Donald Trump’s leverage over Visa and Mastercard highlights a blind spot in Europe’s ‘independence’ strategy. Emulating India’s response might help
When the centre-left French politician Aurore Lalucq posted a warning last Wednesday that Donald Trump could cut off Europe from international payment systems, the clip went viral. To many, her message made sense. After all, if Mr Trump was prepared to test allies’ boundaries over Greenland, it is not far-fetched to imagine Visa and Mastercard becoming used against a recalcitrant Europe.
The US can turn off payment systems it controls. Russia learned this first-hand after sanctions were rightly applied for its invasion of Ukraine. As up to 60% of Russian retail transactions depended on Visa and Mastercard for authorisation, the ban left many ordinary people stranded without access to funds and unable to buy goods. Under Mr Trump, America’s goal is to “help Europe correct its current trajectory”. Given such talk, Ms Lalucq, who chairs the European parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee, is not wrong in calling for an “Airbus of European payments” to protect the EU.
Le président ukrainien Volodymyr Zelensky a de nouveau plaidé dimanche 25 janvier auprès de ses homologues polonais et lituanien à Vilnius pour plus de moyens de défense antiaérienne contre les frappes russes qui ont privé des centaines de milliers d'habitants de Kiev d'électricité et de chauffage au plus fort de l'hiver.
Le président ukrainien Volodymyr Zelensky a de nouveau plaidé dimanche 25 janvier auprès de ses homologues polonais et lituanien à Vilnius pour plus de moyens de défense antiaérienne contre les frappes russes qui ont privé des centaines de milliers d'habitants de Kiev d'électricité et de chauffage au plus fort de l'hiver.
Pour déterminer l'autonomie réelle d'une voiture électrique, des tests sont réalisés en laboratoire. Mais les protocoles de test varient selon les régions du monde. WLTP, EPA, CLTC... voici tout ce qu'il faut retenir sur les différents cycles d'homologation.
Pour déterminer l'autonomie réelle d'une voiture électrique, des tests sont réalisés en laboratoire. Mais les protocoles de test varient selon les régions du monde. WLTP, EPA, CLTC... voici tout ce qu'il faut retenir sur les différents cycles d'homologation.
Experts say souped-up e-bikes pose big risk for children aged from 12 to 15, who account for many A&E cases
On a busy lunchtime, thick-tyred electric bikes zoom through the leafy lanes of the Vondelpark in Amsterdam. But after a marked rise in accidents – particularly involving children – these vehicles the Dutch call “fatbikes” are to be banned in some parts of the Netherlands.
“It’s nonsense!” said Henk Hendrik Wolthers, 69, from the saddle of his wide-tyred, electric Mate bike. “I drive a car, I ride a motorbike, I’ve had a moped and now I ride a fatbike. This is the quickest means of transport in the city and you should be able to use it.”
Archaeologists in Denmark unveiled the world's largest medieval cog ship, discovered off Copenhagen after 600 years underwater. The vessel is in remarkable preservation.
Le pétrolier intercepté le 22 janvier par la marine française en Méditerranée est arrivé sous escorte dans un port près de Marseille et mis « à la disposition de la justice française ». Le « Grinch » est soupçonné de faire partie de la « flotte fantôme » russe permettant à Moscou de vendre son pétrole en contournant les sanctions internationales. Samedi 24 janvier, le capitaine « de nationalité indienne », âgé de 58 ans, du pétrolier a été placé en garde à vue pour « défaut de pavillon », a indiqué dimanche le parquet de Marseille.
Le pétrolier intercepté le 22 janvier par la marine française en Méditerranée est arrivé sous escorte dans un port près de Marseille et mis « à la disposition de la justice française ». Le « Grinch » est soupçonné de faire partie de la « flotte fantôme » russe permettant à Moscou de vendre son pétrole en contournant les sanctions internationales. Samedi 24 janvier, le capitaine « de nationalité indienne », âgé de 58 ans, du pétrolier a été placé en garde à vue pour « défaut de pavillon », a indiqué dimanche le parquet de Marseille.
In the search for stability, some western nations are turning to a country that many in Washington see as an existential threat
If geopolitics relies at least in part on bonhomie between global leaders, China made an unexpected play for Ireland’s good graces when the taoiseach visited Beijing this month. Meeting Ireland’s leader, Micheál Martin, in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China’s president, Xi Jinping, said a favourite book of his as a teenager was The Gadfly, by the Irish author Ethel Voynich, a novel set in the revolutionary fervour of Italy in the 1840s.
“It was unusual that we ended up discussing The Gadfly and its impact on both of us but there you are,” Martin told reporters in Beijing.
First round of trilateral meetings shows ‘a lot of progress’ made towards peace, says US official, despite new Russian attacks. What we know on day 1,432
Ukraine and Russia have agreed to hold a second round of US-brokered direct peace talks next weekend after a two-day meeting in Abu Dhabi, despite Ukrainian complaints that negotiations were undermined by a barrage of deadly strikes. The trilateral talks in the UAE would resume on 1 February, a US official said on Saturday, adding: “I think getting everyone together was a big step. I think it’s a confirmation of the fact that, number one, a lot of progress has been made to date in really defining the details needed to get to a conclusion.” The talks were the first known direct contact between Ukrainian and Russian officials on a plan being pushed by Donald Trump to end the nearly four-year war. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said “a lot was discussed, and it is important that the conversations were constructive”.
Russia was criticised for launching drone and missile attacks on Kyiv and Kharkiv – Ukraine’s two largest cities – during peace talks in Abu Dhabi, reported Peter Beaumont. “Peace efforts? Trilateral meeting in the UAE? Diplomacy? For Ukrainians, this was another night of Russian terror,” the country’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said after the latest Russian assault on critical infrastructure. With Kyiv and other cities in the midst of widespread outages of heat, water and power after Russian attacks on energy infrastructure, officials in the capital said one person had been killed and at least 15 injured in the strikes that continued until morning.
US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff spoke to Russian president Vladimir Putin for four hours in Moscow ahead of the trilateral peace talks, a US official said. They “met for just about four hours, and again, [a] very, very productive discussion, speaking about the final issues that are open”, the official told a media call on Saturday.
The governor of the Russian border region of Belgorod said Ukrainian forces had launched a “massive” attack on the region’s main town, damaging energy infrastructure but causing no casualties. Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram on Saturday that a building in the town – also called Belgorod – had been set on fire and an emergency crew was tackling the blaze. A downed drone had also damaged homes in a nearby village, he said.
The Russian defence ministry said on Saturday its forces had completed the takeover of the village of Starytsya in Ukraine’s north-eastern Kharkiv region. The village is near the town of Vovchansk, close to the Ukraine-Russia border, where Russian forces launched an incursion in May 2024, and Moscow’s troops have been trying to extend their gains despite Ukrainian resistance. The Ukrainian military’s general staff said late on Saturday that Russian forces had launched six attacks on an area including Starytsya. It made no acknowledgement that the village had changed hands. Ukraine’s DeepState military blog made no mention of the village in a report on Friday but said Russian forces “are continuing their pressure in the Vovchansk area”. The battlefield reports could not be independently verified.
An intercepted oil tanker suspected of belonging to Russia’s shadow fleet headed on Saturday to a port in southern France for police to inspect, French authorities said. The tanker, the Grinch, was intercepted on Thursday morning in international waters between Spain and North Africa, French president Emmanuel Macron said on X. French prosecutors suspect it of belonging to the network of vessels Moscow is accused of using to dodge sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine. The tanker would be anchored at Fos-sur-Mere near Marseille and kept at the disposal of the Marseille public prosecutor as part of a preliminary investigation for failure to fly a flag, the regional maritime prefecture said.
Plusieurs pays européens ont dénoncé les propos de Donald Trump qui avait déclaré jeudi 22 janvier que les alliés de l'Otan étaient restés « un peu loin des lignes de front » en Afghanistan, ce qui a poussé le président américain à revenir partiellement sur ses propos.
Plusieurs pays européens ont dénoncé les propos de Donald Trump qui avait déclaré jeudi 22 janvier que les alliés de l'Otan étaient restés « un peu loin des lignes de front » en Afghanistan, ce qui a poussé le président américain à revenir partiellement sur ses propos.
La deuxième session de pourparlers à Abou Dhabi entre négociateurs russes, ukrainiens et américains s'est achevée samedi 24 janvier, a annoncé la porte-parole d'un négociateur de Kiev. De nouvelles rencontres entre Ukrainiens, Russes et Américains devraient avoir lieu la semaine prochaine.
Amid the tumult of the WEF in Davos this week, some investors are leading the way by ditching US government bonds
There is a way to file for divorce from Donald Trump and Europe needs to grab the opportunity.
To the public it will look as if nothing has changed. But behind the scenes the EU and the UK could close the joint bank account and cut up the credit cards, or at least set in motion a form of financial separation that limits the power of a controlling former partner.
Many of those moved into an asylum return centre have held jobs for years and can speak the language
“Sweden did this for us,” said Sofiye*, making a supportive scooping up gesture with her hands. “And then, bam.” She dropped them to the ground.
Sofiye, who has three children, arrived in Sweden from Uzbekistan as an asylum seeker in 2008, and for much of that time she was able to build a life in the Scandinavian country. The family lived in a flat in a Stockholm suburb and Sofiye worked for the municipality in the home help department. She learned Swedish and her children went through the Swedish school system. Her youngest son was born in Sweden and her 18-year-old son, Hamza, who is studying in college to be a technician, doesn’t know life anywhere else.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer stood firm over Greenland. But his center-left government and the country as a whole have been buffeted by President Trump.
President Trump and Prime Minister Keir Starmer at Chequers, near London, in September during Mr. Trump’s state visit to Britain. During the debate over Greenland, Mr. Trump has had sharp words for Mr. Starmer.
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