Friday Briefing

European leaders discussed Ukraine and defense

At a meeting in Brussels yesterday, E.U. leaders discussed how to bolster both the continent’s defenses and its support for Ukraine. Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, called it a “watershed moment.”

Europe’s goal is to better arm itself to deal with Russia without as much backup from the U.S. To reach that objective, a plan from the commission would offer 150 billion euros, or about $160 billion, in loans to invest in missile defense, anti-drone systems and other defense technologies.

The leaders also reviewed a peace plan for Ukraine and ways to support it financially and possibly with troops. “We are very thankful that we are not alone,” said Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, who attended the meeting.

Jeanna Smialek, our Brussels bureau chief, said as the meeting was ongoing that E.U. leaders were mostly “vowing to stand by Ukraine.” The exception was Hungary, which has in the past been reluctant to join an E.U. consensus on Ukraine. It is “the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion that the E.U.’s unanimity on such a statement has broken,” Jeanna said.

Trump gave Canada and Mexico a tariff reprieve

President Trump yesterday declared a monthlong pause on his new tariffs on exports to the U.S. from Mexico and Canada, saying he would exempt products covered under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a pact he signed in his first term.

A ‘last warning’ to Hamas

In a blistering social media post, President Trump directly warned Hamas militants to immediately release all the hostages being held in Gaza or face death.

“Release all of the Hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is OVER for you,” he posted, adding: “This is your last warning.”

Even as Trump issued his warning, officials said that the U.S. and Hamas had held direct talks in Qatar about the hostages, sidestepping separate negotiations involving Hamas and Israel over the terms of the next phase of a cease-fire in Gaza.

By the numbers: The Israeli government has said that about 25 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others are still in Gaza.

• Britain: Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform U.K. party raised 4.75 million pounds last year, up from less than 160,000 pounds in 2023. The Times looked at every donation.

• Australia: Tropical Cyclone Alfred is expected to come ashore late today or early tomorrow near Brisbane.

• South Korea: Two fighter jets mistakenly bombed a village during a drill near the North Korean border, injuring 15 people.

• Finance: The European Central Bank lowered its key rate by a quarter point, to 2.5 percent.

• Space: Air traffic in Florida was disrupted when a prototype of the SpaceX spacecraft that Elon Musk says will one day take people to Mars disintegrated during a test flight.

• New Zealand: The country recalled its top diplomat in Britain after he questioned President Trump’s grasp of history.

• Taiwan: President Lai Ching-te sought to reassure his citizens that a Taiwanese chip giant’s plan to spend $100 billion in the U.S. would benefit the island.

• Terror: Pakistan needs help fighting terrorists, and its role in catching one wanted by the U.S. could mean greater cooperation in the future.

• Iran: A jailed popular musician was flogged in what activists called retribution for supporting an uprising.

Arts & Culture

• Fashion: Haider Ackermann made a dutiful yet promising debut in Paris as creative director of Tom Ford.

• Theater: Several arts organizations sued the National Endowment for the Arts, challenging its new stance against “gender ideology.”

• Music: Duane Keith Davis, the man charged with Tupac Shakur’s murder, said he had not written or even read his memoir, which describes the shooting and says he was there.

• Collecting: A Flamin’ Hot Cheeto with an uncanny resemblance to a fire-breathing Pokémon was sold at auction for nearly $90,000.

SPORTS NEWS

• Soccer: FIFA is considering temporarily increasing the number of teams in the 2030 men’s World Cup to 64 to commemorate the centenary of the event.

• Sportswear: Kiandra Browne, a Muslim basketball player, needed modest sports apparel. Now she sells it to others.

• Tennis: Naomi Osaka called her loss to Camila Osorio at Indian Wells the “worst match I’ve ever played in my life.”

• Golf: The Athletic took a look inside a community that has been creating dream golf courses — for a video game.

MORNING READ

On Feb. 21, the chief executive of the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit logged onto his computer to approve a routine transaction. Thirty minutes later, $1.5 billion was gone. The F.B.I. traced the theft to North Korean-backed hackers who exploited a simple flaw in Bybit’s security. Read about the largest heist in crypto history.

Lives lived: Roy Ayers, a vibraphonist who pioneered a funkier strain of jazz, and who was one of the most sampled musicians by hip-hop artists, died at 84.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

• Haunted homes: Tour the abandoned apartments hidden above library branches in New York City.

• Hands of time: Do we age gradually, or in bursts? New technology is helping scientists better understand how the process works.

• “A negative world”: Aaron Renn has gained a following in conservative Christian circles by giving a name to what many feel.

• The politics of fiction: A publisher pulled a romance novel after early readers complained about dialogue that they found racist, or that seemed to praise Elon Musk.

ARTS AND IDEAS

A (literal) dead-end job

The director Bong Joon Ho’s new film, “Mickey 17,” is, at once, a scarily familiar and enjoyably loony tunes story about class and greed. The main character, played by Robert Pattinson, is used to test viruses and other threats on an alien planet. He dies over and over, only for his employers to reprint a copy of him to get him right back to work. But, as with any software update, there are bugs.