World News

Catch up with the most important stories from around Europe and beyond this December 19th, 2025 - latest news, breaking news, World, Business, Entertainment, Politics, Culture, Travel.

Denmark accused Russia on Thursday of cyberattacks on water utility that burst pipes and on election websites, the first time Copenhagen publicly blamed Moscow.

Nigeria is on display in a softer light as residents of Lagos gathered to see the city’s Christmas decorations.

Ukraine hit Russian-linked tanker Qendil with drones in the Mediterranean on Friday, marking the first shadow fleet strike outside Black Sea.

Istanbul prosecutors detained eight more people on Friday in an ongoing drug investigation targeting media figures, while releasing four high-profile suspects.

Uzbekistan and Japan discussed investment, trade and long-term cooperation during President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s official visit to Tokyo. The agenda ranged from parliamentary dialogue to large-scale joint projects in energy, industry and technology.

Kazakhstan signed over 40 agreements worth more than €3 billion with Japanese companies during President Tokayev’s visit to Japan.

France farmers protested outside President Macron’s home in Le Touquet, demanding the EU drop the Mercosur trade deal despite its signing being delayed.

The 2025 Doha Forum gathered global leaders to confront the world’s toughest challenges, highlight Qatar’s growing mediation role, and unveil major development pledges. Under the theme “Justice in Action,” the focus was clear: turning dialogue into real, measurable progress.

Belgium summit sees EU leaders momentarily distracted as shifting microphones disrupt a press Q&A, prompting jokes and smiles from presidents and prime ministers.

Russia's leader said during a TV marathon that claims that an attack on Europe was planned were "nonsense".

EU leaders said the loan would be repayable only when Russia paid reparations for the war.

Two men say they experienced the kind of abuse highlighted in recent reports on Israel's treatment of prisoners, which Israel denies.

The suspect's spree began at Taipei's main metro before he moved to another station nearby.

Conservatives traded criticims at this year's annual Turning Point USA America Fest conference.

The fast-fashion giant welcomed the judgement and said its priority remains protecting French consumers.

Visitors who don't live in Rome will have to pay to view the Baroque monument up close from February.

Mette-Marit has pulmonary fibrosis, a disease that stiffens the lungs, making it hard to breathe.

The 61-year-old has been sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison after posting the videos online.

Anuradha Mittal was ejected from the board of the ice cream maker this week.

Follow our live buildup and coverage ahead of our text commentary stream of the Paul-Joshua heavyweight fight in Miami.

Greek coastguard says nearly 540 people will have their asylum claims processed after rescue south of the island.

President Trump’s name was put on The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

While thousands of documents are expected to be made public, the release falls short of the full Epstein file.

So far 14 of the 17 of largest pharmaceutical companies have agreed to lower drug prices in the US.

Sheltered under a worn-out, nylon tent and four blankets, 29-day-old Saeed could not survive winter in Gaza.

A spokesperson for Antonio Guterres calls for UN staffers' immediate release, as 69 now detained in the country.

The war on Ukraine was a big topic at Vladimir Putin’s annual Q&A session, but the question of its end went unanswered.

Six British hunger strikers linked to Palestine Action are at risk of death in prison, doctors and relatives warn.

Proposed changes weaken climate rules and waste years of investments by car makers in EVs.

Consumers shun artificial evergreens as levies increase prices

The Bank of England cut rates as expected and signalled further easing to come in 2026

Powerful forces look poised to reignite growth at a time when economies are close to capacity

Read the December forecast from the FT’s Monetary Policy Radar team

Also in today’s newsletter: EU leaders agree to lend Ukraine €90bn and TikTok’s new US joint venture

Central bank dashes hopes of strong recovery from debt-funded spending spree

Yields on 10-year government bonds hit highest level since 1990s after central bank’s fourth rate increase

Some rate-setters believe inflation is already at target, while the decision underscores more tightening is ahead

Move comes after Italian prime minister pleads for more time from Brazilian president

Plus, Trump in Venezuela

An advance tally indicates sales rose 1.2%, following declines the previous two months, hinting at a recovery in household consumption heading into the holiday season.

Focus will center on a smattering of U.S. data releases, particularly GDP, as investors gauge the performance of the U.S. economy.

Eurozone consumer sentiment unexpectedly weakened in December despite cooling inflation and economic resilience against tariffs, a monthly indicator showed.

The Conference Board’s Employment Trends Index declined to 105.80 in a joint number for both months, fueling further concerns about hiring after the unemployment rate edged higher.

Consumers’ economic mood recovered slightly in December but remained broadly gloomy as households face drawn-out inflation and a frustrating labor market for job seekers.

Sales hit their highest level since February, after lower mortgage rates injected some fresh momentum into the long sluggish housing market.

The economy grew at a faster pace than estimated in the three months through September, aided by a pickup in investment.

The OECD forecast the global economy to expand by 2.9% next year, a slowdown from 3.2% this year.

Growth in China’s manufacturing production came to a halt as new orders nearly stalled last month despite a renewed rise in new orders from abroad.

Economies that escaped from Communism are at risk if older voters and political leaders prevent changes to offset aging populations.

In holistic communities and midwifery deserts, women are turning to the Free Birth Society for information and unlicensed providers

When the holistic practitioner Emma Cardinal, 32, became pregnant in May 2023, she planned to have a home birth with midwives. Cardinal lives in a town in British Columbia with strong counter-cultural roots. “The community that I live in, home birth is something a lot of women prioritise,” she explains.

Then Cardinal stumbled across a podcast from the Free Birth Society (FBS). One episode in particular, she says, made an impact: “Unpacking Ultrasound With Yolande Clark.” In it, the Canadian ex-doula Yolande Norris-Clark falsely links ultrasounds to autism and ADHD and states that “ultrasound damages and modifies and destroys cells”.

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Whether it’s a wine subscription, a museum membership or life-drawing lessons, it’s not too late to grab an 11th-hour present

• The best Christmas gifts for 2025

You’ve forgotten, haven’t you? It happens. Don’t panic, though: from a foraging day to a year’s supply of cinema tickets, here are 18 thoughtful last-minute Christmas gifts you can buy online, sign up for, or book right now – and they’ll never know you forgot.

Our list of experiences, vouchers and subscriptions is also perfect for those who don’t need more stuff, are almost impossible to buy for or enjoy supporting the arts or small food producers. An email may not be as exciting as unwrapping a gift, but an experience or subscription can last months, and they’ll think of you every time they make their subscription morning coffee.

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Neuroscientists, psychologists and ‘have-a-go heroes’ themselves explain why it is about more than just instinct

As a knife-wielding terrorist wearing a fake suicide belt caused panic on London Bridge in 2019, Darryn Frost remembers entering a state of intense focus.

Having grabbed a decorative narwhal tusk from the wall of Fishmongers’ Hall, the formerly shy civil servant zoned in on the danger and ran towards it, helping pin the attacker to the ground.

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From celebrity endorsements to digital fatigue, the once-obsolete white wire has become a fashion statement and a quiet act of opting out

With white-wired headphones endorsed by celebrities including Lily-Rose Depp, Paul Mescal, Bella Hadid and Apple Martin, a growing number of people are breaking away from wireless listening.

For inspiration, there is the Instagram account @wireditgirls, or a Balenciaga campaign featuring the model Mona Tougaard reclining bed, wired headphones in place.

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On her monumental, maximalist opus, the dazzlingly audacious Spanish singer balanced pop and classical, experimentation and accessibility

• The 50 best albums of 2025
• More on the best culture of 2025

On paper, Lux reads more like a particularly tricky bonus round on University Challenge than the new album by a pop artist whose previous single was a collaboration with Lisa from Blackpink. Split into four distinct movements and sung in 13 languages, Lux is a head-spinning, classical music-adjacent opus exploring feminine mystique, religious transcendence and corporal transformation, often via the prism of various female saints. The dissolution of a relationship – grounded and laid bare on Lily Allen’s West End Girl, 2025’s other dissection of heartbreak – is shot heavenwards here, buffeted by the constant presence of the London Symphony Orchestra and the input of Pulitzer prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw among a scroll-sized list of collaborators. Its audacity alone makes the efforts of Rosalía’s pop peers look pretty laughable.

The fact that Lux manages to transcend scholarly chin-stroking and dry Wiki deep dives is near miraculous, and the credit is solely Rosalía’s. While this isn’t her first album to alchemise the past and present – see 2018’s El Mal Querer and its heady flamenco-R&B hybrid – the stakes are far higher on Lux, and the balancing act more pronounced. What elevates her fourth album, outside its multilayered melodies, rich compositions and engrained drama, is the playfulness at its heart. Like Björk during her 90s peak, there’s a sense of wonderment to Rosalía’s voice that sweeps you up into its tornado. Even when she’s tearing your heart in two, as on La Yugular’s blossoming balladry, or the ascension to heaven on the closing Magnolias, you want to be right there with her.

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Now the Guardian’s Top 50 countdowns, as voted for by the whole film team, have announced their No 1s, here are our chief critic’s personal choices – in no particular order

• The 50 best films of 2025 in the UK
• The 50 best movies of 2025 in the US

The time has come once more for me to present my “Braddies”, a strictly personal awards list for films on UK release in the year just gone and, as ever, quite distinct from this paper’s collegiate best-of-year countdown. These are my top 10 lists for best film, director, actor and supporting actor, actress and supporting actress, directorial debut, cinematographer, screenplay and film most likely to be overlooked by the boomer mainstream media (or MSM).

As we look back over the last 12 months, there can be no doubt of the villain of 2025: Tilly Norwood, the female AI star. Launched in October, she is a smilingly bland and really very convincing non-human being who will work uncomplainingly and cheaply without ever storming off to her trailer. Like everyone else, I deplored the horrible simulation and opined that she is part of the AI-isation of movies that has been happening for some time now – without AI.

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Trump’s justice department says more Epstein files will be released on a rolling basis after releasing heavily redacted documents on Friday

• Full report: Long-awaited cache of Epstein files released

Deputy attorney general Todd Blanche has said more files will be released by the justice department on a rolling basis.

He said in a post on X that “additional responsive materials will be produced as our review continues, consistent with the law and with protections for victims”.

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Reportedly critical drone strike is first in Mediterranean since full-scale invasion began as maritime conflict grows

• ‘There are hundreds’: tracking Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ of oil tankers

Ukraine says it has attacked a Russian “shadow fleet” tanker with aerial drones 1,250 miles (2,000km) from its borders, in the first such strike in the Mediterranean Sea since Moscow’s full-scale invasion nearly four years ago.

Friday’s strike off the coast of Libya, which reportedly caused critical damage, took place on the day of Vladimir Putin’s annual end of year press conference in which he said Russia would respond to recent Ukrainian attacks on shadow fleet tankers.

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Blunt remarks indicate UK’s largest union may be on collision course with Wes Streeting and Labour more widely

• Andrea Egan: My warning as the new head of Unison

The new general secretary of Unison has declared the trade union will end its support for the “destructive right wing of the Labour party” and said any leadership election in 2026 should not swap Keir Starmer for Wes Streeting.

Andrea Egan, who won a decisive victory as a leftwing challenger this week, hit out at Streeting in an article for the Guardian over his handling of the resident doctors’ dispute, saying it was “simply unacceptable for a Labour politician to describe striking workers as morally reprehensible”.

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Exclusive: Blair-era minister echoes concerns about young people being priced out of jobs, in intervention likely to dismay Labour MPs

The future of the youth minimum wage will come under review as part of a major inquiry into rising inactivity among Britain’s young people by the former health secretary Alan Milburn.

The social mobility expert said that unless the government tackled some “uncomfortable truths” about the labour market there was a risk of creating a “lost generation” of young people.

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The US Justice Department has begun releasing files on late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. DW has the latest.

UN-backed hunger monitor IPC said Gaza was still facing "emergency" levels of hunger and called for increased aid deliveries despite improvements since an October 10 ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Poland's President Karol Nawrocki made the remark after talks with his Ukrainian counterpart in Warsaw, stressing the unity of the two countries. Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin held his annual press conference in Moscow.

Rome's mayor said tourists will have to pay to get close to Trevi Fountain, one of the Italian capital's most popular monuments, starting in February.

Incantations were not only meant to ward off demons, but also to calm patients. A look into medical history reveals what lies behind the idea of tooth worms and the power of utterances like "hocus pocus."

The French government aimed to suspend Shein after child-like sex dolls and other illicit items were found on the platform. The site instead has been ordered to implement age-verification measures.

Pakistan says it has seen "abrupt variations" of water in the Chenab River that threaten Pakistan's safety and well-being. This comes 10 months after India unilaterally withdrew from a treaty covering shared water use.

Polls say that Ukrainians want peace, but not at any cost. What are the red lines and what would they be willing to compromise on?

Uganda's young population wants a voice in politics, but costly nomination rules, entrenched power, and security hurdles keep leadership out of reach. A DW street debate reveals why change feels elusive.

The EU's late-night compromise ensures Ukraine's budget for the next two years, but shifts the burden onto EU finances while postponing a decisive test of how far Europe is willing to go to use Russian frozen assets.

On Sunday's antisemitic terror attack, Chaya Dadon, 14, was shot in the thigh while shielding children at the event. Now walking with crutches after four days in hospital, Dadon recalls the shooting: 'If I could give up my life saving these children, that's what I was going to do'

Netanyahu's ministers ignore her legal opinions. To them, there is no longer an attorney general, just as there is no Supreme Court president. This is an organized, well-planned, unbridled operation

According to an initial IDF investigation, a 41-year-old woman entered the Jericho area with an Arab acquaintance, realized she was in Palestinian Authority–controlled territory and tried unsuccessfully to flee. She was then taken to an apartment in Jericho where she was assaulted, before escaping and contacting Israeli police

Every minute people talk about criticism of opposition group Brothers and Sisters in Arms is a minute they're not talking about Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel Katz and the other ministers who failed in the run-up to October 7

Boris and Sofia Gurman, Edith Brutman, Boris Tetleroyd and Dan Elkayam were laid to rest on Friday, after the deadly shooting attack at a Hanukkah event that took the lives of 15 people. Tania Treitak was named as the fifteenth victim of the fatal attack

In a hastily organized event, people gathered shoulder to shoulder on Bondi's pristine crescent of sand and then formed an enormous circle in the ocean in an expression of solidarity among Sydney's residents and support for the Jewish community

IDF soldier Gur Kehati was killed by Hezbollah last year while serving in a unit assigned to escort a 71-year-old civilian and amateur archaeologist who had entered a combat zone in southern Lebanon to ancient sites in violation of explicit orders

While Israel staged a triumphant signing, Cairo's press yawned. Al Ahram said the agreement 'won't affect Egypt's political decisions on Gaza,' as officials quietly stress economic necessity, U.S. pressure and a deal designed to survive wars, crises and diplomatic freezes

A network of avatars, including a fake NGO and a phony online magazine, have amassed tens of thousands of followers and deceived a political party and journalists. 'This case shows how credibility can be manufactured even for something that doesn't exist,' one expert says

IDF says suspects were detained and their vehicle seized after an overnight hit-and-run that wounded a Palestinian man, as footage and Palestinian reports described Israelis fleeing an overturned car

China’s H200 curbs suggest a willingness to sacrifice short-term AI performance to escape dependence on the U.S. tech ecosystem.

UAV cooperation with China is rapidly transforming Russia’s capacity for sustained, cost-effective, and scalable warfare – with implications stretching from Europe to the Pacific Ocean.

While the Trump administration’s approach to Taiwan is continuing to coalesce, current signs indicate no dramatic departure from long-standing positions.

A sprawling illegal trade in prenatal testing has triggered alarm – less about illegal sex selection than about who might end up with Chinese DNA.

What is Hindu nationalism, really?

Sharif Osman Bin Hadi, a figure from the July Uprising, was allegedly shot by an Awami League activist, who has reportedly fled to India.

The South Korean defense conglomerate will nearly double its stake in Austal, complicating efforts to protect Japanese technology and IP related to a new frigate.

During the Ministry of Unification and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ policy briefing, Lee Jae-myung warned that the two Korea “are becoming true enemies.”

Beijing is playing a more active mediation role after taking a relatively low diplomatic profile during the conflict's first week.

Despite a string of devastating storms in the second half of the year, foreign tourist arrivals have risen by more than a fifth.

Andrew Farkas, a New York City real estate mogul, had assured investors that his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was for business only.

Ms. Stefanik, a Republican congresswoman and staunch ally of President Trump, abruptly ended her bid to unseat Gov. Kathy Hochul and said she would not seek another House term.

The parents of Claudio Neves Valente had not seen or heard from him since he left Portugal for the United States to enroll at a graduate program at Brown more than two decades ago.

Authorities said a key to identifying a suspect was a Reddit user who provided information about an encounter he had with the gunman, now identified as Claudio Manuel Neves Valente.

Workers hauled up large letters spelling out Mr. Trump’s full name to add to the white marble face of the building on Friday morning.

The shift would mean fewer shots recommended for children. But a Danish health official found the idea baffling, saying the United States was getting “crazier and crazier in public health.”

The companies were the latest to agree to sell drugs to Medicaid and directly to consumers at discounted prices. President Trump said he would soon begin similar negotiations with health insurers.

The immigration agency had barred elected officials from the holding facilities. A federal judge this week said they must be given access.

A lower-court judge had invalidated the package, saying shareholders had not been properly informed about the plan. Friday’s ruling means the pay deal, worth about $139 billion now, can proceed.

The couple are gearing up for the Broadway opening of “Bug,” about a descent into paranoia and psychosis in a squalid motel room.

US President Donald Trump recently threatened to take military action against Nigeria to save Christians from a “genocide.” Trump has three possible motives for making such a threat: his mercantilist quest for rare-earth minerals, his pandering to evangelical Christians, and his racist grievances.

The US government’s new global health strategy calls for shifting 270,000 frontline health-care workers from US-funded NGO programs to recipient government payrolls. But this could cause an exodus from the profession, undermining the disease-surveillance system and putting American lives at risk.

Despite US President Donald Trump’s promises to lower inflation, shrink deficits, and revive manufacturing, his tariff wars have imposed steep costs on key allies, triggered price spikes, and hurt American producers and farmers. Yet there is little evidence that Trump is prepared to change course.

American politics has latched onto the idea that Christmas has somehow been sullied by foreigners, particularly non-Christians. In fact, the holiday has been corrupted by non-human entities: a set of algorithms that we flatteringly call artificial intelligence has desecrated the season’s music and holiday ritual.

As technological advances and geopolitical turmoil transform our economies, this year’s recommended books challenge prevailing assumptions and prompt us to reconsider what we take for granted. Ranging from scholarly analyses to literary fiction, they illuminate the choices that will define the years ahead.

By heaping abuse on Europe and handling Russia and China with kid gloves, the Trump administration's National Security Strategy represents a radical departure from past US policies. But even as America rejects everything it once stood for, Europeans' only choice is to double down on their own principles.

Despite strong opposition in Congress, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has launched an ambitious industrial policy aimed at boosting renewable-energy capacity and expanding domestic defense capabilities. But sky-high interest rates and fiscal constraints risk putting these objectives out of reach.

Under President Donald Trump, the United States is seeking to create a world order based solely on spheres of interest controlled by the US, China, and Russia. And because this will require breaking up the European Union, the decades-long transatlantic alliance has given way to enmity in remarkably short order.

Given the Trump administration’s recent statements and policy pronouncements, European leaders no longer have any excuse for failing to map out their own long-term security strategy. If they can get their act together on ending the Ukraine war, they will gain a much stronger position on other key fronts, too.

In statistical terms, the coming year will offer a multi-modal distribution of possibilities: a plausible path of robust, AI-led growth sits in the middle, flanked by a productivity miracle on one side and a risk-laden, bond-market-led downside on the other. Investors and policymakers must prepare for all of these outcomes.

The European Commission said it will suspend visa liberalization for Georgian diplomatic passport holders as new EU rules enter into force at the end of the month.

Pakistan's Navy on December 17 launched its fourth Hangor-class submarine, the PNS Ghazi, at the Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group’s Shuangliu Base in Wuhan, marking the completion of construction for all four China-built boats in a landmark eight-submarine program.

Russian President Vladimir Putin used a marathon annual appearance to project confidence about Russia's position on the battlefield in its war on Ukraine and gave no signal that Moscow is ready to make substantial concessions in the name of peace.

The EU agrees to provide a 90 billion-euro ($106 billion) interest-free loan to Kyiv to help fund the war-torn country after failing to agree on a proposal to use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine's economic and military needs in the coming years.

Leaders of the European Union are gathering in Brussels for a summit set to decide on a a proposal to use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine's economic and military needs in the coming years as Kyiv and Moscow exchanged overnight drone attacks.

China has rattled Tehran by again backing the United Arab Emirates’s claim over three Persian Gulf islands controlled by Iran.

Sweden has confirmed that one of its citizens is in Iranian custody after Tehran announced a Swedish national is on trial for allegedly spying for Israel.

An investment company founded by Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, has withdrawn from a planned $500 million hotel construction project in Belgrade amid a swirling controversy over the site, which was destroyed during the NATO bombing in 1999.

Russian officials reacted coolly to reports of progress in US-European negotiations to end Moscow's all-out war on Ukraine, as the United States reportedly offered NATO-style security guarantees for Kyiv.

US and Ukrainian officials said they made substantial progress in two days of talks aimed to bring an end to Russia's invasion closer, with Washington reportedly offering Kyiv security guarantees modeled on NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense pledge.