World

NATO chief Mark Rutte on Monday said the defense alliance was working on "next steps" to protect Arctic security, as the Trump administration claims that the United States needs to seize Greenland from Denmark to ward off threats from Russia and China. "All allies agree on the importance of the Arctic and Arctic security, because we know that with sea lanes opening up there is a risk that the Russians and the Chinese will be more active," Rutte said. "Currently we are discussing the next step to that, how to make sure that we give practical follow up on those discussions," he said. NATO diplomats said there were no concrete proposals on the table, but some members have floated ideas, including launching a new mission in the region, the AFP news agency reported. US President Donald Trum...

Federal prosecutors in the United States have launched a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's testimony to Congress on the $2.5 billion (€2.14 billion) renovation of the US central bank's headquarters in Washington, DC. Powell confirmed the probe Sunday in a statement posted on the social media platform X, hitting back at what he said was pressure from the Trump administration on interest rate policy. During US President Donald Trump's first term and since he returned to the White House one year ago, the pair have clashed repeatedly over interest rate decisions made by Powell The Fed chair has maintained that the central bank must set policy independently — guided by economic data rather than political pressure. What triggered the row between Trump and P...

The US states of Minnesota and Illinois on Monday pressed lawsuits against the administration of President Donald Trump after a woman was fatally shot by a federal agent in Minneapolis last week. Announcing the legal action, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said the Department of Homeland Security's surge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers into the northern state in recent days has "made us less safe." Tens of thousands protest in Minnesota after ICE killingTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video What do we know about the Minnesota lawsuit? Ellison told a press conference that "thousands of poorly trained, aggressive and armed agents of the state, of the federal government, have rolled into...

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez called out the United States for its "criminal behavior" in the Western Hemisphere on Sunday amid increasingly pointed threats aimed at Havana. Rodriguez made this and other statements in an X post rejecting claims leveled by US President Donald Trump that Venezuela had been paying Cuba for security services. Rodriguez's post also underscored Cuba's right to purchase oil from whatever source it might choose after Trump on Saturday threatened to cut the island off from all money and oil because of his claims that Havana had helped Venezuela's ex-president, Nicolas Maduro. The US recently renditioned Maduro to New York to face drug trafficking charges in a special dead-of-night military extraction in the capital Caracas. Expert: US aims to 'be the b...

Since the overthrow of his father, Iran's last shah, Reza Pahlavi has spent nearly half a century exiled in the United States. In uprisings in recent years, including at the start of 2026, Pahlavi has used his platform to call for greater action on the streets of Iran. As protests continue across Iran, he has cast himself as a pro-secular, pro-democratic voice in support of regime change.  Born in 1960, Pahlavi is the eldest son of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his wife, Farah. He was formally named crown prince at the age of 7 during his father’s own coronation in 1967. But Pahlavi has been unable to return to Iran since the overthrow of the US-aligned monarchy in 1979 in response to political suppression and rising inequality, leading to the theocratic regime that has ruled the count...

The United States Federal Reserve has been subpoenaed by the Department of Justice, the central bank's chairman Jerome Powell revealed in a statement on Sunday. He said the Trump administration threatened him with a criminal indictment over congressional testimony he gave last summer regarding a Federal Reserve building renovation project. Powell called the move a "pretext" to put further pressure on the central bankto lower interest rates faster than Fed officials deem appropriate. What did Powell's statement say? "I have deep respect for the rule of law and for accountability in our democracy. No ‌one — certainly not the Chair of the Federal Reserve — is above the law," Powell said in the brief statement released ‌by the US Fed. He emphasized that this unprecedented action must be v...

The regime seems to have barred internet access in Iran during the latest wave of protests. Texting and mobile data are down, cellular networks are severely limited, and even accessing the internet via Starlink satellites seems to be affected. "The disruption of all communications, especially Starlink network, are massive," Amir Rashidi, director of digital rights and security at Miaan Group, an activist NGO focusing on Iran, the Middle East and North Africa, told DW. "This is a matter of survival for the regime," Rashidi said. He said Iran's authorities could maintain the blackout for a long time.Iran cuts off internet as protests spreadTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Exiled prince Pahlavi in center of prot...

Shirin (name changed), a nurse at the Imam Khomeini Hospital in the western Iranian province of Ilam, recently found herself at the center of a tragedy far beyond anything she had seen in her work. At the end of last week, she took note of reports on social media of a brutal clampdown on anti-government protesters in Malekshahi county, but she never imagined that she would find herself in the middle of it. A few hours later, the first group of wounded people from Malekshahi — those who could not be treated at home — were rushed to the hospital where Shirin works. "More than 40 injured people, covered in blood, were brought to us," the 38-year-old said. "Most had been shot in the upper body: neck, chest, shoulders. Two of them died on the way here. Two young men." Video footage of secur...

The Syrian city of Aleppo once again became the site of fighting on Friday as after Kurdish groups rejected government demands to abandon their positions. Syrian forces hit the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiya neighborhoods that have been held by Kurdish forces since the early days of the war that broke out in 2011. Although Kurdish fighters said they have already left the city, Kurdish security forces remain in place. Why did fighting break out between the Syrian army and Kurdish forces in Aleppo? The Syrian Defense Ministry announced a ceasefire overnight into Friday, calling on Kurdish forces to leave the city and move into other Kurdish-held areas. But Kurdish forces rejected what they called "a call to surrender," adding that they would "defend their neighborhoods." Several hours ...

North Korea on Saturday accused South Korea of flying a drone into its airspace on January 4 and infringing on its sovereignty. What did North Korea say? The North Korean military tracked the drone "moving northwards" over South Korea's Ganghwa county, one of the closest territories to the North, Pyongyang's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) cited a spokesman for the Korean People's Army as saying. The drone was shot down inside the North Korean airspace near the city of Kaesong after flying for 8 kilometers, the spokesperson added. Pyongyang alleged that the drone was equipped with surveillance cameras and had reportedly filmed "major" North Korean facilities. The state news agency published photos of the destroyed drone and its purported surveillance footage.  How has Sou...