Free Republic

The top Democrat and Republican in the US Senate joined forces in a rare moment of unity on Thursday in an attempt to pass $40bn in aid for Ukraine, only to be stymied by a single Republican lawmaker: the Kentucky libertarian Rand Paul. Faced with the prospect of an extended delay for the package that passed the House of Representatives on Tuesday, the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, and his Republican counterpart, Mitch McConnell, sought to move forward on the aid package only to be blocked by Paul, a fiscal hawk who objects to the amount of spending proposed. The...

Opec on Tuesday pledged to cut oil output by 10 per cent, in a bid to prop up prices before the summer, when demand in its largest markets falls steeply. The powerful 11-country oil cartel, meeting in Algiers, resolved to stop cheating on its 24.5m barrel a day quota immediately, a move that would cut output by 1.5m barrels a day. Opec's 10 active members - Iraq's struggling industry is not subject to the quota - then intend to reduce their quota on April 1 by a further 1m barrels a day to 23.5m. Much of the reduction would have...