Angela Merkel was the longest-serving chancellor of a post-war, united Germany, earning a reputation for calm and pragmatic leadership. On Thursday, Die Zeit published passages from her highly anticipated book Freedom. Memories 1954-2021. Here are some of the key takeaways: Growing up in East Germany Born in Hamburg in what was then West Germany in 1954, her father's work took the family to Brandenburg in the former East Germany when she was a baby. In her book, she describes childhood under the East German (GDR) dictatorship as "a life constantly on the edge. No matter how carefree a day began, everything could change in a matter of seconds" if someone around her stepped out of line. "The state knew no mercy," she writes, adding that realizing what lines could not be crossed was an important skill, even for a child. "My pragmatic approach helped me" in that regard, she says. The ex-chancellor writes that despite the GDR's attempts to totally control its citizens, she maintained her carefree attitude and would come to disdain the "pettiness, narrow-mindedness, tasteless and...humorlessness" of the East German regime. On becoming Germany's first female chancellor In Germany's 2005 federal election, Merkel was selected to represent the center-right CDU/CSU bloc over, among others, current CDU leader Friedrich Merz. She says she found "a difference between theory and practice" in the acceptance of a female candidate for head of government. "There were doubts about this" she writes, even "deep within the ranks of women" in her party. Merkel then explains the challenge of going up against then-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and his reputation for being "energetic and smart." "Any man who challenged the chancellor...would have felt the same way. But being a woman, I felt, was definitely not an advantage." On Putin and Trump In an excerpt on meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin at the 2007 Munich Security Conference, Merkel says Putin presented himself as "someone who was always on his guard, not to be trifled with, and always ready to dish it out." She confirms a famous story that Putin brought his large Labrador to a private meeting with her. It is well-known that an earlier incident left Merkel with a phobia of dogs, but Putin has denied doing it on purpose to intimidate her. She also says he regularly arrived late to make people wait. "You could find all this childish, reprehensible, you could shake your head at it," but that didn't make Russia any less important on the world stage, the ex-chancellor says. She goes on to describe him as singularly preoccupied with the United States as if longing for the days of the Cold War. Merkel also sheds some light on her infamous first meeting with US President Donald Trump in 2017. An incident went viral on social media in which Merkel appeared to ask Trump to shake hands for a photo, and he ignored her. She writes that he appeared to not understand her request, and then pelted her with questions about growing up under a dictatorship. He was fascinated by "my East German background and my relationship with Putin. He was clearly very fascinated by the Russian president," Merkel says, adding: "In the years that followed, I had the impression that has was captivated by politicians with autocratic and dictatorial tendencies." She asserts that Trump spent the rest of their first meeting criticizing her. "He claimed that I had ruined Germany by taking in so many refugees in 2015 and 2016, accused us of spending too little on defense and criticized us for unfair trade practices," according to Merkel. Merkel suggests that Trump saw everything through the eyes of a real estate mogul, and did not appear to understand the intertwined global economy, complaining about German cars on New York City streets. "We were talking on two different levels, Trump on the emotional level, me on the factual level. When he did pay attention to my arguments, it was mostly just to turn them into new accusations," she says. "Resolving the issues raised did not appear to be his goal." On Ukraine's NATO bid In the book, Merkel admits to being hesitant to accelerate Kyiv's bid to join NATO. She describes a 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest, where Ukraine and Georgia's applications to join the alliance were on the agenda. Merkel notes her concerns over Kyiv's relationship with Russia, although then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko had sought closer ties to Europe. She also claims that at the time, only a minority of Ukrainians supported NATO membership, stressing the need for new NATO states to add to the overall security for all members. Merkel has faced criticism from Ukrainians for being too hands-off in her approach to their country. She writes, however, that allowing Ukraine's membership bid to stand was a clear signal to Putin as to where the West stood.

Gautam Adani, the billionaire chairman of Indian conglomerate Adani Group, has been indicted in New York, charged with paying hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes as part of a massive fraud scheme. Adani, who commands a personal fortune of $69.8 billion (€65.3 billion) according to Forbes magazine, is one of the world's richest people. He is alleged to have agreed to bribe Indian officials to the tune of about $265 million in return for lucrative solar energy contracts. What does the indictment say? "This indictment alleges schemes to pay … bribes to Indian government officials, to lie to investors and banks to raise billions of dollars, and to obstruct justice," said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lisa Miller. The contracts in question were expected to yield profits of over €2 billion over the next 20 years for Adani and seven fellow defendants, including his nephew Sagar Adani. "Adani and seven other business executives allegedly bribed the Indian government to finance lucrative contracts designed to benefit their businesses ... while still other defendants allegedly attempted to conceal the bribery conspiracy by obstructing the government's investigation," said the FBI's James Dennehy. According to the indictment, some conspirators would use the codenames "Numero uno" and "the big man" to refer to Adani in private. Nephew Sagar allegedly logged specific details of bribes on his phone. Neither Adani Group nor the defendants' lawyers nor the Indian Embassy in Washington have yet commented on the indictment. None of the defendants in the case, including Adani, are currently in custody but a judge has issued arrest warrants which prosecutors plan to pass on to foreign law enforcement. Who is Gautam Adani? Adani was born in Ahmedabad, in India's western Gujarat state, to a middle-class family. At the age of 16 he dropped out of school and moved to financial capital Mumbai to seek work in the city's lucrative gem trade. He launched the family business which bears his name in 1988 when he branched out into the export trade. Seven years later, he landed a major contract to build and operate a commercial shipping port in Gujarat. A self-described introvert, Adani rarely speaks to the media and keeps a low public profile. He is known, however, to be a keen supporter of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also recently took to X, formerly Twitter, to congratulate US President-elect Donald Trump on his election win. With Trump promising to make it easier for energy companies to drill and build new pipelines, Adani last week announced plans to invest $10 billion into energy security and infrastructure projects in the United States, potentially creating up to 15,000 jobs.

Key Highlights:  Ukraine reportedly fired a barrage of British-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles into Russia on Wednesday, UK and US media reported It would make it the latest new Western weapon Kyiv has been permitted to use on Russian targets, following the US approval of its ATACMS missiles just a day earlier Meanwhile, the US Embassy in Kyiv said it has closed for a day and warned of a "potential significant air attack" A US official has confirmed that Washington will send antipersonnel mines to Ukraine Ukraine has reportedly fired British-made Storm Shadow longer-range missiles into Russian territory, according to a Bloomberg report. The Bloomberg report cited an unnamed Western official. British news outlets including The Guardian and the Financial Times later published similar reports based off of footage circulating on social media. A spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said his office would not comment on reports or operational matters. The UK supplied Ukraine with Storm Shadow cruise missiles last year and said it could use them within Ukrainian territory, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had been pressing for months for permission to strike targets inside Russia. The Storm Shadow missiles have a range in excess of 250 kilometers (155 miles) and would give Ukraine the ability to hit targets deeper inside Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin previously warned that the use of US and British-made missiles on Russian territory would be tantamount to NATO entering a direct conflict with Russia. Zelenskyy: US landmines 'very important to stop Russian assaults' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reacted to the US decision to send landmines to Kyiv, saying they were "very important" in the fight against Russian attacks. A US official has confirmed that Washington will be providing Kyiv with antipersonnel mines to shore up Ukrainian defenses, adding that the mines are of the "non-persistent" variety, meaning they become inert after a period of time when their batteries run out. Zelenskyy thanked the US for the landmines, saying it would "really strengthen our troops on the front." US Embassy in Kyiv to reopen US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller has confirmed that the US Embassy in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, will reopen on Thursday. Miller did not disclose what kind of threat had forced the embassy to shut down on Wednesday. "We take the safety and security of our personnel ... extremely seriously," he said. The US mission closure comes a day after Moscow vowed to respond to Ukraine's firing of longer-range US-supplied missiles at Russia. For the first time in the nearly three-year war, the US gave permission for Kyiv to fire its missiles into Russian territory.

A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at a security post in Pakistan, killing 12 soldiers and wounding several others, officials said Wednesday. Militants rammed the vehicle into the perimeter wall of the outpost in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, damaging the adjoining infrastructure during Tuesday's attack, the military said in a statement. "A sanitization operation is being conducted in the area, and the perpetrators of this heinous act will be brought to justice," the statement said, adding that six militants had also been killed in the incident. The military did not say who was behind the attack, but Hafiz Gul Bahadur, an Islamist militant group, claimed responsibility. 'TTP have expanded their operations' Pakistan has seen a steady rise in violence since November 2022, when the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), ended a monthslong cease-fire with the government in Islamabad. Abdullah Khan, a senior defense analyst and managing director of the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, said over 900 security forces have been killed in militant attacks in Pakistan since the renewal of hostilities. "TTP and other groups have expanded their operations, showing they are getting more recruits, money and weapons," Khan said while emphasizing the need for political stability in Pakistan to defeat the insurgents. Pakistan has experienced a political crisis since 2022, when then-Prime Minister Imran Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote. Khan was arrested in May 2023 and imprisoned. His supporters have been protesting on a regular basis, demanding his release.

The Maharashtra Assembly election is underway on Wednesday with voters pouring in to cast their ballots across the 288 constituencies in India's richest state. Polls opened at 7 a.m. IST (0130 UTC/GMT) and are set to end at 6 p.m. IST, according to election officials. BJP seek win in Maharashtra and Jharkhand vote Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose party currently governs the state in a coalition, urged voters to "participate enthusiastically in this process and add beauty to this festival of democracy."  "On this occasion, I appeal to all the youth and women voters to come forward and vote in large numbers," he said in a social media post. Exit polls are likely to trickle in once voting concludes, according to rules set by the Election Commission of India. Residents of Jharkhand, an eastern state of India, are also voting on Wednesday in the second and final phase of assembly elections there. This election is primarily a fight between the local ruling party's coalition versus a BJP-led alliance.  Votes in both states will be counted on Saturday. Financial capital Mumbai up for grabs Opinion polls, which have a patchy record in India, showed that Modi's far-right Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) might struggle to retain power in the state due to dissatisfied farmers.  Maharashtra — home to India's financial capital Mumbai — is also a farm-driven state that grows sugarcane, cotton, onions and soybeans. While the ruling government has announced several pro-farmer policies in recent months, farmers are yet to see the benefits. An opinion poll by Lok Poll showed that a coalition of parties, including the Indian National Congress, India's largest opposition party, could wrest back the state winning up to 162 of the 288 seats. Other surveys have also shown a loss for the BJP alliance.  Modi's BJP faces anger from farmers Failing to retain Maharashtra would come as a significant blow to Modi's BJP, which lost its majority in the national elections held between April and June. This too was partly due to anger across India's farming community from issues including low minimum guarantee prices of crops, export curbs and general farmer distress.  "We faced a setback during the parliamentary elections because of the restrictions on onion exports," senior BJP leader and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told an election rally on Sunday. "We have now lifted those curbs and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government will not impose export bans abruptly," he added. However, farmers say the steps have come too late as they have already harvested and sold their onion crops to traders. The BJP alliance has also been giving Rs 1,500 (just under $18 or €17) to women from low-income families every month under a scheme since August. However, the opposition has promised to double that figure. 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Brazil on Tuesday. The two leaders discussed the ties between their two major economies, as well as issues such as the war in Ukraine, with their countries supporting opposing sides in the conflict. Olaf Scholz and Xi Jinping discuss China-Germany relations "It is important that we ensure that a level playing field accompanies the economic activities of companies on all sides, that is central to the conditions for future work," the German chancellor told Xi. The Chinese president reportedly urged the development of "strategic" and "long-term" ties between Berlin and Beijing, according to the Chinese state news agency Xinhua. "China and Germany are both major countries with significant influence," Xi told Scholz. German automakers have recently warned that tit-for-tat tariffs on electric vehicles from China and the EU could hit the German economy hard. "It is hoped that Europe and China will resolve the issue of electric vehicles through dialogue and negotiation as soon as possible, and the German side is willing to make active efforts in this regard," Xi said, according to Xinhua. Scholz brings up Ukraine in talk with Xi Despite the economic ties between Germany and China, the two countries stand in stark opposition regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine. While Germany has, like its NATO allies, sought to boost Kyiv economically and militarily to help it fend off Russian attacks, China has given its tacit support to the invasion, boosting its ties with Russia. Scholz brought the issue up with the Chinese president, saying it is important to discuss issues such as "Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine or dangerous situations as we are seeing elsewhere in the world, such as the developments in the Middle East." "Nobody should have to fear their neighbor — a central principle of the world peace that we are intensely committed to," Scholz told Xi. He latter added that the presence of North Korean troops in the Ukraine war would mean an "escalation." The German chancellor also told public broadcaster ZDF that he had "made it clear" to Xi that Germany "would not accept China delivering weapons to Russia." 

In the presence of newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump, SpaceX conducted a test launch of its next-generation Starship rocket. The launch took place on Tuesday, November 19, at the Boca Chica launchpad in Brownsville, Texas. According to Al Jazeera, this marks the sixth test flight of SpaceX’s Starship rocket. Trump observed the launch from the control room, and SpaceX declared the test a success. The Starship is designed to travel to space and return to Earth, with the goal of landing back on its launchpad. While SpaceX had achieved this feat during the fifth test flight, technical challenges led to a shift in strategy. The AFP reports that SpaceX abandoned plans to catch the booster, opting instead to let it fall into the Gulf of Mexico. After spending about an hour in space, the Starship is expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and land in the Indian Ocean. Trump's presence at the launch highlighted the close relationship between him and Elon Musk. Musk openly supported Trump in the recent U.S. election, contributing over $130 million to his campaign.