Volkswacht Bodensee - News from Lake Constance, St. Gallen, Thurgau, Schaffhausen, Switzerland, Europe and the whole world

As excitement builds for Saturday's Eurovision final, one question looms large: could superstar Celine Dion, now in fragile health, make a show-stopping appearance, 37 years after winning the competition?

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa travels to the United States next week to meet Donald Trump in a bid to rescue deteriorating relations with a vital and increasingly critical trade partner.

Russians and Ukrainians sat face-to-face for under two hours Friday in Istanbul for the first direct talks in over three years aimed at ending their war, with expectations low for breakthroughs.

Ruud van Nistelrooy has hailed Jamie Vardy as "one of the greatest" as the Leicester talisman prepares for his 500th and final game for the club on Sunday.

World Press Photo suspended on Friday the credit for who took one of the most iconic pictures in history, the Vietnam War image "Napalm Girl", after doubts were raised over the photograph's authorship.

Defense lawyers for Sean Combs have another stab Friday at the testimony of the music mogul's former girlfriend Casandra Ventura, who will return to the stand for a fourth day of marathon questioning in his sex trafficking trial.

A Thai construction tycoon turned himself in on Friday to face charges of alleged negligence over the collapse of a skyscraper that killed dozens of people in a powerful earthquake, police said.

Eddie Howe has warned his Newcastle players not to get "distracted" ahead of Sunday's trip to second-placed Arsenal as they seek to nail down a Champions League spot next season.

The first direct talks on halting Russia's war on Ukraine in more than three years started Friday in Istanbul, with expectations low that the two sides would agree to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II.

Stock markets were calmer Friday, with European stocks consolidating weekly gains fuelled by the China-US trade war hiatus and as investors awaited further developments over tariffs.

More than 295 million people faced acute hunger last year, a new high driven by conflict along with other crises -- and the outlook is "bleak" for 2025 as humanitarian aid falters, a UN-backed report said Friday.

Nantes forward Mostafa Mohamed said Friday his refusal to play a crucial game in his team's battle against relegation on the final day of the Ligue 1 season, which will see all clubs mark the international day against homophobia, was motivated by religious convictions.

The first direct talks between Ukraine and Russia on ending their war in more than three years started on Friday in Istanbul, with expectations low that the two sides would agree to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group said Friday that it was "concerned" over the challenges to global trade, as ministers from APEC countries met in South Korea in the shadow of growing woes from US tariffs.

Iranian negotiators began talks with Britain, France and Germany on Friday, a diplomatic source said, after US President Donald Trump said a nuclear deal with Tehran was "getting close".

Hollywood heavyweights Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Riz Ahmed and Guillermo del Toro have added their names to a letter condemning the film industry's silence on what it called "genocide" in Gaza, the organisers confirmed Friday.

France rugby captain Antoine Dupont, arguably the most well-known male player in the world, has become a shareholder in Rugby Football Club Los Angeles (RFCLA), the American side announced on Friday.

Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said Friday the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should reconsider a one billion dollar loan to Pakistan, alleging Islamabad was "funding terror".

Russian and Ukrainian delegations will meet in Istanbul on Friday for their first talks in more than three years of war, with tens of thousands killed in Europe's worst conflict since World War II.

US President Donald Trump said Friday "a lot of people are starving" in the besieged Gaza Strip, where rescuers reported more than 50 deaths in Israeli air strikes since midnight.

Rustem Umerov, who heads Ukraine's delegation at peace talks with Russia on Friday, is a skilled and pragmatic negotiator, hailed by his colleagues as a worker of diplomatic "wonders".

Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc will not return to the disrupted Indian Premier League, reports said Friday, while England's former white-ball captain Jos Buttler will leave before the playoffs.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group said Friday that it was "concerned" over the challenges to global trade, as ministers from APEC countries met in South Korea in the shadow of growing woes from US tariffs.

Moroccan club Renaissance Berkane are expected to beat Tanzanian rivals Simba in the two-leg CAF Confederation Cup final, but coach Mouin Chaabani wishes they were not the favourites.

The 2025 Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Basel, Switzerland, with the grand final on Saturday. Here is a snapshot of Eurovision in numbers:

Switzerland is hosting Eurovision for the third time, with the extravaganza a world away from when it staged the inaugural competition in 1956 -- and also from 1989 when Celine Dion starred.

An American-Lebanese man will be sentenced on Friday for trying to kill novelist Salman Rushdie in a 2022 knife attack at a New York cultural center.

With her followers watching on TikTok, Mexican beauty influencer Valeria Marquez revealed her fears of being kidnapped or killed. Soon afterwards, a gunman arrived and shot her dead.

Delegations from Moscow and Kyiv will be in Istanbul Friday for what could be their first direct meeting on the conflict in Ukraine since 2022, but the absence of Russian President Vladimir Putin leaves little hope for progress in ending the war.

There are not many fans of Donald Trump's dream to save Hollywood with tariffs among the dealmakers at the Cannes film festival -- even among those who voted for him.

Title-winners Paris Saint-Germain still have the Champions League final to look forward to later this month but the Ligue 1 season reaches its climax on Saturday with European places still up for grabs and a quartet of clubs scrapping to avoid relegation.

Kevin De Bruyne can add another honour to his haul as Manchester City's most decorated player of all time with a fitting farewell in Saturday's FA Cup final against Crystal Palace.