First Thing: European leaders meet as US and Russia lock them out of Ukraine talks

The meeting, convened by Emmanuel Macron, comes as US officials prepare for talks in Riyadh with their Russian counterparts. Plus, the comprehensive ridiculing of New Zealand’s tourism campaign

Good morning.

US officials are preparing to hold preliminary negotiations in Riyadh with Russia over Ukraine, as European powers meet in Paris to demand the inclusion of Kyiv and themselves in the talks.

A meeting is expected as soon as Tuesday between the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio. European leaders fear Russia will use the talks to demand Ukrainian neutrality and to split the country into spheres of influence.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Sunday repeated his prediction that Russia will attack Nato if the US withdraws its support for Ukraine, claiming to have seen intelligence suggesting Moscow is readying its army to do so.

Who will attend the Paris summit? The French president, Emmanuel Macron, who is convening the talks, Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, and the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer.

What role is the UK playing? An active one – Starmer on Sunday said he was prepared to put British troops on the ground in Ukraine to safeguard peace.

Trump policies make US ‘scary place to invest’ and risk stagflation, says Nobel prize-winning economist

The US is becoming “a scary place to invest” due to Donald Trump’s tariff threats, the Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has said as he warned that the president’s volatile handling of the economy could cause stagflation in the US.

“It risks the worst of all possible worlds: a kind of stagflation,” said Stiglitz, a Columbia University professor and former World Bank economist. Stagflation is when high unemployment meets high inflation and stagnant economic demand.

Investment was likely to be deterred by Trump’s contempt for the rule of law, and Trump’s tariffs – and retaliatory measures by other countries – would push up inflation.

How will this affect consumers? Expect to see rising prices, Stiglitz said, adding that almost all economists agree with this: it is just a question of magnitude.

Israel says government working to implement Trump’s Gaza plan

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, sent a negotiating team to Cairo to discuss the hostage deal on Monday, a day after he said his government was working closely with the US to implement Donald Trump’s Gaza “takeover” plan.

Netanyahu’s comments on Sunday followed a meeting in Jerusalem with the US secretary of state, MarcoRubio, who said that while Trump’s proposal – which called for the Palestinian territory to be turned into a resort owned by the US – may have “shocked” some people, it took “courage” to suggest an alternative to “tired ideas” of the past. It has been widely condemned as an endorsement of ethnic cleansing.

With the first phase of the ceasefire agreement due to end on 1 March, Israel is reportedly trying to change the deal’s terms, calling for the six surviving hostages scheduled to be released over the next two weeks to be freed all at once on Saturday.

What do others say about Gaza’s future? Riyadh is leading Arab efforts to develop a counterproposal to Trump’s plan, which could involve a Gulf-led reconstruction fund and a deal to sideline Hamas, while rejecting the resettlement of Palestinians.

In other news …

Friends of the Russian anti-war singer Vadim Stroykin have questioned the official report of his death, that he killed himself by jumping from a ninth-floor window while security services were visiting.

Singapore’s opposition leader has been convicted of lying to parliament and could have his candidacy disqualified from upcoming national elections.

James Murdoch has called his father a “misogynist” and revealed bitter details in a rare interview, amid the family’s battle over the News Corp empire.

Stat of the day: before Trump paused it, 80% of green energy funding was to go to Republican-leaning districts

Under the Biden administration’s Green New Deal, a quarter of a trillion dollars – 80% of the money for green energy initiatives – was destined for clean energy and other projects in Republican-leaning congressional districts across the US. But these communities are now unlikely to see the benefits of the expansion of projects including solar electricity, after Donald Trump paused federal grant funding for them.

Don’t miss this: Aurore Clément on violent premieres and smuggling bananas for Brando

Aurore Clément remembers the violent response to the premiere of Les Rendez-vous d’Anna well. Clément, who played the star in Chantal Akerman’s 1978 movie, felt the audience wanted to “attack” her and she was ushered out under a trenchcoat. “People weren’t ready to accept it at the time, its feminism,” says Clément. Read this interview with the actor, now 79, where she speaks about her difficult childhood, her friendship with Akerman – and how she smuggled bananas on to the set of Apocalypse Now for Marlon Brando, who was under orders to lose weight.

Climate check: Brazil asks UN to ditch proposed levy on global shipping

Despite being the host of this November’s Cop30, Brazil has asked the UN to scrap plans for a new levy on emissions from global shipping that would raise billions of dollars to fight the climate crisis. Alongside China, Saudi Arabia and 12 other countries opposing the levy, Brazil said it risked reducing exports from the developing world, raising food prices and increasing inequalities.

Last Thing: New Zealand’s ‘Everyone must go!’ tourism campaign roundly ridiculed

A New Zealand tourism drive with the slogan “Everyone must go!” has been roundly ridiculed: for coming as emigration levels hit record levels, for being too similar to a clearance sale slogan, and even for sounding like a desperate plea for access to the toilet. But hey, it’s at least got people talking.

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