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The European Commission has outlined a plan to cut gas use in Europe by 15 percent. Announcing the Save Gas for a Safe Winter  package, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated 12 member states had either been affected by a partial or total cutoff of Russian gas supply. The European Union is seeking to diversify its energy sources as it attempts to minimize its dependence on Russian natural gas. Speaking at an emergency summit in Brussels today, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that Europe might have to "rely on more expensive gas" if Russia does not honor its contract and resume gas deliveries through the Nord Stream pipeline by Tuesday. The EU's executive body announced plans for member states to reduce gas demand by 15% between August 2022 and March 2023. The Commiss...

Former spokesperson for the Oath Keepers, an extremist group, is "exceedingly lucky" that more extreme bloodshed did not occur. Jason Van Tatenhove said that the potential for violence was "there from the start," adding that he and others are worried about the next election. He said that although tragic, some deaths during the insurrection were inevitable. "All we have to look at is the iconic images of that day with the gallows set up for Mike Pence. For the Vice President of the United States," Van Tatenhove said. As former President Trump stews about 2024 election, he is uncertain about whom he might face, but he expects that if he leaves a major office for a second time, his followers will use deception and violence to further agitate the group. “What else is he going to do if...

Two-year-old Aiden McCarthy survived Monday's carnage at a July Fourth parade in suburban Chicago, but he is left to grow up without either of his parents. Kevin McCarthy, 37, and his wife, Irina, 35, were among seven people who died following an explosion of bullets from a rooftop into a holiday crowd in Highland Park, Illinois. Nearly 40 others were injured.   Aiden was shielded from the gunfire by his father, Kevin, who lay wounded on the floor, according to US Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat. "Then, they went to work on his dad because his dad's leg was still bleeding," Duckworth told CNN's John Berman on Wednesday. The McCarthys were looking forward to attending the annual Labor Day parade in Chicago with their young son, Levberg told the Sun-Times. "They were...

The Texas Supreme Court issued an order late Friday partially granting state Attorney General Ken Paxton's request to stay a lower court order that had temporarily blocked enforcement of most of a nearly century-old abortion ban in the state. The state high court's order now allows civil enforcement of the 1925 pre-Roe v. Wade ban, according to court documents. The Center for Reproductive Rights says that, according to its interpretation of the stay, the law cannot be enforced criminally. CNN reached out to Paxton's office on Saturday to ask whether it agrees that criminal prosecutions remain stayed but has not received a response as of Saturday afternoon. Paxton, a Republican, lauded the state high court's ruling on Twitter on Saturday. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton praised the ...

The Russian military has stepped up shelling Ukraine's Kharkiv, but ground forces who were supposed to storm the city's fortifications opted not to do so. According to Oleg Sinegubov, the head of the Kharkiv regional military administration and the Ukrainian president's office, shelling has intensified in the past 24 hours, particularly in northern regions. No deaths have been reported but some people have been injured, Sinegubov added. "On the line of contact in the Kharkiv region, the enemy is mainly focused on defense," said Sinegubov. "Our defenders hold their positions firmly." A CNN team in Kharkiv city heard several explosions Sunday night and Monday morning but noted that there was only a slight increase in the level of activity compared with previous nights.   Some bac...

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Thursday the last day of the age of "unipolarity," in a speech delivered at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, which lambasted Western countries. "When they won the Cold War, the US declared themselves God's own representatives on earth," Putin told the audience. The much-hyped speech was delayed by more than 90 minutes because of distributed denial of service attacks on its systems. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists in an impromptu conference call that the speech was postponed due to DDoS attacks on its systems. It's not clear who perpetrated the attack. Ukrainian IT Army, a hacker collective, called the St. Petersburg Forum as a target earlier this week on Twitter. Putin's address at an annual conference ...

On the evening of Macron's re-election, his party's centrist alliance, Ensemble, has an increased risk of losing its majority in parliament of just weeks. Polling suggested German Chancellor Angela Merkel's centre-right alliance Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) with the leftist coalition New Ecological and Social People's Union (NUPES) neck and neck. According to results announced Sunday evening, Ensemble has won 25.37 percent (5.1 million votes), while the pan-left NUPES led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon have gained 24.31 percent (4.9 million votes). A second round of voting is scheduled for June 19. If after that Ensemble falls short of the 289 threshold for an absolute majority—which major pollsters are projecting as a possibility—Macron will become the first ...