Europe

The ups and downs of two Italian rivals

|ROME AND MILAN

ROME and Milan are like France and England, Oxford and Cambridge, the Knicks and the Bulls. Rivalries range from politics to television, from food (Milan's is better) to atmosphere (Rome wins hands down), from traffic to soccer (they both, these days, seem to lose). And, with mayoral elections coming up this year (Milan's next month, Rome's in the autumn) and a fairly recent law giving cities more power, a more serious question may soon be hanging over Italy's two great rivals: which is the better run?

Discover more

French President Macron visits the Notre Dame Cathedral, in Paris

Emmanuel Macron shows off the gloriously restored Notre Dame

Five years after it was gutted by fire, the cathedral is more beautiful than ever

An illustration of Ursula von der Leyen bending down in front of a door. On the door is a sign that reads 'Danger! Hard right, keep locked'. In the bottom of the door is a cat flap. An arm is reaching out of the cat flap as she reaches down to take the hand.

Ursula von der Leyen has a new doctrine for handling the hard right

The boss of the European Commission embarks on a second term


Marine Le Pen (L) arrives at the Paris criminal courthouse for her trial on suspicion of embezzlement of European public funds

Marine Le Pen spooks the bond markets

She threatens to bring down the French government, but also faces a possible ban from politics


The maths of Europe’s military black hole 

It needs to spend to defend, but voters may balk

Ukraine’s warriors brace for a Kremlin surge in the south 

Vladimir Putin’s war machine is pushing harder and crushing Ukrainian morale

Vladimir Putin fires a new missile to amplify his nuclear threats

The attack on Ukraine is part of a new era of missile warfare