There were long lines at registration points across Spain as applications opened under a new amnesty program expected to see at least 500,000 undocumented migrants gain legal status to stay and work in the country. The Spanish think tank Funcas says, according to the Reuters news agency, there are likely some 840,000 undocumented people working in Spain. Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has framed the policy as both a moral and economic necessity, arguing that many undo

Two astronaut candidates, Khurram Daud and Muhammad Zeeshan Ali, are set to depart for the People’s Republic of China to begin advanced astronaut training. The training will take place at the Astronaut Center of China. According to Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, this is a significant step forward in Pakistan’s space exploration journey, positioning the country among a select group of nations actively engaged in human spaceflight programs. This milestone

For the first time anywhere in the world, desalinated seawater is being pumped into a freshwater lake, as Israel begins transferring Mediterranean water into the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Kinneret, in an unprecedented project described by officials as a safeguard for the country’s water security. Construction began in 2018, and the project was inaugurated in 2022 at a cost of roughly NIS 900 million ($269 million). It has now reached full-scale operation following the

Tel Aviv University’s annual antisemitism report said that anti-Jewish violence reached its deadliest level in decades in 2025. The university’s Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry and the Irwin Cotler Institute, said physical assaults rose in many places and that antisemitic incidents in Western countries remained dozens of percentage points higher than in 2022, before the war in Gaza. A separate study in the report examined prosecuted attackers in the US, Fr

Israeli-European relations are plunging to further depths in light of the latest developments in the Middle East. According to unnamed sources quoted in Israeli media, Israel refused to allow France to participate in mediation talks between it and Lebanon, claiming France is an “unfair mediator.” “In terms of relations with the State of Israel, Israel still has a lot of credit in its contribution to the EU, especially in terms of innovation, especially in its security and def

Germany, an early defender of Israel against allegations of genocide in Gaza at the International Court of Justice, has pulled support as it faces its own charges for aiding Israel. Germany will no longer intervene on Israel’s behalf, a spokesperson for the German Foreign Ministry told reporters. The U-turn comes after the German government rejected South Africa’s claims as “baseless” in January 2024, saying they amounted to “political instrumentalization” of the 1948 Genocid

The Jordanian Parliament voted unanimously to remove mentions of “Israel” from the minutes of a debate, Jordanian and Israeli media reported. Jordanian Parliament Speaker Mazen al-Qadi said US Ambassador Huckabee’s comments, which allegedly justified Israel’s control over “Arab lands,” violated international law and the United Nations charter. “These statements are a blatant provocation and a serious breach of state sovereignty,” Qadi said. This decision came “despite Jordan

The Technion Israel Institute of Technology was ranked the best university in computer science and artificial intelligence research in Israel and Europe. It was also ranked 21st worldwide, according to an index unveiled by CSRankings. The institute was also ranked among the top ten most important universities when investigating Machine Learning, a subfield of Artificial Intelligence. The Technion explained that this achievement was possible thanks to its extensive community o

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung shared a video on X/Twitter by Jvnior of what appeared to be Israeli soldiers pushing a body over a roof. The caption of the original video was “LIVE FOOTAGE: IDF soldiers tortured a Palestinian kid and threw him off a roof.” Lee wrote, “We need to verify whether this is true, and if it is, what actions were taken.” He then went on to compare “wartime killings” such as the one in the video to “the Holocaust of the Jews” and “comfort women”

On February 1, 2026, New Delhi formally codified a fundamental shift in its security paradigm: With the unveiling of the Union Budget for fiscal year (FY) 2026-27, the Indian Ministry of Defense received a historic allocation of approximately $93.5 billion (₹7.85 lakh crore). This 15.2% increase is not merely an inflationary adjustment but also serves as the strategic financial roadmap for the post-Operation Sindoor era—reflecting an India that has moved from strategic ambigu

As Germany’s Christian following declines and churches stand empty, new Muslim, Jewish and Hindu places of worship are emerging, reshaping the country’s religious landscape. In Erlangen, a city of 119,000 residents in northern Bavaria, a great deal is happening at once. Preparations are underway for a new synagogue for which the state of Bavaria has provided a plot of land near the university. The city’s two major mosques are planning expansions. And in one of the city’s subu

Portugal is ageing faster than it can replace its workforce. The country currently has approximately 1.7 workers for every pensioner—well below the roughly 2.5 considered necessary to keep social security in balance, according to data from Portugal’s National Statistics Institute (INE) and the Agency for Integration, Migrations and Asylum (AIMA). As the native population shrinks and retirements accelerate, projections indicate Portugal will need up to 1.3 million new workers

The humpback whale stuck for more than a week in two different spots in the Baltic Sea was showing several signs of deteriorating health, according to rescuers and the state environment minister in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Pro­fessor Burkhard Baschek of the Ger­man Ocean­o­graphic Museum said [this] could prove a “decis­ive day” in the strand­ing. He warned that it was almost entirely up to the whale to free itself from the shal­lows and there was lim­ited scope to offe

Israel was the most attacked country in the world by geopolitically motivated hackers and malicious actors in 2025, as the country’s multifront wars with the Hamas terror group and Iran and its proxies spurred a spike in cyberattacks, according to the annual global cyber threat analysis report published by Israeli cybersecurity firm Radware. With 12.2 percent of all global geopolitically motivated cyberattacks directed at the country over the past year, Israel is a

The rankings, produced annually by Gallup, the Oxford Wellbeing Research Center, and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, are based on a three-year average of how residents in 140 countries rate their own lives alongside factors such as GDP, social support, life expectancy, perceived freedom, generosity and corruption. For the second year in a row, no major English-speaking countries made the top 10, with Australia at 15th, the United States at 23rd, Canada at 25

The Islamic Republic said that the 1,400-mile inlet dividing Africa and Asia was fair game for retaliatory attacks because of the presence of the American aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford. Whether Iranian forces would assault Red Sea shipping themselves remains unclear, but in recent years the Houthis, Tehran’s proxy militia based in Yemen, have vastly reduced traffic through the waterway with attacks on vessels there. Historically, the Red Sea has been invaluable, with ar

The World Tourism Barometer is a publication of the World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism) that monitors short-term tourism trends on a regular basis to provide global tourism stakeholders with up-to-date analysis on international tourism. • International tourist arrivals (overnight visitors) grew 4% in 2025, with most destinations worldwide posting solid results. • An estimated 1.52 billion international tourists were recorded around the world in 2025, almost 60 million mor

The first generation to get rich after China embarked on market reforms is beginning to die, which is why Chen Kai’s state-backed charity, the China Will Registration Center, is helping the elderly write and file wills. Yet even Mr. Chen is somewhat conflicted about China’s first big inter-generational transfer. A small sliver of society will soon be inheriting vast wealth. It was only in the late 1970s that Deng Xiaoping, then China’s paramount leader, opened the economy and

Analysts are sounding the alarm over a growing ‘brain drain’ as American scientists and international researchers flee to Europe, an exodus driven by deep cuts to research funding and stricter visa rules under the Trump administration. A 2025 poll by Nature found that 75% of American scientists were considering leaving the United States. This potential mass departure has contributed to policies aimed at further restricting the flow of international students, who have long fu

Australia and the European Union signed a free trade agreement after eight years of negotiations, removing tariffs on almost all goods and potentially easing EU access to Australian critical minerals. The deal follows intensified talks amid sharply higher U.S. tariffs under the Trump administration and growing Western concerns over China’s dominant position in rare earths and other critical minerals. The two sides also signed an agreement to deepen security and defense cooper