On Tuesday, the International Olympic Committee temporarily lifted the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee. This paves the way for Russian athletes to once again participate as full members in the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and in future editions. The decision is controversial, especially as Russia continues its war in Ukraine, but it does mark a clear change of course for the IOC.
Hungary is joining the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, the European institution that investigates and prosecutes fraud involving EU funds. The European Commission gave the green light for the accession on Friday, allowing European prosecutors to investigate potential irregularities in Hungary starting in 2021.
The crypto companies associated with the Trump family are taking another hard hit. American Bitcoin Corp., the publicly traded mining company co-founded by Eric Trump, has fallen into a deep slump as the bitcoin market cools and investors increasingly focus on AI infrastructure. According to calculations by Bloomberg, the value of Eric Trump’s stake has fallen by more than $600 million in ten months.
According to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, there were 233 combat engagements along the front line between Ukrainian and Russian forces over a 24-hour period on Thursday, with thousands of Russian drone attacks across multiple axes.
The body of Iranian leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed by the U.S., arrived on Thursday in Mashhad, a city in eastern Iran. Following a funeral procession that began last Friday and passed through Tehran, Qom, and the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala in Iraq, among other places, he will be buried in Mashhad, his hometown.
The well-known Van der Valk hotel along the E17 in Nazareth-De Pinte, Flanders, will soon be repurposed: the building will become a European return center for asylum seekers. Interestingly, the restaurant will remain open as usual. “Brunch, lunch, and dinner: we’ll keep serving those,” says manager Thomas Torrekens in a statement to the Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad.
Erdogan handed out unusual gifts following the NATO summit in Ankara.
During a press conference with Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky—who mistakenly addressed the U.S. president as “Putin”—the Ukrainian president made it clear that there was no way he would travel to Moscow at Vladimir Putin’s invitation.
U.S. President Donald Trump has told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that the United States will grant Ukraine permission to manufacture its own Patriot air defense systems to defend itself against Russian attacks.
During the NATO summit in Ankara, Donald Trump once again caused tensions by stating that Greenland should fall “under the control of the United States” rather than Denmark. In doing so, the U.S. president reignited a long-standing and highly sensitive issue, just as the alliance is already under pressure from discussions about defense spending, Iran, and the division of roles between Europe and the U.S.