Author: staff
After Kushner’s no-show, Barrot said in an interview Tuesday that he had requested the American envoy be barred from meeting members of the French government until he “respects the most basic customs of diplomacy and responds to the summons of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.” Kushner and Barrot have since “agreed to meet in the coming days to continue working toward a strong bilateral relationship,” the official close to Barrot said. The official did not answer POLITICO’s question as to why Kushner, the father of U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and diplomatic envoy Jared Kushner, had missed his meeting. The U.S. Embassy…
Published on 24/02/2026 – 18:49 GMT+1 EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič urged lawmakers on Tuesday to move ahead with the EU-US trade pact even as Washington piles on new tariffs and legal uncertainty puts the agreement’s terms in doubt. The deal was abruptly frozen Monday after a ruling by the United States Supreme Court declared most of the tariffs imposed worldwide by the White House in 2025 illegal. Shortly after the ruling, US President Donald Trump announced new 10% duties on imports from US allies, including the EU. “It is imperative we keep the process moving forward in implementing our…
The most recent official snapshot of the US economy arrived last Friday, the very same day the Supreme Court struck down most of Trump’s tariffs. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released its advance estimate for last year’s fourth quarter GDP, placing annualised real growth at just 1.4%, well below forecasts that had clustered around 2.5% and a sharp deceleration from the 4.4% registered in the third quarter. For the full year, real GDP grew 2.2% in 2025, down from 2.8% in 2024. The numbers starkly contrast with President Trump’s declarations during a Fox Business interview just a week before,…
For decades the shrinking Aral Sea has been the poster child for environmental catastrophe. Behind images of rusty fishing boat shells sitting awkwardly among the sand dunes lies a story of human recklessness and an insatiable thirst for resources. Once the fourth largest lake on Earth, the Aral Sea is fed by two rivers that originate in the high mountains of Central Asia. In the 1960s, the Soviet government decided to plant cotton fields on enormous swathes of land in the region, and the rivers were diverted for irrigation. The Aral Sea’s water supplies soon began to dwindle. By the…
“The European Union will not let Russia freeze our brave Ukrainian friends into submission. On the contrary, we are doubling down on our support to ensure that we keep the lights on,” Jørgensen said. He said the €920 million would be used to “strengthen grids, restore damaged heat and power plants, improve physical protection and boost decentralized electricity generation and heat supply.” Since last year Russia has launched almost daily attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, with 217 reported this year. In January alone Moscow deployed some 6,000 attack drones, 5,500 aerial guided bombs and 158 missiles against thermal power plants,…
Senior Russian security official Dimitry Medvedev threatened Kyiv, Paris and London with nuclear strikes on Tuesday, following unfounded reports from the Kremlin alleging that France and the UK were working on supplying Ukraine with nuclear weapons. Russia’s primary foreign intelligence agency, the SVR, claimed that “London and Paris” were “preparing to arm Kyiv with a nuclear bomb” on Tuesday, alleging that Ukraine’s allies sought to achieve a “victory over Russia at the hands of the Ukrainian Armed Forces”. The claims were subsequently picked up by the Russian state news agency TASS and amplified by pro-Kremlin accounts on social media, who…
The White House warned Mexican drug cartels on Tuesday not to harm US citizens as violence continued across Mexico following the death of Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes. “The Mexican drug cartels know not to lay a finger on a single American or they will pay severe consequences under this president. And they already are,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a Fox News appearance on Tuesday morning. Leavitt said Washington had no reports of US citizens harmed in the violence. “Right now, we are unaware of any reports of any Americans being hurt, kidnapped,…
By Cody Jackson and David Fischer with AP Published on 19/02/2026 – 10:24 GMT+1 Corralling a wild rhinoceros into a small chute to give it eyedrops might seem like an absurd plan. But if it’s absurd and it works, then it’s worth the risk. Animal behaviourists partnering with the Palm Beach Zoo & Conservation Society in Florida travelled to Africa in August to help an endangered white rhino with a life-threatening, parasitic eye infection. Daniel Terblanche, a security manager with Imvelo Safari Lodges, said no one in Zimbabwe would have come up with the plan. “Believe me, we didn’t think of it; it…
By Tokunbo Salako with AP Published on 24/02/2026 – 17:24 GMT+1•Updated 17:31 The annual Met Gala proves that fashion comes first for many US celebrities as it provides a perfect platform to show off their most extravagant sense of style. The much-hyped party at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is an annual star-studded fundraising soirée for its Costume Institute so it’s perhaps fitting, no pun intended, that ‘Fashion is art’ is this year’s theme and dress code. Last year, was the exclusive event’s most lucrative as it collected around €31 million. Fortunately for those paying the extremely high entry price (if you…
“The analysis is intended to assess whether the legal arrangement through RSVP Trust is in compliance with national and European legislation,” the agency said, adding that there is no set deadline to complete it. Babiš’s solution to place Agrofert in a trust fund — a step he formally completed last week — has come under renewed scrutiny after a leaked legal document suggested that ownership would transfer to his children not after his death, as he had previously claimed, but once his political career ends. The Czech opposition and Transparency International argue that under this setup, Babiš would continue to…