EU leaders have agreed that the European Commission “will prepare a blueprint” on how the bloc will respond if the little-known mutual assistance clause is triggered, according to Nikos Christodoulides, the president of Cyprus, who is hosting the talks.
They discussed the mutual defence clause, article 42.7 of the EU treaty, on Thursday night, before reports emerged that the US was exploring how to suspend Spain from Nato.
That comes amid concerns of how the US would respond (or not) in the event of a foreign attack against allied nations, many of which he has openly criticized for not getting involved in his and Israel’s joint war on Iran, which has destabilized the region and rattled much of the global economy.
This month Trump said he was “absolutely without question” considering withdrawing the US from Nato, pushing the 77-year-old alliance towards the worst crisis in its history. Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s prime minister – who has been the most vociferous European critic of the war in Iran – said on Friday that Spain was a loyal Nato member, while renewing his criticism of “the failure of brute force in the Middle East”.
EU leaders want ‘mutual assistance pact’ plan amid Trump’s Nato criticism
Speaking on Friday, the European Council president, António Costa, said: “We are designing the handbook [on] how to use this mutual assistance clause.” There had already been a “test case” in Cyprus, he added, referring to a recent drone strike on a British base on the island at the start of the latest Middle East conflict.
Costa said: “Greece, and then France, Italy, Spain and [the] Netherlands mobilised military equipment and forces … to help Cyprus to defend from external attacks.” The Royal Navy, meanwhile, was heavily criticised for having a limited number of warships available for deployment.
Trump sending Witkoff and Kushner to Pakistan to resume talks on Iran war
Donald Trump is sending his Middle East envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Pakistan to resume negotiations to end the war with Iran, which has lasted nearly eight weeks.
The White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt confirmed the travel on Friday, saying that Witkoff and Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, would meet Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, in Islamabad.
Court blocks Trump’s executive order suspending asylum access
An appeals court on Friday blocked Donald Trump’s executive order suspending asylum access, a key pillar of the US president’s original plan to crack down on immigration at the southern border after he retook the White House.
DoJ drops criminal investigation against Jerome Powell
The US Department of Justice is dropping its criminal investigation against the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, clearing the path for Donald Trump’s new nominee for chair to be confirmed.
Trump psychedelics order largely symbolic, analysts say
The Trump administration issued an executive order earlier this month to accelerate access to psychedelic medication for people with “serious mental illnesses”, but experts say the order is more likely to make a difference symbolically than legally.
The Indian government has denounced a social media post shared by Donald Trump that described India as a “hellhole”, calling the comments inappropriate and “in poor taste”.
On Wednesday, Trump posted a four-page transcription of remarks made by the conservative podcast host Michael Savage that denounced the US constitutional right to citizenship of everyone born in the country.
What else happened today:
-
Gambling addiction is spiraling “out of control” in the US, a leading campaigner for stricter guardrails has warned, as experts from around the world are set to gather in Boston to push for more regulation of the industry.
-
Law enforcement and local government officials across the US have over the last year expressed concerns that immigration operations were interfering with police work and leading to threats to officers, according to internal emails and briefings shared with the Guardian.
-
A woman and her five children, whose immigration detention of more than 10 months marked the longest family detention under Donald Trump’s second administration, were released on Thursday hours after a judge’s order, their lawyer said.
-
British police investigating the former prince Andrew and Peter Mandelson are preparing to start interviewing witnesses in royal and government circles. It comes as police fear that prosecutors will be “reluctant” to bring charges unless the Trump administration agrees to hand over the original documents from the Epstein files.
-
Frustrated with what they describe as a lack of accountability from social media companies, two California state lawmakers have introduced a bill that would clear a legal pathway for them to face lawsuits in the state for failing to detect or remove child sexual abuse material on their websites and apps.
-
The US justice department announced on Friday that it is taking steps to “strengthen the federal death penalty”, including bringing back firing squads and readopting the lethal injection protocol utilized during the first Trump administration.
-
The US justice department said on Friday it had intervened in a lawsuit by Elon Musk’s xAI challenging a Colorado law aimed at regulating artificial intelligence systems.
Catching up? Here’s what happened Thursday 23 April.