Friedrich Merz, the 69-year-old veteran German politician with a hardline stance on migration and a love of aviation, is the favorite to become the country’s next chancellor in the federal election on February 23. But who is the old-school conservative who wants to rid his party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), of former leader Angela Merkel’s centrist legacy? His long-time ...
A shipment of heavy bombs from the United States has arrived in Israel, as Marco Rubio visits the country on his first official trip to the region since becoming US Secretary of State. The munitions were sent after President Donald Trump’s administration last month lifted a hold on the deliveries, Israel’s Ministry of Defense said Sunday. Israel’s defense minister Israel ...
Kirill Dmitriev, a close Putin adviser, will focus on restoring economic ties between the US and Russia as the two sides attempt to forge a Russia-Ukraine peace agreement, according to sources with knowledge of the appointment. Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sanctioned sovereign wealth fund, has been an outspoken Trump supporter from within Russia’s political elite, saying his US presidential ...
Fighters from Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have torched swathes of the country’s largest refugee camp, firing indiscriminately at civilians, according to open-source data and an eyewitness account. At least seven people have been killed and 40 injured in the attacks which began on Tuesday, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which operates one of the last remaining healthcare ...
The Prince and Princess of Wales have publicly marked Valentine’s Day by sharing a sweetly romantic photograph of themselves. In the photo, posted on their official social media channels Friday, William and Kate can be seen sitting on a blanket on grass, surrounded by trees. They are holding hands and are both dressed in blue. Kate appears to be laughing ...
Vance uses half-truths to lecture a European audience well aware of the threat of authoritarian rule
It felt like a speech, if delivered on X.com, laden surely with community notes. US Vice President JD Vance, taking the stage in Munich, to eviscerate totalitarianism in Europe. But not in Moscow, especially after its savage invasion of Ukraine. Instead, in Ukraine’s allies in the European Union. The “enemy within”, as he called it, in Europe, is jailing opponents, ...
At first whiff, it sounds repulsive: sniff the essence of an ancient corpse. But researchers who indulged their curiosity in the name of science found that well-preserved Egyptian mummies actually smell pretty good. “In films and books, terrible things happen to those who smell mummified bodies,” said Cecilia Bembibre, director of research at University College London’s Institute for Sustainable Heritage. ...
Two years ago, two days of protests were enough to force Georgia’s government into an embarrassing U-turn. It had tried to introduce a “foreign agents” bill – which critics likened to legislation passed by President Vladimir Putin to stifle dissent in Russia – but backed down after fierce demonstrations sparked by the bill’s first reading. “We fought it off like ...
The split screen is horrifying. On one side, a White House whose policy is in turns strident, revisionist, and then – it seems, sometimes – in urgent need of clarification. On the other, Ukraine, where President Volodymyr Zelensky is outside, looking in, on peace talks, while hundreds die daily on frontlines where Moscow is winning, and children are frequently pulled ...
Three Israeli hostages have been freed from Gaza under a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas after a dispute this week threatened to derail the deal. American-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen, Russian-Israeli Alexandre Troufanov and Argentinian-Israeli Iair Horn were released in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, around 10 a.m. local time (3 a.m. ET) in the sixth such exchange under the truce. They ...