Germany’s cabinet has passed a draft bill which will introduce voluntary military service. The bill could also lead to conscription if more troops are needed. It’s part of a move to boost German national defences, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Compulsory military service in Germany was ended in 2011 …

Armed with tomatoes, thousands of people have attended Spain’s La Tomatina Festival. Tomatoes unfit for consumption are used during the annual festival. The party goers flooded the streets of Buñol, near Valencia, where they indulged in a huge food fight. Some took the opportunity to show their support for Gaza …

France is on the brink of another political crisis, after Prime Minister François Bayrou’s shock decision to submit his government to a vote of confidence in parliament. The chances of his winning the vote in a special session of the National Assembly on September 8 being extremely slim, the prime …

Juliana Gragnani Editor, BBC Global Disinformation Unit Maria Korenyuk BBC Global Disinformation Unit BBC Javier Gallardo likes to start his morning watching a classical music programme on television – it is part of his routine, and puts him in the right mood for the day before going to work driving …

EPA/Shutterstock Ukraine’s leader said he was not afraid of any meetings, unlike Russia Ukraine’s President Volodymr Zelensky has accused Russia of “doing everything it can” to prevent a meeting with Vladimir Putin to try to end the war. US President Donald Trump has sought to bring the two leaders together, …

Facebook has removed an Italian group which saw men sharing intimate images of often unsuspecting women with thousands of people online. The Mia Moglie group, which translates to My Wife in English, had around 32,000 members before it was shut down this week. Its discovery has prompted outrage among Italians …

Workers worldwide need better protection from extreme heat as climate change causes more frequent heatwaves – that’s the conclusion of a new report from the World Health Organization and the World Meteorological Organization. The report says millions of workers are exposed to heat stress, which affects their health, and their …

The top diplomat of the European Union (EU) has warned against pushing Ukraine to give up territories to Russia as part of a future peace deal. Speaking in her first UK interview since EU leaders joined Donald Trump’s White House peace talks with Ukraine, Kaja Kallas told the BBC’s Today …

An autopsy into the death of French streamer Raphaël Graven, known online as Jean Pormanove, has found it was not due to trauma according to the prosecutor handling the case. The content creator, known for controversial live videos on the streaming platform Kick, was found dead in his home near …

The BBC examines the situation on the ground in Ukraine. BBC News

Reuters Anti-drone nets hang over a road near Kostyantynivka earlier this month A key takeaway from the summit in Alaska is that Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly wants to freeze the war in Ukraine along its current front line in return for the surrender of the rest of Donetsk region. …

French police are questioning a man on suspicion of murder after four bodies were found in the Seine near Paris. The first victim was spotted by a passer-by near a bridge in Choisy-le-Roi, a south-eastern suburb of the capital, on 13 August. Later that day police searching the area discovered …

In the wake of this week’s historic White House meetings, President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine and its allies are “already working on the concrete content of the security guarantees”. Sir Keir Starmer has been chairing a virtual meeting of those nations prepared to help secure Ukraine after a peace deal …

A 113-year-old church in the far north of Sweden has arrived at its new home after a two-day journey. Aerial footage shows the church hoisted onto specially designed trailers, as it was moved 5km (3 miles) along a road at a maximum speed of 500m an hour, with road fittings …

A man has died after being run over by a bulldozer he was operating while fighting wildfires in Portugal, bringing the death toll in the country to three, officials said. The 65-year-old worked for a firm hired to fight fires northern municipality of Mirandela and was reportedly run over after …

Tiffany Wertheimer BBC News Reuters Eemeli Peltonen was a first-term Member of Parliament, representing the southern region of Uusimaa A politician in Finland has died in the country’s main parliament building in the capital, Helsinki. Eemeli Peltonen, 30, who was an MP for the Social Democratic Party, is believed to …

Vitaly Shevchenko Russia editor, BBC Monitoring Reporting fromat the White House Myroslava Petsa BBC Ukrainian Service Reporting fromat the White House Watch: Key moments from Zelensky, Trump White House talks The optics could not have been more different this time. Unlike the shockingly ill-tempered previous meeting in February, US President …

Laura Gozzi and Tom Geoghegan BBC News AFP via Getty Images It promises to be a day unlike any other at the White House later, when world leaders make a rare collective visit for crunch talks on Ukraine. What had been billed as a meeting between two presidents, Donald Trump …

Guy Delauney BBC Balkans correspondent DAMIR SENCAR/AFP via Getty Images Hundreds of thousands attended a concert by Marko Perkovic in Zagreb A “neo-fascist Croatian Woodstock” or patriotic, anti-establishment fun? Last month’s mega-gig by the ultra-nationalist singer Thompson – the stage name of Marko Perkovic – has dramatically exposed the polarised …

Protesters smashed the windows of offices belonging to the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, on the fifth consecutive night of unrest across Serbia. Serbian President Aleksander Vučić has warned that protesters who attacked his party’s offices will be punished, after riot police were deployed to several cities on Saturday night. Anti-government …