Three and a half decades after reunification, a line runs through Germany where the Iron Curtain once stood. Instead of barbed wires and dogs, that line now divides Germans by measures like income and unemployment — and increasingly by the willingness to vote for extremist parties. If East Germany were still its own country, the … Read more
new video loaded: Keir Starmer Announces Defense Spending Increase transcript Back transcript Keir Starmer Announces Defense Spending Increase Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain said the move would amount to an increase in expenditure of 13.4 billion pounds, or $17 billion, a year on defense between now and 2027. “Starting today, I can announce this … Read more
Kelly Brunt wasn’t the only federal employee to be laid off this month while traveling for work. But she was almost certainly the only one whose work trip was in Antarctica. Dr. Brunt was a program director at the National Science Foundation, the $9 billion agency that supports scientific advancement in practically every field apart … Read more
The majority of the books nominated for this year’s International Booker Prize, the prestigious award for fiction translated into English, are under 200 pages long. Only one is over 300 pages: Mircea Cartarescu’s 627-page “Solenoid,” translated by Sean Cotter. It is also one of the most high-profile novels on the list. Many literary critics have … Read more
Vatican City is an anxious place. Clergy keep their phones by their pillows. Reporters, crammed in the Holy See press office, open emails with trepidation. Faithful have begun to gather expectantly in St. Peter’s Square. All await terse bulletins from the Vatican on the condition of Pope Francis, who remains critical after being taken to … Read more
Britain on Tuesday announced a landmark increase in military spending, seeking to send a powerful signal about burden sharing to President Trump before Prime Minister Keir Starmer meets him at the White House on Thursday. Speaking to Parliament, Mr. Starmer said Britain would raise its military spending to 2.5 percent of gross domestic value by … Read more
President Emmanuel Macron of France struck a chummy tone with President Trump even as he corrected him with a smile during joint appearances on Monday. That one-two punch of flattery and gentle resistance is an example of how some European leaders are trying to approach America at a fraught moment. The question is whether it … Read more
As the commander of a rebel group allied with Al Qaeda during Syria’s long civil war, the man known by his nom du guerre, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, welcomed foreign jihadists, dispatched suicide bombers to blow up military posts and vowed to create an Islamic state. A decade ago, he told a journalist that Muslims should … Read more
Soon after Russia invaded Ukraine, Taiwan’s leaders joined the United States and its allies in declaring solidarity with the victim. Taiwan and Ukraine were fellow democracies, they said, each imperiled by its hulking, authoritarian neighbor. Now, President Trump’s turn against Ukraine could fan debate in Taiwan about whether it can count on American support in … Read more
