Author: DW

Tens of thousands of Spaniards took to the streets in 40 cities across the country on Saturday to protest housing speculation.  “Housing should be a right, not a commodity for speculation,” protest organizers said. “However, investment funds and landlords continue to accumulate profits while thousands of people are evicted, displaced from their neighborhoods, or forced to live in inhumane conditions.” Media reports said around 150,000 protesters showed up in Madrid, while protest organizers claimed another 100,000 people turned out in Barcelona. The organizers — a collection of tenants’ rights and left-leaning organizations — accuse the government of turning housing “into a business…

Bayern Munich legend Thomas Müller will leave the club after 25 years at the end of this season, the player and club said Saturday. Müller, 35, joined the Bavarian side in 2000 and has played a record 743 games for the German giants, winning 33 trophies.Müller has won the Bundesliga 12 times with Bayern Munich [FILE: May 15, 2022]Image: Thomas Hiermayer/DeFodi Images/picture alliance What did Müller and Bayern say? In a post on Instagram, Müller said “the club made a conscious decision not to negotiate a new contract with me for next season. Even if this was not in line…

A delegation of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) government held fresh talks with M23 rebels in Qatar last week about stopping the fighting in the country’s east, a source close to the discussions told news Reuters and AFP news agencies on Saturday. Both sides have not yet commented on the talks. The first round of talks was held in late March, which a source close to discussions described as “positive.” The meeting was held in private and talks are set to continue in Doha on April 9. “Further talks are now expected in Doha, again with the Qataris mediating,…

TikTok should already be shut down in the United States, according to the law. Last year, the Biden administration demanded that the Chinese video app’s US operations either be sold or face a nationwide ban over national security issues. Lawmakers were concerned how the company deals with US-based user data and possible Chinese government manipulation. The idea of forcing ByteDance, its Chinese owner, to sell to an approved non-Chinese owner received a lot of bipartisan Congressional support and was signed into law by Joe Biden last April. The federal law targets “foreign adversary controlled applications” and specifically mentions TikTok and ByteDance.…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has hit out at the US over its “weak” response to lethal Russian attacks on his hometown on Friday.President Zelenskyy posted a lengthy and emotional statement on X about Russia’s strikes on Kryvyi Rih, which killed 19 people.Meanwhile Ukrainian drones hit an explosives factory in Russia’s Samara region in an overnight strike, a member of Ukraine’s SBU security service told Reuters.In his post, President Zelenskyy accused the United States of being “afraid” to name-check Russia in its comment on the attack.”Unfortunately, the reaction of the American Embassy is unpleasantly surprising: such a strong country, such a…

Having written two celebrated books on fascism in the 20th century, Jewish-American scholar John Stanley draws direct parallels with the second Donald Trump presidency. “Fascism is what the Trump administration is now doing,” he told DW of the president’s second term in office. In late March, Stanley announced his decision to quit Yale University and move to Canada, where he will work at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. He follows Timothy Snyder and Marci Shore,  two Yale history professors who are a married couple, who also left for Toronto after the US presidential election.   “I’m afraid…

A American tourist was arrested for entering a restricted island with an isolated tribe carrying a can of Diet Coke and a coconut, Indian police said on Thursday. The 24-year-old man entered North Sentinel Island, part of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands off India’s southeastern coast. He wanted to meet the Sentinelese people, who are untouched by the modern world. Numbering around 150, the Sentinelese shun all contact with the outside world and have been known to throw spears at anyone who comes close. Their language and culture remain a mystery to outsiders. Visit recorded on GoPro camera The tourist allegedly used an…

The German Football Federation (DFB) has opened an investigation into reports that referee Fabienne Michel was subjected to sexist abuse by fans during a third-division fixture last weekend, according to German public broadcaster Sportschau. Michel, 30, is currently the only female referee in Germany’s top three professional football leagues and took charge of the 3. Liga game between SC Verl and Rot-Weiss Essen last Friday. In the build-up to Verl’s opening goal in the first half, she inadvertently stood in the way of Essen midfielder Klaus Gjasula as he tried to get in position to block the shot. “The referee ran…

Bosnian Serb police on Friday expelled a top German foreign ministry official from Republika Srpska (RS), Bosnia and Herzegovina’s ethnic Serb entity, after she met with opposition groups. German Secretary of State for European Affairs Anna Lührmann said representatives of RS leader, Milorad Dodik, threatened her with “violence” in the entity’s capital city, Banja Luka. In a post on social media, Lührmann wrote that Dodik had “demonstrated again his destructive behaviour.” “His representatives threatened me and my delegation with violence,” she added. Lührmann had to cancel her Friday meetings and left Banja Luka under police escort, according to the Bosnian national…

TikTok should already be shut down in the United States, according to the law. Last year, the Biden administration demanded that the Chinese video app’s US operations either be sold or face a nationwide ban over national security issues. Lawmakers were concerned how the company deals with US-based user data and possible Chinese government manipulation. The idea of forcing ByteDance, its Chinese owner, to sell to an approved non-Chinese owner received a lot of bipartisan Congressional support and was signed into law by Joe Biden last April. The federal law targets “foreign adversary controlled applications” and specifically mentions TikTok and ByteDance.…