Berliner Tageszeitung - News from Berlin, Brandenburg and the world

Americans were bracing Thursday for frigid temperatures that forecasters said could produce life-threatening conditions, with Donald Trump's inauguration expected to be the coldest in 40 years.

Israel's cabinet was set to vote Friday on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, an official said, with mediator the United States "confident" the accord would take effect as planned.

The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on Sudan's army chief days after blacklisting his main rival, as outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken voiced regret at his failure to end the brutal war.

The fates of a baby and his four-year-old brother, taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023, have been on everyone's mind in Israel since the announcement of a Gaza ceasefire.

US President-elect Donald Trump named controversial movie legends and long-standing supporters Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson and Jon Voight as special envoys to Hollywood on Thursday in a bid to make the entertainment industry "stronger than ever before."

For seven years, US director David Lynch drank the same chocolate milkshake each day at the same time from the same place in Los Angeles because he believed it helped his creativity.

Tens of thousands of people ordered to flee their homes as wildfires tore through Los Angeles were told Thursday they would not be allowed back for at least a week, with fears over electrocution, landslides and exposure to toxic materials.

The rivalry between the world's two richest men is going cosmic.

Georgia winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia posted a video on social media on Thursday to announce his departure from Serie A side Napoli.

David Lynch -- the groundbreaking director behind "Mulholland Drive" and television's "Twin Peaks," who gained a cult following for his unsettling portraits of American life -- has died. He was 78 years old.

American tennis star Danielle Collins sarcastically thanked Australian Open hecklers for "paying my bills" after she defeated home hope Destanee Aiava in a tense, three-set clash on Thursday.

The United States said Thursday it was "confident" that a fragile Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal would take effect on time, even as Israel carried out new air strikes ahead of a cabinet vote on the accord.

The EU's influential former tech enforcer Thierry Breton will join Bank of America's advisory council, he told AFP on Thursday, a move denounced by one lawmaker as flouting a lobbying ban.

President Joe Biden's outgoing administration on Thursday announced $211 million in new funding to develop mRNA vaccines against emerging biothreats and said it was accelerating bird flu testing, as fears loom of another pandemic.

The world needs a new Bob Dylan for an age that has become too "cynical", actor Timothee Chalamet said on Thursday while presenting the new biographical film on the US folk troubadour.

Brazil's top court on Thursday refused to return the passport of right-wing former president Jair Bolsonaro so that he could attend the inauguration of US president Donald Trump.

Rescuers retrieving illegal miners from a disused South African gold shaft said on Thursday a final sweep appeared to show nobody was left underground, after 78 bodies and more than 200 miners were lifted out this week.

Human Rights Watch on Thursday called for punishment for the "heinous crimes" committed "on and since October 7, 2023," in Israel and Gaza, after the announcement of a fragile ceasefire deal in the conflict.

French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou on Thursday survived his first vote of no confidence in parliament after the motion, brought by the leftist opposition, failed to gain traction on the far right.

South Korean director Bong Joon-ho will present his new film "Mickey 17" out of competition in Berlin next month, the city's film festival announced on Thursday.

They increasingly own everything from access to space to how we get news on Earth and now outgoing President Joe Biden warns America's new breed of Donald Trump-allied oligarchs could gobble up US democracy itself.

Forest fires fueled by a heat wave scorched a picturesque corner of Argentina's Patagonia region Thursday, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of homes.

Donald Trump's nominee to lead the US Environmental Protection Agency acknowledged Thursday that man-made climate change is real in his Senate confirmation hearing.

NATO members face an "impossible task" trying to protect their vast network of critical undersea cables and pipelines from sabotage, the head of the alliance's centre for securing the infrastructure said Thursday.

The UK government on Thursday announced a "rapid" national review of the extent of sexual exploitation of children by grooming gangs and several new local inquiries into cases of abuse.

Surf star Kelly Slater paid tribute on Thursday to Alan Green, the man who launched his career, after the co-founder of the iconic Quiksilver brand died aged 77.

Strong bank earnings failed to sustain a rally on Wall Street, but stocks in Europe and Asia pushed higher.

Teenage qualifier Learner Tien stunned last year's Australian Open runner-up Daniil Medvedev in an epic match ending at nearly 3:00 am Friday after defending champion Jannik Sinner roared back to take his place in the third round.

US President-elect Donald Trump has given his backing to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, vowing they will be the "greatest Games" despite concerns over the impact of the wildfire on preparations.

Donald Trump's nominee for Treasury chief spoke Thursday of ushering in "a new economic golden age," as he faced grilling by lawmakers about the incoming US administration's economic agenda.

A teen killed a fellow student and a teacher in a knife attack at a secondary school in northeastern Slovakia on Thursday and wounded a third woman.

The US Federal Reserve could cut rates three or four times this year if inflation data cooperates, with a first cut possible before July, a senior bank official said Thursday.