Dažnėjant dronų atakoms prieš laivus Juodojoje jūroje, užsienio reikalų ministras Kęstutis Budrys ragina baigti eskalaciją.

Jungtinės Karalystės (JK) gynybos sekretorius Wesas Streetingas ketvirtadienį paragino Jungtines Valstijas paremti Ukrainą, nepaisant didėjančių nesutarimų tarp dviejų šalių, ir pabrėžė, kad tai atitinka trumpalaikius bei ilgalaikius Vašingtono interesus.

Ukraine's president says a pause on striking energy sites is over following fresh Russian attacks.

A search and rescue operation is under way in the Black Sea after the latest attack in the area.

Senior banking executives have told the BBC they expect to be "on the menu" in the chancellor's Budget tax later this month.

The culture secretary says the deal could affect free expression in the media and the variety of Britain's news landscape.

BRUSSELS — French president Emmanuel Macron warned fellow EU leaders they need to get a deal on the bloc’s seven-year budget by the end of the year because it’ll be too politically difficult after that, four European diplomats said. His words rachet up the pressure on the EU to overcome their significant differences over the coming weeks. During a closed-door discussion on Thursday evening, Macron said he wouldn’t have a political mandate to sign a deal close to the French presidential elections in April 2027, the diplomats, all briefed on the conversation, said. Macron “said that, starting from January, there will be no political room” for concluding an agreement, one of the diplomats said. The EU’s 27 governments are divided over the total size of the 2028-2034 budget. Leaders gathering in Brussels are discussing the Irish plan, which envisions cuts of €159 billion in current prices to the Commission’s nearly €2 trillion proposal.  European Council President António Costa is pushing leaders to finalize negotiations during a summit in December — before elections in France, Italy and Poland in 2027 threaten to derail the talks — but some governments and EU officials have said such a timeframe is very unrealistic. One EU diplomat dismissed Macron’s intervention as “a threat to support [Costa] on December deadline. “EU would be ungovernable if we were to take into account all the local elections,” he added. French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who is leading the polls to replace Macron, pledged to halve France’s contributions to the EU budget if she comes to power. During a press conference in Brussels on Wednesday, Le Pen accused the EU of speeding up talks to prevent France’s next leader to have a say. Several leaders are unwilling to commit to the end-of-year deadline, fearing that time pressure will undermine their leverage in the negotiations. “We will not sign an agreement that is not beneficial to us just to meet a deadline,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told the country’s parliament on Wednesday. “We will sign an agreement only when it is right for Italy.”

BRUSSELS — It was meant to be a debate on how to curb Europe’s soaring energy prices. But the first session of talks at an EU leaders’ summit in Brussels Thursday quickly descended into a three-hour fight over whether the EU should put a carbon price on driving cars and heating buildings. The delay got so bad, the roast veal and fig tartlet lunch awaiting European leaders was driven well into the afternoon. Countries including Italy, Poland, Czechia and Hungary called for ETS2 — an already-legislated law that will put a carbon price on heating and transport from 2028 — to be delayed for two more years. Estonia suggested it could be scrapped altogether. The push was rejected by a majority of the bloc, with several EU diplomats telling POLITICO it was, as one put it, an “unacceptable” offer. Another said the ETS2 launch date would never be changed. But the debate reflects a growing sense from right-leaning governments that the EU’s ambitious green agenda runs against their push to bring down energy costs.  While the main topic of today’s discussion was ETS2, its predecessor, the Emissions Trading System — which puts a price on carbon emissions from factories and power plants — was arguably the real target. Put together, these two emissions trading schemes will be the EU’s most powerful policy tool for bringing down planet-warming emissions. A proposed reform of the original ETS is currently being debated in the European Parliament and in the Council of the EU. Italy and Poland have been leading a gang of 10 member-countries which have been railing against the ETS since American and Israeli bombs started falling on Iran in March.  What they want is for the European Commission’s July review of the ETS to be further weakened, even though the proposal already softens carbon restrictions over the next decade to give industry more time to invest in cleaner production methods. But by framing the ETS as a scourge on household bills, both Warsaw and Rome have found ready audiences at home and abroad. On Monday, hours before a meeting of EU environment ministers convened in Luxembourg, Poland led a meeting of member countries with concerns on the ETS. Their gang, which originally counted 10 countries in March, had now grown to 16. While Italy and Poland did manage to get Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary and Greece to back their ask for a “reassessment of the ETS2” and to “further postpone its entry into force until at least 2030,” inside the room of European leaders the position mostly fell flat. Five EU diplomats granted anonymity to discuss the ongoing negotiations said Nordic countries and the Netherlands were firmly against changes to ETS2 — a position backed by France and Germany. But Paris and Berlin’s long-term reliability as ETS defenders is in doubt. French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz both face threats from the far-right, where the ETS has become a dirty word. Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland, which is no fan of the ETS, is politically ascendant, having won the largest share of votes in two regional elections in September. In France, with elections only months away in 2027, Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally is leading in the polls.  How Le Pen would deal with the ETS isn’t certain, but Jordan Bardella, the French far-right lawmaker and rising star of National Rally, offered a clue  in recent comments. “ETS: three letters, an acronym that reeks of detached bureaucracy, with one question that keeps coming up: who’s going to pay?” he said to European Parliament in May.

Eritrea denies troop movement inside northern Ethiopia as US calls for de-escalation.

Widespread voter disillusionment and pocketbook anxieties set a volatile stage for the GOP weeks before election night.

UK defence secretary trying to cool tensions and is arguing it is in America’s economic interests to support KyivWes Streeting urged the US to stand by Ukraine on his visit to the American capital and sought to cool tensions between the two countries in the wake of the Starlink row that is threatening to set back Kyiv’s war effort.The British defence secretary, giving a speech before a meeting with his US counterpart, Pete Hegseth, argued that supporting Ukraine was in the long-term interests of Washington – and a business opportunity. Continue reading...

Demonstrators demand resignation of Edi Rama after three days of clashes in capital TiranaAlbania’s prime minister has said he will not resign as a protest movement, initially prompted by a proposal to build a Trump family-backed resort in the Balkan state, turned violent with clashes convulsing the capital for a third consecutive day.Speaking on Thursday after calls by students who this week assumed control of the anti-government demonstrations that have rattled Tirana since June, Edi Rama said: “Governments are changed through democratic elections. We had elections last year, not a revolution.” Continue reading...

Paris and Berlin near deal on bloc’s ‘Made in Europe’ subsidy programme and combustion engine phaseout

The EU’s hybrid car deal with Beijing eases tensions but only offers a brief respite

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said he felt “betrayed” on Wednesday after access was seemingly restricted to US intelligence and Space X satellite services, raising new questions about US commitment to Ukraine. With Trump under pressure over rising fuel prices, is the White House hoping criticism of Kyiv can help shift the blame? 

In an interview with FRANCE 24, Palestinian activist Samer Sinijlawi called the postponement of the first legislative elections in 20 years to September 2027 "a terrible disappointment" for a generation that has never had a chance to vote. He also dismissed the citing of Israeli restrictions as an excuse, pointing instead to a "rejection" of change among ageing Palestinian leaders.

Scientists in the southern Ugandan city of Masaka are conducting a phase I trial of a candidate vaccine against the deadly Ebola Bundibugyo virus disease (BDBV), a strain for which no licensed vaccine or effective treatment currently exists.

A top US Treasury official highlighted Dakar's case as an example of improvements in sovereign debt restructuring.