Jennifer Johnston, an admired Irish novelist whose precise, carefully woven fictions depicted historic fault lines in her country’s upper crust and frailties in its latter-day middle class, died on Feb. 25 in Dun Laoghaire, outside Dublin. She was 95. Her death, in a nursing home, was announced by President Michael D. Higgins of Ireland, who … Read more
Jordan Bardella, the young president of France’s far-right National Rally, plans to visit Israel this month in a powerful symbol of his party’s shift from the home of French antisemitism to the country’s most vociferous friend of the Jews. “Antisemitism is a poison,” Mr. Bardella told Le Journal du Dimanche, a Sunday newspaper, announcing that … Read more
Germany’s centrist politicians are losing votes to the far right and the far left. They are losing faith in America, their longtime friend and protector. And they are rapidly losing what could be their best chance to address both those problems at once. The German government in waiting, led by the likely next chancellor, Friedrich … Read more
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that the military had regained full control of the town of Sudzha, the main population center in the part of the Kursk region of Russia that Ukrainian troops had captured last summer. Ukrainian officials have not confirmed a retreat from the town, where the previous night Kyiv’s military had reported … Read more
American and Russian officials are expected to meet in Moscow on Thursday as President Vladimir V. Putin weighs a 30-day cease-fire proposal from the United States and Ukraine. Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, told reporters at about midday Moscow time on Thursday that American officials were en route. “Negotiators are indeed flying in, and … Read more
Though spring had not yet sprung, several days of sunshine and blue skies during Paris Fashion Week in early March had people ditching the winter garb they had packed for lighter, brighter attire. For some, this required a bit of emergency shopping. In and outside shows, a theme that seemed to inspire ensembles was the … Read more
From Thursday night into Friday morning, Earth’s shadow will swallow the moon, transforming the usually pearly orb into a striking red sphere. It’s the first total lunar eclipse in more than two years. Also known as a blood moon, the event will be most visible across the Americas, western parts of Africa and Europe, New … Read more
In the weeks after President Emmanuel Macron called a snap election last summer that resulted in a deeply divided French Parliament, if his name came up it was often to call for his resignation. The unpopular president, long derided by critics as aloof, all-controlling and arrogant, looked certain to ride out the final three years … Read more
For more than a year, pro-Western marchers in Georgia, a former Soviet republic that borders Russia, have been accusing their government of allowing Moscow to increasingly reassert its sway over their country. But driving around this nation of 3.6 million people in the heart of the mountainous Caucasus region, the influence of another ambitious power … Read more
President Trump is no fan of the European Union. He has repeatedly claimed that the bloc was created to “screw” America, has pledged to slap big tariffs on its cars, and this week enacted global steel and aluminum levies that are expected to hit some $28 billion in exports from the bloc. But for months, … Read more