Berliner Tageblatt - News from Berlin, Europe and the whole world

Heavy rains lashed Sri Lanka on Friday, hampering a major clean-up operation after severe flooding and landslides last week killed nearly 500 people, officials said.

Santosh Devi is proud to have brought light -- and hope -- to her hamlet in western India, taking up solar engineering through a programme for women like her whose husbands suffer chronic disease from mining work.

Cherished Christmas tradition for some, profoundly insulting for others, the Dutch character "Black Pete", a servant who helps Santa Claus distribute presents, has divided opinion in The Netherlands for decades.

The draw for the 2026 World Cup takes place in Washington on Friday, with Donald Trump set to play a prominent part in a star-studded ceremony that will mark out the path to glory for contenders at the first-ever 48-team finals.

New Zealand had the West Indies on the ropes at 107-4 chasing an unlikely 531 at tea on day four of the first Test in Christchurch on Friday, with only Shai Hope providing solid resistance.

Tewolde has fought multiple times for Eritrea, one of the most closed societies on Earth, and is now praying another war is not about to break out with neighbouring Ethiopia.

Carrying her sore-pocked daughter across her decaying field, Helene Mvubu says she is one of thousands to have fallen victim to the toxic waste defiling the Democratic Republic of Congo's mining capital.

Canadian Summer McIntosh clocked the second-fastest 400m freestyle swim in history on Thursday, touching in 3min 55.37sec to win at the US Open long course meeting in Austin, Texas.

Asian markets struggled into the weekend on Friday following a bland lead from Wall Street as a mixed bag of US data did little to move the needle on expectations the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next week.

The scent of marzipan wafts through the air as confectioners from a century-old company in southern France prepare calissons, one of Provence's famed sweets made of candied melon and crushed almonds.

In the sun-scorched lands bordering Zimbabwe's largest wildlife sanctuary, Takesure Moyo pedals through his village each morning on a mission to help his community coexist with the elephants and predators that roam nearby.

Olympic swimming great Ian Thorpe on Friday joined the crew of supermaxi LawConnect in its bid to win a third consecutive Sydney-Hobart yacht race, with the Australian bracing for a mental and physical challenge.

As relentless harassment from Israeli settlers drove his brothers from their Bedouin community in the central occupied West Bank, Ahmed Kaabneh remained determined to stay on the land his family had lived on for generations.

New Zealand police have recovered a diamond-encrusted green Faberge egg after keeping a six-day watch over the thief accused of swallowing it.

Liverpool travel to Leeds this weekend with mounting questions over whether Arne Slot can stop the rot, while in-form Aston Villa take aim at Premier League leaders Arsenal.

An ancient dam, pandas and ping-pong: French leader Emmanuel Macron concludes his fourth state visit to China on Friday, striking a more relaxed note after some tough discussions with his counterpart Xi Jinping the previous day on Ukraine and trade.

Donald Trump still seems unsure whether to call it soccer or football. But the US president's aim is truer when using the world's favorite sport to score diplomatic goals.

Lionel Messi will aim to crown his MLS revolution by leading Inter Miami to their first domestic championship on Saturday in a blockbuster season finale against the surging Vancouver Whitecaps.

Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates told AFP on Thursday it is "tragic" that child deaths will increase worldwide for the first time this century because wealthy Western countries have slashed international aid.

When Bahara was four months pregnant, she went to a Kabul hospital to beg for an abortion. "We're not allowed," a doctor told her. "If someone finds out, we will all end up in prison."

Frustrated Australian spinner Nathan Lyon said he was "absolutely filthy" at being axed for the second Ashes Test against England.

Endangered penguins living off South Africa's coast have likely starved en masse due to food shortages, a study said Friday, with some populations dropping by 95 percent in just eight years.

The West Indies made a safe start to their colossal 531-run target in the first Test against an injury-hit New Zealand on Friday as they reached 20-0 at lunch on day four in Christchurch.

The United States on Thursday signed a $2.5 billion health aid deal with Kenya, the first such bilateral agreement after President Donald Trump tore down the historic US aid agency and sidelined NGOs.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier made a rallying cry for Europe's future global competitiveness at a City of London banquet Thursday, as he wrapped up the second day of his UK state visit.

Patrick Mahomes and the faltering Kansas City Chiefs face a must-win clash against the resurgent Houston Texans Sunday on a crunch weekend that features some of the NFL's fiercest rivalries.

Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim criticised his side's lack of killer instinct after blowing the lead against struggling West Ham in a 1-1 draw on Thursday.

Scottie Scheffler, chasing a third straight Hero World Challenge title, had seven birdies before a closing bogey to post a six-under-par 66 on Thursday to join a five-way tie for the first-round lead at Albany Golf Club in the Bahamas.

Manchester United's issues defending a lead cost them a place in the Premier League's top five after lowly West Ham hit back to salvage a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford on Thursday.

Former Nigeria captain William Troost-Ekong announced his retirement from international football on Thursday, just 19 days before the Super Eagles launch their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations campaign.

It may not make up for missing out on the Nobel Prize, but President Donald Trump still looked thrilled to arrive at the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.

Wall Street stocks finished mixed at the end of a choppy session Thursday as markets digested varying labor market data and looked ahead to next week's Federal Reserve decision.