According to Donald Trump, Russia has agreed to halt strikes on Ukrainian cities for one week. The US president said he had made an appeal to Vladimir Putin to do this citing the extreme cold in Ukraine. The Kremlin hasot commented. However, a long-discussed "energy ceasefire" may already be in effect, as both parties have reported hardly any air strikes on their energy infrastructure since Thursday. The media take a closer look.

After the bloody crackdown on mass protests in Iran, there are growing signs of a military reaction from the US. President Donald Trump has ordered the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and accompanying warships to be deployed to the region. Tehran has threatened to respond "immediately and powerfully" in the event of an attack. Commentators question the motives behind a military strike.

The ICE officers involved in the fatal shooting in Minneapolis at the weekend have been placed on administrative leave, a spokesperson for the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency has confirmed. US President Donald Trump had recently attempted to de-escalate the tense situation in the city, describing the death of intensive careurse Alex Pretti as a "very unfortunate incident".

Hundreds of thousands of Romanians have signed a citizens' petition to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 14 after a case in which a 15-year-old boy was killed with a knife and axe and then burned and buried by three other minors, including a 13-year-old, in the western Romanian municipality of Cenei. Romanian Justice Minister Radu Marinescu has announced plans to review the criminal laws applying to minors.