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Countries that support Kyiv met in Paris Tuesday in a bid to move towards a settlement of the war in Ukraine, which will enter its fifth year next month. The summit of the "coalition of the willing" brings together 35 countries and aims to display the "convergence" between Washington, the Europeans and Kiev on the "operational modalities" of security...

Geopolitically and politically, Trump's capture of Nicholas Maduro appears to have the potential to deal a major blow to Latin America and Europe more than Russia and China. Even if Moscow and Beijing did not escape unscathed by the shock produced by Washington in Caracas, a few things are now certain: The Putin and Xi regimes have already benefited from...

Romanians on Tuesday celebrated Epiphany, one of the most important religious holidays in the Orthodox calendar. The January 6 feast features a variety of Christian and folk traditions, involving holy water, basil and horses. In the Orthodox Church, Epiphany marks the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan, while Catholics and Protestants celebrate Epiphany as the arrival of the Magi or...

In today’s news-packed episode of Critical Conditions, Claire and I wrestled with events in Venezuela and Iran — two crises separated by culture and geography but linked by questions of power, legitimacy, and what the world is willing to tolerate from regimes that have overstayed anything resembling a welcome (but also what the world will tolerate from Trump without...

Turkmenistan legalizes crypto mining and exchanges in bid to boost economy 2025 was a difficult year for crypto markets. Although bitcoin did see a new all-time high, it reversed those gains and finished the year lower, down 6%. Entering 2026, the bitcoin price has started to pick up from its recent $85,000 low, currently trading around the $92,500 level, writes Simon...

Ukraine and Moldova have joined the European Union’s mobile roaming zone, signaling deepening integration between the bloc and the two countries. The two EU candidates joined the bloc’s so-called ‘roam like at home area’ on January 1, a move which allows Moldovans and Ukrainians to make calls, send texts and use mobile data across the European Economic Area without incurring...

The Romanian capital got its first white Christmas in 13 years last month, and much of the country hasn’t seen a ‘proper winter’ with snowstorms and blizzards for many years. That will change this week, albeit temporarily, with weather forecasters predicting heavy snow, black ice and blizzards in the mountains and other regions. Bucharest is to be spared the current...

US President Donald Trump's spectacular move in Venezuela, airlifting troops and capturing the dictator Nicholas Maduro, has an unpleasant sub-story to it and it’s hard to imagine that it could have a very different outcome. For a president who ran on a so-called pacifist platform, slamming costly wars and excessive spending on foreign affairs, Donald Trump immediately grasped, in the...

"We are going to run Venezuela until a "safe, proper and judicious transition" can be ensured. "We're going to have our very large United States oil companies – the biggest anywhere in the world – go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure and start making money for the country," These are the two main elements...

After swooping into Venezuela and sweeping President Nicolás Maduro away, Donald Trump has gamely offered "to run the country until such time as we can do a safe and proper and judicious transition". Trump has said that American oil companies will move into Venezuela, “to be taking a tremendous amount of wealth from the ground” for Venezuelans and Americans alike.  He...