Tausi Insider

Poland withdrew its objections to a minimum corporate tax at an EU summit on Thursday, unblocking a whole package of linked agreements that includes €18-billion ($19.16-billion) in financing for Ukraine in 2023, diplomats said. Leaders had been held up on several fronts at the Brussels summit, at the end of a tumultuous year which saw the EU close ranks to support Ukraine after Russia’s invasion but also often struggle to agree how much pressure to put on Moscow. Diplomats said Poland had blindsided EU peers who had not expected its objection to a carefully negotiated package, but Warsaw’s veto had now been dropped. “There is a deal,” one said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had earlier addressed leaders by video link and urged them to approve the aid his country needs nearly 10 months into the war. “I am asking you very much to ensure that our struggle for peace for Ukraine and for the whole of Europe does not depend on misunderstandings and controversies between some EU mem...

An explosion occurred Friday in a gas pipeline in central Lithuania, officials said. Baltic media reported that it caused no injuries but sent flames up to 50 meters (164 feet) high and forced the protective evacuation of a nearby village. The operator of Lithuania’s natural gas transmission system, AB Amber Grid, said there are two parallel pipelines, and “initial data indicate that the explosion occurred in one of them. The other pipeline was not damaged” The gas supply through the damaged pipeline in the Pasvalys area was immediately interrupted. “We immediately started to investigate the circumstances of the incident and ensure gas supply to consumers,” Nemunas Biknius, Amber Grid CEO said in a statement. He said the government had been informed. Lithuanian broadcaster LRT said the village of Valakeliai, with about 250 inhabitants, was being evacuated as a precaution. According to the Baltic News Service, the pipeline carries natural gas from Klaipeda in Lithuania to Latvia. Klai...