'Hockey is religion': Montreal fans pack church for playoff push

Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu (Canada) (AFP) – Before the puck dropped in Friday's pivotal NHL playoff match, hundreds of Montreal Canadiens fans took their seats in two century old Catholic cathedral.


Issued on: 25/04/2026 - RFI

By the time the NHL playoffs started, the ornate Cathedral of St John the Evangelist in Quebec was ready to host © ANDREJ IVANOV / afp/AFP

But they weren't there to pray the Canadiens beat the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 of their first round series -- they were there to drink beer and watch the game.

"Hockey is a religion in Quebec," said Francoise Dancause, artistic director of the Cargaison collective, which curates immersive cultural experiences in Quebec.

She had the idea to install a hockey viewing experience in a church when she woke up on New Year's Day.

"The Canadiens had a good team. I said to myself, for sure we're making the playoffs," Dancause told AFP.

It took months of work, but by the time the NHL playoffs started, the ornate Cathedral of St John the Evangelist in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec was ready to host -- with a projection screen strung across the sanctuary.

"The Canadiens are larger than life," she said of the Montreal club, which has the most wins in NHL history with an unfailingly passionate fan base.

A church is an ideal setting for a high-stakes game in a hockey mad society 

© ANDREJ IVANOV / afp/AFP


"We often say they're our gods, so the parallel is really easy to make."

For her, a church is an ideal setting for a high-stakes game in a hockey mad society.

"It's the essence of the church: gathering, being together, living together," she added, conceding that some of the 650 people in attendance on Friday night "have never set foot in a church" previously.

For 94-year-old Aline Tremblay, watching hockey was the new experience.

She had been to the cathedral -- about a 40-minute-drive from Montreal -- for an earlier match in the Montreal-Tampa Bay series.

"It was fantastic, I had so much fun. I screamed, I lost my voice," she told AFP. "For once I shouted out loud in a church."

People drank beer and "everyone was happy," she said.

She came back for more on Friday, in what was the second hockey game she'd ever watched.

The church-going crowd didn't leave disappointed. Montreal won in overtime on Friday, taking a 2-1 lead in the best of seven series.

© 2026 AFP

Tickets for World Cup final in New Jersey appear on FIFA's resale site for €1.9m each

Copyright AP Photo

By Gavin Blackburn

Published on 24/04/2026 - EURONEWS

FIFA does not control prices on its Resale/Exchange Marketplace but charges a 15% purchase fee to each ticket buyer and a 15% resale fee to each ticket seller.

Four tickets for the World Cup final have gone on sale on FIFA's resale site, priced at just under $2.3 million (€1.9 million) each.

The seats for the 19 July match at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford — some 15 kilometres from New York City — are located behind a goal on the lower deck, in block 124.

FIFA does not control prices on its Resale/Exchange Marketplace but charges a 15% purchase fee to each ticket buyer and a 15% resale fee to each ticket seller.

The lowest-priced tickets for the final listed on the Marketplace were $10,923.85 (€9,332) for four seats, four rows from the top of the upper deck behind a goal, in block 323.

"FIFA has established a ticket sales and secondary market model that reflects standard ticket market practices for major sporting and entertainment events across the host countries," the governing body said in a statement.

This image from the FIFA Resale/Exchange Marketplace website shows the resale asking price for a ticket to the World Cup final, 23 April, 2026 AP Photo

"The applicable resale facilitation fees are aligned with industry standards across North American sports and entertainment sectors," the statement said.

"FIFA’s variable pricing ticketing approach aligns with industry trends across various sports and entertainment sectors, where price adaptations are made to optimise sales and attendance and ensure a fair market value for events."

FIFA said it reinvests World Cup revenue across its 211 member associations to develop the sport.

Anger among fans

In December, football fans accused FIFA of a "monumental betrayal" after the latest World Cup final tournament, hosted in the US, Mexico and Canada, ticket prices began circulating.

The governing body allocates 8% of tickets to national associations for games involving their teams, to be sold to the most loyal fans.

A list published by the German football federation revealed that prices ranged from $180 to $700 (€153 to €595) for various group-stage games. The lowest priced ticket for the final was $4,185 (€3,561), and the highest was $8,680 (€7,387).

Those group-stage prices are very different from FIFA's claims that $60 (€51) tickets were available, while the target of US football officials when bidding for the tournament seven years ago was to offer hundreds of thousands of $21 (€17) seats during the opening phase of games.

Fan organisation Football Supporters Europe (FSE) described the current prices as "extortionate".

"This is a monumental betrayal of the tradition of the World Cup, ignoring the contribution of supporters to the spectacle it is," it said in a statement.

FIFA said in September that tickets released through its website would initially range from $60 (€51) for group-stage matches to $6,730 (€5,727) for the final.

Related

FIFA is using dynamic pricing for the tournament. This means that the price customers pay can change during the ticket sale process, depending on demand and availability.

Euroconsumers, a European consumer rights organisation, and Football Supporters Europe filed a formal complaint to the European Commission last month over the soaring costs for 2026 World Cup tickets.

Now Is The Time To Build Trans-Caspian Pipelines – Analysis

 Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline. Source: Wikipedia Commons.

 April 25, 2026 

By Arab News

By Luke Coffey

There has recently been a lot of interest in the Middle Corridor’s growing importance as a key transit route connecting European and Asian markets for goods, energy and the movement of people. In simple terms, this corridor stretches from Turkiye, through the South Caucasus, across the Caspian and into Central Asia. This is the only trade route on the Eurasian landmass that bypasses both Russia and Iran.

The importance of this corridor was recently demonstrated in the air. Fighting in Iran closed many traditional airspace routes in the Middle East and uncertainty about the safety of commercial flights over Russia’s North Caucasus made the Middle Corridor vital for air transport.

In addition, there has been significant investment in improving the region’s ground transport infrastructure, with rail lines and roads being built and modernized and key ports on the Caspian Sea expanded and updated. One crucial area that needs more attention, however, is the free flow of energy resources, specifically oil and gas, along the Middle Corridor. This is where the Caspian Sea serves as both a challenge and an opportunity.

Two proposals that are now being debated deserve more attention. The first is the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline under the Caspian, which would connect Turkmenistan with Azerbaijan. The second is an oil pipeline under the Caspian connecting Kazakhstan with Azerbaijan, a newer idea that merits serious consideration.

The Trans-Caspian gas proposal has been discussed for decades but has made little progress. It would allow Turkmen gas to flow westward through existing infrastructure in the South Caucasus and onward to Europe. Europe depends heavily on the Caspian region for gas, primarily from Azerbaijan. This has been particularly true since Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which saw Europe’s imports of Russian gas sharply decline and its search for alternatives intensify, turning Brussels’ attention toward the Caspian.

While Azerbaijan has increased gas flows to Europe, there has also been growing discussion about looking farther east to Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan has some of the largest gas reserves in the world but it remains limited in terms of where it can export it. Russia was once the largest importer of Turkmen gas but now it is China.

Europe has never been able to tap into Turkmenistan’s reserves in a meaningful way because of the challenge of moving gas across the Caspian profitably. Liquefying natural gas for such a short distance is cost-prohibitive. The pipeline has not been built for two reasons: the legal questions surrounding the status of the Caspian Sea, and Iran and Russia insisting they should have a say in any major infrastructure project as littoral states. In sum, Tehran and Moscow do not want to compete with Turkmenistan as providers of energy resources.

Meanwhile, to the north, Kazakhstan is keen to better diversify how it exports its oil. Kazakhstan ranks around 12th globally in proven oil reserves. Right now, a vast majority of this oil is transported through Russian territory to the Black Sea via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium pipeline. But the war between Russia and Ukraine has made policymakers in Astana more interested in seeking alternative export arrangements.

International sanctions regimes can complicate the export of oil through Russian territory to global markets. Then there is the added complication of war. The Russian port city of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea, which serves as an export outlet for both Russian and Kazakh oil, has faced repeated disruption, while the overall security situation in the Black Sea is not conducive to the safe passage of commercial shipping.

In recent years, Kazakhstan has tried to diversify by shipping oil in smaller tankers to Baku and then into the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which runs through the South Caucasus into Turkiye, and onward to global markets through the Mediterranean. But the real constraints are the limited number of tankers and port infrastructure that is insufficient to move very large volumes. This is why there is growing interest in building a pipeline connecting Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan under the Caspian and then onward to global markets.

There is no better time for policymakers to push for both these initiatives. First, the geopolitical circumstances in the region facilitate the construction of such pipelines at a time when Russia and Iran would previously have opposed new infrastructure of this kind. Both are currently preoccupied elsewhere. Russia remains consumed by Ukraine, while Iran is focused on the consequences of its war with the US and Israel. With two Caspian states distracted, an opportunity exists for the other littoral states to advance their own interests in energy infrastructure.

Second, there is renewed US attention on the region that should be taken advantage of. In the 1990s, in the aftermath of the Soviet Union’s collapse, Washington was vocal in supporting the construction of new pipelines. Having American backing for new pipelines crossing the Caspian and linking Central Asia to the South Caucasus today would go a long way toward reassuring international investors.

Finally, both Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan want to diversify their exports. Turkmenistan continues to face a difficult economic situation, while Kazakhstan knows that as long as instability in the Black Sea persists, its oil exports could remain under threat. Diversifying export routes would go a long way toward alleviating these concerns.

The Caspian region has been, is and will continue to be an area of geopolitical importance. And the Middle Corridor will only grow in importance in the context of global trade. The sooner policymakers solve some of the energy transport problems associated with the Caspian, the better off the countries of the region will be. The stars have aligned geopolitically to make the dream of new pipelines under the Caspian a real possibility. Policymakers should not squander this moment.

• Luke Coffey is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. X: @LukeDCoffey

Under blackout threat, Wikimedia reaches compromise with Indonesia

Jakarta (AFP) – The Wikimedia Foundation said Saturday it has found a compromise with the Indonesian government, which had threatened to block Wikipedia over domestic registration rules the foundation feared were overly invasive.


Issued on: 25/04/2026 - RFI

Indonesia is one of the world's biggest internet users

 © YASUYOSHI CHIBA / AFP


Under a 2020 regulation, all electronic system providers (PSEs) must register in Indonesia for what the government calls legal and user protection purposes before making their services available.

Critics have pointed to a provision that requires registered PSEs to take down content deemed as "causing public unrest and disturbing public order" as a free speech restriction.

The Wikimedia Foundation, which owns and operates Wikipedia, had previously said the provision "departs from international human rights norms".

In a statement sent to AFP on Saturday, the foundation said it had a "very constructive meeting" earlier in the week with the Communication and Digital Affairs ministry, during which it explained its "non-profit mission" and "emphasised its commitment to protecting user privacy and security".

It said the ministry informed it that the registration requirement was administrative in nature.

"With assurances that there would be no unlawful content takedown orders or data disclosure requirements that could put the Wikimedia community-led model at risk, the Foundation is working constructively towards the administrative next steps," the statement said.

The ministry did not respond to an AFP request for comment.

The government last week gave the foundation seven days to register or face its services, including Wikipedia Indonesia, being blocked in the country of around 284 million people.

Last October, Indonesia briefly suspended TikTok's local operating licence after the social media platform refused to share information sought by Jakarta about violent anti-government protests earlier in the year.

© 2026 AFP

Crunch nuclear proliferation meeting at UN amid raging global wars

United Nations (United States) (AFP) – Signatories of the landmark nuclear non-proliferation treaty will meet at the UN from Monday as hopes fade they can reach agreement and tensions soar between the atomic powers.


Issued on: 25/04/2026 - RFI

North Korea's developing nuclear arsenal could be a deal-breaker © STR / KCNA VIA KNS/AFP/File

In 2022, during the last review of the treaty that is considered the cornerstone of non-proliferation, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned humanity was "one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation."

The situation has only worsened since then.

"I think there is a shared, if you will, sense of crisis by all states parties," said Izumi Nakamitsu, the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs.

"We don't have any bilateral arms control agreements between the two largest nuclear weapon states," she said referring to the February expiration of the New Start treaty between Moscow and Washington.

"We are also beginning to see quantitative increase of nuclear capabilities in all nuclear weapon states."

Nakamitsu said that mounting geopolitical tensions had halted the post-Cold War trend of disarmament.

The nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT), signed by almost all the countries on the planet -- with notable exceptions like Israel, India, and Pakistan -- aims to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, to promote complete disarmament, and to encourage cooperation on civilian nuclear projects.

The nine nuclear-armed states -- Russia, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, China, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea -- possessed 12,241 nuclear warheads in January 2025, according to the latest report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

The United States and Russia hold nearly 90 percent of nuclear weapons globally and have carried out major programs to modernize them in recent years, according to SIPRI.

China has also rapidly increased its nuclear stockpile, SIPRI said, with the G7 raising the alarm Friday over Moscow and Beijing boosting their nuclear capabilities.

US President Donald Trump has indicated his intention to conduct new nuclear tests because "other countries are doing it too."

In March, France's President Emmanuel Macron announced a dramatic shift in nuclear deterrence, notably an increase in the atomic arsenal, currently numbering 290 warheads.
NPT could 'unravel'

"It is obvious that trust is eroding, both inside and outside the NPT," Seth Sheldon of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, told AFP.

He questioned the likely outcome of the four-week summit.

Decisions on the NPT have to be agreed by consensus, with the previous two conferences failing to adopt final political declarations.

In 2015, the deadlock was largely due to opposition by Israel's arch-ally Washington to the creation of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East.

Stockpiled warheads © Janis LATVELS / AFP


In 2022, the impasse was due mainly to Russian opposition to references to Ukraine's nuclear power plant at Zaporizhzhia, occupied by Moscow.

This year's summit could fall on any number of stumbling blocks.

The ongoing war in Ukraine, Iran's nuclear program and the war there, non-nuclear states' fears over proliferation and North Korea's developing arsenal could all be deal-breakers.

If there is a third consecutive failure, the treaty "might not implode overnight" said Christopher King, the conference's secretary-general.

But there is a risk "it will, over time, unravel."

Artificial intelligence could be a prominent issue as some countries call for all sides to keep human control over nuclear weapons.

© 2026 AFP

France leaves climate change off G7 environment summit agenda to placate US

G7 environment ministers in Paris have excluded climate change from their agenda to placate the United States, which has withdrawn from global climate agreements.


Issued on: 24/04/2026 - RFI

France’s Minister for Ecology Monique Barbut, host of the G7 environment minister meeting in Paris, which will address oceans, biodiversity and desertification, but not climate change, in order to avoid a row with the United States. © Géraud Bosman-Delzons/RFI

"We chose not to address the climate issue head-on, because the United States' positions on this subject are well known," France's ecology minister Monique Barbut, said.

Under President Donald Trump, the US, the largest and most powerful member of the Group of Seven industrialised economies, withdrawn from global agreements and rolled back environmental protections.

"We wanted to prioritise G7 unity, particularly to protect this forum," Barbut added, saying her ministry would instead focus on "less contentious issues".

Barbut is joined in Paris by the environment ministers of Italy, Canada, Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom.

The US is represented by Usha-Maria Turner, assistant administrator for the Office of International and Tribal Affairs at the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Representatives of Mongolia and Armenia, hosts of upcoming COPs on desertification and biodiversity will also attend.

Oceans, deserts, not climate

Barbut's office said the meeting will focus on ocean conservation, biodiversity funding, and the transformation of dry areas into desert.

The meeting takes less than a week before more than 50 countries are to meet in Santa Marta, Colombia, for the first-ever global conference dedicated to phasing out fossil fuels, the main driver of climate change.

France is hoping to win US and other countries’ backing for the new Nature and People Finance Alliance, an initiative it is spearheading to to raise public and private finance for the protection of biodiversity.

Barbut's ministry would like to use the occasion to announce $800 million (€684 million) in funding for protecting national parks in some 20 African countries.

The G7 meeting also hopes to reach a political declaration on desertification and security, while sessions on oceans will look to strengthen an alliance on marine protected areas.

Water pollution will be addressed in one session, while the ministers will visit the Fontainebleau forest south of Paris as part of a session dedicated to forests.

(with AFP)

Latin American migrants deported from US await their fate in DRC

The first group of Latin American migrants deported from the United States to the Democratic Republic of Congo has arrived in Kinshasa, under a controversial US scheme to transfer undocumented foreign nationals to third-party countries. They told RFI they feel "scared" in DRC.


Issued on: 24/04/2026 - RFI

Hugo Palencia, a Colombian who was among those deported to Kinshasa, 23 April. © Paulina Zidi / RFI


The group of 15, from Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, arrived last Friday in the central African country and are now being housed in Venus Village – run-down hotel complex on the outskirts of the capital.

Granted one-week visas on arrival, they must now decide whether to return to their home countries or remain in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

None of them speak French – the country's official language.

The DRC – one of a number of African nations that have agreed to take in deported migrants – is one of the world's 15 poorest countries, thousands of kilometres from the Americas.

“For now, my living conditions are stable. I have a room to sleep in, three meals a day and, at this stage, I feel fine,” Hugo Palencia, a 25-year-old Colombian, told RFI. He said he spent five months in US detention before being deported to DRC.

“I don’t go out – not on the streets or anywhere else. But for now, I'm OK,” he added.

Others, who chose to speak anonymously, told of their detention in US immigration centres, being given less than 24 hours warning of deportation and a rushed departure from Louisiana.

They spoke of a 27-hour flight with stopovers in Dakar and Accra, arriving at N’djili airport in the middle of the night, in heavy heat and humidity, before being taken to Venus Village.

Since then, they've rarely left the site.

'More scared here than in Colombia'

Kinshasa said in a statement earlier this month that the operation would be entirely financed by the US, without impacting the Congolese public treasury.

In addition to DRC, the US has signed deportation agreements with Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Ghana, Rwanda and South Sudan.

“I don’t understand why the United States makes agreements with African countries,” said Palencia.

“With all due respect, DRC is less developed than the US or our countries. There's extreme poverty here and more insecurity than in Colombia, where the situation is already difficult.”

Many said they were worried about what comes next.

A woman named Paola said they have until Friday, 24 April to decide whether to stay and apply for asylum in DRC, or to opt for voluntary return. The process could take several months.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), which takes charge of the deportees once they have obtained short-stay visas, told French news agency AFP it can offer "assisted voluntary return to migrants who request it".

Some have already made their choice.

“Honestly, I don’t intend to stay,” said Palencia. “I want to return to my country to see my son, my family, my father and my mother. They're waiting for me. With all due respect to DRC, I am more scared here than in Colombia.”

Hugo Palencia Ropero, 25, sits outside his room at a hotel on the outskirts of Kinshasa on 22 April, 2026. AFP - GLODY MURHABAZI


Court ruling ignored

Palencia said he is now in contact with the Colombian authorities and is waiting for travel documents.

“I want the foreign ministry or the Colombian consulates to contact the organisation in charge of us as soon as possible. We saw a statement from our president, Gustavo Petro, who wants us to return as quickly as possible.”

But he remains angry about his deportation. He claims he was protected by a US court ruling issued shortly before he was expelled.

Others made similar claims – Paola said she was also covered by a court decision.

Palencia says he does not understand how US immigration authorities were able to put him on a flight to Kinshasa without his consent – and despite a judge’s ruling.

This article was partially adapted from the original version in French by Pauline Zidi.

Cyprus: How the Iran war is shaping Europe’s closest frontier to the conflict

By Monica Pinna

Published on 24/04/2026 - EURONEWS

On 1 March, an Iranian-made Shahed drone launched from Lebanon hit the British airbase of Akrotiri in Cyprus, bringing the Iran war unexpectedly closer to Europe. This report explores the tensions shaping the European Union’s closest frontier to the conflict.

Cyprus, long seen as a stable country, is now emerging as a strategic frontline — caught between regional tensions, global powers and its own unresolved north-south division.

The British sovereign base areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia cover around 3% of the Republic of Cyprus, in the south of the island. They go well beyond the perimeter of the bases, overlapping on almost 60% of the municipality of Kourion, home to 40,000 people.

In the village of Akrotiri, located just outside the base, residents are used to the constant presence of jets and patrols and around a third of the population works on the base.

When the drone struck, confusion followed.

Deputy Mayor of Akrotiri Giorgos Kostantinou showing reporter Monica Pinna the proximity of his village to the British Royal Airforce Base of Akrotiri Ivan Charalambous/Euronews March 2026

“There were sirens, but no clear instructions,” said deputy mayor of Akrotiri Giorgos Kostantinou. The evacuation order came only the next day. Around 1,000 people were temporarily displaced, relying on relatives, hotels and a nearby monastery.

The incident exposed a legal grey zone: Cypriot authorities have no jurisdiction over the British sovereign base areas, limiting their ability to act in emergencies.

Strategic asset or growing threat?

The bases have long been a sensitive issue in Cyprus. Retained by the UK after the island’s independence in 1960, they are seen by some as a colonial legacy.

The right-wing Cypriot government has raised questions about the future of the bases after the drone strike, with the issue remaining a long-standing source of political friction.

“For many people, the base is becoming a threat,” said Pantelis Georgiou, mayor of the Kourion municipality. “We need clarity on who is responsible, especially for civil protection.”

Mayor of Kourion municipality, Pantelis Georgiou, explains “People are starting to feel that having a military base of that size in the area is a threat.” Ivan Charalambous/Euronews March 2026

Cyprus, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, is not a NATO member and relies on its European allies and the UK for its defence.

Following the attack, several European countries deployed military assets to the region, including Greece, while the UK allowed the US to use its bases for "defensive operations".

Tourism caught in the crossfire

Despite security concerns, authorities are keen to project calm. Tourism — which accounts for about 12% of Cyprus’s GDP — remains a priority.

Industry representatives have downplayed the incident, but the impact was immediate. Hotel bookings dropped by nearly 40% in March, just as the season was beginning.

Officials insist the long-term impact will depend on how the conflict evolves.

The Middle East crisis is also reverberating through Cyprus’ lasting political divide.

The island has been split since 1974 between the internationally recognised Republic of Cyprus and the self-declared north Cyprus, recognised only by Turkey.

Military posturing on both sides has intensified, with Turkey reinforcing its presence in the north after European deployments in the south.

Nicosia: Checkpoint to cross into self-declared ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’ recognised only by Turkey Monica Pinna/Euronews March 2026

Analysts warn that the Middle East conflict could deepen divisions and further delay reunification efforts.

For now, daily life continues much as before. But beneath the surface, the war is reshaping the island — politically, economically and socially.

Cyprus remains physically distant from the frontlines, yet increasingly exposed to their consequences. The question is no longer whether the conflict affects the island, but how far those effects will go.

EU and US deepen cooperation on critical minerals amid concerns over China’s dominance

Copyright AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.

By Emma De Ruiter

Published on 24/04/2026 - EURONEWS

EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič said that with the Memorandum of Understanding, "we will be delivering on our goals much faster than before."

The European Union and United States signed an agreement Friday to coordinate on the supply of critical minerals needed for key industries including defence.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on a Strategic Partnership for Critical Minerals in the Treaty Room of the State Department in Washington.

Rubio stated ahead of the signing that the awareness and commitment to the European Union shows "the importance of supply chains and critical minerals to the success of our economies, and to our national security."

Rubio highlighted that the over-concentration of these resources, and the fact that one or two places dominate them, is an unacceptable risk.

"We need diversity in our supply chains. Diversity in the places where they're critical in the world," Rubio added.

Šefčovič echoed the importance of the agreement, saying, "I believe that we will be even more strategic together. We will be delivering on our goals much faster than before. And we, of course, will be growing stronger together in this very important area."

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maroš Šefčovič at the State Department, Friday, April 24, 2026, in Washington. AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.

Countering China's dominance

The pact marks a rare embrace by President Donald Trump's administration of the role of the EU, which it often berates as it instead champions right-wing populists within Europe.

Flexing its muscle at times of tension, Beijing has restricted exports of critical minerals needed for products including semiconductors, electric vehicle batteries and weapons systems.

"We have to make sure that these supplies and these minerals are available for our futures and in ways that are not monopolised in one place or concentrated heavily in one place," he said.

They will also look at coordinating any subsidies and stockpiles of critical minerals, coordinate joint standards to ease trade across the Western world, and together invest in research.

The Trump administration has previously called for a preferential trade zone among allies on critical minerals.

Washington has also unveiled critical minerals action plans with Mexico and Japan, alongside a supply framework with Australia and others.

'Positive traction' needed on US steel tariffs

The EU is also seeking more progress in easing the effects of US steel tariffs, Šefčovič said, adding that talks are "going in a positive direction."

The bloc wants to align approaches with the United States towards third countries when it comes to steel trade, he added.

With US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, "we agreed to accelerate this work at a technical level," Šefčovič told reporters.

But key issues remain in the transatlantic trade relationship.

Since Trump returned to the White House last year, European manufacturers have been hit by his sharp 50-percent tariff on steel and aluminum imports.

While Brussels and Washington clinched a deal last summer setting US tariffs at 15 percent for most EU goods, steel and aluminum products were not covered.

While Trump's administration recently simplified how its import tariffs on steel are applied, Šefčovič said: "We still have some issues with the remaining products which are listed."

"It would be very important to have positive traction on this," he added.

Šefčovič stressed that the United States and European Union both face an issue of overcapacity in the market, recounting the EU's recent decision to double tariffs on foreign steel to shield its industry from cheap Chinese exports.

"As a next step, we want to launch work with the US on steel ring-fencing, aligning our approaches towards third countries," Šefčovič said.

This would help to build a "defensive mechanism against subsidised steel, against global overcapacities," he added.

 

UK House of Lords accused of 'obstructionism' as time runs out on assisted dying bill

Copyright AP Photo

By Gavin Blackburn

Published on 24/04/2026 - EURONEWS

MPs in the House of Commons had backed legalising euthanasia for adults who have been given less than six months to live and can clearly express a wish to die, in a historic vote last June.

A bill to legalise assisted dying for terminally ill adults in England and Wales failed in parliament on Friday after getting bogged down in Britain's unelected upper house, as campaigners vowed to fight on.

Charlie Falconer, who sponsored the legislation in the House of Lords, accused opponents of "pure obstructionism" after the bill simply ran out of time.

MPs in the House of Commons had backed legalising euthanasia for adults who have been given less than six months to live and can clearly express a wish to die, in a historic vote last June.

But more than 1,200 bill amendments subsequently introduced in the second chamber meant that after the end of Friday's debate there was no chance it would pass before parliament concludes its current session next week.

"It was an absolute travesty of our processes in which a few Lords manipulated by putting down 1,200 amendments... and then talking and talking and talking," Falconer said minutes after the bill failed.

"The problem was pure obstructionism by a small number," he insisted.

A campaigner holds a banner outside parliament in London as a proposed law to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales ran out of time, 24 April, 2026 AP Photo

Kim Leadbeater, the MP who introduced the bill in the House of Commons in 2024, added she believed there was a "real sense of injustice...that what's happened is wrong."

Both chambers of Britain's parliament must approve legislation for it to become law and bills that are still in progress when a session ends usually fail.

"We're incredibly angry with what's happened but we're determined to get it through, this is not the end, we will not be stopped," campaigner Rebecca Wilcox told the AFP news agency.

Wilcox added assisted dying advocates hope that an MP will carry on the fight when parliament reconvenes for its next term in mid-May.

The current draft law was a private member's bill, not government legislation, which requires an MP to introduce it and faces a bigger challenge to get parliamentary time and get on the statute books.

"We're hoping one (MP) of them will resurrect this bill (and) it will go through parliament. We're pretty confident of that," Wilcox said.

Members of the House of Lords and guests take their seats in the Lords Chamber ahead of the State Opening of Parliament, 17 July, 2024 AP Photo

'Deliberate delaying'

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill would have seen Britain emulate several other countries in Europe and elsewhere to allow some form of assisted dying.

More than 200 lawmakers signed a letter late on Thursday blaming the bill's scuppering on "deliberate delaying tactics pursued by a minority of peers opposed to its passage."

"I'm really sad, really upset, really disappointed, but also a little bit angry," Leadbeater said earlier on Friday, adding the terminally ill would continue to be denied "choice, compassion and dignity."

Campaigners hold a banner outside parliament in London as a proposed law to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales ran out of time, 24 April, 2026 AP Photo

Leadbeater vowed supportive MPs will "go again" in the next parliamentary session, though the legislative process will have reset and a different MP will likely need to introduce a new bill.

"The issue is not going away, there's a very clear direction of travel around the world," she said, adding polling in Britain showed support for the change.

But critics, including the Christian Medical Fellowship (CMF) which represents medical professionals opposed to assisted dying, said they were "relieved."

"It is not possible to construct an assisted suicide service that is safe, equitable, and resistant to placing unacceptable pressure on the most vulnerable," a spokesperson said in statement.

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Under the proposed legislation, any patient's wish to die would have to be signed off by two doctors and a panel of experts. They would have to be able to administer the life-ending substance themselves.

Its supporters said it would give people with an incurable illness dignity and choice at the end of their lives.

Assisted suicide is legal in countries including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and parts of the US.