Eurotopics.net

The US and Iran have signed a memorandum of understanding to end the war. US President Donald Trump signed the document at the Palace of Versailles, while Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian signed it digitally, according to a statement issued by the Iranian Foreign Ministry in Tehran. The Strait of Hormuz is now to be reopened with immediate effect. Further issues – including what will happen with Iran's nuclear programme – are to be negotiated over the next 60 days.

The Russian artist and dissident Semyon Skrepetsky was shot dead in broad daylight on a street in the eastern Polish city of Biała Podlaska on Monday. The authorities are searching for the perpetrator. Four days earlier, Skrepetsky, known for his satirical caricatures of Putin, Lukashenko and Stalin, had demonstrated outside the Russian embassy in Berlin.

In Lithuania, the Social Democrats have dissolved their ruling coalition with the right-wing populist party Nemuno aušra and plan to form a new government with the centrist Union of Democrats Vardan Lietuvos and the conservative Farmers' and Greens' Union (LVŽS) instead. Social Democrat Mindaugas Sinkevičius is set to replace his party colleague Inga Ruginienė as prime minister.

The leaders of the G7 countries have agreed on tougher sanctions against Russia and new arms deliveries to Ukraine. The summit's host, French President Emmanuel Macron, described the meeting in Évian as a "moment of strategic awakening", bearing in mind that US President Donald Trump left the summit early last year, thus blocking any joint decisions. For some commentators, however, the newfound unity is illusory.