Heraldo de Madrid - News from Madrid, Spain, Europe and the whole world

For nearly 90 years, anyone in France needing to know what time it is down-to-the-second could ring up the Paris Observatory and get an automated, astronomy-based response.

The United States vowed on Wednesday to shore up Europe's defences in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as NATO declared Moscow the West's greatest threat.

Regional leaders voiced alarm Wednesday over escalating tensions between Ethiopia and Sudan in a disputed border area and appealed for dialogue to stem the crisis.

Olympic 100m champion Marcell Jacobs makes his Diamond League return from injury in Stockholm on Thursday, seeking to find a competitive rhythm a little more than two weeks out from the world championships.

Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday met Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the day after the politician put her government on collision course with London by announcing plans to hold another independence referendum.

France captain Charles Ollivon said on Wednesday his focus is on this weekend's first Test with Japan and not returning as skipper.

Harmony Tan pulled out of the Wimbledon doubles tournament on Wednesday, just hours after she had stunned Serena Williams, leaving her partner "sad, disappointed and angry".

Australia's Nathan Lyon on Wednesday said the first Test is in the balance after his five-wicket haul helped bowl out Sri Lanka for 212 but the hosts hit back with three wickets on day one.

Asian and European stock markets mostly nursed losses Wednesday on resurgent fear that sharp interest rate hikes, aimed at tackling runaway inflation, could spark recession, dealers said.

Britain has extended steel tariffs for another two years to protect its ailing industry, the government said Wednesday, breaching World Trade Organization obligations.

A French appeals court on Wednesday turned down Italy's request to extradite 10 former members of left-wing Italian extremist groups exiled in France for their involvement in violence decades ago.

Three-time Formula One world champion Nelson Piquet on Wednesday apologised "wholeheartedly" to Lewis Hamilton after using a racially offensive term to describe the Mercedes star.

It could be the world's most powerful telephone.

Dozens of people held a vigil for 51 migrants who died when they were abandoned in a suffocatingly hot tractor-trailer in Texas near the border with Mexico.

Madrid will offer "total collaboration" with the Spanish and Moroccan investigations into the deaths of 23 migrants during a mass attempt to enter Spain's Melilla enclave, Pedro Sanchez said Wednesday.

Nathan Lyon's five-for helped Australia bowl out Sri Lanka for 212, before the hosts hit back with three wickets in a fast-moving opening Test on Wednesday.

With her 41st birthday just months away and without a Grand Slam title since 2017, Serena Williams faces searching questions over her future after a painful first-round Wimbledon exit.

Global stock markets nursed steep losses Wednesday on resurgent fear that sharp interest rate hikes, aimed at tackling runaway inflation, could spark recession, dealers said.

The United States will reinforce Europe's defences with a wave of new military deployments, President Joe Biden announced Wednesday, as more Russian missiles smashed into Ukrainian cities.

Serena Williams insists she remains "motivated" to keep playing tennis despite her fast-approaching 41st birthday and the absence of a Grand Slam title since 2017.

Tour de France title challengers Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard of Jumbo Visma believe their team's two-leader strategy can finally deliver cycling's most treasured title after consecutive narrow defeats.

Turkey said Wednesday it would seek the extradition of 33 alleged Kurdish militants from Sweden and Finland under a deal to secure Ankara's support for the Nordic countries' NATO membership bids.

Germany will reinstate its so-called debt brake in 2023 after suspending it for three years to cope with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, sources in the finance ministry said Wednesday.

The head of the African Union Commission voiced concern on Wednesday over "escalating military tension" between Ethiopia and Sudan, calling for restraint and dialogue.

Inflation has surged back to levels not seen in many developed economies since the 1970s and 1980s. Economists and central bankers at the European Cental Bank's conference in Portugal warn it will take time before price rises cool.

Spinner Nathan Lyon claimed five wickets as Australia bowled out Sri Lanka for 212 on a turning pitch at Galle in the opening Test on Wednesday.

A sanctions task force of leading Ukraine allies has frozen more than $330 billion in financial resources owned by Russia's elite and the central bank since Moscow's troops invaded, the group announced Wednesday.

A French court is to hand down verdicts Wednesday against 20 men accused over the November 2015 terror attacks in Paris, after a marathon 10-month trial that reopened the scars of modern France's worst peacetime atrocity.

Former Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga on Wednesday paid tribute to Australian great Shane Warne, saying the spinner found a place in the hearts of the island nation's fans for coming to the country's aid after the 2004 tsunami.

Spinners Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Swepson took two wickets each to rattle Sri Lanka's batting on a turning pitch at Galle in the opening Test on Wednesday.

Denys Zhupnyk dreams of concerts and festivals as he drives a taxi around Kyiv, picking up and dropping off passengers.

The amount of fish, shellfish and algae caught in the wild and farmed in aquaculture hit a record 214 million tonnes in 2020, the Food and Agriculture Organization said Wednesday.