Author: DW

“When I received the letter telling me I might be sent back to Italy, I was overcome by a deep sense of hopelessness, fear and uncertainty,” said Nazira Khairzad. “I was very sad and shocked. Since then, my mum has lived in constant fear and stress. She hardly sleeps at night because she is afraid the police will suddenly come and take her daughter away.” After the Taliban seized power again in 2021, the Khairzad family fled Afghanistan separately. Nazira, now 21 , initially ended up in Italy. Her sister Nazima, two years older, eventually made it to Germany with the…

Ever since Donald Trump took office in January, migrants entering the United States have increasingly feared the threat of deportation. Now this threat has taken on a new dimension: The possibility of ending up in a high-security prison in El Salvador. Since March, Trump’s government has deported a total of 271 Salvadoran and Venezuelan migrants from the US to the CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador. Washington claims that the deportees belong to criminal organizations, but has provided no evidence. Instead, relatives and human rights organizations warn that innocent people with no criminal record are among those who have been deported.…

The death toll in attacks in Benue state in central Nigeria has risen to 56.  Benue state Governor Hyacinth Alia cited the figure Saturday while visiting two villages that were attacked by gunmen on Thursday night 17 April, 2025, into Friday. Police had earlier said 17 people were killed. The governor said there was the possibility of the figure increasing because the search was still ongoing.  Flare of attacks in Nigeria’s Middle Belt This is the latest flare-up of intercommunal violence to hit central Nigeria, known as the Middle Belt, in recent weeks. In a separate incident earlier in the…

US vice president JD Vance has met with Pope Francis.The “quick and private” meeting took place at the Pope’s residence, Casa Santa Marta, in Vatican City, sources told Sky News. The meeting came amid tensions between the Vatican and the Trump administration over the US president’s crackdown on migrants and cuts to international aid.No further details have been released on the meeting between the vice president and the Pope, who has been recovering following weeks in hospital with double pneumonia.Mr Vance, who is in Rome with his family, also met with the Vatican’s number two, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and the…

The US is by far the largest market worldwide for German products, accounting for about 10.4% of the country’s total exports in 2024, Germany’s Federal Statistical Office  said on Monday. The office, which is known by its abbreviated name Destatis, said Germany exported €161.3 billion ($183.66 billion) worth of goods to the US last year, the highest level in 22 years. The US, in particular, is a key foreign market for German pharmaceutical goods, with 23.8% of German pharma exports, worth around €27 billion, going there in 2024. The US is also a major market for German machinery, including medical devices…

Every year as Easter approaches, social media fills up with outraged claims that companies, politicians, institutions or individuals are actively avoiding the word “Easter” and therefore downplaying the traditional religious roots of the Christian holiday, supposedly to avoid offending non-Christians. This year is no different in Germany, with a debate breaking out over the traditional chocolate Easter bunny (Osterhase) which, according to some social media users, has been renamed “sitting bunny” (Sitzhase) by leading supermarkets. Have Easter bunnies been renamed in Germany? Claim: “The sitting bunny is forcing out the Easter bunny,” wrote Johann Martel, a member of parliament for…

The recent earthquake in Myanmar has drawn fresh attention to global preparedness for natural disasters, including on the African continent. African experts are concerned about seismic threats and limited local capacity to respond. For Gladys Karegi Kianji, a seismologist at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, who has studied African earthquakes for 15 years, this is far from a new worry. “I don’t hire an apartment in a tall building beyond the first floor in Nairobi,” Kianji said.  Is Africa at Risk of Earthquakes? Earthquakes have struck the continent before. Thousands were killed in Morocco’s 2023 disaster, while Ethiopia’s 2005 quake resulted in the…

Bayern Munich’s dreams of playing in another Champions League final in Munich are over. There will be no chance to avenge the painful defeat of the 2012 finale dahoam (final at home) on May 31, and no fairy-tale farewell for departing legend Thomas Müller. The team looks set to win back the Bundesliga title by the end of this season, but the inquisition as to why Bayern are not seriously challenging for the Champions League title has already begun. South Korean defender Kim Min-jae is in the spotlight, and not in the way he would have wanted when he signed from Italian side…

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated on Friday that his country may be losing patience with the pace of negotiations for a ceasefire in Ukraine . “We are now reaching a point where we need to decide whether this is even possible or not,” Marco Rubio told reporters as he was returning to the US from Paris. “We need to figure out here now, within a matter of days, whether this is doable in the short term, because if it’s not, then I think we’re just going to move on. “If it is, we’re in. If it’s not, then… we have other…

At least 1,024 international students at US colleges, universities and university systems have had their visas revoked or their legal status terminated since late March, according to a review of university statements and correspondence with school officials by The Associated Press. The administration of US President Donald Trump said it should be allowed to deport noncitizens over involvement in pro-Palestinian activism. But in the vast majority of visa revocations, colleges have said there is no indication affected students had a role in protests. OPT program hopes unravel The United States issues the bulk of its foreign skilled worker visas (H-1B) to…