-defying versatility, revealed the news on Instagram.The trips will begin with a stop in the French city of Lyon on March 16 and finish in Puerto Rico on September 3.During that time her odyssey will take in destinations including Paris, Zurich, Milan, Madrid, Lisbon, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Belgium, Berlin, London, New York, Toronto, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico.Rosalia released her fourth album “Lux” last month, winning widespread praise for a sweeping, spiritual work that marked a departure from her previous flamenco and R&B rhythms.The album, which offers an orchestral meditation on faith and femininity, features lyrics sung in 13 languages including German, English and Sicilian in addition to her native Spanish.

Legendary American folk singer Joan Baez has told AFP that the return of Donald Trump to the White House has pushed her to go back to the studio where she has just recorded a protest song.The 1960s icon, a famed anti-war and social justice campaigner, will appear on a duet with American folk singer Jesse Welles, performing his anti-Trump track “No Kings”.”I love singing with younger people, and that song is perfect for my voice. It was just a treat,” the 85-year-old told AFP in Paris, adding that it would be released in the next 10 days.”It’s fresh, and he’s 33 and he’s writing this stuff, and I haven’t heard anything like that,” Baez added of Arkansas-born Welles, whom she has performed with several times.”What’s needed is an anthem, something that everybody can sing. They don’t have to worry about all the verses. Just sing the ‘No Kings, no Kings, no Kings’ part,” the pacifist campaigner added.Baez’s last recording was “Whistle Down the Wind”, released in 2018.As well as writing about Trump and billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, Welles’s other recent release is “Join Ice”, which mocks the beefed-up department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.The shaggy-haired singer-songwriter, known for his witty lyrics and nasal voice, invites immediate comparisons with Baez’s ex, Bob Dylan.”There isn’t any comparison so I wouldn’t pretend there was, but similarities? For sure,” said Baez.”But I’m happy to keep Dylan on the pedestal where he belongs.”- ‘Huge thing’ – The Baez-Dylan love story was back in the spotlight in last year’s well-received Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown”, starring Timothee Chalamet.Baez was broadly happy with her portrayal by actress Monica Barbaro, with the Oscar-nominated actress consulting her several times during her research. “The film was a huge thing,” Baez explained, saying she was recognised on the street much more now. “There was a huge spike and it’s still going on.”Two of the world’s biggest female artists — Lana Del Rey and Taylor Swift — have also helped introduce Baez to new, younger audiences.Swift brought Baez on stage during a 2015 stop in California, while Lana Del Ray has sung with her and went on to write a 2021 song about their night-out together, “Dance Till We Die.”Baez praised “very sweet” Swift who she says “gives her money away all the time”. She said she was initially sceptical about playing with Del Rey because her teenage fans would be too young to know Baez in her pomp, when she shared stages with Martin Luther King or led anti-Vietnam war protests.”She said ‘Well, they should know you’. I loved her for that,” Baez explained. “Of the young women songwriters, she’s my preference to listen to.”- ‘Honest legacy’ – When not worrying about American democracy, indulging her passion for painting or tending to her chickens at her south California home, Baez’s focus in recent years has been releasing more autobiographical material.She opened up her personal video archives for the 2023 documentary “Joan Baez: I Am a Noise”, revealing her struggles with depression, substance abuse, and her belief she had suffered child abuse from her physicist father.After writing two sets of memoirs, her latest contribution is a book of poems, collected from scraps of paper, notebooks and old computers, all composed over decades.Some of them were written during her time struggling with dissociative identity disorder, a condition that sees sufferers assume multiple personalities.”I can write poetry now, but there was something special about the way it was written from inner voices here and they can’t come back,” she said. Although she suffers from nightmares and sometimes struggles to keep the “darkness and gloom” out, she says her last decade has been her happiest.”Isn’t that nuts?” she laughed. “For whatever reason, I’m just giving up a lot of shit. At 85, who cares? She did her last tour in 2019 and no longer plays guitar.”I really want to leave an honest legacy, whether it’s the poems, the music, the documentary. I’m going to close it out in an honest way,” she said.