Author: staff
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday that Germany will take part in a French nuclear exercise later this year, following a joint meeting of the French and German governments near Cologne. “Alongside this work on a shared doctrine, German conventional forces will this year take part in a nuclear exercise of the French military,” Merz said. Speaking at a press conference alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, the Chancellor said a “strategic steering group” created by the two countries would examine how to strengthen deterrence in the future. “This is complementary to our nuclear participation and deterrence within NATO, which…
Published on 17/07/2026 – 17:23 GMT+2 China on Friday said it has never interfered in US elections and has no interest in doing so, after US President Donald Trump accused Beijing of meddling in the 2020 election. “The relevant allegations by the US are entirely fabricated and aimed at vilifying China,” said China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian. “We have no interest in interfering in US elections and have never done so.” Asked whether Trump’s comments could affect Chinese President Xi Jinping’s expected visit to the US in September, Jian replied: “As I just said, we urge the US to…
The highly anticipated Odyssey by Christopher Nolan, based on Homer’s epic, is out today and being shown in cinemas around the world. Teacher Philippos Mantzaris will be going to see the film, but for himthe Odyssey is part of his work. Every day in the classroom, he talks to his pupils about the adventures of the king of Ithaca and tries to convey to them the beauty and value of Ancient Greek. “It is a wonderful piece of literature that children can identify with, perhaps even see Odysseus within themselves, and also see their own homeland. The Odyssey is a…
Javier Milei, the president of Argentina, is expected to be another notable absentee, as he prefers to watch at home — for superstitious reasons. Before the France vs. Spain semifinal, von der Leyen posted a photo of herself holding a football, and noted, “Whoever wins tonight, a strong European team will be in the final!” Spain won 2-0. Von der Leyen was in Kyiv earlier this week, showing EU support for Ukraine’s resistance against Russia, and visited Paris for France’s Bastille Day celebrations. She will meet former European Central Bank boss Mario Draghi on Monday in Brussels to discuss European…
By Harry Bligh with AFP, AP Published on 17/07/2026 – 19:04 GMT+2•Updated 19:13 Russian strikes on Ukraine in the past day have killed seven people and injured more than 67. In a post on X, Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that a number of regions had been hit, including Odesa, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Kherson, Donetsk, and Dnipro. Zelenskyy said Russia had sent more than 130 attack drones and eight missiles into Ukraine overnight and into Friday morning. Ukraine’s state electricity grid, Ukrenergy, said the strikes had caused power outages in Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, and Sumy regions. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that…
Updated: 17/07/2026 – 18:00 GMT+2 Catch up with the most important stories from around Europe and beyond this July 17th, 2026 – latest news, breaking news, World, Business, Entertainment, Politics, Culture, Travel. … More
Published on 17/07/2026 – 16:40 GMT+2•Updated 16:46 Celebrated actress Brenda Fricker – the first Irish woman to win an Oscar – has died aged 81. She won Best Supporting Actress in 1990 for playing the mother of Irish writer and painter Christy Brown in the biographical drama My Left Foot – for which Daniel Day Lewis won Best Actor. Over the course of a career spanning six decades, Fricker also starred in films like So I Married An Axe Murderer (1993), A Time To Kill (1996), Veronica Guerin (2003), Albert Nobbs (2011), and is fondly remembered by many as the…
Jarvis helped deliver the long-awaited Defence Investment Plan (DIP), which allocated extra money for the U.K.’s defenses after he took over at the MoD. But the plan remains reliant on the next government finding significant savings in order to deliver it. In a speech on becoming leader, Burnham said he had not yet chosen his Cabinet, and a government official — not one of the figures cited above — said incumbent ministers had not been given any indication either way over whether they would remain in post. However, if the new prime minister does opt to remove Jarvis, it would…
What began as spontaneous anger over Mykhailo Fedorov’s dismissal has swelled into public outrage over Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s management of the military, with protesters demanding radical changes at the top command. Zelenskyy is now scrambling to contain a bitter stand-off between the reform‑minded, tech-saavy former defence boss, widely supported by the military and civil society, and the army chief at the heart of Ukraine’s war effort. Reshuffle gone wrong On Sunday 12 July Zelenskyy announced a sweeping cabinet reshuffle. With nationwide elections suspended under martial law amid Moscow’s full‑scale war, a cabinet revamp is his only viable instrument for political renewal.…
By Greta Ruffino with AP, AFP Published on 17/07/2026 – 17:52 GMT+2•Updated 17:59 World Cup organizers said Friday they were “monitoring closely” the smoke gripping swaths of the United States ahead of the tournament’s weekend final in New Jersey. “There’s been discussion about it, and we have somebody with the National Weather Service that sits in FIFA headquarters there, so we’re monitoring closely,” Andrew Giuliani, White House World Cup task force executive director, told a briefing. Officials urged people to stay indoors or wear masks outside as air quality reached unhealthy to hazardous levels, prompting concerns about teams training outdoors. “These are high-level…