business 
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
In his first term President Trump episodically threatened to pull out of NATO, removing the United States as the linchpin of the most successful military alliance in modern times. In his second term, he is trying a different approach: hollowing it out from within. Mr. Trump’s decision to reverse three years of unity in aiding … Read more
A giant crater in the southeast English county of Surrey has enveloped part of a residential street, causing the county to declare a major incident. Here’s what we know. What’s going on? There’s a hole. A what? A hole. Actually, two holes. The first hole appeared on Godstone High Street on Monday night, and grew … Read more
In a wooded cemetery in Munich, a white sticker with a puzzling QR code appeared on a gravestone late last year. Then, over the next few weeks, more and more stickers mysteriously appeared, until more than 1,000 graves were marked like goods in a supermarket. “It’s really strange,” Bernd Hoerauf, who oversees the management of … Read more
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine was set to meet with President Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia in Kyiv on Thursday — a day after a public feud between the Ukrainian and American leaders threatened to derail diplomatic efforts toward peace talks. The meeting with the envoy, Keith Kellogg, a retired U.S. general and … Read more
Luis Rubiales, the former head of Spain’s soccer federation, was convicted on Thursday of sexual assault for forcibly kissing a member of the women’s national team on the lips after the team won the 2023 Women’s World Cup. Mr. Rubiales’s kiss of the player, Jennifer Hermoso, set off a national scandal, deepened debates about longstanding … Read more
Even though many Greenlanders said they are not fans of Mr. Trump, they enjoy watching him push Denmark around. In interviews, they expressed confidence that this would ultimately help them get a sovereign state of their own — something no other Inuit community has achieved — unless America swallows them first. “Everyone I know is … Read more
Friedrich Merz, the man favored to be Germany’s next chancellor after elections on Sunday, is a conservative businessman who has never been a minister and was forced out of government years ago for challenging then-Chancellor Angela Merkel. As a Christian Democrat and committed trans-Atlanticist, he has been considered a potentially better match for President Trump … Read more
It was the site of Britain’s Royal Mint, where coins were struck from 1810 to 1975. It sits atop the ruins of a Cistercian abbey dating to the 14th century, as well as a burial ground from the Black Death. And from the 16th century to the early 18th century, it was a supply yard … Read more
