Merz to advocate use of frozen Russian assets at EU summit

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz delivers a government declaration on the upcoming European Council meeting in Berlin, Germany, October 16, 2025. (REUTERS)
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Updated 16 October 2025
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Merz to advocate use of frozen Russian assets at EU summit

  • Merz first advocated for an interest-free EU loan backed by the frozen assets in late September

BERLIN: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Thursday he would call for the European Union to use Russian assets frozen in the West to provide a 140 billion euro ($163 billion) loan to Ukraine to finance its war effort at the upcoming EU summit.
Merz first advocated for an interest-free EU loan backed by the frozen assets in late September.
“We do not want to do this in order to prolong the war, but to end it,” Merz said in a speech to the Bundestag lower house of parliament.
“(Russian President Vladimir) Putin must realize that our support for Ukraine will not wane, but will grow, and that he cannot count on outlasting us.”


Florida airport to be renamed after US President Donald Trump

Updated 4 sec ago
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Florida airport to be renamed after US President Donald Trump

WASHINGTON: An airport in Florida will soon be renamed after US President Donald Trump, after a bill proposing the change was approved by the state’s legislature on Thursday.
Trump, a real estate mogul who has plastered his name on buildings around the world, has sought to leave his mark on the country in an unprecedented image and building campaign.
Florida’s Republican-led legislature approved a bill to rename the Palm Beach International Airport as the “President Donald J. Trump International Airport,” state records show. Governor Ron DeSantis, once a Trump opponent, is expected to sign the measure into law.
The airport in Palm Beach, a town known for its sandy beaches and luxurious estates, is just minutes away from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.
The airport renaming will also require the approval of the Federal Aviation Administration.
It would then become the latest institution to be renamed after Trump.
The president’s handpicked board of the Kennedy Center, an arts complex and memorial to late president John F. Kennedy in Washington, voted in December to rename itself the “Trump-Kennedy Center.”
Trump has also sought to rename New York’s Penn Station and Washington’s Dulles International Airport after himself, according to US media reports, although those efforts were rebuffed.
The Treasury Department has also confirmed reports that drafts have been drawn up for a commemorative $1 coin featuring Trump’s image, even though there are laws against displaying the image of a sitting or living president on money.