Voters are heading to the polls in Germany’s general election.

They are electing a new parliament after a campaign focused on the state of Europe’s biggest economy and calls to restrict migration.

The vote also comes at a time of fragile relations between Europe and the US over Ukraine’s future in its war with Russia.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote in parliament last December, paving the way for an early election.

Mr Scholz, leader of Germany’s centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), had governed as the head of a fractious three-party coalition until it collapsed the previous month when he sacked his finance minister.

He had weeks of disputes with Christian Lindner over how to kickstart Germany’s stagnant economy.

Mr Lindner and his colleagues in the Free Democrats Party (FDP) promptly quit the coalition, leaving the SPD and their remaining partner, the Greens, without a majority in parliament.

Germany’s constitution does not allow the Bundestag to dissolve itself, so a confidence vote was needed to set in motion the early election, which is being held seven months ahead of schedule.

Opposition leader Friedrich Merz, of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, has vowed to revive the stagnant economy and defend Europe’s interests in the face of a confrontational White House.

The far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany is looking to make gains – but has no other party willing to go into government with it.

Pope Francis had a “tranquil” night and rested in hospital, the Vatican has said.

Unlike previous updates since the Pope was admitted to hospital on 14 February, the Vatican didn’t say whether he had gotten up or had breakfast.

The 88-year-old has been in hospital for more than a week as he receives treatment for double pneumonia and chronic bronchitis.

On Saturday night, the Vatican said the Pope was in a critical condition after a “prolonged respiratory crisis” that required a high-flow of oxygen.

He also had blood transfusions after tests revealed thrombocytopenia, which is associated with anaemia.

Doctors said the prognosis was “reserved”.

In an update earlier on Saturday morning, the Vatican said he will not lead Sunday prayers for the second week running, adding: “The Pope rested well.”

Francis, who has been leading the Catholic Church since 2013, is likely to prepare a written homily for someone else to read at Sunday’s Angelus.

Millions of people around the world have been concerned about the Pope’s increasingly frail health – and his condition has given rise to speculation over a possible resignation, which the Vatican has not commented on.

Read more from Sky News:
Two motorways closed after human remains found
Musk says US federal employees must justify their work or resign

Doctors on Friday said he was “not out of danger” and was expected to remain at Rome’s Gemelli hospital for at least another week.

Sergio Alfieri, the chief of the pontiff’s medical team, said: “Is he out of danger? No. But if the question is ‘is he in danger of death’, the answer is ‘no’.”

Doctors warned that while he did not have sepsis – where germs enter the bloodstream – there was always a risk the infection could spread in his body, and they said that was the biggest concern.

Sepsis is a complication of an infection that can lead to organ failure and death.

Pope Francis has a history of respiratory illness, having lost part of one of his lungs to pleurisy as a young man.

He had an acute case of pneumonia in 2023.

Actor and comedian Chris O’Dowd has described moving back to London from the US, finding people in the city are “down” after a decade of cutbacks.

The IT Crowd star returned to London from Los Angeles with his wife Dawn O’Porter and their two children a year ago.

“It’s just gone through 10 years of austerity, and you can feel it off it,” he told Sky News.

“People are down, is the impression I’m getting. I don’t know if it’s because of the divisive political culture or whether it’s because people are broke as s**t because they haven’t put any money into public services for so long, and now they’ve said they’re not going to do it either because they’re not going to raise taxes, so I don’t know what they’re going to do. But everybody is… it would be hard to say it’s improved.”

Asked if he sensed any optimism that things would change for the better, he replied: “Not yet.”

O’Dowd said the decision to return to the UK “wasn’t because Trump got in or any of that crap”, but that he wanted to “get out before the political cycle starts, because it just gets a bit heated”. He added: “It actually didn’t this time, because he won so easily.”

The Irish star was speaking ahead of the premiere of his new Sky Original series Small Town, Big Story, which comes to Sky and NOW on Thursday 27 February.

Set in the fictional Irish border village of Drumban, the dramatic comedy follows Wendy Patterson, portrayed by Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks, a local girl who found success as a TV producer in Los Angeles. She returns with a film crew in tow and is forced to confront a secret from decades ago – visitors from outer space.

So does the show’s creator believe in alien existence?

“I find it hard to believe we’re it, we’re just too imperfect,” O’Dowd replied. He hails from Boyle, County Roscommon, which is considered a “UFO hotspot” in Ireland.

“In the vastness of the universe, or the multiverse or whatever we’re existing within, it seems highly unlikely that you and me are the best we can do, no offence,” he added.

Patterson’s show-within-a-show, titled I Am Celt but described as Lame Of Thrones, appears to satirise Hollywood’s often inaccurate portrayal of Ireland.

“Some of them can be heavy-handed, or a little bit off-piste,” laughs O’Dowd. “I think the thing to remember is we’re guilty of it too.

“Whenever I hear Americans being depicted from Irish people, very often they’re stuffing themselves with cheeseburgers and they’re morons. There’s got to be a bit of give and take with that.”