World

Ministers in Germany and France shot back at US President Donald Trump  for his comments claiming that the US had "never needed" its European NATO allies — despite it being the only NATO member in history to invoke the mutual defense clause Article 5 — and alleging that non-US troops in Afghanistan had "stayed a little back" from the frontlines.  Germany's Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Trump should apologize, while also implying that he was not exactly holding his breath. "It would be a sign of decency, of respect and of insight," he said on ARD television. "But we all know how the US president operates." Pistorius also said the inaccuracy of Trump's claims was not up for debate.  "To talk this way about allies is simply indecent and disrespectful. Everyone stood there, stood a...

Nigeria's military said on Monday that several of its officers will stand trial for allegedly plotting a coup against President Bola Tinubu's government last year.    At least 16 officers were arrested in October over what military authorities described as "acts of indiscipline and breaches of service regulations." Authorities then launched an investigation into the officers' conduct.Musa: Nigeria security 'a lot better than it used to be'To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video What did the investigation reveal? The probe revealed a plot to overthrow the government, Samaila Uba, Nigerian military spokesman said in a statement Monday. "The findings have identified a number of the officers with allegations of plottin...

Lawmakers in France's National Assembly on Monday passed a bill that would ban children under 15 years old from usingsocial media. They voted 116 to ⁠23 in favor the bill. The legislation will now go to the Senate, the upper house of parliament. President Emmanuel Macron has championed the ban saying it's necessary to protect French children and teenagers from excessive screen time. He hailed Monday's vote as a "major step" and stressed in a post on X that "our children's brains are not for sale. Not to American platforms, nor to Chinese networks." What to know about the bill? The draft bill proposes banning under-15s from social networks and "social networking functionalities" embedded within broader platforms. It, however, excludes online encyclopedias and educational platforms. ...

After President Donald Trump announced he would levy 10% trade tariffs on eight European countries who oppose his annexation of Greenland, EU officials began mulling which measures to use to respond. At their disposal are mainly three options: The use of the so-called "trade bazooka" — a never-before-used instrument that could even go as far as restricting market access for US companies in the EU. The implementation of retaliatory tariffs. The suspension of the EU-US trade deal, which has yet to come into effect. EU heads of state and government will meet for a summit on Thursday — a dinner cobbled together in haste to coordinate which of those options the bloc will use in response to Trump’s threats. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said at the weekend, "Europe won’t be bl...

For weeks, residents of the Ukrainian  capital of Kyiv have been suffering as Russia continues to attack Ukraine's power infrastructure. Matters have been made worse by sub-zero temperatures in the double digits. Some 2,600 high-rise buildings were still without heating on January 22, according to Kyiv's mayor Vitali Klitschko. So it is not surprising that many people are leaving the city. Among them are Anastasia and her family. "We had no electricity, no heating and no water, we — my husband, my two children and I — moved into my parents' dacha [garden house] and my father is also joining us here," she told DW. The dacha, outside of town, has a gas boiler and a diesel generator in the garden. "Then we have light, water and heat," she says. "We get the water from a well. When the gen...

Hundreds of people rallied at Minneapolis-Saint Paul ⁠International airport in the US state of Minnesota on Friday to protest flights carrying immigrants detained by federal immigration enforcement. Authorities said about 100 clergy members and dozens of other protesters were arrested outside the airport's main terminal for overstepping their protest permit and disrupting airline operations.  The clergy were given misdemeanor citations for trespassing and failing to comply with officers before being released, according to an airport spokesperson. The rally was one of many held in Minnesota, as organizers from various groups, including labor unions and religious groups, called on people to protest against the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in the state.Minnesota residents p...

The United States military on Friday struck another boat it suspected of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific, killing two people, the US Southern Command said. The attack represents the first known strike by the administration since US forces captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro on January 3. "Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations," the US Southern Command, or SOUTHCOM, said. SOUTHCOM's post on X included a clip of a multi-engined boat being smashed by an explosion. The footage showed three people on the vessel before the strike.   Two people were killed and one survived, SOUTHCOM said, adding it "immediately" notified the US Coast Guard to search for the survi...

Some 200 million people in the United States were preparing for a massive winter storm that is expected to affect two-thirds of the country beginning Friday. Snow fell over parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas on Friday. The storm is set to move to the northeast this weekend, dumping about a foot (30 centimeters) of snow from Washington through New York and Boston, the National Weather Service predicted. What do we know about the massive winter storm? Heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain, as well as Arctic temperatures, are forecast to sweep across the country from the Rocky Mountains to the mid-Atlantic states to New England. Forecasters warned the damage from the storm could rival that of a hurricane, especially in areas hit by ice.  At least 14 states and the District of Columbia hav...

China gets up to a fifth of its imported oil from Iran and another 4% to 5% from Venezuela, often through clandestine channels to skirt United States sanctions — or at least it did before recent disruptions. US President Donald Trump's move earlier this month to unseat Venezuela’s longtime leader, Nicolas Maduro, redirect its oil to the US and impose 25% tariffs on Iran-linked trade has raised serious questions about energy security in the world's second-largest economy. Oil prices briefly spiked on fears that China’s discounted Iranian supplies could be hit, while experts warned that US seizures of Venezuela-linked oil tankers may further constrict flows. Can China's domestic production fill the gap? Beijing, meanwhile, has limited room to fall back on its domestic oil production to p...