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KN Energies, a Lithuanian state company, will manage Germany’s four state-owned LNG terminals to help the country's phase-out from Russian gas.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israel on Tuesday (9 January) to make "hard choices" to normalize relations with more of its neighbours, a new appeal to smooth the path to creating a Palestinian state.

In today's edition of the Capitals, find out about the German train drivers' union announcing a protest, a protest, Gibraltar's leader being optimistic about the EU post-Brexit question being rsolved this year;, and so much more.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday (9 January) there were "clear signs of a slowdown" in Russia's defence industry and called for further action to eliminate loopholes in sanctions imposed on Moscow.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, French President Emmanuel Macron and key Middle East leaders are slated to attend next week's World Economic Forum, putting talks to end wars in Gaza and Ukraine at the top of the agenda for the global elite.

The European Commission is in contact with Serbian authorities regarding the alleged kidnap, arrest and torture of opposition politician Nikola Sandulovic, but they stressed it is important to have all the facts.

Prosecutors in Ialomiţia, southern Romania, have initiated a criminal case against the far-right AUR party for allegedly corrupting voters by offering them free medical consultations in a caravan.

Slovenian judges began a two-week protest on Wednesday to express their frustration at the government’s failure to bring their salaries in line with those of the most senior officials in the other two branches of government – a move they said would have them delay proceedings on a case-by-case basis.

The European Union on Tuesday (9 January) expressed unease that parliamentary elections in Bangladesh did not have opposition representation because of a boycott, and called for alleged polling irregularities to be investigated.

Slovakia is now paying record-high interest rates on government bonds, surpassing even the once-troubled Greece, which is now slowly digging itself out of the abyss of bankruptcy that Slovakia is now inching towards.

Czech lawmakers will meet with Interior Ministry officials and experts on Wednesday to discuss a possible tightening of gun laws in the wake of the tragic shooting at Charles University on 21 December, in which a student killed 14 people before turning the gun on himself.

Bosnian Serbs marked on Tuesday (9 January) their self-proclaimed "national day", disregarding condemnations and warnings that the holiday violated Bosnia's constitution and put peace at risk.

An average of 18 migrants a day, or a total of 6,618, lost their lives trying to reach Spanish shores, a figure that almost tripled compared to the 2,390 deaths recorded in 2022, a report by the NGO Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders) revealed on Tuesday.

Gibraltar’s future relationship with the European Union will be decided in the first half of the year, Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Fabian Picardo assured on Tuesday, adding that this year will be the year in which an agreement could be reached on a post-Brexit solution.

Far-right Lega leader and  Transport Minister Matteo Salvini has already rejected running in the upcoming EU elections, though things remain up in the air for the other two party leaders in the ruling coalition, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani.

Bulgarian Defence Minister Todor Tagarev is heading to the US for a five-day trip to meet members of key defence institutions and take stock of the progress on the many deals Bulgaria has signed with US companies with a view of modernising its army, as well as the forthcoming deal on new 3D radars, Tagarev announced on Tuesday.

President Andrzej Duda faces a difficult decision whether to pardon once again two sentenced MPs, who were sentenced for their abuse of power in previous posts, a decision that could seriously undermine any chance of successful cooperation with the new government.

Germany’s train drivers’ union announced the start of nationwide strikes on Wednesday, adding to the traffic chaos as the showdown between farmers and the government over farm subsidies continues.

Russian Senator Alexei Pushkov downplayed fears of a possible war in Sweden voiced by some of the country’s top security officials on Tuesday, going so far as to mock the country’s geopolitical weight.

Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton wants a 100 billion euro fund to boost EU defence industry production in a cooperative way, he said as the EU executive is drafting the bloc’s brand new defence industry strategy (EDIS).