World

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte presented his annual report on the alliance's activities at its headquarters in Brussels on Thursday, lauding a one-fifth real-terms increase in defense spending in Europe and Canada in 2025.  "Between 2014 and 2025, NATO Europe and Canada have more than doubled their annual defense expenditure, with a real-term increase of 106%. In 2025 alone, NATO Allies in Europe and Canada invested a total of $574 billion (rougly €500 billion) in defense, a 20% increase in real terms compared to 2024," Rutte wrote in the foreword to the report.  He said that all allies reported meeting the annual target of spending 2% of GDP on defense, with three saying they had met the new 3.5% objective set for 2035.  "This shows that NATO Allies recognize our changed security en...

Last week, Thailand's parliament endorsed Anutin Charnvirakul as prime minister after his conservative Bhumjaithai party won a decisive victory in February's general election, making him the first Thai premier to be voted back into office in two decades. His coalition, which includes the populist Pheu Thai party, now controls 292 seats in the new parliament. Most pollsters had expected a much tighter race with the progressive People's Party, the successor to Move Forward, which finished first in the 2023 election. The result was seen as a victory for stability over change, and for nationalism over reform, after Anutin successfully turned Thailand's ongoing border conflict with Cambodia into the defining issue of the campaign.Conservatives pull off election comeback in ThailandTo view thi...

The United Nations General Assembly this week adopted a landmark resolution declaring the transatlantic slave trade "the gravest crime against humanity." It also calls on UN member nations to engage in talks "on reparatory justice, including a full and formal apology, measures of restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction, guarantees of non-repetition and changes to laws, programs and services to address racism and systemic discrimination." While not legally binding, the resolution is widely seen as a significant political milestone. "It is a very important decision… it recognizes the fact that the transatlantic slave trade was a grave injustice to humanity," said Isa Sanusi, Amnesty International's executive director in Nigeria. "This recognition alone, even though symbol...

The warning from the Houthi militia was clear: "Yemen... has its finger on the trigger," Abdullah Sabri, spokesman for the Houthi-run Ministry of Foreign Affairs, cautioned earlier this week. The Houthis will take "appropriate measures" should the war against Iran continue. This includes any attempt to expand the war or deploy additional foreign forces, he warned. Also the leader of the Islamist Shiite militia, Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi, said last Thursday in a video message: "We affirm our support for Iran, Lebanon, Palestine … and our readiness at the military level according to developments." However, despite these words, and unlike the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah group, the Houthi militia — which is also allied with the regime in Tehran — has not yet intervened in the current war in I...

The US Treasury Department says it is preparing to add President Donald Trump's signature to all dollar notes, a first for a sitting president. It is expected to appear next to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's signature and take the place of the US treasurer's name, which has been on the currency for more than 100 years. "Under President Trump's leadership, we are on a path toward unprecedented economic growth, lasting dollar dominance, and fiscal strength and stability," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement announcing the decision. In 2025, during the first year of Trump's second term, the US dollar fell to its steepest annual drop in 50 years.  The Treasury told the Reuters news agency that the first $100 bills bearing the signatures will be printed in June, with ot...

The Mexican Navy activated search and rescue efforts in the Caribbean on Thursday, in hopes to locate two missing sailboats which were carrying humanitarian aid to crisis-hit Cuba. The boats left Isla Mujeres, in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, last week and were bound for Havana. With nine people of different nationalities on board, the boats did not arrive in the Cuban capital on March 24 and March 25, as scheduled. In a statement, the Navy appealed to seafarers and maritime authorities in the region to report any information or sightings. It said it was also using an aircraft to search the route between Isla Mujeres and Havana. US sanctions, silent allies: Where have Cuba's friends gone?To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that suppo...

On Monday and Tuesday, Lebanese and Israeli civilians once again woke to explosions as fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group continued. "The situation is catastrophic," Sukaina Hemadah, a 37-year-old mother in Beirut, told DW. Since her house in in Beirut's southern suburb of Haret Hreik was demolished by an earlier Israeli air strike, she and her four children have been staying in a tent in downtown Beirut. "We don't have enough food and rely on water deliveries from an aid organization," she said, adding that she is "scared that diseases will spread soon as the sanitary situation is awful with only one toilet for about 900 people." Hemadah is one of the more than 1.2 million Lebanese estimated to have been displaced since Lebanon was drawn into the wider Middle Ea...

As the rich Arab states of the Persian Gulf are targeted by Iranian drones and missiles, protracted economic disruption brought on by the Iran war could threaten the hundreds of billions of dollars in remittances sent home every year by millions of South Asian foreign workers in the region. Most of them come from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and for decades they have helped drive the Gulf nations' economic boom, taking jobs in construction, hospitality, tourism and health care. Their remittances have not only provided families at home with essential income, but also become a major source of foreign currency inflows for India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, acting like a financial cushion for their economies, and helping cover trade deficits. With energy infrastructure under attack and oil ...

After the first round of the French municipal elections in mid-March, the leader of France's far-right National Rally (RN), Jordan Bardella, spoke of an "historic victory" that would serve as a springboard for the 2027 presidential election. But the results of the second round of local elections, held on Sunday, have put a damper on that. Contrary to what the far-right party's strong results in earlier elections suggested, the RN was not able to secure any kind of major victory. That is even though, according to many polls, it is still in the lead to win next year's presidential election, regardless of whether Bardella runs or whether controversial former party leader Marine Le Pen does. The daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, who founded the party under its previous name Front National, has ...

Israeli settlers have carried out more violent attacks on Palestinian areas in the West Bank on Saturday, burning buildings, homes and vehicles, and beating and pepper spraying Palestinians attempting to stop them. The attacks are just the latest by settlers, and came on the Eid al-Fitr holiday, which marks the end of the Muslim festival of Ramadan. Although settler violence has been constant over past decades, it has intensified recently as Israel pushes forward with new settlements.  Violence by settlers has increased since Israel and the US launched their war on Iran on February 28. Israeli settler attacks on West Bank Palestinians increaseTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Israeli military reports no arres...