On the face of it, the Russian actor Yura Borisov was an unlikely actor to land an Oscar nomination in 2025. Just a few years ago he played a guileless soldier in a Kremlin-sponsored movie that celebrated a Soviet tank model. Later, he starred in a biopic of Mikhail Kalashnikov, the man who invented the … Read more
The mother of a jailed British Egyptian activist has been hospitalized and is at risk of sudden death, a doctor has said, as her hunger strike to demand her son’s release reached 151 days. Laila Soueif, the mother of Alaa Abd El Fattah, one of Egypt’s best-known political prisoners, has survived since late September on … Read more
Three years ago, support for members of a Ukrainian political party that advocated closer ties with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia plunged to near zero after Russian forces invaded Ukraine, flattening whole cities and killing tens of thousands of Ukrainians. The party, called the Opposition Platform for Life, was banned, some members went to … Read more
Prosecutors in Romania have opened a criminal case against Calin Georgescu, an ultranationalist politician who in November won the first round of a presidential election only to have his victory annulled when the Constitutional Court ordered a redo of the vote. The start of criminal proceedings against Mr. Georgescu, a fierce critic of NATO and … Read more
Three mainstream political parties in Austria said on Thursday that they had reached an agreement to form a new government that excludes the far right, ending five months of roller coaster negotiations after an election last fall. The coalition is set to announce ministerial posts on Friday, but the new chancellor is likely to be … Read more
Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan Tate, the British American online influencers who have faced a criminal investigation in Romania, left the country on Thursday for the United States, according to a person familiar with the situation. The brothers boarded the flight on Thursday morning, according to the person, who asked not to be named … Read more
During his first term in office, President Trump described the European Union “as a foe,” established “to hurt the United States on trade.” He repeated the charge at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, but in more vulgar terms: “The European Union was formed in order to screw the United States. That’s the purpose of it, … Read more
Earlier this week, two top Vatican officials made a secret visit to see Pope Francis in the hospital. At first, the Vatican said it had no information about the meeting but then confirmed it, explaining the two prelates had come to secure the pope’s signature to move forward on assembling cardinals to approve new saints. … Read more
President Trump’s intense interest in Ukraine’s minerals seemed to come from out of the blue. He dispatched his Treasury secretary to Kyiv this month to negotiate with Ukraine’s leader, then began ratcheting up the pressure publicly in what appeared to critics like a Mafia don’s extortion scheme. “I want security of the rare earth,” he … Read more
