© Grant Hindsley for The New York Times
© Frans Schellekens/Redferns via Getty Images
Indiana Republicans’ redistricting rejection marks a rare ceasefire in the gerrymandering wars—and could lead to other state leaders backing off their own plans.
The result gives cover for some Democratic-leaning states to stand down, even as the party’s base is whipped into a frenzy over the issue. Lawmakers in Illinois and Maryland have for months had internal debates about whether to move forward with redrawing their maps, and Indiana’s decision was met with some relief from the mounting pressure they anticipated being under had Republicans in Indiana further gerrymandered their maps.
Illinois Democrats have long said they would only gerrymander if the Indiana GOP bowed to Trump’s demands and redid their own map. In the wake of Hoosier Republicans’ move on Thursday, they don’t seem eager to change their minds.
Maryland has been a mirror image of Indiana: One Democratic leader is rebuffing entreaties from top Democrats to eliminate the state’s lone remaining GOP seat.
Maryland Democratic Senate President Bill Ferguson has exchanged phone calls with Indiana Senate Republican leader Rodric Bray, four people familiar with the two leaders, granted anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly, tell POLITICO. Each has resisted pressure from top officials in their party to move on redistricting. Bray’s success could now lessen the pressure on Ferguson. Bray's spokesperson, Molly Swigart, said no deal was ever made between Bray and Ferguson on redistricting in their respective states.
And in Virginia, where Democrats gained 13 seats in their House of Delegates in November’s statewide elections, they’re poised to make drastic changes to their congressional maps that could net the party upwards of four seats. But that stance seems at odds with the views of Democratic Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger, who sounded reluctant to the idea of making wholesale changes to congressional lines at a POLITICO event earlier this week.
There are also headwinds elsewhere for Trump and his allies: Kansas and Kentucky Republicans have so far failed to move forward with their redistricting pushes that are complicated by opposition from Democratic governors; Ohio Republicans struck a compromise with Democrats for a less aggressive gerrymander than what some national leaders wanted; a judge picked a map in Utah that drew a safe Democratic seat; and Republicans are facing a potential setback for Missouri.
That doesn’t mean the redistricting wars are over. Lawmakers in a number of other states are still weighing their own maps, with GOP-led Florida and Democratic-controlled Virginia remaining the biggest question marks on the board. Republicans are still eying Kentucky and Nebraska as well.
“We’ve got a lot more states that we can do work on,” one person close to the White House granted anonymity to speak candidly on a sensitive matter told POLITICO Friday, while admitting that “Indiana was definitely frustrating.”
And if the U.S. Supreme Court issues a ruling further gutting the Voting Rights Act in the coming months, a number of states are expected to rush to redraw their lines before their states’ filing deadlines, in a move that could give the GOP a huge boost and potentially put the House out of reach for Democrats.
“The truth is, I think we're still, we're in the middle of this redistricting war,” said John Bisognano, president of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. “We're all waiting to hear back from the Supreme Court as to what they're going to do and how they're going to move forward.”
Here’s what to expect in the coming weeks from states including Maryland, Florida, Illinois and a challenge to the already-passed maps passed in Missouri.
Perhaps lawmakers breathing the biggest sigh of relief from Indiana bucking Trump’s redistricting push are those in Maryland.
Ferguson has for months been facing pressure from Democratic Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and national Democrats to wade into the redistricting fight. That lobbying campaign to net Maryland Democrats an additional seat would have been kicked into hyperdrive if Indiana had drawn new maps.
Reports of Ferguson possibly losing his grip on leading the Senate Democrats evaporated this week after he was unanimously renominated as Senate leader. Then on Thursday, just hours before the Indiana Senate cast the vote dooming the redistricting effort, Ferguson put out a statement with Democratic House Delegates Speaker Pro Tem Dana Stein declaring that lawmakers in the special session Moore called for next week will definitively not take up any new maps.
While that likely closes the door on the redistricting push for this year, Moore still has an opportunity to reignite a pressure campaign aimed at Ferguson to hold a vote on the issue in January, when the legislature returns for regular session. The governor’s Redistricting Advisory Commission is meeting Friday for its final public hearing to solicit comments from Maryland residents before its members make a recommendation to the governor and the General Assembly on whether to redraw maps.
For months, Illinois Democrats have suggested they were unlikely to try to squeeze another seat out of their already-gerrymandered state unless Indiana Republicans redrew their seats.
And while state Democratic leaders didn’t completely rule out redistricting in the wake of the Indiana GOP’s vote, they don’t sound particularly eager for a new map.
“Our neighbors in Indiana have stood up to Trump’s threats and political pressure, instead choosing to do what’s right for their constituents and our democracy,” Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement after the result, without saying what Illinois might do.
A person in Pritzker’s office, granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly, said the governor was less than equivocal in his statement because no one knows what Trump's next move might be.
State House and Senate Democratic leaders struck similar tones, praising their Hoosier neighbors while pledging to stay vigilant against similar efforts in other states.
Democrats’ best remaining chance for a multi-seat gerrymander is Old Dominion. But while statehouse leaders seem eager to push forward with a complicated plan for a voter referendum to approve a new gerrymander — much like California’s move — the state’s incoming Democratic governor doesn’t seem quite as eager to lend a hand.
The Democratic-dominated Virginia legislature is expected to easily pass a procedural measure before putting the issue of redistricting before voters to approve a constitutional Virginia amendment to redraw the state’s maps ahead of the midterms — a move that legislative leaders have teased could lead to a 10-1 map.
“I feel comfortable that we have an opportunity to do a number of maps here in Virginia to allow for us to level the playing field,” Virginia House Speaker Don Scott said at a POLITICO event this week.
But at the same event, Spanberger hedged when asked if she supported redrawing maps to achieve the feat.
“The calendar is tight, and for me, I want to win,” Spanberger said, pointing to Virginia’s first and second congressional districts that are currently held by Republicans. “I want to flip seats in the House of Representatives and I know that we can because I just won those districts.”
But when asked directly if redistricting is the way to go, Spanberger said Virginia should “leave open the option” of new maps, but ultimately voters will decide if the legislature should move forward.
Florida Republicans could deliver their party three to five more seats if they press ahead with mid-decade redistricting. But two factors complicate that effort.
First, GOP leaders aren’t on the same page. GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis has been touting the need to draw new maps since last summer, has suggested waiting until the spring of next year in case the U.S. Supreme Court weakens the VRA and bars the consideration of race when drawing lines, a position backed by the state’s GOP Senate president, Ben Albritton.
But state GOP House Speaker Daniel Perez said this week it is “irresponsible” to wait and that the House is prepared to send a map to the Senate during its regular session that starts next month.
Second, GOP leaders may be constrained by Florida’s voter-approved constitutional ban on redistricting for partisan gain. Democrats have already asserted that drawing up any new map is “illegal’ and would violate these standards signaling that litigation is likely if state legislators pass a new map. But Florida's conservative-dominated state Supreme Court already ruled in 2022 that legislators can sidestep minority protections when it allowed a previous GOP-drawn map that was muscled into law by DeSantis, weakening its impact.Perez insisted that he has not been under pressure from Trump or the White House to move ahead on redistricting. When asked on Friday if there was added pressure on the House to act due to the outcome in Indiana he said: “No sir.”
Missouri Republicans already passed a map to flip Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s (D-Mo.) district red, but Democrats are hoping to undo the GOP-passed map in Missouri via ballot measure. Earlier this week, they submitted more than double the 107,000 signatures required to force a statewide vote for the secretary of state.
If the signatures are validated, the map may not cannot go into effect in time for the midterms, and if voters approve the ballot measure, the map gets tossed. Republicans still have a bit of time, since GOP Secretary of State Denny Hoskins doesn’t have to approve the signatures until July. Plus, it’s unclear when the Republican-controlled Legislature will actually put those signatures up for a vote.
The timing is causing a bit of chaos. Since candidates need to file by the end of March, prospective members of Congress may have to file in districts that aren’t set for the midterms.
Adam Wren, Andrew Howard, Shia Kapos, Alex Gangitano and Gary Fineout contributed to this story.
© AP
Telegram/ZelenskyA large fire broke out on a Turkish car ferry anchored at the Ukrainian port city of Odesa after it was hit in a strike on Friday.
The company that operates the Cenk T confirmed the attack occurred at 16:00 local time (14:00 GMT) shortly after it docked at the Chornomorsk port.
Ukraine's President Volodymr Zelensky has blamed the strike on Russia, which has not commented.
The attack came hours after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Russian President Vladimir Putin that a limited ceasefire for energy facilities and ports could be beneficial. Russia has resisted all calls for a ceasefire.
Moscow has threatened to cut "Ukraine off from the sea" in response to Kyiv's maritime drone attacks on Russia's "shadow fleet" tankers thought to be used to export oil - and a main source for funding the ongoing war.
Cenk Denizcilik, the company that owns the cargo ship that operates on the Karasu-Odesa route across the Black Sea, said on Friday that it had been carrying "essential food supplies" when it was hit shortly after anchoring at the Ukrainian port city.
Emergency response measures were immediately activated with the vessel's crew, port fire brigade and assisting tugboats after a fire broke out on the forward section of the ship, the company's statement added.
"At this stage, there are no reports of casualties or injuries among the crew," it said.
Video footage of the attack's aftermath, which was shared on Zelensky's Telegram account, shows crews attempting to extinguish a large blaze on the vessel.
While condemning a series of missile attacks that Russia had carried out on the Odesa region the night before, the Ukrainian leader blamed Moscow for targeting the civilian Turkish ship, saying it "could not have any military meaning".
Turkey's foreign ministry said an agreement should be reached that would guarantee "the security of shipping and suspending attacks against energy and port infrastructure in order to prevent escalation in the Black Sea".
"We once again underline the importance of urgently ending the war between Russia and Ukraine," the ministry said.
Turkey has sought to maintain relations with the two warring countries since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
It also controls the Bosphorus Strait, which is a key passage for transporting Ukrainian grain and Russian oil out to the Mediterranean.
House Oversight CommitteeMore images from the estate of convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein have been released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.
The Democrats said the 19 images came from a tranche of 95,000 photos the committee received from Epstein's estate as part of its ongoing investigation.
US President Donald Trump, former Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon are among the high-profile figures featured in the photos. The images, many of which have been seen before, do not imply wrongdoing.
It comes one week before a deadline for the US justice department to release all Epstein-related documents, which are separate from the images shared by the committee on Friday.
The individuals featured in the images have not yet commented. Many of them have previously denied wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.
In a statement, Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, said: "It is time to end this White House cover-up and bring justice to the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and his powerful friends."
"These disturbing photos raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world. We will not rest until the American people get the truth. The Department of Justice must release all the files, NOW" he added.
Republicans, who are in the majority on the committee, have accused Democrats of "cherry-picking photos and making targeted redactions to create a false narrative about President Trump".
The White House called the release a "Democrat hoax" against Trump that has been "repeatedly debunked".
Trump appeared in three of the images released on Friday. One image showed him standing next to a woman whose face has been redacted.
Another showed Trump standing next to Epstein while talking to model Ingrid Seynhaeve at a 1997 Victoria's Secret party in New York – an image that was already publicly available.
House Oversight CommitteeA third photo showed Trump smiling with several women, whose faces have also been redacted, flanked on either side of him.
An additional photo showed an illustrated likeness of the president on red packets next to a sign that reads: "Trump Condom".
House Oversight CommitteeHouse Oversight CommitteeAmong the images released was what appeared to be cropped photo of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor next to Bill Gates. A fuller version of the photo, which was available on photo agency Getty Images, showed King Charles, the then-Prince of Wales, on the right side of the photo.
The Getty Images' caption said the picture was taken during a summit during the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in London in April 2018.
Getty ImagesFormer Trump adviser Steve Bannon was also pictured in some of the images. He was shown speaking with Epstein at a desk, and in another, standing beside him in front of a mirror.
House Oversight CommitteeA third image showed him speaking with filmmaker Woody Allen.
A photo featuring former US President Bill Clinton's showed him standing next to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 for her role in facilitating the disgraced financier's abuse.
Two other people the BBC has yet to identify are also in the image, which appeared to have been signed by Clinton.
Clinton has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein. In 2019, a spokesperson said he "knows nothing about the terrible crimes" Epstein pleaded guilty to.
Other prominent figures which appear in the images include US economist Larry Summers, lawyer Alan Dershowitz and entrepreneur Richard Branson. Not all the images show those individuals in the company of Epstein.
Epstein was charged with sex trafficking in July 2019. He died in prison a month later while awaiting trail.
The president was a friend of Epstein's, but has said they fell out in the early 2000s, years before he was first arrested.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.
The justice department is required to release investigative material related to Epstein by 19 December under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was signed into law by Trump last month.
AFP via Getty ImagesAngry French farmers are calling for more protests over the government-backed slaughter of cattle herds affected by so-called Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD).
On Thursday there were clashes between riot police and demonstrators in the southern Ariège department, after vets were called in to destroy potentially contaminated cattle at a farm.
Elsewhere in the south, farmers have dumped manure outside government buildings and blocked roads. The offices of several environmentalist groups were ransacked in the Charente-Maritime department.
LSD is a highly contagious bovine disease which is transmitted mainly by fly-bites. The symptoms are fever, mucal discharge and nodules on the skin.
ShutterstockThough mainly non-fatal, it can badly affect milk-production and the cows are unsaleable.
The disease arrived in Europe from Africa about ten years ago. France's first outbreak was in the Alps in June, when an infected herd forced the Tour de France cycle race to cut short one of its stages.
The government's policy of slaughtering entire herds where a single animal has been infected has run up against bitter opposition from two of the three main farmers' unions.
Conféderation Rurale and Conféderation Paysanne say the policy is being brutally applied, and is in any case unnecessary because a combination of selective culling and vaccination would suffice.
But most vets disagree.
"Right now we are unable to tell the difference between a healthy animal and a symptomless animal carrying the virus. That is the only reason we have to carry out these whole-herd slaughters," said Stephanie Philizot who heads the SNGTV vets' union.
Since June there have been around 110 outbreaks of LSD in France, originally in the east but now increasingly in the south-west. Ministry officials blame the illegal movement of cattle from affected zones. Around 3,000 animals have been slaughtered.
The French government is worried the protests could snowball into a wider movement among a farming population that feels itself under growing threat from the imposition of EU norms and competition from abroad.
A big protest is planned in Brussels next week during the summit of EU leaders. Several French farming sectors are in deep crisis, from wine-growers hit by falling consumption to poultry farmers hit by avian flu.
There is also widespread opposition to the impending signature of an EU free-trade agreement with South American countries, which farmers fear will open France to more cheap food imports, much of it produced under looser environmental and sanitary constraints.
AFP via Getty ImagesUS President Donald Trump has said the prime ministers of Thailand and Cambodia will halt fighting "effective this evening".
Trump made the announcement after telephone conversations with the two leaders following deadly border clashes in recent days which have left at least 20 people dead and half a million displaced.
Neither Thai PM Anutin Charnvirakul nor his Cambodian counterpart Hun Manet has commented.
However, after his call with Trump earlier, Charnvirakul told a news conference that a ceasefire would only come about if "Cambodia will cease fire, withdraw its troops, remove all landmines it has planted".
In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said both leaders "have agreed to CEASE all shooting effective this evening, and go back to the original Peace Accord made with me.
"Both Countries are ready for PEACE and continued Trade with the United States of America."
The long-standing border dispute escalated on 24 July, as Cambodia launched a barrage of rockets into Thailand, which responded with air strikes.
After days of intense fighting which left dozens dead, the neighbouring South East Asian countries agreed to an "immediate and unconditional ceasefire" brokered by Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
Since then, tensions continued to build.
This week, violence expanded into at least six provinces in north-eastern Thailand and five provinces in Cambodia's north and north-west.
The two countries have been been contesting territorial sovereignty along their 800km land border for more than a century, since the borders of the two nations were drawn after the French occupation of Cambodia.
美国众议院监督委员会的民主党议员，周五公布已故性犯罪者爱泼斯坦（Jeffrey Epstein）名下遗产中第二批照片，其中包括与多名政商名流合影，再度引发政坛震动。
此次公开的19张影像呈现爱泼斯坦过往与多位名人的互动，包括美国总统特朗普（Donald Trump）、前总统克林顿（Bill Clinton）、微软共同创办人盖兹（Bill Gates）、前财长萨默斯（Larry Summers）、亿万创业家布兰森（Richard Branson）、编导伍迪艾伦（Woody Allen）、前特朗普顾问班农（Steve Bannon）以及律师德肖维茨（Alan Dershowitz）等。委员会强调，照片本身并未显示这些人士涉及任何违法行为。
委员会表示，这批19张照片来自爱泼斯坦遗产，依传票提供的超过95,000张影像资料。民主党人称目前只审阅约25,000张，尚需“数天到数周”才能逐一过滤与适当遮蔽。部分影像被马赛克处理，民主党方面强调遮蔽仅限于必要区域。
新公布影像包括特朗普与数名女性合照，女性的脸部遭到遮蔽；另有一张特朗普与爱泼斯坦在活动上并肩而立、同时与一名金发女子交谈的照片。此外，也出现一个印有特朗普卡通头像并标示“I'm HUUUUGE!”的恶搞保险套，被陈列在一个标示“特朗普保险套4.50美元”的碗中。
其他影像则呈现班农与爱泼斯坦在镜前自拍、克林顿与爱泼斯坦及其前伙伴麦斯威尔（Ghislaine Maxwell）合照、盖兹与英国前安德鲁王子（Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor）同框、前哈佛校长萨默斯及律师德肖维茨等人。委员会指出，影像多数无法判定拍摄时间，也不一定是在爱泼斯坦犯罪期间所摄。
白宫发言人杰克森（Abigail Jackson）谴责民主党“再次选择性披露被挑选过、并随机遮蔽的照片，试图创造虚假的叙事。”她并称：“针对特朗普总统的民主党骗局屡次被推翻。特朗普政府为爱泼斯坦受害者做的，比民主党以往做过的任何事都多，包括多次要求透明、公开数千页文件、并呼吁调查爱泼斯坦的民主党朋友。”
共和党方面也批评民主党“只公布9万多张照片中极少一部分，企图抹黑特朗普”，强调目前收到的资料“未显示任何不法行为”。
民主党籍加州众议员、监督委员会资深议员加西亚（Robert Garcia）在声明中表示：“这些令人不安的照片，引发了更多关于爱泼斯坦及他与世界上一些最有权势的人，彼此之间关系的疑问。”
加西亚对媒体指出，民主党人已经审阅的照片中仍有“非常令人不安”的内容尚未公布，并呼吁政府应立即发布可公开的档案，而非等到最后期限。 “这些照片很重要，人们应自主判断看到的内容。我们的目的就是透明。”
此次公布的照片并不属于外界期待多时的“爱泼斯坦档案”，但再次凸显司法部只剩不到一周的期限，必须依《爱泼斯坦档案透明法》于12月19日前公开所有相关资料。
推动立法的共和党议员马西（Thomas Massie）警告，司法部若未依期限执行“将构成犯罪”。他同时表示目前看到更多大陪审团材料被移交司法部，对此“感到鼓舞”。
爱泼斯坦于2008年因引诱未成年少女卖淫罪名认罪；2019年在曼哈顿监狱等待更严重的联邦人口贩运指控审判时自杀身亡。他生前与众多政商名流往来密切，但多数人士反覆否认涉及任何不法行为。
克林顿方面多次表示他在爱泼斯坦2019年遭逮捕前便已与其切断往来；盖兹则说与爱泼斯坦会面是“巨大的错误”，并否认爱泼斯坦曾为他工作。特朗普与爱泼斯坦曾于纽约与棕榈滩社交圈互动，但特朗普称两人早于2004年闹翻，且他“多年来一再否认任何不当行为”，白宫则称相关说法是“骗局”。
虽然部分曾与爱泼斯坦往来的人士因名誉或职涯承受后果，例如萨默斯辞去OpenAI董事职务，安德鲁王子则放弃王室头衔，但都否认任何犯罪行为。
© Graham Dickie/The New York Times
© Sophie Park for The New York Times
Thierry Monasse/Getty ImagesUkraine is running out of cash to keep its military and its economy going, after almost four years of Russia's full-scale war.
For Europe, the solution to plugging Kyiv's budget hole of €135.7bn (£119bn; $159bn) for the next two years lies in frozen Russian assets sitting in Belgian bank Euroclear and EU leaders hope to sign that off at their Brussels summit next week.
Russian officials warn the EU plan would be an act of theft and Russia's central bank announced on Friday it was suing Euroclear in a Moscow court even before a final decision is made.
In total, Russia has about €210bn of its assets frozen in the EU, and €185bn of that is held by Euroclear.
The EU and Ukraine argue that money should be used to rebuild what Russia has destroyed: Brussels calls it a "reparations loan" and has come up with a plan to prop up Ukraine's economy to the tune of €90bn.
"It's only fair that Russia's frozen assets should be used to rebuild what Russia has destroyed – and that money then becomes ours," says Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says the assets will "enable Ukraine to protect itself effectively against future Russian attacks".
Russia's court action was expected in Brussels. But it is not just Moscow that is unhappy.
Belgium is worried it will be saddled with an enormous bill if it all goes wrong and Euroclear chief executive Valérie Urbain says using it could "destabilise the international financial system".
Euroclear also has an estimated €16-17bn immobilised in Russia.
Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever has set the EU a series of "rational, reasonable, and justified conditions" before he will accept the reparations plan, and he has refused to rule out legal action if it "poses significant risks" for his country.
Thierry Monasse/Getty ImagesThe EU is working to the wire ahead of next Thursday's summit to come up with a solution that Belgium can accept.
Until now the EU has held off touching the assets themselves directly but since last year has paid the "windfall profits" from them to Ukraine. In 2024 that was €3.7bn. Legally using the interest is seen as safe as Russia is under sanction and the proceeds are not Russian sovereign property.
But international military aid for Ukraine has slipped dramatically in 2025, and Europe has struggled to make up the shortfall left by the US decision to all but stop funding Ukraine under President Donald Trump.
There are currently two EU proposals aimed at providing Ukraine with €90bn, to cover two-thirds of its funding needs.
One is to raise the money on capital markets, backed by the EU budget as a guarantee. This is Belgium's preferred option but it requires a unanimous vote by EU leaders and that would be difficult when Hungary and Slovakia object to funding Ukraine's military.
That leaves loaning Ukraine cash from the Russian assets, which were originally held in securities but have now largely matured into cash. That money is Euroclear property held in the European Central Bank.
The EU's executive, the European Commission, accepts Belgium has legitimate concerns and says it is confident it has dealt with them.
The plan is for Belgium to be protected with a guarantee covering all the €210bn of Russian assets in the EU.
Should Euroclear suffer a loss of its own assets in Russia, a Commission source explained that would be offset from assets belonging to Russia's own clearing house which are in the EU.
If Russia went after Belgium itself, any ruling by a Russian court would not be recognised in the EU.
In a key development, EU ambassadors are expected to agree on Friday to immobilise Russia's central bank assets held in Europe indefinitely.
Until now they have had to vote unanimously every six months to renew the freeze, which could have meant a repeated risk to Belgium.
The EU ambassadors are set to use an emergency clause under Article 122 of the EU Treaties so the assets remain frozen as long as an "immediate threat to the economic interests of the union" continues.
Belgium is adamant it remains a staunch ally of Ukraine, but sees legal risks in the plan and fears being left to handle the repercussions if things go wrong.
A usually divided political landscape in this case has rallied behind Prime Minister Bart de Wever, who is under pressure from European colleagues and having talks with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in London on Friday.
"Belgium is a small economy. Belgian GDP is about €565bn – imagine if it would need to shoulder a €185bn bill," says Veerle Colaert, professor of financial law at KU Leuven University.
While the EU might be able to secure sufficient guarantees for the loan itself, Belgium fears an added risk of being exposed to extra damages or penalties.
Prof Colaert also believes the requirement for Euroclear to grant a loan to the EU would violate EU banking regulations.
"Banks need to comply with capital and liquidity requirements and shouldn't put all their eggs in one basket. Now the EU is telling Euroclear to do just that.
"Why do we have these bank rules? It's because we want banks to be stable. And if things go wrong it would fall to Belgium to bail out Euroclear. That's another reason why it's so important for Belgium to secure water-tight guarantees for Euroclear."
There is no time to lose, warn seven EU member states including those closest to Russia such as the Baltics, Finland and Poland. They believe the frozen assets plan is "the most financially feasible and politically realistic solution".
"It's a matter of destiny for us," warns leading German conservative MP Norbert Röttgen. "If we fail, I don't know what we'll do afterwards. That's why we have to succeed in a week's time".
While Russia is adamant its money should not be touched, there are added concerns among European figures that the US may want to use Russia's frozen billions differently, as part of its own peace plan.
Zelensky has said Ukraine is working with Europe and the US on a reconstruction fund, but he is also aware the US has been talking to Russia about future co-operation.
An early draft of the US peace plan referred to $100bn of Russia's frozen assets being used by the US for reconstruction, with the US taking 50% of the profits and Europe adding another $100bn. The remaining assets would then be used in some kind of US-Russia joint investment project.
An EU source said the added advantage of Friday's expected vote to immobilise Russia's assets indefinitely made it harder for anyone to take the money away. Implicit is that the US would then have to win over a majority of EU member states to vote for a plan that would financially cost them an enormous sum.
House Oversight CommitteeMore images from the estate of convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein have been released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.
The Democrats said the 19 images came from a tranche of 95,000 photos the committee received from Epstein's estate as part of its ongoing investigation.
US President Donald Trump, former Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon are among the high-profile figures featured in the photos. The images, many of which have been seen before, do not imply wrongdoing.
It comes one week before a deadline for the US justice department to release all Epstein-related documents, which are separate from the images shared by the committee on Friday.
The individuals featured in the images have not yet commented. Many of them have previously denied wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.
In a statement, Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, said: "It is time to end this White House cover-up and bring justice to the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and his powerful friends."
"These disturbing photos raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world. We will not rest until the American people get the truth. The Department of Justice must release all the files, NOW" he added.
Republicans, who are in the majority on the committee, have accused Democrats of "cherry-picking photos and making targeted redactions to create a false narrative about President Trump".
The White House called the release a "Democrat hoax" against Trump that has been "repeatedly debunked".
Trump appeared in three of the images released on Friday. One image showed him standing next to a woman whose face has been redacted.
Another showed Trump standing next to Epstein while talking to model Ingrid Seynhaeve at a 1997 Victoria's Secret party in New York – an image that was already publicly available.
House Oversight CommitteeA third photo showed Trump smiling with several women, whose faces have also been redacted, flanked on either side of him.
An additional photo showed an illustrated likeness of the president on red packets next to a sign that reads: "Trump Condom".
House Oversight CommitteeHouse Oversight CommitteeAmong the images released was what appeared to be cropped photo of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor next to Bill Gates. A fuller version of the photo, which was available on photo agency Getty Images, showed King Charles, the then-Prince of Wales, on the right side of the photo.
The Getty Images' caption said the picture was taken during a summit during the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in London in April 2018.
Getty ImagesFormer Trump adviser Steve Bannon was also pictured in some of the images. He was shown speaking with Epstein at a desk, and in another, standing beside him in front of a mirror.
House Oversight CommitteeA third image showed him speaking with filmmaker Woody Allen.
A photo featuring former US President Bill Clinton's showed him standing next to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 for her role in facilitating the disgraced financier's abuse.
Two other people the BBC has yet to identify are also in the image, which appeared to have been signed by Clinton.
Clinton has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein. In 2019, a spokesperson said he "knows nothing about the terrible crimes" Epstein pleaded guilty to.
Other prominent figures which appear in the images include US economist Larry Summers, lawyer Alan Dershowitz and entrepreneur Richard Branson. Not all the images show those individuals in the company of Epstein.
Epstein was charged with sex trafficking in July 2019. He died in prison a month later while awaiting trail.
The president was a friend of Epstein's, but has said they fell out in the early 2000s, years before he was first arrested.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.
The justice department is required to release investigative material related to Epstein by 19 December under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was signed into law by Trump last month.
BBCHundreds of parents have contacted the BBC about their struggles with getting support for adopted children - as charities call for a government review.
The response came after we reported last month that more than 1,000 adopted children had been returned to care over five years. Dozens of adoptive parents told us they had been blamed for the difficulties of often traumatised young people.
Mina, who contacted BBC Your Voice about her son who died last year from alcoholism, said: "You're just a lone person battling, trying to battle the system."
The charity Adoption UK said it had raised the issue with England's children's minister this week, calling for permanent funding for therapy and a wider review of the support available.
Mina was one of 700 people who contacted the BBC in response to the story, many of whom said they were adoptive parents who had struggled to get help for their children or had been blamed for their emotional and behavioural difficulties.
She and her husband adopted their son Leighton at the age of three, after he was removed from his birth mother when he was 18 months old. He struggled all his life with his mental health and addiction, she says.
"He turned all this pain inside, like I'm not worthy, I'm not lovable," says Mina. She believes his distress over his adoption led to his heavy drinking and death from liver failure at the age of 26. "He couldn't understand why."
Even as a four-year-old, Leighton would have periods of "deep depression" but his parents' concerns were brushed off by social workers, Mina says. When he was older, she adds, he would self-harm and began taking drugs and abusing alcohol.
She says social workers blamed her and her husband for Leighton's struggles, insisting "it must be something happening at home".
"There's a perception that once a child's adopted, they'll live happily ever after, and there is no platform to complain or to even have your voice," Mina says.
Mina's local authority did not respond to a request for comment.
Children's charity Coram - one of several organisations to call for greater support for adoptive families or to raise concerns about the blaming of parents in response to our story - says the adoption system is "under exceptional strain".
"It's shocking to discover again that adoptive parents, are experiencing blame as the first response when they seek help. That should never be the case," said CEO Dr Carol Homden.
She says "adoption remains an extremely important part of our care system and highly successful for the majority of children" but when children have been removed from their birth families for their own protection, "we need to recognise that they will need potential support for life and ensure that our services are there in a timely and sufficient way".
Coram also runs the largest body representing children's social workers, CoramBAAF, which has joined the call for a review of adoption support, saying: "We must get this right for the children at the heart of this."
James - not his real name - told us he was reassured to learn he was not the only parent to have gone through something like this and now feels he "owes it to our adopted son" to speak out himself.
He says he adopted a child who had severe foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) - a condition caused by drinking in pregnancy that can lead to physical and mental problems.
As he grew older, James says, his adopted son's behaviour was sometimes violent because of his condition.
One social worker suggested they should live in separate homes, says James, with one parent living with their adopted son and their other children staying with the other parent in the family home. A social worker also admitted, he adds, that social services staff had not been trained to deal with FASD.
"We took on a child knowing there'd be issues. We didn't expect everything to go perfectly because it doesn't. But when you ask for help, they need to help," he says.
Eventually, he felt his adopted son was no longer safe to live with the other children - James told us - and he arranged for him to be accommodated in care again.
James says they struggled to remain in contact with him.
"It was almost like, me and my children, that we weren't to exist anymore because we'd been heavily blamed," James says. "We were literally removed from from his life. They were more bothered on him seeing family pets than step-siblings."
His local authority said it could not comment on individual cases, but pointed to research which it says shows that outcomes for adopted children are "overwhelmingly successful".
The government says adoptive parents do "an incredible job providing a loving and supportive home" to vulnerable children, and while those arrangements do sometimes break down, support is in place to keep them together where possible.
We also heard from some parents who did receive good support and who say it made a huge difference.
Emma and her husband Geoff says they adopted their daughter, who needed extensive help, when she was nearly six. The local authority had an established relationship with a family therapy provider which specialises in adoption, Family Futures.
"They understood that adoption and therapy need to go together," she says. "When we asked for some help they were very keen to give it. They realised if they don't do it now, things get worse, children go back to care and it all falls apart."
Adopted children who have been moved first into foster care, and then into an adoptive family, struggle to feel safe, says Emma, and the family therapy was aimed at addressing that.
"If you imagine being a small child and being put from pillar to post with different people and then you arrive virtually into a stranger's house, you are going to be very scared," she adds.
Geoff said it took about 10 years of seeing a therapist, on and off, before their daughter trusted them.
Without that support, he says he can't see how she would have been able to achieve as much as she has now that she is 21, having moved into supported living accommodation and still keeping in touch with her parents.
"We used to think that we couldn't imagine how she could ever leave home," says Geoff. "Now she's able to live away from us. She's got a place where she feels she belongs."
Getty ImagesA nonprofit organisation tasked by the US Congress with helping preserve historic sites has sued the White House to stop construction on President Donald Trump's new ballroom.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation filed the suit on Friday, arguing that the White House failed to seek necessary reviews before demolishing the historic East Wing in October.
"No president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever — not President Trump, not President Joe Biden, and not anyone else," the lawsuit says.
The White House has called the project a "much needed and exquisite addition".
The lawsuit represents the first major legal challenge to the ballroom project.
The organisation is asking a federal court in Washington DC to halt construction on the addition until the White House "complies with the law by going through the legally mandated review processes," including a public comment public period, according to a statement.
"The White House is arguably the most evocative building in our country and a globally recognized symbol of our powerful American ideals," said Carol Quillen, President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit organisation created in 1949 with a congressional charter.
The group said it was "compelled" to go to court after the White House ignored concerns it raised in October.
In the lawsuit, the group argues that the White House broke the law by beginning construction without filing plans with the National Capital Planning Commission, by not seeking an environmental assessment of the project, and by declining to seek authorisation from Congress.
It also alleges Trump is violating the US Constitution, "which reserves to Congress the right to dispose of and make all rules regarding property belonging to the United States".
The White House said in a statement responding to the lawsuit on Friday that "President Trump has full legal authority to modernize, renovate, and beautify the White House - just like all of his predecessors did."
The East Wing was demolished in October to make way for Trump's multi-million dollar ballroom, which he says is being paid for by private donors.
Since then, the proposed blueprint has expanded from a ballroom with a capacity of 500 people to a space that can fit 1,350 guests.
The White House had pledged previously that its construction plan would be assessed by the National Capital Planning Commission before building began, but the lawsuit claims that the site is already undergoing extensive construction.
The lawsuit describes the White House grounds as "a bustling construction site, with dozens of workers driving piles, stockpiling materials, and amassing heavy machinery.
"Just last week, a towering construction crane was erected on the White House grounds, and President Trump recounted that work on the Ballroom Project was audible all night."
Last week, the White House replaced the architect overseeing the project. The previous lead architect had reportedly clashed with Trump officials over the size and scope of the addition.
AFP via Getty ImagesAngry French farmers are calling for more protests over the government-backed slaughter of cattle herds affected by so-called Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD).
On Thursday there were clashes between riot police and demonstrators in the southern Ariège department, after vets were called in to destroy potentially contaminated cattle at a farm.
Elsewhere in the south, farmers have dumped manure outside government buildings and blocked roads. The offices of several environmentalist groups were ransacked in the Charente-Maritime department.
LSD is a highly contagious bovine disease which is transmitted mainly by fly-bites. The symptoms are fever, mucal discharge and nodules on the skin.
ShutterstockThough mainly non-fatal, it can badly affect milk-production and the cows are unsaleable.
The disease arrived in Europe from Africa about ten years ago. France's first outbreak was in the Alps in June, when an infected herd forced the Tour de France cycle race to cut short one of its stages.
The government's policy of slaughtering entire herds where a single animal has been infected has run up against bitter opposition from two of the three main farmers' unions.
Conféderation Rurale and Conféderation Paysanne say the policy is being brutally applied, and is in any case unnecessary because a combination of selective culling and vaccination would suffice.
But most vets disagree.
"Right now we are unable to tell the difference between a healthy animal and a symptomless animal carrying the virus. That is the only reason we have to carry out these whole-herd slaughters," said Stephanie Philizot who heads the SNGTV vets' union.
Since June there have been around 110 outbreaks of LSD in France, originally in the east but now increasingly in the south-west. Ministry officials blame the illegal movement of cattle from affected zones. Around 3,000 animals have been slaughtered.
The French government is worried the protests could snowball into a wider movement among a farming population that feels itself under growing threat from the imposition of EU norms and competition from abroad.
A big protest is planned in Brussels next week during the summit of EU leaders. Several French farming sectors are in deep crisis, from wine-growers hit by falling consumption to poultry farmers hit by avian flu.
There is also widespread opposition to the impending signature of an EU free-trade agreement with South American countries, which farmers fear will open France to more cheap food imports, much of it produced under looser environmental and sanitary constraints.
As the mild December continues, are our hopes of a white Christmas melting away?
It's still a little too early to confirm the details of the forecast for Christmas 2025, but there are some signs we may see the weather turning a little cooler and calmer.
Since the turn of the century, more than half of all Christmas Days in the UK have seen snow falling somewhere.
But at this early stage what do we actually know about the chances of this Christmas being "white"?
Forecasters look at data produced by several different weather supercomputers generated over different timescales.
Not all computer models are in agreement about how the finer details of the Christmas forecast will look, but there are some themes now emerging.
The first half of December has been mild and wet, dominated by rain-bearing Atlantic low pressure systems. This general set-up is expected to continue for the next week or so, but there is a chance of higher pressure building into late December, which would bring a drier spell compared to recent conditions.
Whilst temperatures are likely to drop a little, returning to more typical for the time of year, there is no especially cold weather expected at this stage. Overnight frost and fog could well become more of an issue over the Christmas period. Wintry showers cannot be ruled out, especially over high ground in the north, but there are currently no indications of widespread snow.
Forecasting snow in the UK is notoriously difficult, and it is still too early to know for certain whether we will see a white Christmas in 2025.
The festive forecast will become much clearer about five days before Christmas, so keep an eye on the BBC Weather app or website for the latest updates.
Lying snow looks beautifully festive but a Christmas is only officially 'white' if snow is recorded falling from the sky
Christmas cards often depict snow that is "deep and crisp and even", but often a "white Christmas" will be much less wintry in reality.
In fact, just a single snowflake has to be recorded falling at any point during the 24 hours of 25 December at any of the Met Office's network of around 300 observing stations.
Snow already lying on the ground on Christmas Day may make things look merry and bright, but it does not count under the official definition.
Will it be a White Christmas?
Join BBC Weather’s Carol Kirkwood, Matt Taylor and Barra Best, along with famous faces Jeremy Vine and Lucy Porter, to explore where our fascination with a white Christmas comes from.
Since 2020, every year except 2024 has officially been a white Christmas. However, in each of these years very few places reported any snow actually settling on the ground.
The last time the UK saw a widespread white Christmas was back in 2010, when snow fell at 19% of weather stations and, very unusually, 83% of stations reported snow lying on the ground.
Whilst snow is more common between January to March than in December, odds are still pretty high that somewhere in the UK will see snow on 25 December.
However, as our climate warms, winters in the UK are becoming milder and wetter. Whilst the Met Office says, "This generally reduces the chances of a white Christmas," it also recognises that, "The natural variability of the weather will not stop cold, snowy winters happening in the future".
© Kent Nishimura for The New York Times
© Illustration by The New York Times; photograph by xiaokebetter/Getty
© Stoyan Nenov/Reuters
Thierry Monasse/Getty ImagesUkraine is running out of cash to keep its military and its economy going, after almost four years of Russia's full-scale war.
For Europe, the solution to plugging Kyiv's budget hole of €135.7bn (£119bn; $159bn) for the next two years lies in frozen Russian assets sitting in Belgian bank Euroclear and EU leaders hope to sign that off at their Brussels summit next week.
Russian officials warn the EU plan would be an act of theft and Russia's central bank announced on Friday it was suing Euroclear in a Moscow court even before a final decision is made.
In total, Russia has about €210bn of its assets frozen in the EU, and €185bn of that is held by Euroclear.
The EU and Ukraine argue that money should be used to rebuild what Russia has destroyed: Brussels calls it a "reparations loan" and has come up with a plan to prop up Ukraine's economy to the tune of €90bn.
"It's only fair that Russia's frozen assets should be used to rebuild what Russia has destroyed – and that money then becomes ours," says Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says the assets will "enable Ukraine to protect itself effectively against future Russian attacks".
Russia's court action was expected in Brussels. But it is not just Moscow that is unhappy.
Belgium is worried it will be saddled with an enormous bill if it all goes wrong and Euroclear chief executive Valérie Urbain says using it could "destabilise the international financial system".
Euroclear also has an estimated €16-17bn immobilised in Russia.
Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever has set the EU a series of "rational, reasonable, and justified conditions" before he will accept the reparations plan, and he has refused to rule out legal action if it "poses significant risks" for his country.
Thierry Monasse/Getty ImagesThe EU is working to the wire ahead of next Thursday's summit to come up with a solution that Belgium can accept.
Until now the EU has held off touching the assets themselves directly but since last year has paid the "windfall profits" from them to Ukraine. In 2024 that was €3.7bn. Legally using the interest is seen as safe as Russia is under sanction and the proceeds are not Russian sovereign property.
But international military aid for Ukraine has slipped dramatically in 2025, and Europe has struggled to make up the shortfall left by the US decision to all but stop funding Ukraine under President Donald Trump.
There are currently two EU proposals aimed at providing Ukraine with €90bn, to cover two-thirds of its funding needs.
One is to raise the money on capital markets, backed by the EU budget as a guarantee. This is Belgium's preferred option but it requires a unanimous vote by EU leaders and that would be difficult when Hungary and Slovakia object to funding Ukraine's military.
That leaves loaning Ukraine cash from the Russian assets, which were originally held in securities but have now largely matured into cash. That money is Euroclear property held in the European Central Bank.
The EU's executive, the European Commission, accepts Belgium has legitimate concerns and says it is confident it has dealt with them.
The plan is for Belgium to be protected with a guarantee covering all the €210bn of Russian assets in the EU.
Should Euroclear suffer a loss of its own assets in Russia, a Commission source explained that would be offset from assets belonging to Russia's own clearing house which are in the EU.
If Russia went after Belgium itself, any ruling by a Russian court would not be recognised in the EU.
In a key development, EU ambassadors are expected to agree on Friday to immobilise Russia's central bank assets held in Europe indefinitely.
Until now they have had to vote unanimously every six months to renew the freeze, which could have meant a repeated risk to Belgium.
The EU ambassadors are set to use an emergency clause under Article 122 of the EU Treaties so the assets remain frozen as long as an "immediate threat to the economic interests of the union" continues.
Belgium is adamant it remains a staunch ally of Ukraine, but sees legal risks in the plan and fears being left to handle the repercussions if things go wrong.
A usually divided political landscape in this case has rallied behind Prime Minister Bart de Wever, who is under pressure from European colleagues and having talks with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in London on Friday.
"Belgium is a small economy. Belgian GDP is about €565bn – imagine if it would need to shoulder a €185bn bill," says Veerle Colaert, professor of financial law at KU Leuven University.
While the EU might be able to secure sufficient guarantees for the loan itself, Belgium fears an added risk of being exposed to extra damages or penalties.
Prof Colaert also believes the requirement for Euroclear to grant a loan to the EU would violate EU banking regulations.
"Banks need to comply with capital and liquidity requirements and shouldn't put all their eggs in one basket. Now the EU is telling Euroclear to do just that.
"Why do we have these bank rules? It's because we want banks to be stable. And if things go wrong it would fall to Belgium to bail out Euroclear. That's another reason why it's so important for Belgium to secure water-tight guarantees for Euroclear."
There is no time to lose, warn seven EU member states including those closest to Russia such as the Baltics, Finland and Poland. They believe the frozen assets plan is "the most financially feasible and politically realistic solution".
"It's a matter of destiny for us," warns leading German conservative MP Norbert Röttgen. "If we fail, I don't know what we'll do afterwards. That's why we have to succeed in a week's time".
While Russia is adamant its money should not be touched, there are added concerns among European figures that the US may want to use Russia's frozen billions differently, as part of its own peace plan.
Zelensky has said Ukraine is working with Europe and the US on a reconstruction fund, but he is also aware the US has been talking to Russia about future co-operation.
An early draft of the US peace plan referred to $100bn of Russia's frozen assets being used by the US for reconstruction, with the US taking 50% of the profits and Europe adding another $100bn. The remaining assets would then be used in some kind of US-Russia joint investment project.
An EU source said the added advantage of Friday's expected vote to immobilise Russia's assets indefinitely made it harder for anyone to take the money away. Implicit is that the US would then have to win over a majority of EU member states to vote for a plan that would financially cost them an enormous sum.
AFP via Getty ImagesIranian security forces have "violently arrested" Nobel Peace Prize winner and women's rights activist Narges Mohammadi, her foundation has said.
The Narges Foundation said her brother confirmed Ms Mohammadi was detained in the eastern city of Mashhad, along with other activists.
It has called for the immediate release of the 53-year-old and the activists detained alongside her. Iran does not appear to have commented.
Ms Mohammadi was awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for her activism against female oppression in Iran and promoting human rights.
In December 2024, she was given a temporary release from jail for three weeks on medical grounds, after being held in Tehran's notorious Evin prison since 2021.
She was expected to return to prison soon after, where she was serving multiple sentences.
Her latest arrest reportedly came as she attended a memorial ceremony for Khosrow Alikordi, a lawyer found dead in his office last week.
Norway-based group Iran Human Rights had called for an independent inquiry to establish how he died, saying the circumstances around his death were "suspicious".
Several other activists were detained at the ceremony, where it's reported they shouted slogans, including "death to the dictator" and "long live Iran".
Taghi Rahmani, Ms Mohammadi's husband, told BBC Persian: "They arrested Narges violently. The brother of the lawyer witnessed her arrest at the memorial.
"This act is against human rights laws, and amounts to some kind of revenge.
"This happened in Mashhad today and is concerning because the establishment's crackdown has intensified recently."
Ms Mohammadi had recently accused the Iranian authorities of intensifying repression since the June ceasefire with Israel.
Last week she wrote an article for Time magazine about the Iranian state controlling all aspects of personal or public life.
"Their peace is disrupted by surveillance, censorship, arbitrary arrest, torture, and the constant threat of violence," she said.
She had also told the Nobel Committee she had received warnings from "agents of the regime" through indirect channels and her lawyers.
"The threats conveyed to Ms Mohammadi make it clear that her security is at stake, unless she commits to end all public engagement within Iran, as well as any international advocacy or media appearances in support of democracy, human rights, and freedom of expression," the Nobel committee's statement added.
Over the past year, she has continued to remain defiant, refusing to wear the mandatory headscarf and meeting fellow activists across the country.
Across her lifetime, Mohammadi has been arrested 13 times and been sentenced to more 36 years imprisonment and 154 lashes, according to her foundation.
AFPEritrea has withdrawn from East African regional bloc Igad, accusing the organisation of "becoming a tool against" countries like itself.
In a statement on Friday, Eritrea's foreign ministry said Igad had strayed from its founding principles and failed to contribute to regional stability.
The withdrawal comes amid a fierce war of words between Eritrea and neighbouring Ethiopia, leading to fears of renewed armed conflict.
In response to Eritrea's statement, Igad (Intergovernmental Authority on Development) said the country had not made any "tangible proposals" or engaged with reforms.
Igad was established to promote regional stability and food security in East Africa, and also includes Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda, and Djibouti.
The government in Eritrea's capital, Asmara, has long accused Igad of siding with Ethiopia in regional disputes.
Eritrea previously left the bloc in 2007, during its border dispute with Ethiopia. It only rejoined in 2023.
"Eritrea finds itself compelled to withdraw its membership from an organisation that has forfeited its legal mandate and authority; offering no discernible strategic benefit to all its constituencies," Eritrea's foreign ministry said on Friday.
In its response, Igad said that since the country returned to the bloc it had not "participated in IGAD meetings, programmes, or activities".
The withdrawal comes as tensions have been increasing between Eritrea and Ethiopia, two countries that have a long history of deadly conflict.
Since 2023, Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has been demanding access to the Red Sea through Eritrea, resulting in a furious response from Asmara.
After a decades-long battle for independence, Eritrea officially seceded from Ethiopia in 1993, leaving the latter landlocked.
In calling for sea access, Abiy and other senior Ethiopian officials have gone as far as questioning Addis Abba's recognition of Eritrean independence.
Abiy won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for making peace with Eritrea's strongman President Isaias Afewerki, after a two-decade long border dispute that sparked a war in which more than 100,000 people died.
During this conflict, Eritrea was accused of destabilising the region by interfering in the internal affairs of Igad member countries, an allegation Asmara always denied.
Instead, Eritrea accused its neighbours of siding with Western powers to destabilise it.
At the instigation of Addis Ababa, Igad demanded the African Union and UN Security Council impose sanctions on Eritrea.
Eritrea cut diplomatic ties with Djibouti, which hosts the Igad headquarters, following a 2009 border dispute between the two countries.
Former Ethiopian Foreign Minister Workneh Gebyehu is currently the head of Igad, adding to Asmara's suspicion of the organisation.
Igad has been criticised by many for failing to bring stability and regional integration to the Horn of Africa, a region beset by civil wars, terrorism and intra-state confrontations.
Getty Images/BBCGo to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.
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The US is ending temporary legal status for citizens of Ethiopia in the United States, according to a government notice on Friday, as the Trump administration continues its crackdown on legal and illegal immigration.
“After reviewing country conditions and consulting with appropriate US government agencies, the secretary determined that Ethiopia no longer continues to meet the conditions for the designation for Temporary Protected Status,” homeland security secretary Kristi Noem said in a notice posted in the Federal Register.
Temporary protected status is available to people whose home country has experienced a natural disaster, armed conflict or other extraordinary event. It provides eligible migrants with work authorization and temporary protection from deportation.
The program was created in 1991, and under Donald Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, it was extended to cover about 600,000 Venezuelans and 521,000 Haitians. Noem reversed the extensions in February, saying they were no longer justified.
In recent months, the Trump administration has removed the protective status for people from numerous countries, including Haiti, Myanmar, South Sudan, Syria and Venezuela. In November, the president announced the termination of protection for Somalis in Minnesota.
Trump has made controlling immigration a central plank of his second White House term. Canceling TPS protections are a boost to the administration’s campaign to deport millions of people. The cancellations have been challenged in court.
The US supreme court in October cleared the way for the administration to revoke TPS for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan people in the United States, granting a request to put on hold a federal judge’s ruling that Noem lacked the authority to terminate the status while litigation proceeds.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also said on Friday it was no longer processing legacy cases under the Cuban and Haitian family reunification parole program, according to a post in the Federal Register. Those programs make it easier for US citizens and lawful permanent residents to bring family members into the country.
© George Etheredge for The New York Times; Chagall painting © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, via ADAGP, Paris
© Saher Alghorra for The New York Times
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