USA - Powerful storms tore through eastern Texas on Thursday evening, decimating transmission towers and plunging over a million residents into darkness. "Severe thunderstorms moving across the Houston metro area have a history of producing damaging winds! This destructive storm will contain wind gusts to 80 MPH! A tornado is possible!" the National Weather Service of Houston wrote on X.

USA - A barge crashed into the Pelican Island Bridge in Galveston, Texas, on Wednesday, causing a section of the bridge, including railroad tracks, to smash down onto the barge, FOX 7 Austin reports. Officials said there were no reports of injuries in the collision that occurred around 10 am. Video from the scene shows debris from the bridge and part of the rail tracks on top of the barge as it rests against the bridge. It wasn't immediately clear what caused the barge to strike the bridge. Pelican Island is north of Galveston and is connected to the city by the bridge, which is the only way people can access the island by land, and officials said the bridge has been shut down to traffic in both directions.

USA - Fast-moving thunderstorms pummeled south-eastern Texas for the second time this month, killing at least four people, blowing out windows in high-rise buildings, downing trees and knocking out power to more than 900,000 homes and businesses in the Houston area. Officials urged residents to keep off roads following Thursday’s storms, as many were impassable and traffic lights were out. The storm system moved through swiftly, but flood watches and warnings remained on Friday for Houston and areas to the east. John Whitmire, the mayor of Houston, said four people died during the severe weather. At least two of the deaths were caused by falling trees and another happened when a crane blew over in strong winds, officials said.

EUROPE - The EU has urged Israel to end its military operation in Rafah in southern Gaza “immediately,” warning that a failure to do so would undermine relations with the bloc. The warning comes as Israeli forces in recent days have pressed deeper into the city in pursuit of what they say are four Hamas battalions. The offensive was launched despite international calls to hold off to avoid mass civilian casualties as more than a million people fleeing the Israel-Hamas conflict have sought refuge in Rafah. “The European Union is calling on Israel to refrain from further exacerbating the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and reopen the crossing point of Rafah,” the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) premier automaker, BYD, is selling a $12,000 Electric Vehicle (EV) that “could be a nightmare” for the United States auto industry without an all-out ban or steeper tariffs on such cars made by Chinese companies. A report from the Detroit News, which interviewed several industry insiders, details the impact that BYD’s all-electric Seagull — which sells for just $12,000 in China and about $21,000 in Latin America — may have on American auto workers without fierce trade protections.

CANADA - No internet, no phone: Remote communities suffer total loss of communications after fires damage critical fibre optic cables. Shortly before sunset on Friday, residents of Canada’s Yukon territory discovered their connection to the outside world had vanished. Internet access had gone. Mobile phones showed no signal. Landlines had failed. Chaos quickly set in. Electronic payments couldn’t be processed. In Whitehorse, the capital, most ATMs couldn’t function and the few that did were quickly drained of cash from panicked residents. City officials warned that the ability to call police, ambulance or fire services was non-existent.

USA - The sun released another powerful stream of energized particles toward Earth early Tuesday, causing blackouts over the US. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) showed disruptions over all of North America at about 12:51pm ET. The solar flare, classified as an X8.8, was the the strongest to come from this cycle which started in 2017 - NOAA said it was a radio blackout level 3 (R3) on a scale from one to five. The stream launched from a sunspot that has been pummeling our planet for the last few days, which NOAA had said is the size of the spot that caused the worst solar storm in history. The sunspot causing chaos in space is AR 3664, which grew to the size of the one that caused the 1859 Carrington event, which set telegraph stations on fire and cut communications worldwide.

ISRAEL - With all the criticism that is being directed at Israel over its conduct of the war in Gaza, one essential fact is constantly overlooked: Hamas, the terrorist group responsible for provoking this conflict in the first place, is on the brink of suffering a catastrophic defeat. When, back in October, Hamas launched the most devastating terrorist attack in Israel’s history, it had around 24 battalions of trained militants. Equipped with hundreds of thousands of weapons, which were predominantly supplied by Iran and included advanced rocket launchers, explosive drones and heavy machine guns, the organisation had developed into a fully fledged terrorist army.

UK - One in five young people aren’t aware of what D-Day is and its significance. New data from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission found that one in five young Brits "don't know" what the significance is of the historic event. That’s according to shocking new data that has been revealed by Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) which has pleaded for better education on the topic. The D-Day landings remain the largest invasion by sea in history. Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy in occupied France on June 6, 1944 and it marked the beginning of the liberation of Europe from the Nazis during World War 2.

CANARY ISLANDS - A volcano that last erupted in 2021 and destroyed more than 3,000 properties has magma underneath it much bigger than previously thought. When the Cumbre Vieja volcano, on the Canary Island of La Palma, erupted more than 7,000 people were forced to leave their homes as the lava closed in. It was the first eruption on the island since 1971 and the longest-ever recorded on the island. Now a study has shown that the amount of magma under the volcano - that is also known as ‘Tajogaite’ - has been underestimated. “Our study is important to understand volcanic activity in its geodynamic context better. The last eruption occurred in the Cumbre Vieja volcanic complex on La Palma Island (2021) and had an unexpected magnitude in terms of lava volume, explosivity, and a significant impact on the economy and society of the island.”