The United States has recorded a sharp rise in violence against journalists since Donald Trump returned to office, according to a new report by the Freedom of the Press Foundation. The non-profit organisation says most of the incidents involved reporters and photographers covering protests against the administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants. Many of the alleged attacks were carried out by law enforcement officers. The foundation reports that journalists have suffered…

A large-scale Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine has killed at least three people and caused widespread power cuts, just days before Christmas and as the country faces freezing winter temperatures. Ukrainian officials said Russia launched more than 650 drones and over 30 missiles in strikes that began overnight and continued into Tuesday morning. Among those killed was a four-year-old child. Poland scrambled fighter jets to protect its airspace…

Donald Trump has unveiled plans for a new generation of US navy warships to be known as the “Trump-class”, marking a break with long-standing naval naming traditions. Speaking on Monday, the US president said the vessels would be bigger, faster and “a hundred times more powerful” than any previous American warship. Construction is set to begin with two ships, with the programme eventually expanding to between 20 and 25 vessels.…

China and Russia have voiced support for Venezuela as it faces a US blockade of oil tankers, amid escalating pressure from Donald Trump on the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro. The US president has repeatedly called on Maduro to step down, while defending Washington’s seizure of Venezuelan oil shipments in recent weeks. Trump said the US would either keep or sell the oil taken off the Venezuelan coast. Asked whether the…

After weeks of harsh rhetoric that brought relations close to breaking point, President Donald Trump has shifted Washington’s approach to Nigeria, moving away from threats of military action and towards a sweeping multibillion-dollar health partnership. Barely two months ago, Trump warned that the United States could step in with “guns a-blazing” to confront what he described as an existential threat to Christianity from Muslim militants in Nigeria. The remarks sparked…

The United States has been quietly carrying out intelligence-gathering flights over large parts of Nigeria since late November, signalling heightened security cooperation between Washington and Abuja, according to an exclusive report by Reuters. The report, published on Monday, cited flight-tracking data as well as current and former U.S. officials, noting that the precise purpose of the surveillance missions could not be immediately and independently confirmed. The development comes weeks after…

Nigeria’s trade relationship with the United States swung sharply into deficit in the first nine months of 2025, as exports to the American market declined steeply while imports more than doubled, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). An examination of NBS foreign trade figures shows that Nigeria exported goods valued at N3.65tn to the US between January and September 2025, down from N4.59tn recorded in the…

US Coast Guard officials said on Sunday that they were tracking an oil tanker in international waters close to Venezuela, according to multiple unnamed US officials quoted by American media. The move marks the second such operation over the weekend and the third within a week, as Washington intensifies pressure on Venezuela’s oil sector. Officials described the operation as an “active pursuit” in the Caribbean Sea. It came a day…

El Salvador has announced prison sentences for hundreds of gang members, with some of those convicted receiving terms running into the hundreds of years, as President Nayib Bukele’s hardline security campaign continues. The attorney general’s office said on Sunday that 248 members of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) street gang had been handed what it described as “exemplary sentences” for crimes including 43 murders and 42 enforced disappearances. In a statement…

Israel has approved plans for 19 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, pressing ahead with an expansion drive that further undermines prospects for a Palestinian state. The decision brings the number of settlements approved in recent years to 69, a record, according to the far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, a leading advocate of settlement expansion. Two of the newly approved sites were previously dismantled during Israel’s 2005 disengagement…

While the disclosure was largely limited, the FBI report has drawn renewed scrutiny of how authorities handled early warnings.

Israeli forces killed six Palestinians, including a baby, in an attack on a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza City, according to hospital officials. The deaths bring the number of Palestinians killed by Israel to 401 since the October ceasefire came into effect. The Palestinian civil defence said Israeli troops fired across the ceasefire line, striking the school and wounding several others. It said rescue teams were only able to…