The Dutch parliament has voted to ban people buying and setting off fireworks, but not until after next New Year’s Eve. A majority of MPs backed a consumer ban but supported a separate motion postponing it because of potentially enormous compensation claims from fireworks suppliers. Fireworks have been a New Year tradition for decades in … Read more
The severe storm system that has inundated the central and southeastern United States with heavy rain and high winds for days fits into a broader pattern in recent decades of increasing rainfall across the eastern half of the United States. Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for 1991 through 2020 show that the … Read more
President Trump plans to sign an executive order Tuesday aimed at expanding the mining and use of coal in the United States, in an effort to revive the struggling industry. The order will direct federal agencies to remove barriers to coal leasing and mining, loosen environmental reviews of coal projects and explore whether coal-fired electricity … Read more
Tiffany Wertheimer BBC News Getty Images In his first few weeks back in the Oval Office, US President Donald Trump made several extraordinary decisions on foreign policy. He threatened to annex Greenland, announced plans to “take over” Gaza, and started to remove the US from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Paris climate … Read more
Torrential rains and floods have killed at least 33 people in Kinshasa – the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo – according to officials. “The republic will not abandon you,” President Félix Tshisekedi promised victims on Monday, saying he had called a government crisis meeting. Desperate residents have been trying to flee the floodwaters … Read more
Oil is trading at its lowest level in nearly four years. Costs are rising. And Wall Street is growing more worried by the day that President Trump’s trade policies will tip the United States into a recession. The reaction in the oil patch? Silence, mostly. Oil and gas executives, eager to stay in Mr. Trump’s … Read more
German security officials say they are carefully examining possible indications of foreign finance or influence in a series of attacks in German cities in the past year. However, they have reacted coolly to a German TV report suggesting suspicious internet searches were carried out in Russia before a deadly attack in Mannheim last year. A … Read more
Good morning. It’s Tuesday. Today we’ll look at how one consequence of climate change, coastal flooding, could make New York’s housing shortage worse. We’ll also get details on testimony by Columbia University’s former interim president, who told a federal task force that she did not remember the specifics of Columbia’s report on antisemitism. In a … Read more
At least 50 hippos and other large animals have been killed by anthrax poisoning in Africa’s oldest national park, its director has said. Photos shared by the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo show the motionless animals floating along the Ishasha River. Park officials say they first started appearing last week. The … Read more
The Irish government has said that five out of eight religious organisations have not offered any contribution to a compensation scheme to survivors of institutions for unmarried mothers, following a negotiation process. A report on the negotiation, which lasted for 20 months, has been published. The government has accepted a cash contribution of around €13m … Read more