German voters head to the polls this month for an election that will determine who the country’s new chancellor will be. The Feb. 23 poll is a snap election, following the collapse of center-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government last year.

The far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, founded in 2013, appears to be gathering strength and support across the country and has emerged as a factor in the election.

The party’s popularity has been fueled by dissatisfaction with the large numbers of immigrants in the country. While AfD has evolved to focus its attention on other issues, including the immediate lifting of sanctions against Russia, immigration remains its central theme.

Alice Weidel, AfD’s first candidate for chancellor, is a staunch supporter of so-called “remigration,” a term used to describe the mass deportation of immigrants.

Political analysts say Weidel has little chance of becoming chancellor, but as AfD’s popularity has risen, it has forced politicians to rethink their conversations and debates about immigration.

AfD won its first parliamentary seats in 2017, with 12.6% of the votes.  In 2021, the party had only 10.3% of the votes.  It has supporters across the country and its politicians have been elected to 14 of Germany’s 16 state legislatures.

Its emergence as a political force occurs at the same time that other far-right parties are rising in Europe, including Austria’s Freedom Party and the National Rally in France.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press. 
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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Thursday that he wants to restart nuclear arms control talks with Russia and China and that eventually he hopes all three countries could agree to cut their massive defense budgets in half.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump lamented the hundreds of billions of dollars being invested in rebuilding the nation’s nuclear deterrent and said he hopes to gain commitments from the U.S. adversaries to cut their own spending.

“There’s no reason for us to be building brand-new nuclear weapons. We already have so many,” Trump said. “You could destroy the world 50 times over, 100 times over. And here we are building new nuclear weapons, and they’re building nuclear weapons.”

“We’re all spending a lot of money that we could be spending on other things that are actually, hopefully, much more productive,” Trump said.

While the U.S. and Russia have held massive stockpiles of weapons since the Cold War, Trump predicted that China would catch up in its capability to exact nuclear devastation “within five or six years.”

He said if the weapons were ever called to use, “that’s going to be probably oblivion.” 

Trump said he would look to engage in nuclear talks with the two countries once “we straighten it all out” in the Middle East and Ukraine.

“One of the first meetings I want to have is with President Xi [Jinping] of China, President [Vladimir] Putin of Russia. And I want to say, ‘Let’s cut our military budget in half.’ And we can do that. And I think we’ll be able to.”

Trump in his first term tried and failed to bring China into nuclear arms reduction talks when the U.S. and Russia were negotiating an extension of a pact known as New START. Russia suspended its participation in the treaty during the Biden administration, as the U.S. and Russia continued on massive programs to extend the lifespans or replace their Cold War-era nuclear arsenals.
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WASHINGTON — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Britain for the first time on Thursday, marking the restart of a diplomatic dialogue mechanism that has been paused for nearly seven years.

Wang had talks with Britain’s foreign minister and national security adviser and briefly met with Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

The top Chinese diplomat’s visit restarts the U.K.-China Strategic Dialogue, which has been frozen since 2018 over human rights abuses in Hong Kong, spying allegations and China’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said that discussions would involve “areas of bilateral economic cooperation” and security issues such as the war in Ukraine.

“We will also discuss issues where the U.K. and China do not always see eye to eye, and in some cases, the U.K. does have significant concerns,” Lammy said.

In the meetings, Wang said that cooperation was increasingly urgent, given the current state of global affairs.

“Under the current situation, it is more important than before for China and the U.K. to demonstrate their responsibilities as major countries, practice multilateralism, support free trade, advocate win-win cooperation, and promote political solutions to hot spot issues, so we can jointly work for the peace and stability of the world,” Wang said through an interpreter.

“It is important that we use channels such as this for robust but constructive discussion, as we are both members of the U.N. Security Council and we’ll be better able to understand each other, and each other’s perspectives,” Wang added.

Wang’s visit is another step in the new British labor government’s effort to improve its relations with China.

Lammy visited China in October, and British Treasury chief Rachel Reeves traveled to Beijing in January to reopen talks of investment between the countries.

As British diplomats met with Wang, a small group of demonstrators gathered outside the Chinese Embassy to protest his arrival and Chinese human rights violations.

“We will take this opportunity to call on China, to hope that China can have freedom of speech, human rights and can end its dictatorship rule,” said Cheng Xiaodan, a Chinese immigrant living in England.

Members of the crowd held small paper signs with images of Wang and banners that read “Long live freedom. Long live human rights.”
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Kurds in Turkey are expecting their imprisoned leader to announce a ceasefire soon, ending decades of war between Kurdish rebels and the Turkish government. But Turkey’s president has not made clear what terms he’s willing to accept. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
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At this week’s Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris, world leaders and technologists gathered to discuss the rapidly evolving field of generative artificial intelligence. Many are eager to join the global AI race, while others are proceeding with caution. Tina Trinh reports.
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Brussles — Thousands of Belgians took to the streets on Thursday in protest over the new government’s planned pension reforms in the first day of a multi-day strike that halted all air traffic in the country. 

Brussels airport canceled 430 flights on Thursday, a spokesperson said, adding that the disruption to the air traffic sector would last just one day. 

Protesters held signs with slogans such as “We’re not lemons,” and some displayed plaques featuring Latin phrases, a nod to new Prime Minister Bart De Wever’s tendency to include Latin quotes whenever possible. 

The strike was also expected to disrupt public transport and postal services, with firefighters and military personnel joining the protests as well. 

The planned pension reform rewards those who work past retirement age, with 35 years of service, while early retirees without 35 years, face a penalty. The new system is less favorable for lower-income earners compared to the previous one, which provided a lump sum based on career length. 

Flemish nationalist Bart De Wever’s government was sworn in on Feb. 3, after eight months of negotiations that resulted in a five-party coalition including right-wing, centrist, and socialist party, Vooruit.  

The socialist union had warned that a strike would be called if Vooruit joined the predominantly center-right government.
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BERLIN — A car was driven into a crowd in Munich, Germany on Thursday, injuring at least 28 people.

Police said authorities detained the driver, and during the arrest fired a shot at the vehicle.

They identified the suspect as a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker.

The incident took place as members of a service workers’ union held a demonstration.

Bavarian Governor Markus Soder told reporters that what happened appeared to be an attack.

Authorities said several of the people hurt had serious injuries.

The city is due to host the Munich Security Conference beginning Friday.

Conference organizers issued a statement saying they were “deeply saddened” by the incident.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.  
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NATO defense ministers are set to meet Thursday in Brussels to discuss defense spending targets, boosting their industrial capacity and their support to Ukraine.

The ministerial meeting comes amid a U.S. push for NATO allies to commit more of their domestic budgets to defense.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte expressed support for the U.S. position ahead of the talks, saying if allies do not spend more, then they will not have the necessary deterrents against foes such as Russia in place.

Rutte also is urging allies to work on boosting defense production capacities in order to boost stockpiles and to be able to provide more for Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion that began in early 2022.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group Wednesday that while the U.S. wants a “sovereign and prosperous Ukraine,” allies must recognize that going back to the Ukrainian borders that existed before Russia moved into Crimea in 2014 is an “unrealistic objective.”

Hegseth advocated for a negotiated end to the war with security guarantees backed by European and non-European troops that are deployed under a non-NATO mission. He ruled out deploying any U.S. troops to Ukraine.

Following Thursday’s NATO ministerial, Hegseth heads to Poland for what the Pentagon said will be talks with leaders about “bilateral defense cooperation, continued deterrence efforts along NATO’s eastern flank, and Poland’s leadership as a model ally in defense investment and burden-sharing in NATO.”

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press

 
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Following a successful prisoner swap with Russia, U.S. President Donald Trump launched a multifront diplomatic blitz Wednesday to end the Ukraine conflict, saying he would meet with Russia’s leader soon and dispatching a vice president-led team to meet with Ukraine’s leader on Friday. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell catches up on the latest, from Washington.
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KYIV, UKRAINE — Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday accused each other of blocking the rotation of staff from the International Atomic Energy Agency at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine. 

Moscow’s troops seized the facility, Europe’s largest nuclear power station, in the first days of its invasion of Ukraine. Both sides have repeatedly accused the other of risking a potentially devastating nuclear disaster by attacking the site. 

Staff from the U.N. nuclear watchdog have been based there since September 2022 to monitor nuclear safety. 

Fighting meant the IAEA staff could not be swapped out as part of a planned rotation on Wednesday, the second such delay in a week, both Kyiv and Moscow said, trading blame for the incident. 

Inspectors spend around five weeks at the plant in stints before being swapped out in a complex procedure that involves traveling across the front line under supervision from the Russian and Ukrainian militaries. 

Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhy accused Russia’s army of opening fire near where the planned rotation was taking place, saying Moscow’s goal was to force the IAEA team to travel through Russian-controlled territory and “violate Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” 

Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the Ukrainian army blocked the IAEA team from traveling to an agreed meeting point and were attacking the area with drones, at which point the Russian military withdrew its support team and returned to the station. 

“On their return, the convoy carrying Russian military personnel and IAEA experts … came under attack by drone and mortar strikes,” Zakharova said in a statement. 

The IAEA staff members were supposed to leave the station on Feb. 5 in a rotation that was also delayed. 

IAEA head Rafael Grossi was in both Ukraine and Russia last week, where he discussed the issue of rotations with officials from both countries.
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WASHINGTON — A journalist with VOA’s sister outlet, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was released from Belarus on Wednesday, after spending more than three years imprisoned in a case that was widely viewed as politically motivated.  

Andrey Kuznechyk, a journalist with RFE/RL’s Belarus service, was released from Belarus on Wednesday, the U.S. special envoy for hostage affairs, Adam Boehler, said. Two other individuals were also released, including a U.S. citizen, but Boehler did not specify their identities.  

RFE/RL President Stephen Capus welcomed Kuznechyk’s release and thanked President Donald Trump, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Lithuanian government for their help in securing the reporter’s release. 

“This is a joyous day for Andrey, his wife, and their two young children. After more than three years apart, this family is together again thanks to President Trump. We are also grateful to Secretary Rubio and his team, and to the Lithuanian government for their support,” Capus said in a statement.  

Boehler said that the release was unilateral, meaning no one was swapped with Belarus in exchange for the prisoners. Boehler attributed the release to Trump’s commitment to securing the freedom of wrongfully detailed Americans abroad.  

“He has made bringing Americans home a top priority,” Boehler said. “The smartest thing you can do to curry favor with the president of the United States is bring Americans home.”  

Kuznechyk had been jailed since November 2021. He was initially sentenced to 10 days in jail on hooliganism charges, which he rejected. When Kuznechyk was due to be released, authorities kept him in prison and added an additional charge of creating an extremist group.

In a trial that lasted only one day, a regional court found Kuznechyk guilty in June 2022 and sentenced him to six years in prison.  

RFE/RL and the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees RFE/RL and VOA, consistently rejected the charges against Kuznechyk and called for his release. 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the prisoners’ release from Belarus “a remarkable victory.” 

Belarus ranks among the worst jailers of journalists in the world. As of early December, at least 31 journalists were jailed there over their work, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.  

Another RFE/RL journalist — Ihar Losik — has been jailed in Belarus since 2020 on charges he and his employer reject.  

“We remain hopeful that our journalist Ihar Losik will also be released and look to the Trump administration for its continued leadership and guidance,” Capus said in a statement. 

Three other RFE/RL journalists are currently jailed in Russian-occupied Crimea, Russia and Azerbaijan, all on charges that are viewed as politically motivated. 

The Belarusian government has embarked on a severe crackdown on independent journalists and other critics ever since longtime President Alexander Lukashenko claimed victory in a 2020 presidential election that was widely viewed as rigged.  

More than 1,200 political prisoners are currently detained in Belarus, according to the rights group Viasna.
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Pakistan rolls out the red carpet Wednesday for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Turkish leader will jointly hold the 7th session of the Pakistan-Turkey High Level Strategic Cooperation Council with Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif during his brief visit ending Thursday. VOA Pakistan bureau chief Sarah Zaman reports on key topics of discussion.
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Ukrainian forces are trying to slow down an ongoing Russian advance toward the city of Pokrovsk in Eastern Ukraine’s Dontesk region. The Ukrainian government has been evacuating civilians from the region, but constant shelling is making it dangerous. Kateryna Besedina has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. (Camera: Artyom Kokhan, Anna Rice)  
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U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed American teacher Marc Fogel to the White House late Tuesday after Fogel was freed from Russia where he had been detained since August 2021 for bringing medically prescribed marijuana into the country.

“I feel like the luckiest man on Earth right now,” Fogel said as he stood next to Trump.

Fogel praised the president, U.S. diplomats and lawmakers for working to secure his release.

“I am in awe of what they all did,” Fogel said.

Trump said he appreciated what Russia did in letting Fogel go home but declined to specify the details of any agreement with Russia beyond calling it “very fair” and very reasonable.”

Trump also said another hostage release would be announced Wednesday.

Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, said earlier Tuesday the United States and Russia “negotiated an exchange” to free Fogel but gave no details about what the U.S. side of the bargain entailed. In such deals in recent years, the U.S. has often released Russian prisoners that Moscow wanted in exchange. 

Instead, Waltz cast the deal for Fogel’s release in broader geopolitical terms, saying it was “a show of good faith from the Russians and a sign we are moving in the right direction to end the brutal and terrible war in Ukraine,” an invasion Russia launched against its neighbor in February 2022, with hundreds of thousands killed or wounded on both sides. 

Trump had vowed to broker an end to Russia’s war on Ukraine before taking office Jan. 20, but his aides more recently have said he hopes to do it within the first 100 days of his new administration, roughly by the end of April. 

“Since President Trump’s swearing-in, he has successfully secured the release of Americans detained around the world, and President Trump will continue until all Americans being held are returned to the United States,” Waltz said. The recent release of six Americans held in Venezuela and Fogel’s freeing are the only publicly known instances. 

Fogel had been traveling with a small amount of medically prescribed marijuana to treat back pain. Once convicted by a Russian court, he began serving his 14-year sentence in June 2022, with the outgoing administration of former President Joe Biden late last year classifying him as wrongfully detained.
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Marc Fogel, an American teacher detained in Russia since August 2021 for bringing medically prescribed marijuana into the country, was freed by Moscow on Tuesday and headed back to the United States, the White House announced.

The 63-year-old history teacher, who had been serving a 14-year sentence, was expected to be reunited with his family in the eastern state of Pennsylvania by the end of the day.

He left Russian airspace aboard the personal aircraft of Steve Witkoff, U.S. President Donald Trump’s foreign affairs envoy who helped negotiate his release.

Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, said the U.S. and Russia “negotiated an exchange” to free Fogel but gave no details about what the U.S. side of the bargain entailed. In such deals in recent years, the U.S. has often released Russian prisoners that Moscow wanted in exchange.

Instead, Waltz cast the deal for Fogel’s release in broader geopolitical terms, saying it was “a show of good faith from the Russians and a sign we are moving in the right direction to end the brutal and terrible war in Ukraine,” an invasion Russia launched against its neighbor in February 2022, with hundreds of thousands killed or wounded on both sides.

Trump had vowed to broker an end to Russia’s war on Ukraine before taking office Jan. 20, but his aides more recently have said he hopes to do it within the first 100 days of his new administration, roughly by the end of April.

“Since President Trump’s swearing-in, he has successfully secured the release of Americans detained around the world, and President Trump will continue until all Americans being held are returned to the United States,” Waltz said. The recent release of six Americans held in Venezuela and Fogel’s freeing are the only publicly known instances.

Fogel had been traveling with a small amount of medically prescribed marijuana to treat back pain. Once convicted by a Russian court, he began serving his 14-year sentence in June 2022, with the outgoing administration of former President Joe Biden late last year classifying him as wrongfully detained.

Witkoff is a billionaire New York real estate executive and close friend of Trump’s. He previously had helped negotiate the six-week Israel-Hamas ceasefire in Gaza initiated by Biden in the last months of his presidency.

Witkoff also had been secretly negotiating the deal for Fogel’s release. Online flight trackers spotted his presence in Moscow when he flew there on his private jet.

With the U.S. leading the way in the West’s opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was the first known trip to Moscow by a senior U.S. official since William Burns, then the Central Intelligence Agency director, flew to the Russian capital in November 2021, in an unsuccessful attempt to keep Russia from invading Ukraine.
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The U.S. State Department has determined that dual U.S.-Russian national Ksenia Karelina, also known as Ksenia Khavana, was wrongfully detained in Russia.

Karelina was jailed by a Russian court for 12 years for donating $51 to a Ukrainian charity. The new determination will enable U.S. authorities to operate more actively in securing her release. Karelina’s civil partner remains optimistic that efforts by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump will eventually get her out of the Russian prison in which she is being held.

Click here for the full story in Russian.

 
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The 27-nation European Union and Canada quickly vowed Tuesday to stand firm against U.S. President Donald Trump’s move to impose 25% tariffs on their steel and aluminum exports, verbal sparring that could lead to a full-blown trade war between the traditionally allied nations.

“The EU will act to safeguard its economic interests,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement. “Tariffs are taxes — bad for business, worse for consumers.

“Unjustified tariffs on the EU will not go unanswered — they will trigger firm and proportionate countermeasures,” she said.

Trump said the steel and aluminum tariffs would take effect on March 12. In response, EU officials said they could target such U.S. products as bourbon, jeans, peanut butter and motorcycles, much of it produced in Republican states that supported Trump in his election victory.

The EU scheduled a first emergency video on Wednesday to shape the bloc’s response.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland, which holds the EU presidency, said it was “important that everyone sticks together. Difficult times require such full solidarity.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said during a conference on artificial intelligence in Paris that Trump’s steel and aluminum levy would be “entirely unjustified,” and that “Canadians will resist strongly and firmly if necessary.”

Von der Leyen is meeting Tuesday with U.S. Vice President JD Vance in Paris, where they are expected to discuss Trump’s tariff orders.

“We will protect our workers, businesses and consumers,” she said in advance of the meeting.

Trump imposed the steel and aluminum tariff to boost the fortunes of U.S. producers.

“It’s a big deal,” he said. “This is the beginning of making America rich again.”

Billionaire financier Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee to lead the Commerce Department, said the tariff on the imports could bring back 120,000 U.S. jobs.

As he watched Trump sign an executive order, Lutnick said, “You are the president who is standing up for the American steelworker, and I am just tremendously impressed and delighted to stand next to you.”

Trump’s proclamations raised the rate on aluminum imports to 25% from the previous 10% that he imposed in 2018 to aid the struggling sector. And he restored a 25% tariff on millions of tons of steel and aluminum imports.

South Korea — the fourth-biggest steel exporter to the United States, following Canada, Brazil and Mexico — also vowed to protect its companies’ interests but did not say how.

South Korean acting President Choi Sang-mok said Seoul would seek to reduce uncertainties “by building a close relationship with the Trump administration and expanding diplomatic options.”

The spokesperson of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said London was “engaging with our U.S. counterparts to work through the detail” of the planned tariffs.

In Monday’s executive order, Trump said “all imports of aluminum articles and derivative aluminum articles from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Mexico, EU countries and the UK” would be subject to additional tariffs.

The same countries are named in his executive order on steel, along with Brazil, Japan and South Korea.

“I’m simplifying our tariffs on steel and aluminum,” Trump said. “It’s 25% without exceptions or exemptions.”

Bernd Lange, the chair of the European Parliament’s international trade committee, warned that previous trade measures against the U.S. were only suspended and could legally be easily revived.

“When he starts again now, then we will, of course, immediately reinstate our countermeasures,” Lange told rbb24 German radio. “Motorcycles, jeans, peanut butter, bourbon, whiskey and a whole range of products that of course also affect American exporters” would be targeted, he said.

In Germany, the EU’s largest economy, Chancellor Olaf Scholz told parliament that “if the U.S. leaves us no other choice, then the European Union will react united.”

But he warned, “Ultimately, trade wars always cost both sides prosperity.”

The European steel industry expressed concerns about the Trump tariffs.

“It will further worsen the situation of the European steel industry, exacerbating an already dire market environment,” said Henrik Adam, president of the European Steel Association.

He said the EU could lose up to 3.7 million tons of steel exports. The United States is the second-largest export market for EU steel producers, representing 16% of the total EU steel exports.

“Losing a significant part of these exports cannot be compensated for by EU exports to other markets,” Adam said.

Some material in this report came from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
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Russia has hit a record low in the newly released 2024 Corruption Perception Index by Transparency International. It occupies the 154th place out of the 180, the lowest placement for the nation in the history of the index. 

VOA Russian spoke to the head of Transparency International in Russia, Alyona Vandysheva, who said the collapse of the Kremlin’s anti-corruption efforts shows the negative impact the war in Ukraine has had on Russia’s government sector. 

Click here for the full story in Russian.  
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Paris — U.S. Vice President JD Vance told Europeans on Tuesday their “massive” regulations on artificial intelligence could strangle the technology, and rejected content moderation as “authoritarian censorship.”

The mood on AI has shifted as the technology takes root, from one of concerns around safety to geopolitical competition, as countries jockey to nurture the next big AI giant.

Vance, setting out the Trump administration’s America First agenda, said the United States intended to remain the dominant force in AI and strongly opposed the European Union’s far tougher regulatory approach.

“We believe that excessive regulation of the AI sector could kill a transformative industry,” Vance told an AI summit of CEOs and heads of state in Paris.

“We feel very strongly that AI must remain free from ideological bias and that American AI will not be co-opted into a tool for authoritarian censorship,” he added.

Vance criticized the “massive regulations” created by the EU’s Digital Services Act, as well as Europe’s online privacy rules, known by the acronym GDPR, which he said meant endless legal compliance costs for smaller firms.

“Of course, we want to ensure the internet is a safe place, but it is one thing to prevent a predator from preying on a child on the internet, and it is something quite different to prevent a grown man or woman from accessing an opinion that the government thinks is misinformation,” he said.

European lawmakers last year approved the bloc’s AI Act, the world’s first comprehensive set of rules governing the technology.

Vance is leading the American delegation at the Paris summit.

Vance also appeared to take aim at China at a delicate moment for the U.S. technology sector.

Last month, Chinese startup DeepSeek freely distributed a powerful AI reasoning model that some said challenged U.S. technology leadership. It sent shares of American chip designer Nvidia down 17%.

“From CCTV to 5G equipment, we’re all familiar with cheap tech in the marketplace that’s been heavily subsidized and exported by authoritarian regimes,” Vance said.

But he said that “partnering with them means chaining your nation to an authoritarian master that seeks to infiltrate, dig in and seize your information infrastructure. Should a deal seem too good to be true? Just remember the old adage that we learned in Silicon Valley: if you aren’t paying for the product, you are the product.”

Vance did not mention DeepSeek by name. There has been no evidence of information being able to surreptitiously flow through the startup’s technology to China’s government, and the underlying code is freely available to use and view. However, some government organizations have reportedly banned DeepSeek’s use.

Speaking after Vance, French President Emmanuel Macron said that he was fully in favor of trimming red tape, but he stressed that regulation was still needed to ensure trust in AI, or people would end up rejecting it. “We need a trustworthy AI,” he said.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen also said the EU would cut red tape and invest more in AI.

In a bilateral meeting, Vance and von der Leyen were also likely to discuss Trump’s substantial increase of tariffs on steel.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was expected to address the summit on Tuesday. A consortium led by Musk said on Monday it had offered $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit controlling OpenAI.

Altman promptly posted on X: “no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.”

The technology world has closely watched whether the Trump administration will ease recent antitrust enforcement that had seen the U.S. sue or investigate the industry’s biggest players.

Vance said the U.S. would champion American AI — which big players develop — he also said: “Our laws will keep Big Tech, little tech, and all other developers on a level playing field.”
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Russia and Ukraine attacked each other’s energy infrastructure overnight, just days before U.S. and Ukrainian officials were set to discuss steps toward ending the nearly three-year war sparked by Russia’s 2022 invasion.

Russian strikes damaged natural gas production facilities in Ukraine’s Poltava region overnight, using a combined attack of 19 cruise, ballistic and guided missiles, the Ukrainian air force said.

As a result of the attack, Ukraine imposed emergency power restrictions on Tuesday, according to Ukraine energy minister German Galushchenko.

“The enemy launched an attack on gas infrastructure overnight,” Galushchenko said in a post on social media. “As of this morning, the energy sector continues to be under attack.”

Russia, which previously focused its missile and drone attacks on the Ukrainian electricity sector, recently stepped-up attacks on gas storage and production facilities, Reuters reported.

The Ukrainian military said on Tuesday that it had struck an oil refinery in Russia’s Saratov region overnight, causing a fire.

It said the refinery produces more than 20 types of petroleum products and is involved in supplying the Russian forces.

Saratov regional Governor Roman Busargin posted on the Telegram messaging app that a fire at an industrial facility in the region had been extinguished. He did not name the facility.

Russia’s defense ministry said air defense units intercepted and destroyed 40 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory.

Eighteen of the drones were destroyed over the Saratov region, the ministry said in a post on the Telegram messaging app. The rest were downed over four other regions in Russia’s south and west, it said.

The Russian military also said its forces had taken control of the settlement of Yasenove in eastern Ukraine.

Talks between US and Ukraine

As U.S. Vice President JD Vance prepares for a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later this week, President Donald Trump suggested that Ukraine “may be Russian someday.”

Trump talked about the war in a Fox News interview that aired Monday.

“They may make a deal, they may not make a deal. They may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday,” he said.

Trump also discussed trading Ukraine’s natural resources, such as rare minerals, in exchange for U.S. military support.

“We are going to have all this money in there, and I say I want it back. And I told them that I want the equivalent, like $500 billion worth of rare earth,” Trump said. “And they have essentially agreed to do that, so at least we don’t feel stupid.”

Trump’s senior advisers are expected to meet with Zelenskyy this week on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg are traveling to Germany for the summit.

“Knowing how the process works, it would probably be better for Zelenskyy if we all met together and talked through it as a group,” Kellogg said in an interview with the Associated Press.

Trump on Monday said he’d “probably” speak with Zelenskyy this week.

Information from the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse was used in this report.
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