Archive June 26, 2025

The heads of the 27 member countries of the European Union will meet in Brussels to discuss more severe sanctions against Russia, ways to avoid painful new US tariffs, and how to speak out against Middle Eastern conflicts.

Most of the leaders will leave from a brief but contentious NATO summit on Thursday to discuss their disagreements with US President Donald Trump and pledge a significant boost to defense spending.

After meeting with Trump on Wednesday, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, will videoconference to the EU summit.

The US-led NATO downgraded Ukraine this week from a top priority to a side player, but the EU continues to be deeply concerned about Russia’s conflict there.

Members will be discussing whether to keep a price cap on Russian oil, which some countries oppose because it might cause higher energy prices, and whether a potential 18th round of sanctions against Russia might be implemented.

Trump’s threatened tariffs are also having an impact on the EU, which negotiates trade agreements with all 27 member nations. He criticised Spain on Wednesday and suggested adding more tariffs, criticizing them for not investing in defense. Trump’s handling of a trade war with long-time allies was criticized by France’s president.

Middle Eastern wars have raised concerns for European leaders, and the EU is urging Iran to resume diplomatic ties over its nuclear program.

Members of the EU must resolve internal disagreements. Because of how Israel acted in its conflict with Gaza, they have disagreements about what to do with European policy toward Israel. And left-leaning parties are criticizing EU Commissioner Ursula von Der Leyen’s decision to resign from the EU’s climate leadership in favor of military spending.

Jayden Seales and Shamar Joseph tore through Australia’s starting batting lineup, toppling them for a meager 180 on day one of the first Test at the Kensington Oval in Barbados, in a performance reminiscent of the fearsome bowling attacks of the old.

Australia’s blushes were saved by Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, and Josh Hazlewood, who had taken four wickets to lead the West Indies at stumps at 57 for four before the match was delicately poised on Wednesday.

The visitors never recovered from a disastrous start, which saw them reeling at 22 for three on a lively pitch, with Seales claiming a magnificent five-wicket haul and Joseph unleashing thunderbolts that left Australia’s batsmen stranded.

Seales said, “This one was pretty special for me.”

“I once played against]Australia], and I was hurt. It was pretty remarkable to play them and receive five on the opening day.

The intention was to bowl fuller with the new ball. The intention was to bowl full and as far away from the stumps as possible because we knew the batters would bat if we gave them width.

“A little slower than the Australians would have anticipated, and that increased their intensity.

Shamar is special today because he is in love with Australia. He made it simple in the middle and the end while passing the highest order.

Australia watched in shock as their re-jigged top order wilted under constant pressure from the Caribbean quicks, already vulnerable with Steve Smith sidelined by injury and Marnus Labuschagne axed.

After a review, Joseph threw Sam Konstas’ leg before the end of the fourth over to start the Bridgetown carnival.

The 25-year-old then delivered a scorching delivery that Justin Greaves’ second-round pick Cameron Green could only challenge.

Seales then joined the action, convincing Josh Inglis to force him to trudge back to the pavilion for five before getting horror-packed Australia’s first start.

Usman Khawaja and Travis Head, who are seasoned veterans, briefly turned the tables with an 89-run partnership, but Joseph returned at the perfect moment, removing Khawaja for 47, which is agonisingly short of his half-century, and stifling Australian hopes of recovery.

Beau Webster (11) and Alex Carey (8), who fell cheaply in the middle order, were met with little resistance before Greaves, who was caught behind, claimed the prized Head for 59.

Before Seales returned to complete his five-wicket masterclass and departing Australia to consider the wreckage of their innings, Captain Pat Cummins (28) provided the only lower-order resistance.

West Indies would have preferred to have taken their chances at that point, but Starc had other ideas and took the wickets of John Campbell and Kraigg Brathwaite in an action-packed opening match.

As the Barbadian sun set on a thrilling day of pace-dominated Test cricket, Cummins then had Keacy Carty caught out for a run on 20 before Hazlewood bowled nightwatchman Jomel Warrican out for a duck.

A week before his trial was scheduled to start, a former director of Venezuelan military intelligence admitted guilt to drug trafficking and narcoterrorism charges in a federal court.

Hugo Carvajal, who served under President Hugo Chavez’s rule from 2004 to 2011, entered a guilty plea in a Manhattan federal court on Wednesday on charges of narcoterrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, and weapons possession.

Federal prosecutors claimed the former major-general was responsible for a drug cartel that attempted to “flood” the US with cocaine along with other senior Venezuelan government and military officials.

According to the prosecution, the cartel collaborated with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a de facto destabilized armed group that the US once viewed as a “terrorist” organization.

Prosecutors wrote to the defense attorney this week that they thought federal sentencing guidelines mandated a mandatory minimum of 50 years in prison.

The interim US attorney in Manhattan, Jay Clayton, said in a statement, “the deeply troubling reality is that there are powerful foreign government officials who conspire to flood the United States with drugs that kill and debilitate.”

El Pollo,

Carvajal, who is referred to as one of the most powerful members of the socialist leader’s 1999-2013 rule, was a part of the failed 1992 coup that resulted in Chavez becoming known. He is known as “the chicken” or “El Pollo” in Spanish.

After breaking with him to support the US-backed political opposition, Carvajal then traveled as a diplomat for the current Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro’s government.

Following a more than 10-year search by the Justice Department to bring him to US soil in July 2023, Carvajal was extradited from Spain.