Angela Merkel condemns Macron’s ‘drastic words’ on NATO

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited wounded soldiers from the war in Ukraine for the first time on May 25. Following this visit to a Moscow hospital, users claimed that Putin used secret service bodyguards as extras to pose as "'injured soldiers" as he's extremely paranoid about his safety. Is there any truth to these claims? We tell you more in this edition of Truth or Fake.

President Kais Saied issued the order with a list of judges to be dismissed, accusing them of corruption and stalling terrorism cases. Critics have blasted the dismissals as an "affront" to judicial independence.

Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says NATO members must do more to help Ukraine. Meanwhile, President Zelenskyy says the outcome of fighting in the Donbas will indicate the course of the war. DW has the latest.

Joe Biden is set to travel to Israel on July 13 before heading to the occupied West Bank and Saudi Arabia. The trip's announcement comes despite pledges to side-line the "pariah" Saudi state.

Heads of NATO defense are meeting ahead of the alliance's summit in Madrid later in June. NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg said the Ukraine war posed the "biggest threat to Euro-Atlantic security in decades."

Burkina Faso's leader, Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba traveled to Seytenga on Wenesday to visit people who survived an attack that reportedly killed over 100 people over the weekend. Soldiers have recovered 79 bodies so far after the attack in the northern Seno province, the government said on Tuesday, as new details of the assault emerged.

Hundreds demonstrated in Tunis on Sunday (June 19) in a second day of protest against a constitutional referendum called by President Kais Saied that his opponents say would cement his hold on power. The demonstration was organized by the Salvation Front, a coalition including the moderate Islamist Ennahda, the largest party in a parliament that Saied dissolved in March.

Marcos Jr. has given himself the position of secretary of agriculture ahead of taking his presidential office and amid prohibitively high global prices. The Philippines is heavily reliant on importing its staple — rice.

French politics continues to dominate the papers as Emmanuel Macron desperately seeks an alliance to secure a parliamentary majority. The US Senate finds bipartisan support for new gun possession laws for the first time in 30 years. Organisers of the Miss France beauty pageant introduce radical new changes to shake up the contest. Finally, a man escapes his kidnappers by driving erratically on a highway in order to be stopped by authorities.

In a speech ahead of key summits, the German chancellor has told parliament that "we will defend every square meter of NATO territory." He also described a partnership with Russia under Vladimir Putin as "unimaginable."

Colombians have elected a new president. Gustavo Petro, 62, is set to become the first leftist in the country's top job. The former rebel of the now defunct M-19 movement beat millionaire businessman Rodolfo Hernandez in Sunday's election. Petro will take the oath of office in August, replacing the deeply unpopular Ivan Duque. For analysis, we speak to Gerard Martin, a political sociologist based in Medellin, Colombia.

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