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
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
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
A Conductor at the Top, and Still Learning on the Job
When the great Italian filmmaker Marco Bellocchio made “Good Morning, Night” in 2003, about the 1978 kidnapping and killing of the politician Aldo Moro by the Red Brigades, he provided a fanciful, heartbreaking coda: an image of Moro walking away from captivity, looking not much worse for wear after 55 days in a small cell. … Read more
Tensions on the anniversary of Russia’s invasion President Trump met with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, at the White House yesterday, three years to the day after Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The leaders diverged significantly over the war’s causes, each side’s role in the conflict and its possible resolution. Trump told reporters … Read more
President Vladimir V. Putin on Monday said American companies could do lucrative business deals in Russia and even help mine rare earths in Russian-occupied Ukraine, further amplifying the Kremlin’s message to President Trump that there was money to be made from a better relationship with Moscow. Mr. Putin, speaking in an interview with Russian state … Read more
Ukraine and the United States are closing in on an agreement that would grant Washington a share of Kyiv’s revenues from natural resources, President Trump and a Ukrainian government official said Monday, after an intense pressure campaign from the American president to strike a deal. Mr. Trump said that President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine may … Read more
Friedrich Merz and his center-right Christian Democrats emerged victorious in Germany’s election on Sunday, but the celebrations may be short. The next government, almost certainly led by Mr. Merz as chancellor, faces a stagnant economy, President Trump’s threat to put tariffs on the country’s crucial export industries, and a fourth year of war in Ukraine. … Read more