The European Union’s foreign policy chief has criticised US claims that Europe was facing “civilisational erasure” and rejected what she called “fashionable euro-bashing”.
Kaja Kallas told an audience at the Munich Security Conference on Sunday that other countries looked up to Europe for its values, such as press freedom.
She said: “Contrary to what some may say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilisational erasure. In fact, people still want to join our club, and not just fellow Europeans. In Canada, I was told over 40% of Canadians have an interest in joining the EU.”
EU foreign policy chief criticises ‘fashionable euro-bashing’ by US
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has denied claims levelled by the US that Europe is facing civilisational erasure, rejecting what she condemned as “fashionable euro-bashing” by Washington.
She also said the US was discovering that it could not settle the war in Ukraine without Europe’s involvement and consent.
US teen who pushed for her father’s release from ICE custody dies of cancer
A Chicago teenager whose father was detained by the immigration authorities while she was undergoing treatment for cancer died on Friday, a family spokesperson said.
Ofelia Torres, a 16-year-old in Chicago, had been undergoing treatment for an aggressive and rare form of cancer since late 2024.
Renderings show most detailed vision for Trump’s White House ballroom
New renderings released this week provide the most detailed vision yet of Donald Trump’s proposed $400m White House ballroom addition.
The renderings, submitted by the project’s architects and released on Friday by the National Capital Planning Commission, depict a vast sprawling structure, expected to be about 90,000 sq ft, from multiple angles.
Watchdogs say expansion of immigration crackdown risks ‘threat to civil rights’
Homeland security watchdogs who were forced out of their jobs have said that the Trump administration’s “alarming” rush to deputize hundreds of local police departments to enforce federal immigration law – while gutting independent oversight – risks “a threat to civil rights nationwide.”
US forces board second Venezuela‑linked oil tanker in Indian Ocean
US military forces boarded another tanker in the Indian Ocean after tracking the vessel, which was under sanctions, from the Caribbean Sea in an effort to target illicit oil connected to Venezuela, the Pentagon said on Sunday.
What else we’re reading today:
Donald Trump is getting the Monroe doctrine wrong, twisting the 1823 document to suit his quest for domination. It originally had a very different vision for the Americas, and Trump should take a page from Bad Bunny, writes Ted Widmer.
Marco Rubio told Europe that the US wanted to work together – as long as the Europeans reversed what he called their path of civilisational decline. But, as Patrick Wintour writes from the Munich Security Conference, that offer of joining Trump’s new era is increasingly being met with a sense of European steeliness.
The Trump administration claims its latest move to gut climate regulations and end all greenhouse gas standards for vehicles will save Americans money, writes Dharna Noor in this analytical piece.
No fuel, no tourists, no cash – this was the week the Cuban crisis got real. Ruardidh Nicoll in Havana writes about how diplomats are preparing for the country being starved until people take to the streets and the US can step in.
Catching up? Here’s what happened on 14 February 2026.
