US-Russia talks loom while Macron calls European strategy huddle

The U.S. is set for Ukraine peace talks with Russia while President Macron calls for an emergency summit of European powers in Paris. We hear from the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock at the Munich Security Conference who says the West must step up to the plate and demonstrate unity on the war in Ukraine. Her comments follow U.S. Vice President JD Vance’s speech on the ‘retreat’ of European values at the MSC on Friday. In Germany, all four main candidates vying to become the next Chancellor clash in a heated televised debate. Friedrich Merz’s CDU leads the polls at around 30 per cent with the AfD in second on 20 per cent. And in tech news, Tencent shares surge on the news it is looking to integrate the Chinese AI firm DeepSeek model into one if its main apps.