EU ministers vowed on Monday to explore ways to save Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) after U.S. President Donald Trump cut its funding, but warned that replacing U.S. support would not be easy.
Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky urged his counterparts in Brussels to find solutions to keep the Prague-based broadcaster running. RFE/RL, a U.S.-funded outlet established during the Cold War to reach audiences in authoritarian states, provides news to countries with restricted press freedom, including Iran, Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called the station “a beacon of democracy” and expressed regret over the funding cut. “Can we come in with our funding to fill the void the U.S. is leaving? The answer to that question is not automatically, because we have many organisations requesting the same,” Kallas said. She confirmed that ministers had agreed to explore solutions but noted it would be difficult.
Over the weekend, the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) terminated grants to RFE/RL as part of Trump’s broader effort to scale back federal funding. The move also affected Voice of America (VOA), where more than 1,300 employees were placed on leave on Saturday.
Despite the funding halt, RFE/RL journalists continued publishing on Monday. RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus warned that shutting down the service would be “a massive gift to America’s enemies.”
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Warsaw would consider how to assist both RFE/RL and VOA.
Trump’s executive order on Friday went beyond the broadcaster, dismantling programmes at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and cutting more than 80% of its operations. The decision sparked criticism from media and diplomatic circles.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk, a vocal Trump ally, previously called for RFE/RL to be shut down, posting on X that it was “just radical left crazy people talking to themselves.”
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One person was killed and nearly a dozen hurt in a fresh attack on Riyadh's international airport on Sunday, Saudi authorities reported, a day after a strike claimed by Yemen's Houthis killed 13 people and wounded more than 300.
Yemen's Houthis renewed warning to airlines, airport workers, and travellers against using Saudi airports, saying the warning should be taken seriously and that the kingdom “bore responsibility for failed interceptions”, a day after an attack on Riyadh's international airport that killed 12 people.
The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said late Monday that it intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched by the Houthi group toward Khamis Mushait in southwestern Saudi Arabia.
The Houthi movement has escalated their attacks on Saudi Arabia, targeting the airport in Riyadh and other cities, killing more than a dozen people.
The Kremlin on Monday rejected a 60-day ceasefire idea proposed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to allow his country to hold presidential elections, saying it wanted an overall peace deal instead.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia hit at least six energy targets in deadly strikes across Ukraine, showing Moscow is unwilling to accept the energy ceasefire announced by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg joined high school students protesting outside a school in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis on Tuesday, as a wave of student demonstrations continues across France.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has visited a newly opened defence museum displaying weapons developed under his leadership, including an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States.
Southeast Asian foreign ministers are set to discuss measures to tackle transboundary haze during preparatory meetings ahead of the ASEAN summit in November, as forest and land fires in Indonesia continue to affect air quality across the region, the Philippines said on Tuesday.
Britain's Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said the United Kingdom believes Iran was likely behind an alleged plot connected to RAF Fairford, a military airbase in Gloucestershire in England that has played a role in U.S. operations against Iran, escalating tensions between London and Tehran.
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