World news

World news

Coromoto Escalona, a 35-year-old woman, was preparing her baby's feeding bottle when she heard some strange noises in the house. It was two o'clock in the morning. She wondered whether the fridge had broken down, since it sometimes made strange noises when it was damaged. Her eldest daughter, who was scrolling on WhatsApp, shouted from her room: Mum, they're bombing us.

Markets are operating in a fragmented geopolitical environment where security concerns increasingly shape trade, investment, and technology policy. Geopolitical tensions, supply chains disruptions, and intense competition in areas such as artificial intelligence are influencing where capital flows and how risks are priced. Although US growth remains relatively strong, it exists alongside ongoing geopolitical uncertainty, stubborn services inflation, and uneven global policy direction.

US Southern Command said in a statement that Marines and sailors, working in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and captured the tanker, Olina, "without incident." It appears to be the first time that the US has directly acknowledged the Ford's involvement in the five boarding and seizure operations that began in early December. However, the government has indicated that the carrier was used for at least one of the other missions.

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 recalled. "Most had been shot in the upper body neck, chest, shoulders. Two of them died on the way here. Two young men."

Even more influencers than usual are flocking to Dubai this weekend for the 1 Billion Followers Summit that will take over the city's financial district, the Museum of the Future, and government hub Emirates Towers. Touted as the world's largest gathering for content creators, the three-day event kicked off Friday with 30,000 attendees expected - including YouTuber MrBeast, Republican figurehead Lara Trump, and Dubai resident and former soccer star Rio Ferdinand.

In an interview with the Guardian, Richard Hermer, the government's most senior law officer and a close ally of Keir Starmer, said that in a complicated and dangerous world, leaders should be able to use statecraft to consider other factors when establishing whether to hold allies to account. In his first public comments since Britain's reaction to the US attack on Venezuela and threats toward Greenland, Hermer refrained from singling out the Trump administration,

After acknowledging that maintaining this link currently requires great patience and diplomatic courage, in an implicit reference to the unpredictable and arbitrary behavior of U.S. President Donald Trump, Felipe VI stressed that it is an indispensable framework [] that emerged from the ashes of the Second World War and has fostered the flourishing of democracies, stability, growth, and the development of multilateralism.

Victoria's Emergency Management Commissioner Tim Wiebusch said firefighters were battling around 30 active blazes as the state's fire danger rating hit the highest "catastrophic" level. Temperatures were forecast to reach 46 degrees Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit), with damaging winds expected to make conditions "undefendable" in some areas, authorities said. Dozens of communities have been evacuated and many parks and campgrounds closed as the fires continue to spread. "If you don't leave now, it could result in your life being lost," Wiebusch said.

He said that the recognition was in keeping with the spirit of the Abraham Accords, referring to the United States-led initiative encouraging a number of Arab countries to normalise relations with Israel in return for diplomatic and financial concessions from the US. But Israel's recognition of Somaliland has prompted protests within Somalia and complaints from dozens of countries and organisations, including Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and the African Union.

Gustavo Petro thought this past week that at any moment an assault force could land on the roof of the Casa de Narino, the Colombian presidential residence, and burst into his office. He doesn't have a bunker to run to, as Nicolas Maduro tried to do a week ago before he was captured and placed on a helicopter bound for the United States. The 65-year-old Colombian president felt threatened by Donald Trump's insinuations that something similar could happen to him.

Two meetings, held almost simultaneously towards the end of December, offered a stark illustration of the competing strategic visions now shaping the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. In Damascus, Turkiye's foreign, defence and intelligence chiefs met Syrian officials on December 22 as Ankara continued to prioritise the consolidation of state authority and stabilisation after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's government in Syria.

On Saturday, United States military forces carried out a dramatic strike in Venezuela that resulted in the capture and forcible removal of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. They were flown to New York and are now in federal custody. Maduro appeared in federal court on drug and weapons charges and pleaded not guilty. Several governments, international legal experts and United Nations officials have described the military operation as an illegal kidnapping and a breach of international law.

In Greenland, it's hard to recognize the demands Trump is setting, he said. His claims about our waters being full of Russian and Chinese ships, we cannot see that at all. We can't recognize this postulation. The Danish navy is traveling in Greenland waters, and our big trawlers are also everywhere. If that had been the case, they could have told us already, but there's no such thing. So what is it that he's talking about?

Dozens of authors, journalists, media personalities and a sponsor are boycotting the Adelaide festival after it dumped Palestinian Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah from its annual writers' week lineup, citing concerns over cultural sensitivity in the wake of the Bondi terror attack. More speakers were expected to withdraw from the festival, with speculation that other high-profile figures were coordinating their exit announcements.

Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva vetoed a bill on Thursday that would have reduced former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro's prison sentence. Bolsonaro was convicted of plotting a coup last year. Lula, the country's left-wing leader, announced his decision three years to the day after Bolsonaro supporters rioted in the capital Brasilia after his 2022 election loss, in scenes similar to the riots by supporters of US President Donald Trump who tried to storm the US Capitol building.

Relying less on imported oil, combined with the soft global market, gives the U.S.an expanded foreign-policy menu. So if Trump wants to capture Venezuela's leader - or threaten and bomb Iran - he can do it with much less risk in spiking pump prices at home. Catch up fast: The U.S. has nearly tripled oil production over the last 15-ish years, thanks to fracking unlocking vast reserves of oil and natural gas in shale rock formations in Texas and several other states.

Saudi Arabia has accused the United Arab Emirates of smuggling a UAE-backed separatist Yemeni leader out of the country after he failed to turn up for crisis talks in Riyadh on Wednesday. The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said Aidarous al-Zubaidi had fled the port city of Aden for Abu Dhabi under Emirati supervision, deepening a diplomatic row between Saudi Arabia and the UAE.