BBC News Briefing

19 December, 2025

Alex has short blonde hair and blue eyes. She is smiling and wearing a black turtleneck

Alex Binley

Hello. European Union leaders have agreed to give Kyiv tens of billions of euros to enable Ukraine to keep fighting Russia, but the deal has highlighted splits among the bloc's members. At the White House, a series of opinionated plaques have appeared under portraits of former presidents - my colleagues at BBC Verify fact check them. And finally, take a look at King Charles's pint pouring skills, which for someone who never had a Saturday job in hospitality, are not too bad.

TOP OF THE AGENDA

Fraught EU summit backs Ukraine but divisions are clear

A woman in a beige jacket, a man in a black suit and patterned tie, and a woman in a blue jacket all hold their hands together, one on top of the other. They stand in front of a blue background and they're all smiling.

The Danish PM, European Council and European Commission presidents announced the deal at the summit in Brussels. Credit: Reuters

A mammoth meeting of EU leaders finally came to an end in the early hours, with an agreement to give Ukraine a €90bn (£79bn; $105bn) interest-free loan to stop it from going bankrupt. Ukraine's president welcomed the deal, having previously urged the EU to use €210bn (£183bn; $246bn) of frozen Russian assets instead. But Belgium, where the vast bulk of these assets are held, demanded guarantees against risks from potential Russian retaliation that proved too much for some countries. This wasn't the only split, Europe editor Katya Adler notes, with Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic only agreeing to support the loan if they were exempt from liability, in "yet another indication of the divisions in Europe over attitudes to Ukraine and to Moscow".

Read Katya's analysis

Putin speech: The Russian president has used his marathon end-of-year speech to accuse Kyiv of "refusing to end this conflict". Latest updates.

Front line suicide: Bereaved family members speak of the stigma surrounding Ukraine's forgotten soldiers who "died the wrong way".

War in maps: Now that funding has been agreed, allowing Ukraine to keep fighting, this is where the front lines currently stand.

WORLD HEADLINES

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NEWS FROM THE UK

Data hack: A Chinese affiliated group is suspected of being behind a cyber attack in which government data was stolen.

Christian Turner: The UK has appointed a new ambassador to the US. Here's what will be in his intray as he takes up the role.

'Nudification' apps: AI tools that let users edit images to seemingly remove someone's clothing are to be banned in a bid to tackle misogyny online.

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

Fact-checking White House plaques targeting former US presidents

Biden's portrait is replaced by an autopen, which Trump has claimed he used to sign important documents. Credit: Getty Images

New plaques have appeared under portraits in the 'Presidential Walk of Fame' at the White House. As well as being critical of some former leaders - labelling Joe Biden "by far the worst president in US history" - a number of other controversial claims are made. BBC Verify takes a closer look to see if there's any truth in them.

Claims unpacked