Today, December 18, the UK government introduced a new package of sanctions against a number of individuals and legal entities from Russia, including the energy companies Tatneft, Russneft, according to RBC-UKRAINE.

The US Congress has approved a bill that would criminalize the sex reassignment of children. The measure had little chance of consideration in the Senate, where it would need bipartisan support to move, but it reflected the priorities of the Republican majority.

The US Congress has approved a bill that would criminalize the sex reassignment of children. The measure had little chance of consideration in the Senate, where it would need bipartisan support to move, but it reflected the priorities of the Republican majority.

The European Parliament has passed a law to stop gas purchases from Russia. EU strikes deal to phase out Russian gas imports by 2027. Provisional agreement sets legally binding deadlines to end LNG and pipeline gas purchases.

House Rejects Measure to Bar Strikes Inside Venezuela. The Democratic measure was defeated mostly along party lines, along with another resolution that would have halted the military’s escalating campaign of boat attacks.

During the Berlin meeting, US officials said that Washington had agreed to provide security guarantees to Ukraine in peace talks.

The French Senate laid the groundwork for a dramatic, consequential week of fiscal planning for 2026 today by passing its own version of next year's state budget rife with spending cuts.

Zelensky Meets U.S. Envoys and European Leaders in New Push to End War. For the second day running, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine met in Berlin with American diplomats, seeking to bridge divides over how to end the war.

The United States Central Command will host a conference in Doha on December 16 with partner nations to plan the International Stabilization Force for Gaza, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Friday. The event will be represented by 25 countries.

— In the Senate: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is the only definite GOP defector on Thursday’s vote on a framework by Sens. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) that would expand health savings accounts rather than extend the enhanced Obamacare tax credits.

Democrats and Republicans are each claiming the bill they’re putting up for a Senate vote Thursday is the more affordable option for tens of millions of Obamacare health insurance customers. It depends on the customer.

A group of House Republicans is trying to bait President Donald Trump into the permitting wars on Capitol Hill, arguing that legislation up for a vote as soon as next week could green-light something he hates with fury: offshore wind power.

The Trump administration is seizing on a misstatement by the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee about the November shooting of two West Virginia National Guard members in Washington to skewer the lawmaker as unbothered by the tragedy.

Maryland Democrat David Trone, a former three-term House lawmaker who left his seat to launch an ill-fated Senate run in 2024, is making a play for his old job in a primary challenge against first-term Rep. April McClain Delaney, he announced Thursday.

Alaska Republican Dan Sullivan’s vote Thursday in favor of Democrats’ bill to extend expiring Obamacare subsidies was the biggest surprise in a day that otherwise went according to script in the Senate.

But many more House Republicans — even some conservatives — believe there needs to be some sort of subsidy extension as a bridge. “I think we have to have that,” one conservative granted anonymity to speak candidly about a possible amendment.

It is now all but certain that enhanced Obamacare subsidies first implemented by Democrats as a Covid relief measure will expire Dec/31 after the Senate voted down competing partisan health plans Thursday and House GOP leaders indicated they had no plans to bring an extension up for a vote this year

Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee voted Thursday to return Rep. Henry Cuellar to his leadership position on a powerful spending panel following his pardon on federal corruption charges. | “We got ratified,” Cuellar told reporters following the vote.

Senators voted 51-48 on advancing a GOP health care plan that would have expanded health savings accounts as an alternative to the expiring tax credits. Democrats’ plan to extend the Covid-era enhanced subsidies for three years also received a 51-48 vote.

Johnson wants the House to vote on a bill next week from Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) that would accelerate the production and delivery of domestic energy.

An expert panel advising President Donald Trump about overhauling the Federal Emergency Management Agency canceled a meeting scheduled for 1 p.m. EST Thursday at which members were set to release a report recommending their changes to the disaster agency.

The House on Thursday voted 231-195 to pass a bill that would restore collective bargaining rights for federal workers, a first step toward reversing the sweeping changes President Donald Trump enacted earlier this year.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem offered an uncompromising defense of the administration’s aggressive approach to immigration enforcement before lawmakers on Thursday, as questions swirl about her future in the Trump administration.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune poured cold water on a fresh call by President Donald Trump for Republicans to nix the “blue slip” practice that gives senators an effective veto over presidential nominees to certain posts in their states.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said the military’s decision to attack an alleged drug-smuggling vessel for a second time to kill survivors of an initial strike was “entirely appropriate” and followed Defense Department rules.

The Louisiana Republican said GOP leadership is finalizing whether to take up a series of bills or one comprehensive piece of legislation. Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Thursday the House will likely take “one vote” next week.

Olympic Committee says Russians should be allowed to compete under their own flag in youth events. | The position comes after the IOC’s Executive Board recommended lifting restrictions on Russian and Belarusian youth athletes.

Top House Republicans say they’re done investigating the “double-tap” boat strikes. But the Senate won’t let the issue go.

COLUMN: The Trump admin's legal theory that the US is engaged in an armed conflict with drug cartels could potentially let any future president claim wartime powers against virtually any group — far beyond the boat strikes, writes our Ankush Khardori.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem offered an uncompromising defense of the administration’s aggressive approach to immigration enforcement before lawmakers on Thursday, as questions swirl about her future in the Trump administration.

NATO's Rutte warns allies they are Russia's next target. | Fact: We are Russia's next target.

Ukraine officially responds to U.S. peace plan under pressure from Trump. | Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky faces growing pressure from the U.S. to swiftly accept Trump's 20-point peace plan, which includes major territorial losses and other concessions. @axios.com news publication.↓

Republican Congresswoman Luna Anna Paulina of Florida has introduced a bill to Congress to completely repeal Amendment 907 against Azerbaijan.

House Republican leaders presented no firm plan Tuesday for advancing health care legislation as anxiety rises in the GOP ranks over the impending expiration of key Obamacare subsidies at the end of the year.

Trump repeatedly declined to rule out putting U.S. troops into Venezuela, telling our Dasha Burns on The Conversation that Maduro's "days are numbered." Watch the full interview: bit.ly/4iVqhN1

This is a full, unedited transcript of POLITICO’s interview with President Donald Trump conducted at the White House on Dec. 8. Trump sat down with our Dasha Burns for a special episode of The Conversation to discuss his influence on Europe, major U.S. policy challenges and the future of the GOP.

Europe must “persuade younger Europeans that their heritage, culture and way of life — a fundamentally Christian civilization leavened and improved but not erased by the values of the Enlightenment — are worth defending,” our columnist Bret Stephens writes.

This year's Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado will not attend the Norwegian Nobel Institute's award ceremony in Oslo on Wednesday, Norwegian national television reported. Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said authorities have threatened her with arrest.

The Trump administration has tapped a man who has repeatedly claimed that millions of people voted illegally in the 2016 presidential election to be one of the most important officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The Republican bill, sponsored by Sens. Mike Crapo (Idaho) and Bill Cassidy would allow existing ACA subsidies to expire and replace them with a new two-year program in which the federal government would directly pay into health savings accounts paired with certain plans on the ACA marketplace.

Everyone loves a good cold remedy — vitamins, homemade concoctions, nasal irrigation systems. And zinc, a mineral, is a popular one, sold over the counter as lozenges, quick-dissolve tablets and nasal sprays.

Instagram and Facebook users in the European Union will soon be able to share less personal data with Meta, the social media giant that owns both services, in exchange for receiving ads that are less personalized.

The Japanese authorities said Tuesday that Jeremy O. Harris, the Tony-nominated playwright and actor, had been released after spending three weeks in custody on suspicion of attempting to smuggle illegal drugs into Japan.

BRUSSELS — Brussels is about to embark on a difficult balancing act: How can it nudge the public sector to buy more EU-made products without being accused of protectionism?

The European Commission said it was probing whether Google had breached EU competition rules by using the content of web publishers for AI purposes.

Anti-Trump former Republicans think Democrats are squandering their chance to flip the House — and they have a $100 million plan to save them.

Republicans want to put the economy at the center of their midterm message as they seek to protect their majorities in Congress. But as cost-of-living concerns mount across the political spectrum, the GOP is struggling to act decisively to address them.

Breaking news: The Supreme Court appeared poised to allow President Trump to fire a leader of the FTC, a ruling that could limit or overturn a 90-year-old precedent that curbs executive power to dismiss the heads of agencies set up to be independent.

Breaking news: Ukraine will not surrender territory, President Zelensky declared, rejecting a central Russian demand that President Trump had incorporated into his latest proposal to end the Kremlin’s war.

Some cocaine-smuggling presidents are more innocent than others. As Donald Trump revives the Monroe Doctrine, he is bewildering America’s neighbours about what it stands for.