A spending plan approved by Israel’s Parliament hands Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a big political victory and devotes a significant chunk to military spending, signaling that Israel expects to stay on a war footing for the longer term. The $206 billion budget was approved on Tuesday with broad enough support — 66 votes to 52 … Read more
Russia and Ukraine have agreed to cease fighting in the Black Sea in a U.S.-brokered deal, but it remains unclear whether the agreement can come into force soon — if at all. Russia had a major caveat: it would abide by the deal only after various restrictions were removed from its agricultural exports. The penalties … Read more
A gleaming new data center sits less than half a mile from the electric substation where a fire plunged Heathrow Airport into darkness last week. The data center’s own power was also cut that day. But no one who relied on it would have noticed, thanks to a bank of batteries and backup generators designed … Read more
Europe’s railways have rarely inspired as much excitement as they have in recent years. Train companies, eager to capitalize on this newfound enthusiasm, have been racing to add new destinations, revive old ones or simply provide more seats on popular routes. Others have gone for luxury charters aimed at recreating the opulence of train travel … Read more
When William Leggatt was at work as a renewal energy developer a couple of summers ago, he received a bizarre email from a superfan of “Operation Mincemeat,” a British musical about a wacky World War II intelligence plot. As the show outlines, the operation involved British spies dressing a corpse as a military officer, stuffing … Read more
Barthélémy Jobert is so engrossed in the 19th century that he takes an expansive view of it: For him it began intellectually in the 1760s and ran into the 1920s. A leading art historian in Paris and former president of what is now Sorbonne University, he is particularly expert in the work of Eugène Delacroix, … Read more
International tourists detained at U.S. borders. Steep tariffs imposed on trade partners. Threats against longtime allies. The onslaught of contested policies and language by the Trump administration in recent weeks is causing tourists around the globe to either cancel or reconsider travel to the United States. A growing number of visitors say they feel unwelcome … Read more
European leaders have gotten the message from Washington about doing more for their own defense and for Ukraine, too. They are talking tough when it comes to supporting Ukraine and about protecting their own borders, and they are standing up to a demanding and even hostile Trump administration. But there is an inevitable gap between … Read more
Bill Pallot had an unparalleled passion for 18th-century French chairs that he turned into a lucrative career consulting with museums, galleries, collectors and the Palace of Versailles. He became a fixture in Parisian society and a celebrity in the art world, until he was felled by a former student who had become so steeped in … Read more
