In July 2022, as Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses were celebrating being crowned champions of Europe, Germany’s Lena Oberdorf was named the inaugural young player of the tournament.
Three years on and a new crop of players, from 16 countries, will arrive in Switzerland hoping to shine at this summer’s Women’s Euros.
Aggie Beever-Jones (England)
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Before England’s penultimate Women’s Nations League group game, all of the attention was on Mary Earps’ retirement. After the match, a different name dominated the headlines: Aggie Beever-Jones.
The forward seized her opportunity in the absence of injured duo Alessia Russo and Ella Toone, scoring a 33-minute hat-trick against Portugal.
Tipping her to make an impact at Euro 2025, former England goalkeeper Karen Bardsley praised her versatility, movement and goalscoring prowess.
“She can play on the right, left, and in central areas. She’s constantly on the move, hunting for the right opportunity to pounce on defenders,” she told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“She is rarely offside. She is a true goalscorer, putting herself about, making a nuisance of herself.”
Carrie Jones (Wales)
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Wales will make history this summer by competing in their first major women’s tournament and Carrie Jones, despite her tender years, is already well established in the squad.
Jones has been an international footballer for six years having made her Wales debut at 15 – before she was eligible to play for club side Cardiff City – and spent four seasons in the WSL with Manchester United, Leicester City and Bristol City followed by a move to Swedish side IFK Norrkoping in 2024.
A versatile forward player, she is commonly deployed on the left flank for Wales but can also play in central midfield or a lone striker.
In 2019, former Wales international Gwennan Harries tipped Jones to be “one of Wales’ best players over the next 10-20 years”.
Salma Paralluelo (Spain)
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At 21, Salma Paralluelo already boasts a heavyweight CV.
A member of the 2023 World Cup-winning squad, she started five of Spain’s seven matches, came off the bench to score in the quarter and semi-finals, and earned young player of the tournament honours. That triumph meant she became the first player to hold world titles at Under-17, Under-20 and senior level.
She has also won the 2024 Nations League, while domestically she is a two-time Champions League winner with Barcelona.
In 2024, she was the youngest player in the top 20 of The Guardian’s 100 best female footballers in the world and finished third in the Ballon d’Or standings for the last two seasons.
Paralluelo, who had to choose between football and athletics, is a physical winger who drives hard at defenders and possesses a prolific left foot.
Wieke Kaptein (Netherlands)
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At 19, Wieke Kaptein has already won multiple domestic trophies, first with FC Twente and now with Chelsea.
During the 2024-25 campaign, the central midfielder forced her way into Sonia Bompastor’s star-studded XI, starting seven of their 10 Champions League games, and was identified by BBC Sport as one of the unsung heroes of the Blues’ invincible WSL season thanks to her contributions in the middle of the pitch.
Bompastor has been full of praise for Kaptein’s work rate, stating: “She brings a lot of quality out of possession. She is really confident but also works hard off the ball. She works so hard for the team.”
Team-mate Kadeisha Buchanan added: “She’s a unique player. She’s cool, laid back. She shows that on the field – she’s very composed. She’s a fun, young talent.”
Franziska Kett (Germany)
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The second-youngest player in the Germany squad and set to play in her first major tournament, Franziska Kett has long been on the radar of national team head coach Christian Wuck, who described her as a dynamic defender.
The left-back made her debut for Bayern Munich in 2022 – one month before her 18th birthday – and has gone on to feature for the German champions in both the Frauen-Bundesliga and Women’s Champions League.
A member of the Under-19s squad which finished as runners-up at the European Championships in 2023, she was handed her senior debut in April 2025.
Sydney Schertenleib (Switzerland)
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In a Barcelona squad brimming with top talent, you could be forgiven for not knowing Sydney Schertenleib’s name.
However, since moving to Spain from Grasshopper Zurich last summer, the 18-year-old has quickly established herself as a first-team regular, starting all but two of Barcelona’s league matches since the beginning of March and coming off the bench in both legs of their Champions League quarter-final against Wolfsburg.
Although she typically plays on the left side of a midfield or forward three for Barcelona, Switzerland boss Pia Sundhage has preferred to use her as a right-sided striker, yielding two goals in her first 10 appearances.
Alice Sombath (France)
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Sombath is one of a number of promising young French defenders looking to capitalise on the omission of the previously immovable Wendie Renard from the squad for the Euros.
Born in France to Thai parents, she joined Lyon aged 16 from rivals Paris St-Germain and 12 months later she made her senior debut alongside club legend Renard at centre-back in their opening game of the season.
Former Lyon manager Joe Montemurro said: “I think she’s going to become a special player. She has all the qualities to become a top defender.
“At a big club like Lyon, there are more experienced players, so she needs a little patience. But in the future, I think she’ll be a great player for the French national team.”
Comfortable at right-back or in central defence, Sombath made her France debut in November and was then paired alongside new captain Griedge Mbock in France’s 4-0 win over Switzerland in May.
Assam and West Bengal, India – Ufa Ali could barely stand.
On May 31, the 67-year-old bicycle mechanic returned to his home in India’s northeastern state of Assam after spending four harrowing days stranded in Bangladesh, the neighbouring country he claims he had only heard of “as a slur” since birth.
Ali’s weeklong ordeal began on May 23 when he was picked up by the police from his rented house in Kuyadal, a small village in Assam’s Morigaon district, during a government crackdown on “declared foreign nationals” – a category of people unique to Assam. The state is a tea-producing hub where the migration and settlement of Bengali-speaking people from neighbouring areas for more than a century has led to ethnic tensions with the Indigenous natives, who mainly speak Assamese.
The tensions have gotten worse since 2016, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu majoritarian Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power for the first time in Assam. More than a third of the state’s 31 million population is Muslim – the highest percentage among Indian states.
Ali is among the more than 300 Muslims in Assam “pushed back” into Bangladesh since May, according to state Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. “These pushbacks will be intensified. We have to be more active and proactive to save the state,” Sarma told the state’s legislative assembly earlier this month.
‘Hell underneath the blue sky’
After he was picked up by the police on May 23, Ali was taken to a detention centre more than 200km (124 miles) away in Matia, India’s largest facility for undocumented migrants, in Assam’s Goalpara district.
Three days later, at the crack of dawn on May 27, soldiers belonging to India’s Border Security Force (BSF) took him and 13 others, including five women, in a van to the India-Bangladesh border.
“The BSF was forcing us to cross over to the other side, whereas BGB and [Bangladeshi] locals said they would not take us as we were Indians,” Ali told Al Jazeera, referring to Bangladesh’s border force, the Border Guard Bangladesh.
Stranded in open fields at the no-man’s land between India and Bangladesh, Ali’s group spent the next 12 hours in knee-deep water with no access to food or shelter.
A haunting image of Ali, squatting in the swamp, brows raised and eyes looking back at the viewer, went viral on social media “We saw hell underneath the blue sky and we saw life fading away from us,” he told Al Jazeera.
Ufa Ali outside his house in Assam’s Morigaon district [Arshad Ahmed/Al Jazeera]
If they tried to move to the Indian side, the BSF soldiers threatened them with violence, Ali said.
“They shot at us with rubber bullets when we begged them not to push us into the other side. It was no no-man’s land for us. It was as if there was no country for us.”
Rahima Begum, 50, who was picked up in a similar manner from eastern Assam’s Golaghat district, says she is haunted by the memories of her time spent in the no-man’s land.
“I was beaten by the BGB when I tried to run across to the Bangladeshi side,” she said. “I had no escape. The BSF said they would shoot us dead if we did not move to the other side.”
Jiten Chandra Das, a journalist from the border town of Rowmari in Bangladesh who reported on the incident for a Bangladeshi newspaper, told Al Jazeera he saw BSF officers firing rubber bullets at the stranded “Indian nationals”, adding that they also “fired four rounds of ammunition in the air” to force them into the other side.
In a statement on May 27, the BSF denied the allegation, saying it only tried to stop Bangladeshi nationals from “unauthorised entry into India”.
After a standoff that included angry interventions by Bangladeshi villagers and senior BGB officials, Ali was dropped by BGB soldiers at a border point in India’s Meghalaya state, from where he made his 10-hour journey back home through dense forests.
A May 31 report by Assam-based The Sentinel newspaper said the BSF received 65 purported Indian citizens from the BGB.
Several Muslims who had been pushed towards Bangladesh told Al Jazeera that at least 100 of them returned home on their own after the BGB left them at the international border. Their claims could not be verified independently, but most returnees said “men in civil dresses” received them from the international line on the Indian side and “deserted them” on a highway.
The drive to expel “illegal” Bangladeshis gained momentum in India after April 22, when gunmen allegedly linked to Pakistan killed 26 people in Indian-administered Kashmir’s town of Pahalgam, triggering renewed anti-Muslim sentiments across the country.
Apoorvanand, a professor of Hindi at the University of Delhi, told Al Jazeera the Pahalgam attack gave the BJP – which runs both the federal and Assam governments – an excuse to expel vulnerable Muslim groups, such as the Rohingya or the Bengali-speaking Muslim migrants.
“Muslim identities in any form are synonymous with terrorism in India under the BJP government,” he said. “The government treats Bengali Muslims as illegal Bangladeshis.”
Opposition parties and rights groups in Assam also allege that the government’s ongoing drive only targets Muslims. “They have selectively pushed out Muslims from Matia,” Debabrata Saikia of the Congress party told Al Jazeera, referring to the detention centre.
BJP spokesman Manoj Barauh denied the exercise was religion-based, saying that undocumented Hindus were not pushed to Bangladesh because they “could face religious persecution” in a Muslim-majority country.
The Assam situation
Assam has seen ethnic and religious tensions for decades, the roots of which lie in the British colonial past.
In the 19th century, British colonisers developed tea gardens across the hilly areas of Assam, sparking large-scale migration of Bengali-speaking workers – both Muslim and Hindu, many from the region presently known as Bangladesh.
When the British left in 1947, the Indian subcontinent was partitioned to create India and Pakistan, whose territory included East Pakistan, where most residents spoke Bengali and not Urdu, Pakistan’s national language. After more than two decades of a popular movement over language, an India-backed rebellion in 1971 saw East Pakistan emerge as an independent nation, Bangladesh.
Today, Muslim-majority Bangladesh shares a 4,096km (2,545-mile) border with India, nearly 260km (160 miles) of it with Assam.
Meanwhile, authorities in Assam set a cut-off date of March 24, 1971 – the day before Bangladesh declared independence from Pakistan – for tens of thousands of Bengali-speaking residents to prove they entered Assam before that date to claim Indian citizenship.
Such citizenship cases are handled by Assam’s special Foreigners Tribunals set up across the state. The tribunals act as quasi-judicial courts, empowered with declaring people “foreigners” over minor spelling mistakes or inconsistencies in government documents. In a 2019 report, rights group Amnesty International said the Assam tribunals were “riddled with bias” and work in “arbitrary ways”.
In the same year, Assam published a final National Register of Citizens (NRC), a list the government had been working on for decades to identify “illegal” residents. The list excluded nearly 2 million Assam residents, about 700,000 of them Muslims. Hundreds of these Muslims were put in detention camps after the NRC was published to be forcibly deported.
Ali’s documents and identity cards issued by the Indian government [Arshad Ahmed/Al Jazeera]
Ali’s name appears in the NRC, but he was still declared a foreigner in 2013 by a tribunal in Morigaon over alleged discrepancies in his father’s name, Samat Ali, which appeared as “Chamat Ali” and “Chahmat Ali” in different legal documents.
He spent two years in a detention centre after he was stripped of his citizenship, a decision upheld by the state’s High Court in 2014. He says he is too poor to challenge the decision in the Supreme Court.
‘They made me a Bangladeshi’
Many Muslims pushed towards the Bangladesh border have their citizenship cases pending before the courts. Therefore, they say that the government crackdown against them was illegal and arbitrary. Chief Minister Sarma has admitted that his government brought back from Bangladesh “some of the people through diplomatic channels who had pending petitions in courts”.
Among them was Shona Banu, a resident of the Barpeta district’s Burikhamar village, who was pushed towards Bangladesh on May 27.
“I never thought the country I was born into, and the country my parents and grandparents took birth in, would send me to Bangladesh border,” the 59-year-old told Al Jazeera. “They made me a Bangladeshi, but the only time I saw Bangladesh was when it was 10 metres [33 feet] away from the no-man’s land.”
Khairul Islam, a primary school teacher in Morigaon’s Mikirbheta village, said his “forced deportation to Bangladesh felt like a death sentence”.
Khairul Islam says he was declared a foreigner despite having relevant documents [Mostafizur Tara/Al Jazeera]
Islam was declared a foreigner in 2016, despite his family presenting documents, such as land deeds from the British colonial times, registered under his grandfather’s name. He has challenged the tribunal’s decision in the Supreme Court.
Islam said he was “scarred” by the time he spent in the no-man’s land. “We were treated worse than refugees. Our pain and sufferings were on full display for everyone to see,” he said. “We were foreigners for both India and Bangladesh.”
But Nijam Ahmed, 50, was no foreigner, according to India’s official records. A truck driver in Golaghat’s Jamuguri tea estate area, Ahmed’s name appears in the NRC. Still, he was dumped in no-man’s land.
Ahmed’s son, Zahid, said he came to know about his father’s detention only after a viral video purportedly showed him with BGB officials.
“[We are] Indians. My grandfather was in the Second Assam Police Battalion,” Zahid said. Al Jazeera has confirmed the claim, having found that Nijam’s father, Salim Uddin Ahmed, served in the state police from the 1960s to 2001.
“Had my grandfather been alive, it would have hurt him the most,” Zahid said. “A policeman’s son was pushed to the Bangladesh border.”
‘Do not return or we will shoot you’
In recent days, however, the drive to expel alleged “illegal” Bangladeshis has spread to other states governed by the BJP.
Police in Ahmedabad, the main city in Modi’s home state of Gujarat, said they have identified more than 250 people “confirmed to be Bangladeshi immigrants living illegally here”.
“The process to deport them is in progress,” said police officer Ajit Rajian, according to local media reports.
In neighbouring Maharashtra, India’s richest state, police last month detained seven Muslims accused of being foreigners and handed them to the BSF for expulsion to Bangladesh.
However, they were brought back from the borders on June 15 after authorities in West Bengal, their home state, intervened, said Samirul Islam, a parliamentarian belonging to the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) party, which governs West Bengal. The AITC is a part of the national opposition to Modi’s BJP.
“The West Bengal police and other state authorities informed the Maharashtra police that these people were Indian nationals from West Bengal,” Samirul Islam, who is also the chairman of the West Bengal Migrant Welfare Board, told Al Jazeera. “But they were given to the BSF without informing the West Bengal police or government.”
Referring to the actions of the Maharashtra police, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said in a news conference in Kolkata on June 16, “Just because they speak Bengali, they were labelled Bangladeshis and sent to Bangladesh.”
Three of those Muslims Al Jazeera talked to said that while they were in Maharashtra police’s custody, their families and West Bengal authorities submitted documents verifying their nationality as Indians.
Miranul Sheikh and Nizamuddin Sheikh, residents of West Bengal’s Murshidabad district, were seen in another viral video from no-man’s land.
“The BSF kept beating us on our way to the border despite us saying we were from Murshidabad,” 32-year-old Miranul Sheikh told Al Jazeera. “But they abused us, saying: ‘Do not return or we will shoot you.’”
Al Jazeera sent an email to the BSF on June 19, seeking their comments on the allegations. They have not responded yet.
Assam’s ‘miya’ Muslims
During their sweeping crackdown, police in Assam also detained Abdul Hanif, a Bengali-speaking Muslim, from his home in Golaghat’s Noajan village on May 25. They gave no reason for the detention.
“The police said they will return him after two days,” Hanif’s elder brother, Din Islam, told Al Jazeera.
For Bengali-speaking Muslims in eastern Assam, nightly raids by police are not uncommon, given the prevalent anti-migrant sentiments in the state’s tea belt. But a routine verification drive, as the police put it, led to a desperate search for Hanif.
“We have gone from one police station to another, asking for his whereabouts,” Din told Al Jazeera. “But the police are not telling us anything.”
Hanif’s family alleges he was picked up for being a ‘miya’ Muslim [Photo provided by his brother Din Islam]
According to Din, Hanif was last seen at the office of Rajen Singh, Golaghat’s superintendent of police, with a group of people who were later sent to the Bangladesh border.
Hanif’s family insists he is not a foreigner. “He has no tribunal proceeding against him,” said Din. “He was picked up on mere suspicions because we are ‘miyas’.”
“Miya”, a pejorative term synonymous with being a Bangladeshi, is used by Indigenous Assamese to refer to Bengali-speaking Muslims.
Al Jazeera asked Singh about Hanif’s whereabouts. “These things cannot be discussed,” he replied.
A local resident who was seen with Hanif at Singh’s office and taken to the Bangladesh border said their group was split into two and that Hanif had most likely been pushed into Bangladesh.
“People have disappeared overnight,” he said, requesting anonymity over fears of reprisals by the government. “He could be lost in Bangladesh like many.”
Al Jazeera independently confirmed that the whereabouts of at least 10 people forced into no-man’s land last month are unknown.
At least four families in Assam have filed petitions in the Assam High Court over the disappearance of their family members. At least two of these families belong to the Deshi community, considered Indigenous Muslims by the state government.
“We thought we were Indigenous Muslims, and therefore safe,” said Bakkar Ali, the son of Samsul Ali, who had gone missing. “But it seems that no Muslim is safe here.”
Bakkar said his father is in the custody of the Bangladesh police. Amirul Islam, a jailor in Bangladesh’s Mymensingh district, told Al Jazeera on June 16 that another Deshi individual, Doyjan Bibi, is in their custody.
“The Bangladesh government has sent a diplomatic note to the Indian government, telling New Delhi that the way the BSF is pushing people into the Bangladeshi border is being done without due process,” Faisal Mahmud, the spokesperson for the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi, told Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera reached out to India’s Ministry for External Affairs for comment on allegations of Indian forces pushing Muslims into Bangladesh, but has received no response.
‘Selectively pushed out Muslims’
Angshuman Choudhury, a joint doctoral fellow at the National University of Singapore and King’s College London, and an analyst of northeast India, said the Assam government’s claim of the “pushback” of allegedly illegal migrants was “actually a forced expulsion”.
“Pushback means you are pushing back immigrants who are trying to enter your borders,” Choudhury told Al Jazeera. “What the government is doing in this case is plucking out people and throwing them into another country.”
Chief Minister Sarma has justified the government’s actions by citing a 1950 law, which empowers the district commissioners to expel certain undocumented migrants.
But Oliullah Laskar, a High Court lawyer and human rights activist in Assam, says the law is only meant for migrants caught “illegally” entering the Indian territory or those who overstay their visas.
“This act is not meant for people who have been living in Assam for generations and have documents given by the state government to prove their citizenship,” Laskar told Al Jazeera.
Another local lawyer, requesting anonymity over fears of reprisal by the government, said the state of Assam itself, during a Supreme Court hearing in February this year on the detention of “declared foreigners”, said that people whose addresses in Bangladesh were not known cannot be deported.
The government said in its affidavit: “It is also humbly requested that, without the nationality verification and travel permits from the foreign country concerned, these inmates cannot be deported.”
Last year, the Assam government instructed the police not to report to the tribunals cases of non-Muslims, mainly Hindus, who entered the state before December 31, 2014 the cutoff date laid out in India’s controversial Citizenship Amendment Act.
The 2019 law allows expedited Indian citizenship to non-Muslims “facing religious persecution” in Muslim-majority neighbouring countries if they entered India before that date. The law triggered deadly protests across India for allegedly violating India’s secular constitution, and the United Nations calls it “fundamentally discriminatory”.
“We have to show as many as 20-30 documents to prove our nationality,” says an exasperated Ali. “But Hindus from Bangladesh only have to say they are Hindus” to get fast-tracked Indian citizenship.
Sitting outside her home in Golaghat, Begum, the 50-year-old who was also taken by the BSF, said she feels let down by the country she calls her own, and where she was born.
As his family feud rages on, Brooklyn Beckham made sure his feelings for Nicola Peltz were unmistakable as they celebrated a significant milestone.
Assistant Celebrity and Entertainment Editor, Daniel Bird
Brooklyn and Nicola recently celebrated a huge anniversary(Image: brooklynpeltzbeckham/Instagram)
Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz’s relationship have reached a significant milestone. In recent years, the couple who wed in 2022 have seen their marriage grow stronger, with the couple recently purchasing a sizable home in Los Angeles’ Hollywood district.
In recent months, their marriage has been plagued by an ongoing feud with his famous relatives, with mum Victoria Beckham and dad David said to be at their wits’ end over the tension. But it seems that the budding chef, 26, and his billionaire heiress wife, 30, are pushing the drama to the back of their minds.
The couple made sure to take a loved-up photo on Monday as they celebrated Brooklyn’s fifth anniversary of going down on one knee. Brooklyn patiently kissed Nicola’s neck while taking a selfie with the pair while she was posing in front of the mirror.
Brooklyn and Nicola recently celebrated the fifth anniversary of their engagement(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images for Experience Abu Dhabi)
Brooklyn wore a snapback cap for their photo, while Nicola, who had her dark hair in rollers, looked incredible relaxed as she posed. He captioned his post, “It’s been five years since I asked this gorgeous woman to marry me.”
Although they shared a love of their own, his online fans couldn’t help but comment on the ongoing family feud. You will regret not having these wonderful family moments, one said. It’s wonderful to fall in love! Remember where your life began. “Not cool how you’re treading your parents and brothers,” added one more.
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Meanwhile, a third typed: “Whatever happened with you’re mum and dad, please sort this out, yes you are in love, etc, etc, but they ones brought you up into this world, and before it’s too late, just get together and hopefully sort this.” “Just remember you only get one mam & dad,” said another.
Many called for Brooklyn to put his feud with his family behind him(Image: Samir Hussein/WireImage)
However, some fans expressed support for Brooklyn’s post, saying that “a good man always supports and stands beside his wife.” It’s a good choice, and it’s always right to choose love. Don’t let anyone get in the way of your partner. Third typed, “Literally, it’s no one’s business, but there’s,” to add. They must be. Happy anniversary to the charming couple.
“Team Brooklyn and Nicola, live your life and enjoy it,” gushed another. On Monday, Brooklyn’s younger brother, Cruz, took a swipe at his sibling after being grilled over Brooklyn’s multiple career attempts. One follower asked Cruz: “Are you going to stick with this job or going to become a race car driver next or something?” they asked in the comment section. Cruz was quick to retort with: “Wrong, brother, mate.” Do you think the Beckhams will heal their rift? Take our poll below. If you can’t see it click here
Cruz responded, “He has the talent of an average teenage boy who just started learning guitar,” saying, “Use what you think, darling? It’s easy to comment on TikTok.
Cruz is credited with making cryptic social media posts. According to a source close to the couple, actress Nicola is feeling “attacked” by “false claims” being made against her.
After Nicola purchased a number of properties with money gifted to her by her billionaire dad, Nelson, and mother, Claudia, she was called “spoiled” by her parents.
A source told the Mirror that Nicole is “not disputing that she’s had a blessed life, and she’s grateful for it.” She has also worked for over 20 years, and she currently writes, directs, and produces her own projects. Her parents are proud to raise their children, but it seems as though doing so would not appeal to them.
Continue reading the article.
“Calling her spoiled is false. For her wedding, she requested donations to support Ukraine instead of gifts, and she runs Yogi’s House, a rescue that saves dogs from euthanasia in shelters. These one-sided and false attacks have gotten out of hand.” It comes as David and Victoria have been accused of apparently not providing financially for Brooklyn.
In the midst of Russia’s ongoing conflict with Ukraine and questions about Washington’s future in the alliance, leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which includes several European nations, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, are gathering this week in The Hague, Netherlands, for a yearly summit.
The NATO summit, which starts on Tuesday and lasts for two days, is the first to be attended by Donald Trump, the president of the US, since he took office in January for his second term. Former Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte, the meeting’s former secretary general, will also preside over it.
The Ukraine war and the question of how much money are member states spending on their collective defense, which are both expected to be discussed, are both contentious topics, particularly for the US. Trump has long argued that the US shoulders too much of the financial burden and wants others to raise their defence spending.
The summit may be hampered by the US joining Israel and Iran’s ongoing conflict last weekend. A day after the US attacked three Iranian nuclear facilities, Iran fired missiles at Qatar’s Al Udeid airbase on June 23. Trump has since claimed that Israel and Iran had agreed to a ceasefire, but neither of the two nations has confirmed any deal.
Who is present at the NATO summit?
The North Atlantic Council meeting on June 25 will be the main topic of NATO summits, which will include discussions on security spending and other pressing issues. There are also other important issues that are planned for the two days of meetings.
All 32 NATO heads of state or government, top European Union members, and Ukraine’s representatives are expected at that meeting. They include, among other things,:
Keir Starmer, the prime minister of the UK,
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney
Donald Trump, the president of the US,
Emmanuel Macron, the president of France,
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz
Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister of Italy,
Pedro Sanchez, the prime minister of Spain,
Netherlands Prime Minister Dick Schoof
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey,
Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary,
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Presidents of the European Commission, Antonio Costa and Ursula von der Leyen,
Other NATO members are expected to have:
Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden.
Additionally, Japan, Australia, South Korea, and New Zealand are frequently invited as part of the Asian ally states. Shigeru Ishiba, the prime minister of Japan, and Christopher Luxon, the prime minister of New Zealand, have confirmed their attendance.
A Ukrainian serviceman controls a Vampire drone during a test and training flight, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, at an undisclosed location in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, on April 22, 2025]Marko Djurica/Reuters]
Will NATO leaders talk about the conflict between Israel and Iran?
Yes, they are anticipated to address Israel’s ongoing conflict with Iran.
At a media briefing on Friday, a spokesperson for the German government said NATO members would discuss the conflict at the summit, but refused to comment on any military plans.
In an effort to avert a drawn-out Middle East war, the three largest European countries, Germany, France, and the UK, met in Geneva, Switzerland on Friday for talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
What else is scheduled for today?
Several topics are set to be discussed, including Russia’s war and NATO financing.
Ukraine’s support
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the summit has focused solely on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which continues to be a hot topic.
NATO members have long reiterated that their biggest threat is Russia and have been key in funding Ukraine’s resistance.
NATO allies pledged long-term security assistance with at least 50 billion euros in annual funding at the summit of NATO in Washington in 2024.
Prior to the crucial gathering, Rutte stated on June 12 that long-term support for Ukraine was of utmost importance.
“We need to make sure that Ukraine is in the best possible position to one,]sustain] the ongoing conflict with Russia,]following] the unprovoked Russian aggression against Ukraine, but also to be in the best possible position when a long-term ceasefire (or) a peace deal arises, to make sure that Putin will never, ever try this again”, he said.
Ukraine has long hoped to join NATO, but the alliance agreed in 2008 that Kyiv would be admitted once it had met a number of economic, defense, legal, and political prerequisites. The Alliance’s Article 5 policy guarantees that any attack on a member state will be met with a collective defense response, which is a member’s benefit.
Ukraine’s potential membership of NATO is a key issue for Russia and one of the reasons it cited for starting the war. Russia sees a direct threat to its national security as a result of NATO’s expansion beyond its borders.
However, since the Russian invasion, there have been clear-cut differences in the NATO alliance: some members, like Hungary, are more sympathetic to Moscow while others, like Estonia, are eager to welcome Ukraine and request more military support. In Poland’s recent presidential election, the issue of Ukrainian refugees in the country, as well as ties with Europe, were key talking points.
Others are in the middle, afraid to escalate the conflict into an all-member conflict, where Russia frequently threatens that arming Ukraine would entice NATO allies right away.
It has become increasingly uncertain as a result of Trump’s victory in January in the White House.
Trump promised to swiftly end the war while on the campaign trail, but his attempts have not resulted in a ceasefire, and his attitude towards Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been less than friendly, evident in the manner in which the Ukrainian president was scolded during his White House visit in February.
At the NATO Bucharest Nine meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania on June 2, 2025, members of the organization pose for a “family picture” [Ints Kalnins/Reuters]
spending on defense
Raising the amount each member spends on defence as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) is also a big topic.
NATO leaders agreed to increase spending on national defense budgets from the previous 1.5 percent threshold to at least 2 percent as the Russian conflict with Ukraine entered its second year in 2023. However, some members haven’t, with only 22 of the member states achieving the goal. Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Italy, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain did not meet this target in 2024.
The Trump administration has also criticized NATO allies for demanding that other countries increase their spending to 5% of GDP, accusing them of relying too heavily on US aid.
The US currently contributes $3.5 billion worth of US money annually. Trump has also cast doubts on whether the alliance should defend those countries not spending enough.
Matthew Whitaker, the US envoy to NATO, stated to reporters in May that “5 percent is our number.” Our allies are being asked to make the right decisions regarding their defense.
Due to that pressure, Secretary General Rutte is likely to ask member states to set a new target of 5 percent of GDP for their defence budgets by 2032, with about 1.5 percentage points of that set aside for “soft spending” on infrastructure and cybersecurity. However, some nations, like Spain, have refrained from approving the increase.
Rutte has also urged member nations to increase their weapons and defense system production. “We have fantastic industrial companies in the US, all over Europe and Canada, but they are not producing at speed”, he said in a June 12 statement. Therefore, more production lines and shifts are required.
Some members have already made plans to increase defense spending.
Earlier this month, the UK announced plans to bring the country to “war readiness”. New nuclear warhead investments, a fleet of new submarines, and new munitions factories are included in its Strategic Defense Review (SDR). However, it is unclear if there are plans to increase this further, despite the UK’s pledge to increase defense spending from currently 2.3% to 2.5% by 2027.
(Al Jazeera)
NATO’s leadership comes from the EU.
In the event that Trump unilaterally withdraws from NATO, European nations are increasingly looking to step up their leadership positions, according to the UK’s Financial Times newspaper in March.
The UK, France, Germany and the Nordic countries were among those engaged in informal but structured discussions on reorganising the bloc’s finances to reflect greater European spending, and hoped to present a plan to the US ahead of the summit, the paper reported.
Trump hasn’t stated whether the US will leave NATO, but the EU is already in for a difficult exit. Talks could conceivably include an EU proposal.
Already, the US is estimated to have spent 3.19 percent of its GDP in 2024 on defence, down from 3.68 percent a decade ago, when all members initially promised to increase spending following Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.
Dates: 27-29 June Race start time: 14:00 BST on Sunday
Formula 1 returns to Europe for the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend following George Russell’s victory in Canada.
After their collision in Montreal ended the Briton, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris now lead by 22 points in the drivers’ championship.
How are the teams and drivers reacting to all of this while the FIA’s saga, and especially President Mohammed Ben Sulayem, is still in the news for all the wrong reasons? – Gareth
There is widespread dismay and discomfort within Formula 1 teams and drivers about the way the FIA is being run. However, they are not interested in making that too openly known.
The drivers occasionally express their disapproval of a particular topic, such as the swearing ban, especially George Russell in his capacity as the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association director.
But the team bosses, while usually willing to discuss their unease privately, very rarely say anything publicly. They simply don’t want to take any chances when the FIA is able to make their lives difficult, should it choose to do so, despite their concerns or objections.
Ayao Komatsu, the head coach of the Haas team, made an exception before the season when he said, “Don’t write it in a headline, Ayao says FIA is in a mess,” but that’s what everyone else thinks. That’s what everybody experiences. I’m at a loss for words. Is it not very good, then? Seriously”.
Why does Ferrari face such harsh criticism from the Italian media? Surely this puts more pressure on the team. – Martin
Ferrari’s status in Italy is unique compared to that of other domestic teams.
They are regarded as a national team and as such the population feels invested in them and their performance. People believe they have a right to voice their opinions on how they are doing because they care.
It is a component of what makes Ferrari unique, and why it is the most competitive team in the world.
It comes with the territory and anyone who thinks it doesn’t is deluding themselves. Additionally, it is important to point out that the media is not responsible for supporting an F1 team. It is required to publish a report and conduct a rigorous and objective examination of it.
This question presumably arises from the remarks Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur made in Canada following reports in two leading newspapers in Italy on the eve of the race weekend that his position was in question.
Vasseur expressed regret by saying, “I don’t know the target. I don’t understand the goal, and this is where I don’t understand the purpose. Perhaps it’s for them the only way to exist. Perhaps this is the cause more than anything. But the team is actually being seriously harmed.
” It’s not like this that we’ll be able to win a championship. At least not with a journalist of this caliber nearby.
Vasseur’s anger is understandable, I suppose. Although he said his main concern was not himself, because he knew the scrutiny that came with the job, but the other staff members whose names periodically appear in the paper, either directly or indirectly, by individuals from other teams being linked with Ferrari.
The problem is that these reports were published in Gazzetta dello Sport and Corriere della Sera, two of the most renowned Italian sports publications. also on the same day.
I’m told they were not coordinated, and that would be highly unlikely anyway, given they are rival publications.
Ferrari entered the year believing and saying they could compete for the title after coming close to winning the constructors’ championship last year. And so far, they have fallen far short of that.
Getty Images
Which of the current F1 drivers is likely to lose their seats in the upcoming year? – John
The two Red Bull teams are the obvious starting points. If Yuki Tsunoda’s performance doesn’t significantly improve, he’s almost certainly going to be dropped by Red Bull.
The expectation is that Isack Hadjar will replace him alongside Max Verstappen, assuming the Dutchman stays where he is, following the Frenchman’s impressive start to his career at Racing Bulls.
Briton Arvid Lindblad, who is third in the championship and is competing for the first time this year, has a good chance of becoming a member of Racing Bulls. Liam Lawson’s ability to maintain his seat there is a mystery.
The drivers at McLaren, Ferrari, Williams, Aston Martin, Haas and Sauber/Audi are all tied in for next year.
Mercedes and Alpine are left with that.
George Russell and Kimi Antonelli’s seats at Mercedes are likely to stay that way. Although if Verstappen was to become available, that could obviously lead to a change there.
Pierre Gasly is under contract at Alpine, but there are still many open seats.
Mercedes showed a significant upturn in performance at the Canadian Grand Prix, with George Russell securing the win. Do you think this anomaly stems from a particular circuit, or do you think it represents a real change in their standing in the market, especially given recent aerodynamic improvements? Edele
All Mercedes ‘ rivals expected the team to be competitive in Canada – because they were last year, and because the circuit characteristics suit their car.
Mercedes’ issue has been caused by tire overheating. Tires have typically crossed a threshold due to long corners, abrasive track surfaces, and hot temperatures. Canada had only one of those.
After the race, team principal Toto Wolff said, “I thought it was when I was wearing a pullover that there had some sort of correlation with our performances because that means it’s cold.” And we’ve been dominant even at 50C today.
“We’ve had some things changing on the car, we have a new rear suspension. I’m really pleased how the team handled these issues, both with the trackside team and back at the factory, with the car. However, I suppose you should examine the track layout.
” Montreal was always good to us, it lacks the typical high-speed corners where we suffer more in the heat. Number one is one, and number two is a lot of smooth asphalt, which is less abrasive and therefore less harmful to our car, which has overheated and rear tire degradation.
The new rear suspension aims to improve anti-lift, thereby enhancing aerodynamic stability, maintaining consistent rear downforce, and increasing rear grip.
Extreme amounts of rear anti-lift and front anti-dive are one of the key success elements of this year’s McLaren. Mercedes wants the same outcome, therefore.
What do you think about how the continent is faring as a grand prix? – Nick
F1 is still keen to have a grand prix in Africa, to make it a truly global world championship. However, it’s becoming challenging to locate the ideal location.
The FIA has accepted final design proposals to upgrade the circuit to Grade One status, the highest international standard required for hosting Formula 1, according to Kyalami in South Africa, according to a statement released last week.
It added:” Selected works will be actioned pending the successful outcome of South Africa’s place on the Formula 1 calendar and Kyalami being selected as the preferred hosting venue. “
In other words, it only performs the necessary work if it is awarded a contract to host F1. And that is far from the truth.
There is a rival bid in South Africa, for a street race in Cape Town. No one is able to provide the necessary funding.
Rwanda’s president Paul Kagame hosted the FIA prizegiving in Kigali in December last year, and its country popped up as a potential host country. But although a new F1-standard track is being built by the new airport there, the chances of the race happening have receded.
On Tuesday, June 24, 2018, this is how things are going.
Fighting
10 people, including one child, were killed in the Russian drone and missile attack in Kyiv earlier this week, according to the official death toll.
Three people, including a child, were killed in a separate Russian drone attack in Sumy, northeast of Ukraine, according to local authorities.
A Ukrainian drone struck an apartment complex outside Moscow early on Tuesday, injuring two people, according to Russia’s TASS news agency. The drone set off a fire on the 17th floor of the structure.
Overnight, Russia claims to have intercepted about a dozen Ukrainian drones heading for Kursk and Bryansk, both along the Russian-occupied border.
According to the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, Ukrainian forces attacked an oil depot in southern Russia, which supplied Russian forces in occupied regions of the country.
Regional security
Serbia is accused of passing ammunition through Czech Republic and Bulgarian companies to Ukraine. In contrast to Serbia, both nations are NATO and EU members.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, traveled to the UK on Monday, where he met with King Charles III, King Charles III, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London.
A summit of NATO leaders is scheduled to take place on Tuesday in The Hague. The security council continues to show unwavering support for Ukraine, according to NATO head Mark Rutte earlier this week.
A collaboration between Zelenskyy and Starmer will result in the production of long-range drones capable of hitting targets in Russia.
According to the UK government, “technical data from Ukraine’s front line will be plugged into UK production lines, allowing British defense firms to quickly design and build, at a scale, cutting-edge military equipment unavailable anywhere in the world.”
