Flights cancelled as winter storm and cold sweeps the US
A powerful Arctic winter storm is making its way through the US and parts of Canada, bringing with it frigid temperatures and flight delays ahead of the busiest travel days of the year.
More than 100 million people across the US are under winter weather alerts, and snowy conditions are expected to wreak travel chaos this weekend.
Major airports have already cancelled flights in anticipation of the storm.
The cold snap could bring the coldest Christmas in decades, say forecasters.
The National Weather Service (NWS) said bone-chilling temperatures of -50F (-45C) and -70F were possible by the end of this week in some parts of the country.
Far-right anti-Arab party joins proposed Netanyahu coalition in Israel
Agreements with parties to support Likud in power could regularise illegal settlements in occupied territories
Ben Lynfield in Jerusalem
Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed that an extremist anti-Arab party will join his new coalition as he prepares to return as prime minister for what would be the most rightwing government in Israel’s history.
The agreement, which further heightens the powers of Itamar Ben-Gvir, the firebrand head of the Jewish Power party and incoming national security minister, came hours after Netanyahu informed the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, that he had succeeded in forming a government. It is due to be sworn in by 2 January.
Before that, his Likud party signed an agreement with the ultranationalist Religious Zionist party, headed by Bezalel Smotrich, a messianic settler given wide powers over the daily lives of Palestinians in the West Bank, including home demolitions and water access.
Germany asks the EU to curb Twitter under Musk
Twitter should be monitored by the European Commission like other tech firms amid free speech concerns, Berlin said. A top official said the company had been behaving erratically since its takeover by Elon Musk.
A senior German official on Thursday told the European Commission that the social media platform Twitter should be regulated under new EU rules on digital markets, saying the company posed a threat to free speech under its new owner, Elon Musk.
Sven Giegold, the state secretary in charge of competition policy at Germany's Economy Ministry, said that Twitter should be seen as a "gatekeeper" under the bloc's new Digital Markets Act, owing to its influence on public opinion. This classification would allow EU supervision to take place.
In DR Congo, M23 rebel threat looms over city of Goma
For several months, the M23 rebel group has been pursuing an offensive in eastern DR Congo. The rebels are drawing ever closer to the provincial capital Goma, a city they conquered and briefly held during their last offensive 10 years ago. Our reporters spoke to residents of Goma who are still haunted by the fighting of 2012 and fear the rebels' return. Meanwhile, diplomatic pressure is growing on Rwanda, with DR Congo, France and Germany openly accusing Kigali of supporting the group – something it denies.
Japan looking into group's report of secret Chinese police stations
The government in Tokyo is investigating a report that China has set up covert police stations inside Japan, amid similar checks by authorities in European countries, the United States and Canada.
Safeguard Defenders, an Asia-focused rights group based in Spain, has published two reports since September alleging that Chinese authorities have established 102 overseas police stations in 53 countries, including Japan.
China has dismissed the allegations and on Thursday its foreign ministry denied that such police stations existed.
‘What was their sacrifice for?’: Devastation for female Afghan students stripped of education
The 21-year-old student had been studying hard for weeks as she prepared for the final exams of her first year of university. She was almost done, with just two exams left, when she heard the news: the Taliban government was suspending university education for all female students in Afghanistan.
“I did not stop and kept studying for the exam,” she told CNN on Wednesday. “I went to the university in the morning anyway.”
But it was no use. She arrived to find armed Taliban guards at the gates of her campus in Kabul, the Afghan capital, turning away every female student who tried to enter.
“It was a terrible scene,” she said. “Most of the girls, including myself, were crying and asking them to let us go in … If you lose all your rights and you can’t do anything about it, how would you feel?”
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