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A message in a bottle that travelled more than 2,000 miles (3,200km) has received a response – three years after beginning its epic journey.

Sean Smith, who is now 16, had sent out the missive while on holiday in Rhode Island on Thanksgiving in 2018.

A note inside read: “It is Thanksgiving. I am 13 and visiting family in Rhode Island. I am from Vermont. If found email messageinabottle2018@gmail.com.”

Fast forward to 2021, and the message was discovered by Christian Santos, a 17-year-old in the Azores, a small Portuguese archipelago.

He explained that he regularly picks up trash floating in the water in an attempt to help the environment – and decided to follow the instructions within the Powerade bottle.

Christian’s email nearly fell on deaf ears because Sean had forgotten that he had sent out the bottle as a child, and couldn’t remember the password to the email account.

Thankfully, Sean realised that his bottle had been found after a Facebook post was made by Christian’s mother Molly.

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The pair have now met on Zoom for the very first time, and plan to stay in contact.

“I think it’s cool that somebody similar in age found it so far away and we were actually able to get in touch,” Sean said.

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US officials heading to Saudi Arabia for Russia-Ukraine peace talks

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US officials heading to Saudi Arabia for Russia-Ukraine peace talks

Two senior US officials are travelling to Saudi Arabia to initiate peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

Two sources familiar with the matter told Sky News’ US partner network NBC News that national security adviser Mike Waltz and special envoy Steve Witkoff are on their way to Saudi.

On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump said there had been an agreement to begin negotiations about ending the war in Ukraine, after holding phone calls with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Analysis: Peace talks risk short-term win that rewards Putin

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Zelenskyy warns against the ‘danger’ of the Russian army

The Ukrainian president alluded to the conversations at a security conference in Munich on Saturday, suggesting Europe should play a role in the negotiations as well.

“Ukraine will never accept deals made behind our backs without our involvement, and the same rule should apply to all of Europe,” Mr Zelenskyy said.

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“A few days ago, President Trump told me about his conversation with Putin. Not once did he mention that America needs Europe at the table. That says a lot.”

However, on Saturday night, Mr Trump’s Ukraine envoy said Europe would not have a seat at the table for Ukraine peace talks.

Earlier, Washington sent a questionnaire to European capitals to ask what they could contribute to security
guarantees for Kyiv.

“The old days are over when America supported Europe just because it always had,” said Mr Zelenskyy.

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‘We need a European army’

He told world leaders it is time for the creation of an “armed forces of Europe”, adding his army was “not enough”.

Following his call with President Putin, Mr Trump posted on Truth Social saying: “We both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine.”

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‘Unlikely’ Ukraine gets old borders back

Mr Trump had told White House reporters he did not see any way “that a country in Russia’s position” could allow Ukraine to join NATO and that it was unlikely Ukraine would get all of its occupied land back.

Mr Zelenskyy said the main issue was to “not allow everything to go according to Putin’s plan”.

It comes after UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told Mr Zelenskyy in recent days that Ukraine was still on an “irreversible path” to joining NATO.

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Boy, 14, stabbed to death as five attacked in Austria

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Boy, 14, stabbed to death as five attacked in Austria

A man has stabbed five people in southern Austria, including a 14-year-old boy who has died from his injuries.

The 23-year-old man attacked five passersby in Villach on Saturday afternoon, according to police.

Officers said the suspect is a Syrian national with legal residence in Austria and has been detained.

A 42-year old man, who was driving by and saw the incident from his car, drove towards the suspect and helped prevent things from getting worse, police spokesperson Rainer Dionisio told Austria’s public broadcaster ORF.

The victims were all male and aged between 14 and 32. Two were seriously injured and two sustained minor injuries, and the teenager died, police said.

Mr Dionisio said they had not yet determined a motive but were investigating the suspect’s background.

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“We have to wait until we get secure information,” he said.

The weekend attack shocked people in the city of Villach, a southern town in the province of Carinthia, which borders Italy and Slovenia.

Carinthia governor Peter Kaiser expressed his sympathy for the family of the teenage boy who was killed.

“This outrageous atrocity must be met with harsh consequences,” he said.

“I have always said with clarity and unambiguously – those who live in Carinthia, in Austria, have to respect the law and adjust to our rules and values.”

Police said it was unclear whether the suspect had been acting on his own or with other people, and are continuing to look for potential further suspects.

Meanwhile in Germany on Saturday, police confirmed a two-year-old girl and her mother had died after a car had been driven into a crowd in Munich on Thursday.

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What we know about Munich car ramming which has left dozens injured

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What we know about Munich car ramming which has left dozens injured

A mother and her two-year-old daughter have died – and more than 30 people were injured – after a car drove into a crowd in Munich, police have said.

The incident took place on Thursday at a square close to the city’s central train station at around 10.30am (9.30am UK time), officials said.

Here is everything we know:

What happened?

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Video shows aftermath of incident

The car – a cream-coloured Mini Cooper – was driven into the crowd on a street called Seidlstrasse in a central area of the city.

The crowd was taking part in a demonstration organised by a trade union, and a police car was following them as they walked, deputy police chief Christian Huber said.

The incident occurred in central Munich
Image:
A map showing where the incident occurred

“Then a vehicle approached it from behind,” he added.

“It approached the police car to overtake it, and then accelerated and drove into the back of the demonstration.”

The badly damaged Mini could be seen after the attack along with items of clothing and bags, a broken pram, a shoe and a pair of glasses scattered across the floor.

Police work at a car which drove into a crowd in Munich, Germany, February 13, 2025, injuring several people. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay
Image:
Police inspect damaged Mini after the incident. Pic: Reuters

Police works with a sniffer dog at a car which drove into a crowd in Munich, Germany, February 13, 2025, injuring several people. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay
Image:
A sniffer dog inspects the vehicle. Pic: Reuters

A man was arrested at the scene after police fired a shot at the car vehicle.

What we know about the victims

Emergency services attend the scene of an accident after a driver hit a group of people in Munich, Germany, Thursday Feb. 13, 2025. (Peter Kneffel/dpa via AP)
Image:
Emergency services at the scene. Pic: Peter Kneffel/dpa via AP

Police on Saturday said a 37-year-old mother from Munich and her daughter were the first fatalities from the incident.

Officials had earlier said a total of at least 36 people were injured.

In Friday’s news conference, they said one adult and one child were “very seriously injured” and eight other people were seriously injured.

Who is the suspect?

The man arrested was a 24-year-old Afghan national, Farhad N, who came to Germany as an asylum seeker.

Officials say Farhad N has lived in Munich since he arrived as an unaccompanied minor in 2016, and has no previous convictions.

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Police speak to media on day of attack

The man’s asylum application was rejected, but he had not been forced to leave due to security concerns in Afghanistan and he was in Germany legally with a work permit.

Prosecutors say he is now under investigation on 36 counts of attempted murder as well as bodily harm and dangerous interference with road traffic.

Do we know the motives?

At the news conference on Friday, prosecutor Gabriele Tilmann said the suspect appeared to have had a “religious motivation”.

In questioning, he “gave an explanation that I would summarise as religious motivation,” she said, adding the suspect shouted “Allahu Akbar”, or “God is great”, to police and then prayed after his arrest.

She said he admitted to police that he “deliberately drove into the participants of the demonstration”.

“I’m very cautious about making hasty judgements, but based on everything we know at the moment, I would venture to speak of an Islamist motivation for the crime,” she added.

Pic: Matthias Balk/picture-alliance/dpa/AP
Image:
Police on the scene. Pic: Matthias Balk/picture-alliance/dpa/AP

Emergency services attend the scene of an accident after a driver hit a group of people in Munich, Germany, Thursday Feb. 13, 2025. (Christoph Trost/dpa via AP)
Image:
Pic: AP

She clarified that the authorities had no reason to believe that the perpetrator was affiliated with any Islamist or terrorist organisations and that they had not found any evidence of him having accomplices.

She said they were now looking through his devices to see “whether other people knew about the attack before it happened, or if he was part of a network”.

The incident happened shortly before world leaders including US vice president JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in the southern city for the Munich Security Conference, which started on Friday.

But police have said the incident is not thought to be related to the conference.

Incident comes amid immigration tensions

Security and immigration have been in sharp focus in Germany ahead of a federal election next week and following a string of violent attacks, with the far-right party AfD party doing well in polls.

Two months ago, a Saudi doctor was accused of driving his car into a crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, killing six and injuring hundreds.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz described the Munich incident as a “terrible attack” and said the perpetrator “must be punished and he must leave the country”.

Read more from Sky News:
Suspected car attack will fill Germans with dread
One Briton dead and three injured in New Zealand crash

His comments come after the government said last year it was resuming flights for convicted criminals of Afghan nationality to their home country.

“It is very important for me to get the message across that anyone who commits crimes in Germany will not only be severely punished and sent to prison, they must also expect that they will not be able to continue their stay in Germany,” he said.

“That’s why I managed to get the government I lead to resume and carry out repatriations to Afghanistan, despite the lack of diplomatic relations,” he said.

He added: “We have already organised such a flight with criminals… we are also in the process of doing this in other cases. And not just once, but on an ongoing basis.

“This perpetrator cannot count on any leniency, he must be punished and he must leave the country.”

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