Macron says Ukraine is an 'existential' fight for Europe as he makes two-day state visit to Portugal
French President Emmanuel Macron began a two-day state visit to Portugal to strengthen bilateral ties and encourage European unity as the fate of Ukraine remains uncertain under an increasingly critical Trump administration.
French President Emmanuel Macron began a two-day state visit to Portugal on Thursday where he was greeted by Prime Minister Luis Montenegro.
Macron and his wife Brigitte received a welcoming ceremony outside the Jeronimos Monastery in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon. Macron was later welcomed by his Portuguese counterpart Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa after the ceremony.
The French president’s trip to Portugal looks to boost bilateral ties between Paris and Lisbon and deepen European unity in a period of uncertainty.
European leaders have been urging for increased unity and cooperation after a dramatic shift in Washington’s foreign policy following the return of Donald Trump to the White House.
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The Democrats are unpopular, rudderless — and on track for a comeback - Trump and Musk are doing the Democrats’ job for them.
The Democrats are historically unpopular, receiving exceptionally low marks from both the general public and their own voters. Yet the party is on track to retake the House come 2026.
In Gallup’s most recent poll, only 38 percent of Americans voiced a favorable view of the Democrats, the party’s worst showing in at least three decades. Quinnipiac University, meanwhile, pegs approval of congressional Democrats at just 21 percent, an all-time low. And some of this disdain is coming from inside blue America: Only 40 percent of Democratic voters are “satisfied” with their party’s approach to fighting Donald Trump, according to Quinnipiac; in CNN’s polling, that figure is 22 percent.
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After Mass Firings and Ebola Funding Cut, Trump Asks if Anyone Is Unhappy with Elon – Cabinet Responds with Laughter and Applause
After firing approximately 30,000 federal employees, admitting to accidentally stopping Ebola funding, sending emails to over 1 million federal employees asking them to list their weekly accomplishments, Trump ask is anyone unhappy with Elon and his Cabinet responds with laughter and applause.
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Israel will say it had no choice, but its airstrikes in Lebanon risks igniting a regional war
Israel carried out "pre-emptive" strikes against Hezbollah overnight, while the militant group says it has completed the "first phase" of an attack on 11 Israeli military sites.
This appears to have been a high-stakes Israeli military operation that risked igniting a regional war.
Israel will say it had no choice: One of the pillars of Israeli military doctrine has long been the principle that offence is the best form of defence.
It is not the first time it has used its air force hoping to defang an imminent threat. Israel insists it sent an armada of warplanes to the skies over Lebanon, more than a hundred strong, to stop an 'extensive planned attack involving thousands of rocket launches' about to be let loose by Hezbollah.
Just as Israel launched audacious air attacks obliterating Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser's air force in 1967 and Saddam Hussein's atomic programme in 1981, Israel says it despatched jets overnight to neutralise Hezbollah.
It is not clear how many enemy drones and missiles were already in the air. Hezbollah claims all 11 of its targets in Israel were hit and it launched 320 Katyusha rockets.
The primary strike it says was aimed at "a qualitative Israeli military target that will be announced later" as well as "enemy sites and barracks and Iron Dome [missile defence] platforms".
Israeli intelligence sources had claimed the airbase used in the strike on Shukr and the headquarters of Unit 8200, the Israeli military intelligence agency, north of Tel Aviv, were on Hezbollah's target list.
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Hezbollah meanwhile says Israel's operation failed to pre-empt its long-awaited retaliation and insists it succeeded in striking targets deep within Israel.
Two questions for now: Hezbollah's next move and what this does to efforts to end the war in Gaza.
Will Hezbollah draw a line under the Shukr/Haniyeh affair? The organisation says today's action is over but is more planned in the coming days? All eyes are on its commander Hassan Nasrallah who will address his faithful by video link tonight.
He has not been seen in public since Hezbollah's war with Israel in 2006 for fear of being assassinated by Israeli jets himself.
Hezbollah attacked Israel in the wake of Hamas atrocities on 7 October and has been locked in an almost daily artillery duel with Israel over their border ever since.
Israeli intelligence claims Hezbollah has amassed an arsenal of 150,000 missiles secreted in the hills of southern Lebanon since 2006, 10 times the amount it possessed back then.
It has so far refrained from unleashing that firepower: Analysts believe its paymasters and patrons in Tehran prefer to keep that armoury in reserve as an insurance policy for the day Israel may attack Iran itself, as well as its alleged nuclear programme.
But Israel has been testing that theory for months now, responding with force to Hezbollah's attacks in the north. Each exchange of fire has the potential to escalate the region into a wider war through miscalculation and unintended mass civilian casualties.
So far, events overnight do not seem to have upended the fragile efforts towards a ceasefire in Gaza. Delegations are still on their way to Cairo for the next round of talks. If anything the escalation reemphasises the urgency behind the diplomacy.
But it could also offer the Israelis a distraction, should they want one, from huge pressure from the US to make the concessions required to reach a deal.
Most Israeli observers believe Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not want a ceasefire on the terms currently being negotiated for fear it could lead to his coalition government falling apart.
But US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators insist the truce terms are the best and possibly last chance of bringing home Israel's hostages and ending the war.
They also believe a ceasefire in Gaza is the best way of reducing tensions in the north - which have exploded overnight so spectacularly.
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