The prayers under fire in Ukraine
In frozen trenches and shattered towns, chaplains pray with the dying, bless the living and try to keep hope alive
Why don’t Serbians like the EU?
Brussels has been trying to encourage the country to join Europe and the people want closer ties with the west – so why is Serbia sticking with Russia?
The Netherlands’ Geert Wilders nightmare is over – for now
The far right wannabe PM has suffered a personal rebuke, but his rivals will still struggle to form a government
Merz stumbles through a migration minefield – again
A throwaway remark about the makeup of German cities started a political row – and then the chancellor made things even worse
The Georgian mothers fighting for their jailed sons
The women of Georgia have seen their children locked up by the government. Now they want them back
“We need to understand that the good guys rape”
When philosopher Manon Garcia went to the Gisèle Pelicot trial, what struck her most was the defendants’ sheer lack of remorse. If we can’t change this, she asks, can we live with men?
Come and see the best fountain in the world
From September to early October, red wine gushes from Rome’s central two fountains. Forget the Trevi, this is what you need to see when you visit
How to make sense of Putin’s empire
As Karl Schlögel reminded us, Putin waged this war in Ukraine not only for military means, but as a battle for hearts and minds
Ganging up on Geert Wilders
Wilders’s party is on course to win the most seats – but an opposition coalition could keep him out of power. Just
Will France’s fragile peace hold?
Macron and Lecornu have got away with it for now – but the country has forgotten the art of compromise
How to save the newsroom (from itself)
In 2016, American journalism failed to reach and serve certain audiences. The same problem is arising from Trump’s second presidency
Denmark’s social media ban for kids is a tragedy. But it’s right
For my generation, the internet meant connection. Now it only means division
The battle for Moldova’s soul
The recent parliamentary election result was not a show of support for PAS but instead one for Europe – and against Russia
The unsettling state of settled status
In Farage and Badenoch’s eyes, is even paying taxes in Britain good enough for EU nationals like me?
Nerd’s Eye View: 14 things you need to know about storms
Digging into the detail and data to separate the noise from the news
Is this the death knell for Germany’s rigid funeral laws?
Funeral laws in Germany have long been a model of order and control. But one state’s reform could change the way the nation mourns
Why not tax the rich instead?
After just 27 days in office, France’s prime minister Sébastien Lecornu resigned and threw the country into chaos – again
Solving Britain’s housing crisis the European way
Across the channel, rent control, land reform and social housing investment have kept greedy landlords and homelessness at bay. It’s not too late to change course
Estonia, the country that’s doing digital ID cards right
Labour’s plans have caused huge controversy. But ‘100% digital’ Estonia shows how e-government can save time and money for ordinary people
This is how to beat the populists
The triumph of the pro-EU candidate in the Moldovan election is a victory for militant democracy
Claudia Cardinale, the woman who made the world stand still
Mysterious, graceful and defiant, Cardinale transcended the male gaze and wrote her own legend
The Trumpist on course to win in Czechia
Andrej Babiš is a fan of the US president, and hates the EU. But if he wins the election, how extreme will he be?
Is AfD tearing Germany apart?
Thirty-five years after reunification, the east-west divide still remains – leaving fertile ground for right wing extremism
Sorry… the mayor has just sold your house
Italy’s one-euro homes are becoming a nightmare for local authorities – so they’re selling them off
Hunted to death in rural France
Hunting season has begun in France but the participants’ lack of etiquette and disregard for the rules is frustrating locals
Why tennis still speaks medieval French
The sport’s familiar – but often baffling – terminology has its origins in Anglo-Norman instructions, Old French numbers and Arabic palms
Evelyn Palla, Germany’s queen of chaos
In Palla, Deutsche Bahn will have their first female CEO and her appointment has raised eyebrows
Amsterdam’s wartime scars
Steve McQueen’s Occupied City reveals how the ghosts of Nazi occupation are still present, more than 80 years later
When Stalin went to the chippy
The London artists who united in their desire to oppose the first wave of fascism in Europe
How the railways built the world
Train travel is 200 years old. In two centuries it has forged economies, created mass tourism, standardised time itself, and made fish and chips a national cuisine. But what’s its future?
France tackles a weighty issue – obesity
Affecting one in six adults, obesity has doubled in France during the last 25 years
Prince Alexander of Saxony, a prince for our time
History is everywhere in Dresden – but are tourists really paying attention?
Nerd’s Eye View: 15 things you need to know about state visits
Digging into the detail and data to separate the noise from the news
AfD are ringing alarm bells – again
Banning the AfD’s extremist candidates risks turning them into martyrs, granting the far right the attention they crave
Carlo Acutis and the creation of a young saint
Born in 1991, Acutis’s canonisation marks a first for the Roman Catholic Church – he will become its first millennial saint
Verdis, a land that nobody wants
Against all odds, 20-year-old Daniel Jackson, leader of Verdis, has Croatia on the run while his movement has found its way at the heart of a geopolitical dispute
Valencia’s urban utopia
Alicante architect Antonio Cortés Ferrando and his cooperative Espai Verd has brought brutalism to Valencia
Putin’s parrots in Paris
A coalition of hard right and hard left are both attacking Macron, which is just what the Kremlin wants
Uli Hoeneß and the summer’s record-breaking transfer frenzy
According to Fifa, £7.22bn in men’s football alone has been spent in transfer fees, a jump of more than 50% compared with the same period in 2024
Wildfires, espresso… and port
Sandeman and other firms are now introducing firebreaks into the wine estates and planting fire-resistant trees to tackle the country’s raging wildfires
How Flow Festival became dominated by Gaza
From Belfast hip-hop trio Kneecap to Danish jazz band Alawari, artists took to the stage in Helsinki to condemn “Israel’s horrifying genocide”
Crisis in France: it’s all Macron’s fault
There’s only one person to blame for this cycle of collapsing governments
Christina Block and the legal thriller that’s gripping Germany
Forget Prime or HBO, Germans are fixated by the case unfolding live in a high-security Hamburg courtroom usually reserved for terrorism cases
France is on the brink – again
The country’s rentrée – the return from summer holidays – is in progress… and so are political blackmail, mass protests, corruption and the probable collapse of the government
Sven Liebich, Germany’s trans neo-Nazi
Now formally a woman, Liebich has received an 18-month prison sentence for incitement of hatred and cheering on Russia’s war in Ukraine
Sicily’s bridge too far
The Italian government has given the green light to the Strait of Messina Bridge, a €13.5bn project to build the longest suspension bridge in the world – but not everyone is on board
The Gaelic roots of a French football star
Sandy Baltimore’s name has surprising links to Gaelic-speaking Ireland, colonial plantations and Caribbean migrations
The elephant that went by monorail
Wuppertal, in western Germany, is famous for having the world’s oldest suspension railway – with one very large passenger
The Sámi’s needlework revolutionary
Britta Marakatt-Labba’s embroideries transform the herdspeople’s history into a textile protest poem
A British scandal in Slovakia
As criticism grows, prime minister Robert Fico’s far-fetched tirades are looking increasingly desperate