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Doing so would have “far-reaching negative consequences for the stability of European energy markets and the security of supply across the Continent,” they said, arguing it would undermine Europe’s credibility as a gas customer and shift trading outside the bloc. EU capitals first agreed to the cap, which theoretically set a ceiling on gas imports, as energy prices soared to record highs following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. But the measure, which expired earlier this month, was never activated, as prices never met the required threshold. The discussion on reviving the cap comes as Brussels gears up to…

NATO split Trump’s demand is splitting the alliance’s European nations into three groupings, said Camille Grand, a former NATO assistant secretary-general who’s now a distinguished policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. A “relatively small group” that includes the Baltic nations and Poland is already spending nearly 5 percent of GDP on defense to deter Russian leader Vladimir Putin and is ready to “pay the price” to keep Trump onside, Grand said. “I don’t think many nations will commit up-front to 5 percent because so much of the pace at which you can go depends so much on…

Trump said he expects to see Putin in Saudi Arabia in the “not too distant future” for their first meeting since his inauguration last month. The EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas released a late-night statement on behalf of the Weimar + group of nations, which includes France, Poland, Germany, Spain, Italy and the U.K., reacting to Trump’s pronouncements. “Ukraine’s independence and territorial integrity are unconditional” as peace talks begin, the statement posted by Kallas said. “Our priority must now be strengthening Ukraine and providing robust security guarantees.” Marko Mihkelson, chair of the Estonian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, cautioned: “Today might…

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the conversation between Trump and Putin covered a good deal of ground, including the Middle East and Iran, but that Ukraine was the main focus. US President Donald Trump upended three years of US policy toward Ukraine on Wednesday, saying that he and Russian leader Vladimir Putin had agreed to begin negotiations on ending the war following a sudden prisoner swap.Trump said he spent more than an hour on the phone with Putin and “I think we’re on the way to getting peace.” He noted that he later spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but…

A date for the meeting “hasn’t been set” but it will happen in the “not too distant future,” Trump added. He suggested the meeting would involve Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. “We know the crown prince, and I think it’d be a very good place to meet.” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also said Wednesday that Putin had invited Trump and officials from his administration to visit Moscow to discuss Ukraine. “The Russian president invited the U.S. president to visit Moscow and expressed his readiness to receive American officials in Russia in those areas of mutual interest, including, of course,…

European foreign ministers met in Paris on Wednesday, saying a peace deal in Ukraine would require the involvement of Kyiv and its European allies. The meeting came as US President Donald Trump said he had agreed to immediate peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. European foreign ministers warned that Ukraine’s future must involve both Europe and Kyiv, as news broke that US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to “immediately” hold peace talks. The ministers and their delegations arrived in Paris for a meeting on Ukraine ahead of the Munich Security Conference this weekend – saying…

France was also at odds with the American position, insisting Ukraine should remain on a path to joining NATO. Earlier, Hegseth had effectively ruled that out, at least as part of any security guarantee accompanying a peace deal. He also ruled out the participation of U.S. troops in any peacekeeping mission, and said NATO as an organization should not be involved. “We are very attached to a pathway for Ukraine towards NATO. If there is a peace, we need security guarantees so that it is fair and lasting,” said Jean-Noël Barrot, the French foreign minister. “It’s European security that is at…

The U.S. researchers said the results justify larger clinical trials to evaluate this class of drugs — known as glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists — for alcohol use disorder. The study is published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association. “We hoped to see a reduction in drinking and craving,” said Christian Hendershot, lead author of the study from the University of Southern California. “What I didn’t expect was the magnitude of the effects looks fairly good … compared to other alcohol-use disorder medications.” Stephen Burgess from Cambridge university said the study was a small “but an…

DUBLIN — If you want to accuse someone of telling lies in Ireland’s parliament, Prime Minister Micheál Martin has just shown the way — by saying it in Irish. Ireland’s official language is Gaeilge (a.k.a. Irish Gaelic), known simply as Irish here. The trouble is, only a minority of citizens can confidently speak Irish in what is, overwhelmingly, an English-speaking country. As a consequence, Martin — a fluent Gaeilgeoir, as native speakers are called — enjoys speaking at length in Irish when replying to questions from the leader of the opposition: Mary Lou McDonald of the nationalist Sinn Féin party.…

According to Braže, while any diplomacy would have to involve Kyiv, “in order to have successful peace deal, Russia needs to be weakened on the battlefield. Russia’s politics, economics, religion, media, private sector, religion — it is all oriented towards war. Thus, Russia has to be forced to peace.” In a readout issued Wednesday, the Kremlin said Trump and Putin had spoken for 90 minutes. Meanwhile, the American president posted on Truth Social that the two leaders have “agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately.” “We will begin by calling President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, to inform him…