World

Tens of thousands of people in the US state of Washington were ordered to evacuate on Thursday evening amid surging floodwaters that have inundated farmland. At least 78,000 people in the state's agricultural region were told to flee the floodplain, one day after the state declared a state of emergency. Over 12,000 homes were without electricity on Thursday night, according to PowerOutage.us. The northwest of the United States has seen torrential rainfall in the past few days due to a weather phenomenon called atmospheric river, in which a band of extremely moist air delivers intense rainfall for days. A state of emergency has been declared in Washington stateImage: M. Scott Brauer/ZUMA/IMAGO Washington governor warns of 'potentially historic' floods  "The flooding levels we're lookin...

Seven months into his chancellorship, Friedrich Merz travelled for his first official visit to Israel, a trip that lasted less than 24 hours. The visit drew intense scrutiny — particularly in Germany— over whether it would send the wrong signal amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza and escalating violence in the West Bank. Among the Israeli public, Merz remains relatively unknown, historian Moshe Zimmermann told DW. "If you asked people in a survey, 'Who is the current Chancellor of Germany?', no more than 10% of Israelis would know that his name is Friedrich Merz," Zimmerman said. "For the vast majority, Angela Merkel is still the Chancellor — and she was very popular here." Lately, however, there have been increasingly critical voices coming from Germany regarding Israel's military conduc...

Authorities in Nigeria said Sunday that they have secured the release of 100 schoolchildren who were kidnapped from a Catholic school last month. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) said 315 pupils and staff were abducted by gunmen on November 21 from St. Mary's co-educational boarding school in the north-central Niger state. Fifty students were able to escape in the following hours. The fate of another 165 students and school staff, who are believed to still be in captivity, remains unclear.Twelve teachers and 303 children were kidnapped from St. Mary's in Papiri, Niger state [FILE: November 23, 2025]Image: Ifeanyi Immanuel Bakwenye/AFP What do we know about the 100 children who have been released? The 100 schoolchildren who were released have arrived in the capital Abuja, a U...

US President Donald Trump said Sunday that he would be involved in the review by federal regulators of a proposed consolidation deal between streaming platform Netflix and Hollywood studio Warner Bros. The companies announced the agreement on Friday. Netflix would acquire parts of Warner Bros. Discovery for $72 billion (€84 billion) if the sale is completed. If regulators approve, the deal would unite two of the biggest names in entertainment, Netflix and Warner Bros., the studio behind "Harry Potter," "Game of Thrones," and the DC films. What did Trump say about the deal between Netflix and Warner Bros.? "I'll be involved in that decision," Trump told reporters as he arrived at the Kennedy Center for its annual awards show. The US president was referring to federal regulators reviewi...

The US Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that Texas can use a new electoral map that would add more Republicans to the House of Representatives. It allows next year's midterm elections to be held using the new districts, which were drawn to favor Republicans. Thursday's ruling temporarily pausesa previous judgement by a lower court that stuck down the redistricted electoral map on the grounds that it likely discriminated based on race. Texas made an emergency request to the Supreme Court for quick actions because the qualification process in the new districts was already underway, with primary elections scheduled for March. "The District Court improperly inserted itself into an active primary campaign, causing much confusion and upsetting the delicate federal-state balance in elections,"...

New Zealand police arrested a man suspected of stealing — and swallowing — a James Bond-inspired Faberge pendant worth some $19,000 (€16,300). After six days of supervising the the 32-year-old suspect's bowl movements, police said the limited-edition Faberge egg had been recovered late on Thursday. Police said the piece of jewelry came out of the thief's body naturally, without any medical intervention. They also provided a photo of the recovered pendant and the attached price tag, which stayed intact despite going through the thief's digestion system. Inspector Grace Anderson said police would continue monitoring the man. "Given this man is in Police custody, we have a duty of care to continue monitoring him given the circumstances of what has occurred," she said.The stolen Faberge e...

The United States military said it killed four men in a strike on a suspected drug-trafficking boat in international waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Thursday, part of a campaign that has killed at least 87 people. "Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was carrying illicit narcotics and transiting along a known narco-trafficking route in the eastern Pacific," the US Southern Command said in a statement. In a video posted by the US military, a small boat moving across the water is struck by a large explosion. The camera then zooms out to show the vessel engulfed in flames and smoke. The military said the strike was "at the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth," using the new title for the defense secretary. Lawmakers briefed on September 2 strikes The latest strike occu...

While negotiations regarding the US' plan to end the war in Ukraine are underway, Russia has announced the capture of the cities of Pokrovsk and Vovchansk in the region of Donetsk. The Ukrainian government denies this and accuses Russia of propaganda. Who is in control of Pokrovsk? On December 1, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, citing a report by Russia's General Staff chief Valery Gerasimov to Russian President Vladimir Putin, declared that "Krasnoarmeysk," the old Soviet name of the city which is still used by Russia, had been captured. Ukraine renamed the "City of the Red Army" to Pokrovsk in 2016. But on December 2, the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said that it had not found evidence for the "complete Russian seizure of Pokrovsk." On the same day, a senior NATO off...

Key points San Francisco is suing companies including Kellogg, Nestle and Coca-Cola City claims companies caused public health crisis with ultraprocessed foods Trade group says there is no agreed-upon definition of ultraprocessed foods San Francisco is suing the makers of ultraprocessed foods, including Kraft Heinz, Coca-Cola, Nestle, Kellogg and Mondelez. "These companies created a public health crisis with the engineering and marketing of ultraprocessed foods," San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu said. "They took food and made it unrecognizable and harmful to the human body." What we know about San Francisco's lawsuit The lawsuit, lodged in San Francisco Superior Court on Tuesday, accuses 10 corporations of violating California laws on public nuisance and deceptive marketin...