Month: June 2022

A third minister from French President Emmanuel Macron’s newly formed government has faced allegations of rape or attempted rape — but this case is very different. The minister in question is a female doctor, and the allegations she’s facing have reignited a fraught debate between patients and doctors about medical malpractice. Two women filed formal […]

ROME — Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi left the NATO summit in Madrid early to attend a Cabinet meeting in Rome amid tensions in his governing coalition. Former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who heads the 5Star Movement, has accused Draghi of attempting to have him removed as party leader and of trying to push the […]

MADRID — The U.K. will up its defense spending to 2.5 percent of GDP by the end of the current decade, Boris Johnson announced at the NATO summit. The British prime minister — who has been under intense domestic pressure to commit to further defense spending in recent days — said the hike was needed “to […]

MADRID — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday sought to cool tensions in the Baltic region by urging Lithuania and the EU to lift restrictions on freight transport from Russia to its Kaliningrad enclave, arguing that EU sanctions against Moscow should not apply there. Tensions have been running high in recent weeks over Russian rail […]

Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to jokes made by G7 leaders about his numerous shirtless photo-ops — saying they would look “disgusting” if they took topless pictures. Speaking to reporters during a visit to Turkmenistan on Thursday, Putin said, “I don’t know how they wanted to get undressed, above or below the waist … but […]

Britain will take money it had earmarked for poor countries to cope with climate change and give it to Ukraine as part of a £1 billion military aid drive. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the commitment Thursday at the NATO summit in Madrid — bringing the U.K.’s total military support of Ukraine since Russia’s invasion […]

Brussels will not allow its famous Manneken Pis statuette to be used in a celebration of the 25th anniversary of Beijing’s takeover of Hong Kong on Friday, as had originally been planned to the horror of democracy activists. The original plan was for the urinating bronze fountain of a young boy to be kitted out […]