World News

The airspace closure came as some personnel at a key US military base in Qatar were advised to evacuate, including the embassy in Kuwait, which also ordered its personnel to “temporarily halt” going to the multiple military bases in the small Gulf Arab country.

Delcy Rodríguez served as Maduro's vice president since 2018, running Venezuela's feared intelligence service and managing its crucial oil industry.

Under the first phase of the three-phase deal, Hamas released all but one hostage it was holding in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians who were held in Israeli prisons.

Meanwhile, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Iran was ready to respond "decisively" to its enemies, accusing the US and Israel of being behind the protests.

The Department of Homeland Security last month said that the Trump administration has deported more than 605,000 people and that 2.5 million others left on their own.

Qatar has confirmed “the departure of certain personnel from Al Udeid Air Base” due to current regional tensions, after reports that the US military is evacuating a part of its key base as Washington considers military action against Iran.

Catch up with the most important stories from around Europe and beyond this January 14th, 2026 - latest news, breaking news, World, Business, Entertainment, Politics, Culture, Travel.

Former hostage in Iran and humanitarian worker Olivier Vandercaesteele says that severing diplomatic ties with Iran will put added pressure on the Islamic regime and hamper its ability to influence policymakers.

Klingbeil listed a string of reasons for his belief that ties between the United States and Europe, traditionally close allies, were radically changing.

In an interview with Euronews, Donald Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton lashed out at his ex-boss over his threats to seize Greenland "one way or another".

The US president does not rule out military action in Iran, as Tehran temporarily shuts its airspace to nearly all flights.

The move comes as US President Donald Trump said Ukraine is "less ready" than the Russian president to make a peace deal.

The satellite technology has become a vital communications lifeline after the government shut down the internet last week.

There was no major breakthrough during the meeting, and President Trump reiterated his interest in acquiring the island shortly afterwards.

Sixty-four people were left injured, including a one-year-old and an 85-year-old.

It includes the establishment of a technocratic Palestinian government, as well as the reconstruction and demilitarisation of Gaza, US envoy Steve Witkoff says.

Chiara Ferragni had been accused of misleading consumers in her promotion of Christmas cakes and Easter eggs.

Thousands of people have sent donations totalling nearly $700,000 (£521,000) to the heckler, who was suspended from his job at Ford.

The blaze is believed to have started when sparklers attached to champagne bottles set foam padding on the ceiling alight.

Attorney General Bondi accused the journalist of reporting classified information allegedly leaked by a federal contractor, who she said has been arrested.

Ukraine struggles to restore heat, electricity as temperatures plummet to -19 degrees Celsius.

Trump showers acting Venezuelan president with praise after first phone call since US abduction of President Maduro.

Canadian leader's visit comes after nearly a decade of strained ties between Ottawa and Beijing.

Only three Republicans joined with Democrats to vote in favour of the resolution, resulting in a tie broken by JD Vance.

These are the key developments from day 1,421 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Press freedom groups warn that the warrant to search reporter Hannah Natanson's home establishes a dangerous precedent.

Morocco overcome Nigeria 4-2 on penalties, after the match finished 0-0 following extra time, to reach AFCON final.

Real Madrid's first match after sacking Xabi Alonso results in a shock 3-2 Copa del Rey defeat at lower league Albacete.

Danish Foreign Minister Rasmussen says meeting with Trump administration 'didn't manage to change' US position.

Trump has threatened to attack Iran, prompting Tehran to warn of retaliation amid growing fears of conflict.

Also in today’s newsletter: Pimco pivots from US assets and Greenland working group

Business dynamism comes in many different forms

Levies designed to enact deal Donald Trump cut with chipmakers to allow shipments of AI processors

Trade tensions highlight reliance on imported components and minerals

Exports soar as world’s second-largest economy shakes off Trump’s tariff threat

Foreign minister warns newly appointed governor to ‘stay in her New Zealand lane’

Plus fiscal dominance and the Fed

Also in today’s newsletter: McKinsey pilots AI in recruitment and Saks Global files for bankruptcy protection

Governments are hoarding rice and grain as insurance against a world they increasingly view as unstable. But many economists believe it could be counter-productive

Deputy PM says Trump’s ‘liberation day’ tariffs were a ‘wake-up call’ for country’s dependence on Beijing

The central bank held its base rate steady for a fifth consecutive meeting and removed a reference to potential rate-cuts from its policy statement.

Greenlanders get heavily subsidized by Denmark, and any future mining boom will be costly.

Federal Reserve governor Stephen Miran said a letter in Powell’s support signed by prominent central-bank officials from around the world was inappropriate.

The U.S. economy is best served by having an independent Federal Reserve that executes monetary-policy decisions based only on data and analysis, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said in a virtual conversation with the Wisconsin Bankers Association.

Home sales rose 5.1% in December for the biggest gain in nearly two years, although 2025 as a whole still ranks as one of the worst sales slumps in decades.

Prices charged by goods- and services-producing companies increased in November, but the month’s wholesale inflation was more modest than economists had expected.

The global economy was set to grow more rapidly than previously expected, but is nonetheless on course for its weakest decade in half a century, according to the bank’s economists.

The economy grew at a faster pace than estimated in the three months through September, aided by a pickup in investment.

The OECD forecast the global economy to expand by 2.9% next year, a slowdown from 3.2% this year.

Growth in China’s manufacturing production came to a halt as new orders nearly stalled last month despite a renewed rise in new orders from abroad.

Whether it’s the financial crash, the climate emergency or the breakdown of the international order, historian Adam Tooze has become the go-to guide to the radical new world we’ve entered

In late January 2025, 10 days after Donald Trump was sworn in for a second time as president of the United States, an economic conference in Brussels brought together several officials from the recently deposed Biden administration for a discussion about the global economy. In Washington, Trump and his wrecking crew were already busy razing every last brick of Joe Biden’s legacy, but in Brussels, the Democratic exiles put on a brave face. They summoned the comforting ghosts of white papers past, intoning old spells like “worker-centered trade policy” and “middle-out bottom-up economics”. They touted their late-term achievements. They even quoted poetry: “We did not go gently into that good night,” Katherine Tai, who served as Biden’s US trade representative, said from the stage. Tai proudly told the audience that before leaving office she and her team had worked hard to complete “a set of supply-chain-resiliency papers, a set of model negotiating texts, and a shipbuilding investigation”.

It was not until 70 minutes into the conversation that a discordant note was sounded, when Adam Tooze joined the panel remotely. Born in London, raised in West Germany, and living now in New York, where he teaches at Columbia, Tooze was for many years a successful but largely unknown academic. A decade ago he was recognised, when he was recognised at all, as an economic historian of Europe. Since 2018, however, when he published Crashed, his “contemporary history” of the 2008 financial crisis and its aftermath, Tooze has become, in the words of Jonathan Derbyshire, his editor at the Financial Times, “a sort of platonic ideal of the universal intellectual”.

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Having lost the faith of his party and the public, the prime minister turns to dad jokes – and he’s even worse at those than running the country

Not another one. On Tuesday evening, the government announced that it wasn’t going to make digital ID cards mandatory after all. Just months after Keir Starmer had made digital ID cards the cornerstone of his plans to stop migrants working illegally.

It’s getting hard to keep up. At Christmas, we had the U-turn on inheritance tax on farms. In the New Year, we had a U-turn on business rates for pubs. All U-turns that were undoubtedly for the better. All U-turns that came with their own numbing predictability. Almost as if the government hadn’t thought things through. Surely not.

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St Michael’s Mount launches major operation to clear up devastation caused by 112mph winds

The tidal island of St Michael’s Mount in the far south-west of Britain is usually a place of peace and quiet.

But it has become a hive of noisy activity as gardeners equipped with chainsaws and wood chippers get to grips with the devastating damage caused by Storm Goretti.

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He has broken his ankles, endured 365 days in a cell and faced down the 20th century’s worst winter. Yet he says he is not a masochist. We meet the man Marina Abramovich calls ‘the master’

For one year, beginning on 30 September 1978, Tehching Hsieh lived in an 11ft 6in x 9ft wooden cage. He was not permitted to speak, read or consume any media, but every day a friend visited with food and to remove his waste.

The vital context here is that this incarceration was voluntary: Hsieh is a Taiwanese-American artist whose chosen practice is performance art, undertaking durational “actions” for long periods. Marina Abramović has called him the “master” of the form. In 1980, seven months after the end of Cage Piece, Hsieh began another year-long work, Time Clock Piece, which required him to punch a factory-style clock-in machine in his studio, every hour of each day for 365 days.

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If you’ve ever refused to knock down a game’s difficulty level, or chased a purposefully pointless achievement, you might have this pernicious but pleasurable affliction

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Studies on gaming’s effect on the brain usually focus on aggression or the cognitive benefits of playing games. The former topic has fallen out of fashion now, after more than a decade’s worth of scientific research failed to prove any causative link between video games and real-world violence. But studies on the positive effects of games have shown that performing complex tasks with your brain and hands is actually quite good for you, and that games can be beneficial for your emotional wellbeing and stress management.

That’s all well and good, but I’m obsessed with the concept of “gamer brain” – that part of us that is drawn to objectively pointless achievements. Mastering a game or finishing a story are normal sources of motivation, but gamer brain is inexplicable. When you retry the same pointless mini-game over and over because you want to get a better high score? When you walk around the invisible boundaries of a level, clicking the mouse just in case something happens? When you stay with a game longer than you should because you feel compelled to unlock that trophy or achievement? When you refuse to knock the difficulty down a level on a particularly evil boss, because that would be letting the game win? That’s gamer brain.

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The world No 7 on his teenage trip to west Africa, his fundraising efforts and finding his form ahead of the Australian Open

ith a smile, Félix Auger-Aliassime says: “Well, imagine you’re 13. I had been to Europe. I had been to America. I live in Canada. And then you go to Togo; it’s a little different, you know?”

Auger-Aliassime, the seventh best tennis player in the world, was describing the homecoming he enjoyed 12 years ago as he first caught a glimpse of Togo, the country his father, Sam, was born in and emigrated from to Canada before his son’s birth. It was a significant moment in his life.

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US president adopts more measured tone and suggests a pause in decision on threatened US military action in Iran

• Iran protests – live updates
• Iran crisis explained: what we know so far
• Analysis: why western diplomats are wary of predicting regime’s end days

Donald Trump has said he has been assured the killing of protesters in Iran has been halted, adding that he would “watch it and see” about threatened US military action, as tensions appeared to ease on Wednesday night.

Trump had repeatedly talked in recent days about coming to the aid of the Iranian people over the crackdown on protests that Iran Human Rights, a group based in Norway, said had now killed at least 3,428 people and led to the arrest of more than 10,000.

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Pressure mounting for use of glyphosate, listed by WHO since 2015 as probable carcinogen, to be heavily restricted

Children are potentially being exposed to the controversial weedkiller glyphosate at playgrounds across the UK, campaigners have said after testing playgrounds in London and the home counties.

The World Health Organization has listed glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen since 2015. However, campaigners say local authorities in the UK are still using thousands of litres of glyphosate-based herbicides in public green spaces.

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Families are concerned about possibility for intelligence services to veto officers giving evidence after disasters

Keir Starmer is facing the prospect of Labour MPs rebelling on his manifesto-promised Hillsborough law after talks broke down with families over how the duty of candour would apply to serving intelligence officers.

Starmer was introduced at last year’s Labour conference by Margaret Aspinall, whose son James, 18, was one of the 97 people killed in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster. She praised him for pushing forward with the bill after months of arguments over its future.

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Talks fail to solve ‘fundamental disagreement’ over Arctic island controlled by Copenhagen

Donald Trump reiterated on Wednesday that the US needs Greenland and that Denmark cannot be relied upon to protect the island, even as he said that “something will work out” with respect to the future governance of the Danish overseas territory.

The remarks, which came after a high-stakes meeting between US, Danish and Greenlandic officials, indicate that fundamental differences remain between how Washington, Copenhagen and Nuuk see the political future of the island.

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xAI has announced measures to rein in Grok's 'Spicy Mode' after global backlash over AI-edited images undressing women and children.

An officer was allegedly attacked with a shovel and broom handle while trying to arrest the person, DHS said. The shooting took place a few kilometers from where an immigration agent fatally shot Renee Good.

NASA has ended Crew-11's space stay a few weeks early due to a "lingering risk" to an astronaut's health. The crew is now on its way back to Earth.

Airlines have been diverting flights to avoid using Iranian and Iraqi airspace. Meanwhile, Iran's top diplomat denied any plans of hanging, amid earlier reports suggesting swift executions. Follow DW.

The US president said he had a "great" conversation with Delcy Rodriguez, who described her first call with Trump as "productive and courteous."

As Trump's Middle East envoy says the peace plan is moving forward, disarming Hamas and sustaining a transitional government in Gaza remain elusive.

Danish and Greenlandic officials said they still have a “fundamental disagreement” with President Donald Trump over Greenland after meeting in Washington with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

FBI agents searched Hannah Natanson's home as part of an investigation into sharing secret government information. The paper said investigators told her she was not a focus of the probe.

While markets appeared barely fazed by the fate of Venezuela's oil industry, they are considerably more nervous about the potential impact of internal unrest and foreign escalation when it comes to Iran. Rightly so?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy aims to boost Ukraine's defense capabilities through technology by appointing Mykhailo Fedorov as the new defense minister. What do experts say?

None of the 32 people arrested in the Shoafat refugee camp were charged with security offenses, yet the police announced the seizure of ammunition, rifles and drugs. Dozens of officers gathered in the central square and posed with an Israeli flag

Judge says apparent failure to act on relevant information may have enabled suspects to engage in obstruction of justice; former IDF chief Herzl Halevi summoned to testify in case

The Israeli government commissioned a report from a private business intelligence firm to back its filing to the High Court of Justice, in which it is justifying the decision to impose sanctions on the paper. The report doesn't refute Haaretz's reporting, but attempts to frame critical views and journalistic investigations as treasonous

In its rush to respond to the Bondi terrorist attack, the government risks entrenching legislation that raises more questions than it answers.

The Pakistani state and its powerful military establishment have resorted to increasingly drastic measures to deter critics from voicing their opposition, wherever they may be in the world.

The Asian countries apparently impacted include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, and Uzbekistan.

The European Union now stands as the only major international actor still meaningfully committed to Myanmar’s democratic opposition.

The Constitutional Democratic Party is seeking moderation to stay alive. But it may be too late.

A Thai scholar offers recommendation on how to build a lasting peace between Cambodia and Thailand.

A Cambodian scholar offers recommendation on how to build a lasting peace between Cambodia and Thailand.

More than a year after his illegitimate declaration of martial law, the former president is now facing a death sentence for insurrection.

In 2025, India mastered economic stability, but the transition from a $4 trillion to a $5 trillion economy will not be determined by how well risks are contained.

The ongoing protests in Iran have the Taliban in Afghanistan worried. In Iran’s streets, the Taliban see the seeds of their own undoing.

G.O.P. leaders succeeded in pressuring fellow senators who initially supported the measure that would have limited President Trump’s military authority in Venezuela.

U.S. officials brokered the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Venezuelan oil to stabilize the country’s economy after capturing its president.

The Trump administration has ended Temporary Protected Status for about 600,000 Venezuelan immigrants, part of a broader effort to curb avenues for immigrants to remain in the United States.

James Luckey-Lange, 28, was released this week with several other U.S. citizens from the country’s notorious prison system after going missing in December, his family said.

The agent shot a Venezuelan man who was resisting arrest, an official said. Protesters and law enforcement officers clashed for hours, as city officials urged people to go home.

Bruce Blakeman, the likely Republican candidate for governor, said the killing of Renee Good was just one point of disagreement between him and Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat.

Nonessential personnel were moved from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, an American site that could be a target of Iran if President Trump ordered an attack on the country.

While several of the Gulf Arab countries harbor little love for Iran, they worry that the consequences of rising tensions could blow back on them.

Iran had planned to put a 26-year-old protester to death amid the wave of unrest in the country, but apparently stood down for now.

Denmark’s foreign minister left the White House complex saying that his country had a “fundamental disagreement” with President Trump, as several NATO countries sent troops to Greenland.

While Russian President Vladimir Putin certainly does not relish appearing weak, nor does he want to risk exacerbating tensions with the US. But his willingness to be pushed around has its limits, and it is entirely possible that Donald Trump's administration will prove pushy enough to find out what those limits are.

At the heart of US President Donald Trump’s foreign policy is the belief that the world can be carved up among major powers, with the United States free to act with impunity in its “backyard.” In reality, this approach is bound to fuel instability, fracture markets, and undermine America’s economic interests.

The United States and China are locked in a race for technological dominance, fueled by unprecedented investment. But this quest clashes with other economic objectives like lower inflation and financial stability, leaving both economies exposed to domestic pressures and global spillovers.

Donald Trump now claims that the only thing that will stop him from doing as he pleases on the world stage is his own morality. Whether the world accepts Trump’s reversion to the unbridled dominance of great powers will determine the course of international relations for decades to come.

Inundated with manipulative slop that has warped public debate, the European Union has begun to confront the threat that social media platforms pose to democratic life. The fight ahead is not about free speech, as the United States contends, but about whether governments can rein in platforms that profit from disorder.

Even as governments pour trillions of dollars into roads, power grids, data centers, water systems, and housing, the construction industry has yet to leverage the efficiency gains that AI and digitalization have to offer. Given how important the sector will be for sustainable development, this must change.

Over the past three decades, the European Union has built a political and regulatory system strong enough to shape global competition and bind much of the continent together. Yet instead of doubling down, its leaders are weakening the social and economic model that made that achievement possible.

US President Donald Trump is again ratcheting up pressure on the Federal Reserve, this time with a criminal investigation of Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whose term ends in May. If Trump appoints a pliant successor, monetary policy will likely be looser than warranted, stoking inflation and undermining global economic stability.

By pushing through a long-awaited trade agreement with Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay), Europeans have demonstrated that they can manage their political differences and overcome resistance within and outside their borders. The values that the EU was built on are still alive.

By generating increasingly disturbing outputs, Grok has exposed a deep structural problem that should concern regulators everywhere. Advanced AI systems are being deployed and made available to the public without safeguards proportionate to their risks.

The European Commission has formally unveiled a 90-billion-euro ($105 million) loan for Ukraine, intended to cover a large part of Kyiv’s financing needs for the next two years.

Iranian authorities continue to block access to the Internet as part of their brutal crackdown on antigovernment protests, one of the biggest challenges to clerical rule since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, amid warnings from President Donald Trump that the United States may intervene.

US President Donald Trump says the United States will "take very serious action" if Iran begins executing protesters.

Triggered by soaring prices, inflation, and a plunging currency, Iranians have taken to the streets in what is the biggest threat to the Islamic regime in years. Journalists from RFE/RL’s Iranian service, Radio Farda, bring you the latest developments, analysis, and reporting from on the ground.

US President Donald Trump has told protesters in Iran that "help is on the way," as the death toll after more than two weeks of anti-government protests continues to increase, sparking a global outcry.

Russia launched a massive overnight attack on Ukraine, striking key energy facilities amid freezing temperatures. The attacks left hundreds of thousands without power and caused widespread damage, killing at least four people.

US President Donald Trump said the Iranian leadership called to seek talks with Washington in the face of his threats of military action in response to Tehran's brutal crackdown of mass anti-government protesters.

Anti-government protests in Iran continued for a 15th straight day on January 11, with demonstrators gathering on the streets of Tehran as a harsh security crackdown intensified and the number of reported deaths continued to rise.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia’s latest attacks on Ukraine amount to “conscious, cynical Russian terror," as the country continues to face deadly strikes and heavy damage to its energy system amid freezing winter temperatures.

Iranian protesters showed no letup as the country entered the 15th straight day of anti-government protests despite a mounting crackdown by security personnel and as the West, led by US President Donald Trump, intensified pressure on the hard-line rulers in Tehran.