Belgium

A European Union spokesperson said Israel’s attack on Gaza’s Nasser Hospital, which killed journalists and rescuers, was ‘completely unacceptable,’ and urged the protection of civilians and journalists under international law.

Oscar Piastri controlled the rain-delayed race, extending his F1 Championship lead over McLaren teammate Lando Norris.

Oscar Piastri passed McLaren teammate and title rival Lando Norris with a bold early move to win the rain-delayed Belgian Grand Prix and extend his Formula One lead to 16 points.

Charles Leclerc was a distant third for Ferrari on Sunday, as reigning champions McLaren celebrated their sixth one-two finish in 13 races and the third in a row.

The race at Spa-Francorchamps was red-flagged after an initial formation lap and delayed by an hour and 20 minutes due to the weather, with standing water and heavy spray affecting visibility.

Piastri was in no mood for hanging around when the racing got going with a rolling start after four laps behind the safety car to check conditions.

The Australian slipstreamed Norris through the daunting Eau Rouge section of the track and then scythed past down the Kemmel straight into Les Combes in a move of total commitment in the treacherous conditions.

“I knew lap one would be my best chance of winning the race. I got a good exit out of Turn One; lifted as little as I dared out of Eau Rouge,” he said.

“The rest of the race we managed really well. I struggled at the end. Maybe the mediums were not the best for the last five or six laps. We had it mostly under control.”

The win was his sixth of 2025, making the 24-year-old the first Australian – on a list that includes past world champions Jack Brabham and Alan Jones – to win that many races in a single F1 season.

Norris had a slight battery issue, with the Briton asking over the radio why he had “no pack”, before his race engineer assured him it was coming back, but he was not looking for any excuses afterwards.

“Oscar just did a good job. Nothing more to say. Committed a bit more through Eau Rouge, and had the slipstream and got the run,” he said.

“So, nothing to complain of. He did a better job in the beginning, and that was it. Nothing more I could do after that point. I would love to be up top, but Oscar deserved it today.”

Two-horse race

Piastri now has 266 points to Norris’s 250. The Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen is third but 81 points off the lead. The championship is more than ever a two-horse race, with Hungary up next weekend before the August break.

McLaren lead the constructors’ standings, with 516 points to Ferrari’s 248, while Mercedes fell further behind their Italian rivals on 220.

Piastri pitted on lap 12 of 44 to switch from intermediates to medium tyres on a drying track. Norris followed a lap later, but he opted for the hards and rejoined nine seconds behind.

The Briton might have hoped Piastri would have to pit again, but the Australian made the tyres last to the chequered flag on a one-stop strategy.

Piastri crossed the line 3.415 seconds clear of Norris, who had been chasing a third win in a row, and managed to reduce the gap in the final laps before late mistakes left the ever-calm Australian under no pressure.

Saturday sprint winner Verstappen finished fourth in his team’s first Grand Prix since the dismissal of team boss Christian Horner, with George Russell fifth for Mercedes.

Williams’s Alex Albon held off Ferrari’s seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton – last year’s winner with Mercedes – to secure sixth.

Hamilton had been one of four drivers due to start from the pit lane, but given a big boost by the switch to a rolling getaway and a fresh engine installed overnight.

The Briton was also the first to make the decision to switch to slicks and pit, gaining six places.

Liam Lawson was eighth for Racing Bulls, with Gabriel Bortoleto ninth for Sauber and Pierre Gasly securing the final point for Alpine.

Belgian authorities have interrogated two members of the Israeli military following allegations of serious breaches of international humanitarian law committed in Gaza, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Brussels said.

The two people were questioned after legal complaints were filed by the Hind Rajab Foundation and the Global Legal Action Network. The complaints were submitted on Friday and Saturday as the soldiers attended the Tomorrowland music festival in Belgium.

“In light of this potential jurisdiction, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office requested the police to locate and interrogate the two individuals named in the complaint,” said the prosecutor’s office in a written statement on Monday. “Following these interrogations, they were released.”

The questioning was carried out under a new provision in Belgium’s Code of Criminal Procedure, which came into effect last year. It allows Belgian courts to investigate alleged violations abroad if the acts fall under international treaties ratified by Belgium – including the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1984 UN Convention Against Torture.

The prosecutor’s office said it would not release further information at this stage of the investigation.

The Hind Rajab Foundation, based in Belgium, has been campaigning for legal action against Israeli soldiers over alleged war crimes in Gaza. It is named after a six-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed by Israeli fire while fleeing Gaza City with her family early in Israel’s war on Gaza.

Since its formation last year, the foundation has filed dozens of complaints in more than 10 countries, targeting both low- and high-ranking Israeli military personnel.

The group hailed Monday’s developments as “a turning point in the global pursuit of accountability”.

“We will continue to support the ongoing proceedings and call on Belgian authorities to pursue the investigation fully and independently,” the foundation said in a statement. “Justice must not stop here – and we are committed to seeing it through.”

“At a time when far too many governments remain silent, this action sends a clear message: credible evidence of international crimes must be met with legal response – not political indifference,” the statement added.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed the incident, saying that one Israeli citizen and one soldier were interrogated and later released. “Israeli authorities dealt with this issue and are in touch with the two,” the ministry said in a statement cited by The Associated Press news agency.

The incident comes amid growing international outrage over Israel’s conduct in its war on Gaza. More than two dozen Western countries called for an immediate end to the war in Gaza on Monday, saying that suffering there had “reached new depths”.

After more than 21 months of fighting that have triggered catastrophic humanitarian conditions for Gaza’s more than two million people, Israeli allies Britain, France, Australia, Canada and 21 other countries, plus the European Union, said in a joint statement that the war “must end now”.

“The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths,” the signatories added, urging a negotiated ceasefire, the release of captives held by Palestinian armed groups and the free flow of much-needed aid.

On Sunday, the World Food Programme accused Israel of using tanks, snipers and other weapons to fire on a crowd of Palestinians seeking food aid.

It said that shortly after crossing through the northern Zikim crossing into Gaza, its 25-truck convoy encountered large crowds of civilians waiting for food supplies, who were attacked.

“As the convoy approached, the surrounding crowd came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire,” it said on X, adding that the incident resulted in the loss of “countless lives” with many more suffering critical injuries.

“These people were simply trying to access food to feed themselves and their families on the brink of starvation. This terrible incident underscores the increasingly dangerous conditions under which humanitarian operations are forced to be conducted in Gaza.”

Gaza’s Health Ministry described the Israeli attack, which killed at least 92 people, as one of the war’s deadliest days for civilians seeking humanitarian assistance.

More than 59,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its war on Gaza in October 2023, according to local health officials. Much of the territory lies in ruins, with severe shortages of food, medicine and other essentials due to Israel’s ongoing blockade.

The annual Tomorrowland festival is set to draw about 100,000 attendees, with many expected to camp on site.

A huge fire has engulfed the main stage of Belgium’s globally-renowned Tomorrowland electronic dance music festival, two days before the event was due to open to an expected audience of 100,000.

“Due to a serious incident and fire on the Tomorrowland Mainstage, our beloved Mainstage has been severely damaged,” festival organisers said in a statement on Wednesday.

“We can confirm that no one was injured during the incident,” it added.

Several hundred firefighters had fought to save the stage from the flames, and Antwerp prosecutors have opened an investigation, though they said the fire appeared accidental.

The annual Tomorrowland festival, held in the town of Boom, north of Brussels, is set to begin on Friday and approximately 100,000 participants are expected to attend, with many planning to camp on site for the duration of the event.

The 2025 edition is scheduled to run over the next two weekends.

Organisers said the festival’s campground will open as scheduled on Thursday, when attendees are expected to begin arriving, and emphasised that they are focused on finding solutions for the weekend events.

Several dozen DJs and electronic music stars, such as David Guetta, Lost Frequencies, Armin van Buuren and Charlotte de Witte, are to perform from Friday for the first weekend, with two-thirds of the events split between the now destroyed “Mainstage” and the “Freedom Stage”.

Founded 20 years ago by two Belgian brothers, Tomorrowland has become an internationally-renowned event. A winter festival is now held in the French ski resort of Alpe d’Huez and another in Brazil.

France’s foreign minister says sanctions lifted under a 2015 deal would return if no breakthrough on nuclear issue.

France, the United Kingdom and Germany will reinstate harsh sanctions on Iran by the end of August if no progress is made on a nuclear deal, Western diplomats and officials say.

The economic penalties on Iran that were lifted under a 2015 agreement in return for allowing restrictions and monitoring of its nuclear programme would return by the end of next month “at the latest” if there is no breakthrough, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters in Brussels on Tuesday.

The deadline was announced as pressure mounts on diplomats to find a new solution to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, which Tehran has reiterated are civilian in nature, in the wake of massive Israeli and United States strikes on the country last month.

“France and its partners are … justified in reapplying global embargoes on arms, banks and nuclear equipment that were lifted 10 years ago,” Barrot told reporters before a meeting with European Union foreign ministers in Brussels.

“Without a firm, tangible and verifiable commitment from Iran, we will do so by the end of August at the latest.”

Snapback provision

Under a so-called snapback provision in the 2015 deal, United Nations sanctions are able to be reimposed on Iran if Tehran does not comply with its requirements.

The British, French and German ambassadors to the UN met on Tuesday to discuss reimposing the sanctions, The Associated Press news agency reported.

The issue was also discussed in a phone call on Monday between the foreign ministers of the three countries and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, two US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, told the agency.

Iran’s UN mission made no comment in response to the threat of returned sanctions, AP reported.

But Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in recent days that the return of UN sanctions by the European signatories of the 2015 nuclear deal would “end” Europe’s role in the Iranian nuclear issue and as a mediator between Tehran and Washington.

Iran open to US talks

The US and Iran were engaged in extended negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear programme before the Israeli strikes began in June and were joined in their latter stages with strikes by Washington. US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the Iran nuclear agreement in 2018 during his first term in office, declaring it too weak on Iran.

After the attacks in June, Iran suspended cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, which monitors its nuclear programme.

Araghchi said in recent days that Tehran would be prepared to resume nuclear talks with Washington as long as it provides “a firm guarantee” that there would be no further attacks.

He said the Israeli and US strikes have “made it more difficult and complicated to achieve a solution”.

In a statement published by the Iranian Students’ News Agency, Iran’s parliament said on Wednesday that the country should not restart nuclear negotiations with the US until conditions are met. The report did not say what the conditions were.

Trump and his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, have said talks with Iran would happen soon, but nothing has been scheduled.

In the meantime, China has said Wednesday that it will continue to support Iran in safeguarding its national sovereignty and dignity, and in “resisting power politics and bullying,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Iranian counterpart Araghchi.

“China attaches importance to Iran’s commitment not to develop nuclear weapons and respects Iran’s right to peacefully use nuclear energy,” Wang said, according to a readout released by his ministry.

EU leaders gather in Brussels to address sanctions on Russia, US tariffs, and Middle East conflicts.

The heads of the European Union’s 27 member nations will meet in Brussels to discuss tougher sanctions on Russia, ways to prevent painful new United States tariffs, and how to make their voices heard in the Middle East conflicts.

Most of the leaders will arrive at the event taking place on Thursday from a brief but intense NATO summit, where they pledged a big boost in defence spending and papered over some of their differences with US President Donald Trump.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will join the EU summit by videoconference, after having met Trump on Wednesday.

US-led NATO downgraded Ukraine from a top priority to a side player this week, but Russia’s war in Ukraine remains of paramount concern for the EU.

Members will be discussing a potential 18th round of sanctions against Russia and whether to maintain a price cap on Russian oil, measures that some nations oppose because it could raise energy prices.

Meanwhile, Trump’s threatened tariffs are weighing on the EU, which negotiates trade deals on behalf of all 27 member countries. He lashed out at Spain on Wednesday for not spending more on defence and suggested yet more tariffs. France’s president criticised Trump for starting a trade war with longtime allies.

European leaders are also concerned about fallout from the wars in the Middle East, and the EU is pushing to revive diplomatic negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program.

EU members have internal disagreements to overcome. They are divided over what to do about European policy towards Israel because of its conduct in its war on Gaza. And left-leaning parties are attacking European Commissioner Ursula von Der Leyen’s pivot away from the EU’s climate leadership in favour of military investment.

Defence and security are likely to top the agenda. The summit will end with a statement of conclusions that will set the agenda for the bloc for the next four months, and can be seen as a bellwether for political sentiment in Europe on key regional and global issues.

A group of doctors is pleading with EU leaders to pressure Israel to end its siege on Gaza. Members of Doctors Without Borders revealed the extreme conditions they’re working under and said that the world didn’t want to believe them.

This is a team Bellamy has built in his image. They are daring, adventurous, unafraid to lose in the pursuit of glory.

To sit back and play for a draw is not in their make-up, Bellamy said beforehand, and Wales backed that up with a momentous performance to roar back from 3-0 down to level.

Harry Wilson’s penalty, Sorba Thomas’ composed low strike and Brennan Johnson’s header had Belgium rattled and Wales dreaming.

Kevin de Bruyne had the final say to secure a 4-3 win for Belgium, but Bellamy could not help but smile when he was asked for his thoughts.

“I don’t like losing. I understand the game, but how you lose is more important,” he said.

“Who are you as a person? Who is your team? I see that and I’m beyond proud. We’re a good team.

“I understand results, I really do, but football means more to me than that. It always has done. I’d rather try something great and fail than do nothing and succeed.”

Welsh football had known hope before. Now there was expectation.

Wales had not played at a major tournament since the 1958 World Cup but, with world-class players such as Bale and Aaron Ramsey in their prime, there was growing belief that the wait could soon be over.

And after years of hype and hypotheticals about this golden generation, Wales started their qualifying campaign for Euro 2016 in a manner that suggested, this time, this was real.

Unbeaten in their opening five matches, in June 2015 Wales hosted a Belgian side ranked second in the world – and featuring the likes of Eden Hazard, Romelu Lukaku and De Bruyne – having already held them to a goalless draw in Brussels.

“We were going into that game not expected to win, but we worked so hard,” says Ledley. “You want to play against the best players in the world and, for me, Belgium was that team.

“Fitness levels were all over the place. A few of our players in the Championship and League One were finished three weeks before. You could see the ones who’d been away on a lads’ holiday!”

If preparations were not ideal, Wales hid it well with a ferociously energetic and disciplined display.

Manager Chris Coleman had sprung a surprise with his team selection as he started fringe Swansea City defender Jazz Richards at right-wing-back. Chris Gunter, who usually played there, shifted to the right of a back three for the first time in his international career.

It proved to be an inspired move as together they stifled the threat of that year’s Premier League player of the season, Hazard, on Belgium’s left.

“The whole defensive unit and team, all our roles and responsibilities were really clear. We had trust in whoever was playing in each position,” Gunter recalls.

“The aim before any campaign was to qualify and we always said we needed to start one well and get some momentum, so we had done that. Then it was ‘right, if we’re serious about this, we have to take points off the best team in the group’.

“It had all the ingredients of a really special football night in Wales. It was a Friday night, there was rain, but it was warm and the atmosphere was incredible.”

Wales delivered a performance to match the occasion, as Bale fired past Thibaut Courtois in the first half to send a heaving Cardiff City Stadium into raptures.

Belgium pressed for an equaliser but, inspired by the home crowd’s spellbinding, impromptu rendition of the Welsh national anthem, Wales clung on for a heroic victory.

“The belief after that result, you could feel it, not just with us players, but with the fans as well, and you could sense we were on the verge of qualifying,” says Ledley.

“Fans play a massive part. I think at Cardiff City Stadium that night they carried us over that finish line.”

More than possible, this result made qualification probable.

Even with their team three points clear at the top of the qualifying group, some Wales fans still needed some convincing.

After all, it had been 57 years since Wales had been to a major tournament and that barren period was littered with agonising tales of near misses.

But this time was different.

“There was a real belief inside the changing room and the squad, and maybe for the fans it was more hope and desperation for us to do it,” says Gunter.

“I think definitely after that win, everybody really believed.”

Victory in Cyprus the following September put Wales in touching distance, only for a goalless draw at home to Israel to delay the celebrations.

Once you have waited 57 years, though, a month does not seem so long. Wales finally sealed qualification in Bosnia-Herzegovina when they suffered their only defeat of the campaign, but had their place in France confirmed by Cyprus’ win in Israel.

As the rain poured down in Zenica, Wales had their moment of catharsis, released from the shackles of their history, dreaming of the golden summer to come.

The European Union has lifted all sanctions on Syria. The decision follows Donald Trump’s recent announcement than the US would also lift sanctions, as Syria’s new government looks to rebuild the country.