President Trump on Friday appeared to back off his demand that some two million Palestinians be permanently relocated from the Gaza Strip to nearby countries in the Middle East so the United States could take over the territory and develop it into “the Riviera of the Middle East.” Earlier this month, the president said he … Read more
Those dark days began almost five years ago. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic, and four days later, U.S. states began to order shutdowns and travel restrictions. By the end of the month, the European Union had barred nonessential travel from outside the bloc, cruise ships were under a … Read more
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that Ukraine will work “swiftly and very sensibly” on an agreement granting the United States access to its natural resources, in an apparent overture to tamp down tensions that had flared with President Trump over the deal. Kyiv has focused on strengthening its negotiating position as the United States … Read more
The European Union vowed on Friday to increase security in the Baltic Sea as the Swedish authorities said they were investigating a new cable break, the latest example of damage to underwater infrastructure in the region. The European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, said it would take new steps to prevent and detect threats to … Read more
Archaeologists have found a pharaoh’s tomb in an Egyptian valley west of Luxor, Egypt’s ministry of antiquities announced this week, in what officials called the first excavation of a royal tomb since Tutankhamen’s burial chamber was unearthed over a century ago. The newly identified tomb belonged to Thutmose II, who is believed to have reigned … Read more
For Jonathan Dekel-Chen, every day this week has been a mixture of joy and grief. He is celebrating the return of his son Sagui, who was released over the weekend as part of the cease-fire deal with Hamas. But reminders of Sagui’s ordeal, and the torments of the remaining hostages, are impossible to escape. “Today … Read more
It was a novel Ukrainian spy plot, inspired by what Israeli intelligence had pulled off with exploding wireless devices and Hezbollah militants: Hide tiny bombs in the goggles that Russian soldiers use to control drones. Donate those goggles to the Russian military, under the guise of humanitarian aid. Then wait for the explosions. The Russian … Read more
While the United States and most of the European Union have shrugged off the pandemic recession and restarted their economic engines, Germany remains idled. Its economy shrank slightly in 2024, after adjusting for rising prices. Forecasts for this year don’t look much better. And other measures look even worse. They show an economy rapidly sliding … Read more
It has been a rocky few months for Christian Lindner, and for the German political system that he has thrown into chaos. In November, Mr. Linder, who was the federal finance minister, effectively toppled Germany’s fragile government in a bid for his political life. He goaded Chancellor Olaf Scholz into expelling him from the ruling … Read more
As the United States and Russia begin talks to end the war, Moscow is pressing its advantage on the battlefield by closing in on Dnipropetrovsk, one of Ukraine’s largest regions and one with a major industrial base. Russian troops are now less than three miles from the region’s border, and they have been pushing forward … Read more