European Union

Le Bénin arrive à la Coupe d'Afrique des Nations 2025 au Maroc avec l'intention de transformer la déception de sa qualification pour la Coupe du monde 2026 en une campagne continentale mémorable.

Ursula von der Leyen had hoped to sign the agreement in Brazil this week

The current framework was almost at the end of a temporary six-month extension

The EU member states have agreed on an interim solution in the dispute over a loan to Ukraine. Kyiv will receive an interest-free loan of 90 billion euros to continue its defence efforts against the Russian attack, however, the frozen Russian assets will not be used to finance it for the time being, although the option remains open for the future. Europe's press takes stock.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had hoped to sign a free trade agreement with the Mercosur countries this Saturday in Brazil. However, a minority led by France and Italy has formed in the European Council in Brussels and blocked the move in view of fierce protests from the agricultural sector. Now, the deal, which has been under negotiation for 25 years, has been postponed to January.

Brexit also meant Britain's withdrawal from the EU's successful Erasmus exchange programme. Now a deal has been reached under which European students will be able to spend a year at a British university or doing training in the UK again - and vice versa. Commentators discuss to what extent this hails a reset in relations between Britain and Europe.

Alexander Butyagin, a archaeologist at the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, has been detained in Poland at the request of Ukraine, which now plans to seek his extradition. Butyagin has led excavations in Crimea since 1999, but as Ukraine has not granted permits for such work since the Russian occupation in 2014, it regards the excavations as the partial destruction of cultural heritage sites.