The Wall Street Journal reports that Pope Leo XIV received a rockstar-style welcome during his visit to Lourdes, France, drawing striking attention in one of Europe’s most secular societies. The pontiff also reiterated his sharp criticism of assisted dying legislation, calling it false compassion.
The Washington Post reports that the White House has expanded its taxpayer-funded ad campaign, with new content promoting Trump in a strongman style. The move has triggered fresh controversy over the boundaries of executive resources and public communications, prompting some lawmakers and press-freedom advocates to call for closer oversight of government propaganda spending.
Euronews reports that South Korea has formally demanded an apology from Ukraine over the disclosure of a North Korean POW transfer. The episode, set against the backdrop of an ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and deepening North Korean involvement, highlights how sensitive Pyongyang’s role has become for Northeast Asian geopolitics and how Seoul and Kyiv are now navigating competing diplomatic imperatives.
North Korea has been testing new swarm-style tactics that combine drones with cruise missiles, drawing close scrutiny from US and South Korean intelligence agencies, a development viewed as Pyongyang’s latest effort to pursue asymmetric advantages under conventional military constraints.
Pope Leo has sharply criticized assisted-dying legislation as false compassion in his latest public address, emphasizing the inviolable dignity of life from conception to natural death, drawing renewed attention to ongoing life-end debates across multiple countries, Politico reported.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has announced his resignation ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for October, a move widely viewed as the country’s most significant political reshuffle in years, with substantial implications for Balkan stability and the EU accession process.
Swiss voters have rejected a stricter interpretation of the country’s neutrality policy in a nationwide referendum, with the result carrying significant implications for Switzerland’s future role in EU and NATO cooperation and signaling continuity of Switzerland’s traditional flexible neutrality.
Venezuela’s interim government has released dozens of long-detained political dissidents days after the country’s interim leader met with the US president, as international calls for fresh elections grow, viewed as a key milestone in Venezuela’s political transition.
According to The Guardian, the forced eviction of an 87-year-old woman from the home she had lived in for seven decades has triggered nationwide protests across Spain’s largest cities. Demonstrators in Madrid and Barcelona are demanding urgent government action on housing affordability and speculative rental practices.
According to The Washington Post, the Trump administration is exploring plans to build a roughly 15,000-seat baseball stadium inside Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park as part of a pilot effort to bring professional baseball events into the national park system. The proposal has drawn immediate pushback from environmental groups and members of Congress.