If the first thing Europeans think of when they fill up at the pump is Donald Trump's decision to attack Iran, it's little wonder that previously pro-Maga populists are quietly distancing themselves from the president of the United States. In fact, Trump actively campaigning for Peter Magyar's rival actually helped Hungary’s new conservative prime minister boot out his predecessor of 16 years Viktor Orban… Magyar who hopes to cash in this week with a deal to unlock more than 10 billion euros in frozen EU funds. If Budapest’s no longer MAGA’s European headquarters…then where do fellow travelers turn in places like France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands? Do they instead double down on the love for Russia’s Vladimir Putin like Germany’s far-right? For hardened eurosceptics, does the master of the Kremlin still seem like an invincible nationalist when he's bogged down in Ukraine? So, cozy up to outside superpowers... like Britain's Nigel Farage who's long been enamored with Trump… or as shown by recent revelations surrounding the same Reform UK leader… instead find a billionaire with a bee in his bonnet to bankroll you?

Here's one for free speech absolutists to chew on: What should the French government do when the former head of Russian state television's French-language channel is offered a place of rank on an all-news station with a free-to-air broadcast license and she touts Kremlin propaganda lines with little or no pushback or fact-checking? Introducing Xenia Fedorova, who's just had her 10-year residency permit approved and who's become the darling of far-right shipping magnate-turned-media mogul Vincent Bolloré, the same Bolloré who’s swooped for French TV, radio, print and publishing outlets.

It takes convincing these days to get China’s leader to go abroad. Xi Jinping’s just wrapped up what was only his first foreign visit of 2026. Why Pyongyang? Hard to deduce from official readouts of that two-day state visit to neighboring North Korea. Politeness after a pair of visits by Kim Jong Un to Beijing? Celebrations of the 65th anniversary of their mutual defense pact?

Three months into what was originally billed as four-week war, is an end really in sight? Donald Trump's messaging on bargaining with Iran was enough to push Brent crude oil below $100 a barrel for the first time in two weeks. Both Washington and Tehran are managing expectations of a final deal or "memorandum of understanding".

About that four-week campaign that the Pentagon promised… Overnight volleys between Iran and the United States met by many with a shrug…so often has the current ceasefire been violated. Even the deal in the works is mostly to roll over that fragile truce and open more talks… not to permanently settle differences.Ceasefires and their violations the norm...as Israel and Hezbollah continue to trade blows and US-brokered truces for both Lebanon and Gaza go mostly ignored. We’ll ask if the taking of the Crusaders-era castle at Beaufort’s a PR stunt or are Israelis digging in at what was an army command center for nearly two decades during the last occupation of south Lebanon?

What exactly is the issue with Arsenal? Here in France, we just assume that everyone in England's enamoured with the storied team of Arsène Wenger, Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira…and all the other greats all the way to the present and French international defender William Saliba. Ahead of Arsenal versus Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final, our panel delves into the not-always-rational, always impassionate world of football fandom. So regarding the side that’s just won its first Premier League title in 22 years, is it about the way they play? Their attitude? An anti-London sentiment? An anti-north London sentiment? Contrast that with the love the Gunners get here in France and in much of Africa. 

He believed those who insisted he could wrap it all up by end of March, long before the November midterms. If not, the off-ramp would be easy to find. But did Donald Trump factor in that his main ally in the war against Iran was also guearing up for a campaign. Benjamin Netanyahu is running for re-election.

Europe's in meltdown... and it's not even June yet. A not-so merry month of May as record highs explode under a heat dome that’s drifted north from the Sahara. After the frying pan of an energy crisis, the fire of a heatwave forcing a reset by the same politicians who pandered to those who complained about the cost and red tape of recent energy transition policy.

It’s not every day that a standing ovation at a medical conference goes viral. Dateline Chicago and the annual conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Doctors from around the world out of their seats to cheer a new pill that doubles the survival time of pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest forms of the disease. At the same conference, big announcements on breast cancer bladder cancer, neck cancer, and more. Why all the breakthroughs?

The list runs long, strategic sectors where Europe's rarely the master of its own destiny, energy, manufacturing, even its nuclear deterrence. How about digital? Who even owns the personal data of its own citizens? The European Commission this Wednesday unveiling its tech sovereignty roadmap.