Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago convinced Europe’s leaders that they needed to spend more money on defense. On Monday, leaders from across the European Union and Britain will meet in Brussels to debate a vexing question: how to pay for it. It is a concern made more acute by President Trump’s return … Read more
The United States and its biggest trading partners were hurtling on Sunday into a new era of protectionism as Canada, Mexico and China said they would adopt countermeasures against new tariffs levied by President Trump. From honey to tomatoes, and from clothes to toilet bowls, a wide range of American goods that cross the border … Read more
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was traveling to Washington on Sunday for meetings this week with President Donald J. Trump and senior administration officials at a pivotal moment for the Middle East. Mr. Trump has made it clear that he wants the wars in the Middle East to end after the October 2023 Hamas-led … Read more
Lifesaving health initiatives and medical research projects have shut down around the world in response to the Trump administration’s 90-day pause on foreign aid and stop-work orders. In Uganda, the National Malaria Control Program has suspended spraying insecticide into village homes and ceased shipments of bed nets for distribution to pregnant women and young children, … Read more
Horst Köhler, who became Germany’s president after being a financial engineer behind the reunification of Germany and the creation several decades later of the euro currency, died on Saturday. He was 81. The German president’s office, in a statement on behalf of his family, said that Mr. Köhler had died in Berlin after a short … Read more
After a week of fighting, rebels backed by Rwanda have wrested almost full control over Goma, a city of two million in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Hospitals are overflowing with the wounded, and the city morgue with the dead. Goma’s residents are beginning to emerge from their hiding places, desperately searching for water … Read more
Belgium reached an agreement to form a coalition government on Friday, the nation’s monarchy announced, ending seven months of partisan squabbling over deeply unpopular proposed cuts to social spending and other issues. Full details about the agreement were yet to be officially released. The new government was formed under the stewardship of Bart De Wever, … Read more
Italian judges on Friday again denied the government’s request to hold asylum seekers in Albania while their cases are being processed, dealing another major setback to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s anti-immigration policy. It was the third ruling against the policy since Ms. Meloni’s right-wing government began carrying out the plan in October, which has become … Read more
The man who has been heavily favored to become Germany’s next chancellor took an extraordinary gamble this week, both for his political future and his country’s longstanding firewall against political extremism. It did not go as he hoped. In an effort to portray himself and his party as tough on immigration, Friedrich Merz, the leader … Read more
The Malaysian authorities quietly presented the director Amanda Nell Eu with an ultimatum: They would submit her film “Tiger Stripes” to the 2024 Academy Awards only if scenes they deemed inappropriate were cut for local audiences. “Tiger Stripes,” which follows a rebellious girl who gets her period, was riding high after winning the grand prize … Read more