Author: News Desk

Liz Truss lays into Rachel Reeves over economy and trip to China Rachel Reeves has been blamed by Liz Truss for a dramatic drop in the value of the pound which has sparked fears of a new recession. The former prime minister accused the chancellor of pushing Britain “to the brink of economic crisis”. The scathing attack came as both Tory and Lib Dem MPs called on Ms Reeves to scrap a planned trip to China this weekend in which she is to seek closer economic ties to Beijing to revive Britain’s struggling growth. The intervention by Ms Truss marks…

Lammy declares ‘Trump is right’ on defence spending as he warns post-Cold War peace is over David Lammy has declared that the hard-won “post-Cold War peace is well and truly over” as he used his first major speech of 2025 to take aim at Vladimir Putin and Russian aggression. The foreign secretary threw his weight behind demands by Donald Trump that Nato allies significantly increase their spending on defence, while laughing off the president-elect’s expansionist plans for Greenland and Canada. Mr Trump demanded earlier this week that Nato allies commit 5 per cent of GDP to defence spending. While Mr…

Meta oversight board members say losing fact-checking could undermine public trust Two members of Meta’s independent Oversight Board have warned that misinformation will “undermine public trust”, after the social media giant announced it is planning to ditch fact-checkers. Alan Rusbridger, Independent collumnist and former editor of The Guardian, and novelist Khaled Mansour have stressed that the impact on the credibility of sites such as Facebook could be “exorbitant” and could lead to wide civil disturbance. Their comments come after Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta is to scrap its longstanding fact-checking programme in favour of a community notes system similar to…

Following the fall of dictator Bashar Assad, there is uncertainty over the future of Russia’s military bases in Syria. The naval base in Tartus and the airbase in Hmeimim are Russia’s only military outposts outside the former Soviet Union and have played a key role in the Kremlin’s activities in Africa and the Middle East. Losing the military bases in Syria would be devastating for Russia’s Africa Corps (former Wagner Group) that are present in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Central African Republic and in Libya, said Beverly Ochieng, a security analyst at the risk consultancy Control Risks in Senegal. “We…

Bengali-speaking Indians caught up in immigration clampdown Taslima Noor, 34, told DW that she has not slept for days since police in India’s capital, New Delhi, intensified their drive to detain Bangladeshis who they claim are in the country illegally. “I have been working here for seven years, and I am fearful that the authorities will create trouble for my family,” said Noor, who is a domestic worker. Noor is from a Bengali-speaking region of Cooch Behar in the Indian state of West Bengal, near the border with Bangladesh. Since the beginning of the year, nine Bangladeshis have been deported…

Chad’s national prosecutor said on Thursday that an attempt to storm the presidential palace on Wednesday evening had been foiled. Two dozen armed men allegedly carrying “weapons, machetes and knives” attacked the palace guards after pretending to be in a broken-down vehicle by the gates. President in palace at time of attack “They killed two soldiers and seriously wounded five others,” state prosecutor Oumar Kedelaye said, adding that 18 assailants were killed and six were wounded. President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno was inside the palace at the time of the attack, the motive for which was still unclear. At the time…

Orthodox Christmas without Russian gas The first week of 2025 has been cold in Moldova. Temperatures at night have dropped to around freezing. When the sun shines during the day, they rise a little. On January 7, pensioner Gheorghe Colun and his wife prepared a traditional Christmas dinner of stuffed cabbage. Christmas in the predominantly Christian Orthodox Republic of Moldova is celebrated on January 6 and 7 according to the old Julian calendar. This year, the couple will be cooking on a wood-burning stove because Russia halted gas deliveries to Moldova on January 1. Moldova: village life without Russian gas…

With the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) leading the Austrian government’s coalition talks for the first time in the country’s history, an estimated 50,000 people rallied in Vienna to urge the conservative People’s Party (OeVP) not to join forces with the FPOe. Tens of thousands of people protested across Austria on Thursday against the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe)’s possible return to power after it was tasked with trying to form a government. While the far-right party has previously been a member of the country’s government several times, it is the first time that it is leading coalition talks. The FPOe topped…

Lebanon’s new president, Joseph Aoun, told members of parliament on Thursday that the country was entering a new phase as he made his first address following his election. “Today, a new phase in Lebanon’s history begins,” Aoun told lawmakers after being sworn in, and then went on to call for “quick parliamentary consultations” to name a new prime minister. France, Germany, EU, US herald opportunity French President Emmanuel Macron offered his “congratulations to President Joseph Aoun on this crucial election.” “It paves the way for reform and the restoration of Lebanon’s sovereignty and prosperity,” he posted on X. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said…

‘I became a cult hero at Chelsea – then Jose Mourinho sold me without a call’ | Football Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink opened up about his departure from Chelsea and said he never even received a phone call from manager Jose Mourinho before he was sold. Having made a name for himself in the Premier League at Leeds United, Hasselbaink spent a year at Atletico Madrid before returning to the English top-flight with Chelsea. The £15m fee paid to Atletico matched the then British transfer record but the Dutch striker quickly proved his worth at Stamford Bridge with a goal on…