Author: WTX News

Amsterdam is a truly remarkable city but it’s also fairly expensive compared to other European cities. But don’t worry, you can experience a lot of the culture and charm on a bit of a budget if you’re willing to cut back on some experiences and book in advance – it might mean you won’t have much flexibility with you’re holiday but you’ll be able to hit up all the hotspots without breaking the bank. Choosing cheaper holidays means you need to be organised. Figure out your itinerary, book ahead, plan the details and be willing to compromise will go a…

National Transportation Safety Board says it will ‘leave no stone unturned’ in probe of midair collision.Investigators in the United States have located the black boxes from the American Airlines jet that crashed into a US Army helicopter near Washington, DC, killing all 67 people on board. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Friday said it recovered the flight data and cockpit voice recorders from the Bombardier CRJ700 jet that collided with a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter over Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. “The recorders are at the NTSB labs for evaluation,” the agency said in a post on…

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he planned to detain 30,000 “criminal illegal aliens” at the notorious Guantanamo Bay military prison, used for holding terrorism suspects since the 9/11 attacks. Trump made the shock announcement as he signed a bill allowing the pre-trial detention of undocumented migrants charged with theft and violent crime — named after a US student killed by a Venezuelan immigrant. He said he was signing an executive order instructing the Pentagon and the Homeland Security department to “begin preparing the 30,000-person migrant facility at Guantanamo Bay,” Trump said at the White House. “We have 30,000 beds…

A Passenger jet collides midair with military helicopter in Washington DC during landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport, the FAA confirmed. The incident is under investigation. The collision happened on approach to Runway 33 at Reagan Washington National Airport around 9pm local time. An American Airlines commercial jet crashed into Washington DC’s Potomac River after colliding with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter in mid-air just before 21:00 local time (02:00 GMT). Passenger jet collides midair with military helicopter in Washington DC The plane crashed in the Potomac River, which weaves through DC, according to the DC Fire and EMS Department.…

Vice President – JD Vance Republican elected on Donald Trump’s ticket in the 2023 November elections. Vice President – JD Vance Republican James David Vance aka JD Vance is a Senator from Ohio and a Vice President of the United States. He was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 2022 and served from January 3, 2023, until January 10, 2025, when he resigned to become Vice President, following President Donald Trump’s inauguration. News from the VP office

The current Speaker of the House – Mike Johnson Republican – Louisiana. Speaker of the House – Mike Johnson Republican Republican Mike Johnson elected 56th speaker of the House. House lawmakers in October 2023 elected Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana as the 56th speaker of the House, capping more than three weeks of dysfunction and chaos on Capitol Hill. He had only been a Congressman for 6.8 years which made him the second fastest member to be elected as House leader. About the Speaker of the House Elected by the whole of the House of Representatives, the Speaker acts as leader…

Who’s the shiniest of them all?

Scholz reaffirmed his support for a two-state solution and said the Palestinian Authority should take responsibility for the Gaza Strip [Getty] German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Tuesday that the expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip would be “unacceptable”, after US President Donald Trump floated a plan to exp them to Egypt and Jordan. “In light of recent public statements, I say very clearly that any relocation plans — the idea that the citizens of Gaza will be expelled to Egypt or Jordan — is unacceptable,” Scholz said at a town hall event in Berlin. Almost all of the Gaza…

More than 500,000 people have been displaced thus far in January due to heavy fighting in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the country’s foreign minister told an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday. “The humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate, with more than 500,000 new (internally displaced people) in North and South Kivu provinces in January alone,” Congolese Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner said. In the worst escalation of a long-running conflict in more than a decade, Rwandan-backed M23 rebels entered Goma, the capital of North Kivu and the largest city in eastern Congo, on…

Israel’s 15-month war on Gaza, as well as severe restrictions it imposed on the flow of humanitarian aid and Israeli forces’ attacks on health facilities and targeting of healthcare workers, have led to “life-threatening danger” for pregnant women and babies, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said in a new report. Despite the ongoing ceasefire, the precarious conditions under which women in Gaza are giving birth are unlikely to improve, the group noted in the report published on Tuesday, as Israeli legislation targeting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and taking effect this week is expected…

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer held a “warm” phone call with the new US President Donald Trump. Trump is expected to visit Britain “soon” following their first conversation since the president’s inauguration. The paper says the prime minister became the first European leader to speak to the new US president since he was sworn in.

Britain is set to be hit with torrential rain and high winds as Storm Herminia rolls in. Yellow warnings for wind and heavy rain have been issued for much of Wales and southern England as Storm Herminia hits parts of the UK. The Met Office says Herminia – first recorded in Spain and France – brings with it the possibility of damage and disruption, days after Storm Éowyn left two people dead when it battered the UK and Republic of Ireland.

King Charles will become the first British head of state to visit Auschwitz when he tours the former Nazi concentration camp to mark the 80th anniversary of its liberation. The King will travel to Poland to join survivors and other dignitaries for a special service, at the end of which he will lay a light of remembrance to honour those who lost their lives.

The M23 rebel group says it has seized control of Goma, a major city in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The announcement follows a rapid advance against Congolese forces on Sunday, which forced tens of thousands of people to flee nearby towns.  

South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol has been charged with insurrection following his failed attempt to declare martial law in December. This move triggered a major political crisis, making Yoon the first sitting president in the country’s history to face criminal charges.  

Both countries have warned of plans to displace Gazans into neighbouring Egypt and Palestinians from the West Bank into Jordan [Mohamed Elshahed/Anadolu via Getty]Egypt and Jordan on Sunday rejected the forced displacement of Palestinians, after US President Donald Trump suggested a plan to “clean out” the Gaza Strip and move its population to the two Arab countries. Egypt’s foreign ministry in a statement expressed Cairo’s “continued support for the steadfastness of the Palestinian people on their land”. It “rejected any infringement on those inalienable rights, whether by settlement or annexation of land, or by the depopulation of that land of…

A public teacher in Pennsylvania was put on leave after allegedly calling a Palestinian American middle school student an extremist, the school district and a Muslim advocacy group said. Why it’s important Human rights advocates say there has been a rise in anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian and antisemitic hate in the US since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza since October 7, 2023. Key quotes The Central Dauphin School District said on Saturday it had learned about the allegations that the teacher made the derogatory comment last week in an after-school program. “The teacher involved in the alleged incident is on…

The fierce stench of rotten food and burned furniture greeted 19-year-old Fouad Abou Mrad and his father when they returned to their home in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stark reminder of how Israeli attacks had upended their lives. The student at Notre Dame University – Louaize and his family had abandoned their home in Dahiyeh during Israel’s bombing campaign in September. “Seeing the place that I grew up in in that state was just shocking. I’ve never experienced that before in my life. It was straight out of [a] horror film,” he told Al Jazeera, adding that his…

Mainstream EU leaders have breathed a sigh of relief. After a Hungarian presidency marked by what they saw as damaging freelance diplomacy, the torch has now passed to Poland, which holds the reins for six months at a particularly turbulent time. There are huge questions in the EU about how to handle Donald Trump, about western support for Ukraine, about international trade, Europe’s competitiveness, and much else besides.

‘Cruel and pure evil … the act of a coward’ The Daily Express quotes the parents of the victims calling Rudakubana “pure evil” and saying they have been left with “shattered souls.”

A Chinese court has sentenced Zhou Jiasheng, 52, to death for a knife attack that injured a Japanese mother and her child and claimed the life of a Chinese woman who intervened to protect them. The attack occurred on June 24 outside a Japanese school in Suzhou and was one of three attacks targeting foreigners in China last year.

A statue of Captain James Cook in Sydney has been defaced with red paint and damaged, just days before the Australia Day weekend. Police have launched an investigation into the incident, marking the second time the monument has been targeted in the past year.

Residents in Jenin are being forced to leave their homes due to fears concerning their safety [Getty/file photo]A Palestinian official said hundreds of people began leaving their homes in the flashpoint area of Jenin the occupied West Bank on Thursday as Israeli forces pressed a deadly operation there. The Israeli military this week launched a raid in the Jenin area days into a ceasefire was approved in the Gaza Strip. “Hundreds of camp residents have begun leaving after the Israeli army, using loudspeakers on drones and military vehicles, ordered them to evacuate the camp,” Jenin governor Kamal Abu al-Rub told…

1967 War: The Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states, primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10 June 1967. It involved Israel and its neighbouring countries of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. Israel invaded and occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights. Israel has never returned any of the lands it stole during the invasion despite calls from the International community. Since then Israel has been building illegal settlements in the West…

What is MeToo? The phrase was popularised by American Actress Alyssa Milano. She encouraged victims of sexual harassment to tweet about it so it would “give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.” Many high-profile celebrities have endorsed the #MeToo movement including Jennifer Lawrence, Uma Thurman and Gwyneth Paltrow. It went on to inspire the Times Up organisation – a non-profit organization that raised money to support victims of sexual harassment. The #MeToo movement has gone global and impacted millions of lives around the world. In some places the change may be slower than in others, however, the…

Tataloo is known for his distinctive tattoos, which cover his entire body [Getty]Iran’s judiciary said Wednesday there has been “no definitive sentence” against popular singer Amir Hossein Maghsoudloo, known as Tataloo, days after local media reported he had been sentenced to death. On Sunday, the reformist Etemad newspaper reported that the “Supreme Court accepted the prosecutor’s objection” to a previous five-year jail term against Tataloo on charges of blasphemy. “The case was reopened, and this time the defendant was sentenced to death for insulting the prophet,” referring to Islam’s Prophet Mohammed, the newspaper said. It also said the verdict could…

South Korea investigators want Yoon formally charged The South Korean agency leading the criminal investigation into impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol has recommended he be charged with insurrection and abuse of power. The investigators handed to prosecutors on Thursday the results of their 51-day probe into the December 3 attempt to declare martial law. Yoon was arrested last week in a dramatic standoff with security over his martial law bid, becoming South Korea’s first sitting president to be detained.  What do we know about the investigator’s recommendation? The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) said it “decided to request the…