Author: DW

A group of six women, including US singer-songwriter Katy Perry, is to blast off into the upper limits of the Earth’s atmosphere on Monday on a rocket from Blue Origin, the space company owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Bezos’s fiancee Lauren Sanchez, a US author and philanthropist, is also set to join the passengers on board the flight, which is scheduled to blast off from western Texas at around 8:30 am (1330 GMT).  According to unofficial reports, the trip comes shortly before Sanchez, 55, and Bezos, 61, are to marry in Venice, Italy, in June. The remaining crew include TV presenter Gayle…

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has launched a “massive testing and research effort” that will determine “what has caused the autism epidemic” by September, its Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Thursday. “By September, we will know what has caused the autism epidemic, and we’ll be able to eliminate those exposures,” Kennedy said in a cabinet meeting. The number of autism diagnoses in the US has been rising for decades. About 1 in 36 children were identified with autism spectrum disorder in 2020. That’s up from 1 in 150 children in 2000, according to data from…

Germany’s likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of committing a war crime after a Russian missile attack killed at least 34 people, including children, in the Ukrainian city of Sumy. The leader of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) told German public broadcaster ARD on Sunday that the deadly Russian missile assault was “a deliberate and calculated war crime.” “There are two waves of attacks, and the second arrived as emergency workers were taking care of the victims,” said Merz. “That is the response, that is what (Russian President Vladimir) Putin does to those who talk with him of a ceasefire,” he added,…

Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa died on Sunday, 14 April, 2025, aged 89. The Nobel laureate died in Peru’s capital Lima surrounded by his family and “at peace,” his son Alvaro Vargas Llosa, a well-known political commentator, said on X. Rumors of the writer’s deteriorating health had spread in recent months, during which he had been living out of the public eye. Vargas Llosa was a leading figure in Latin America’s1960s literary scene. He continued to write novels and essays for decades, with his works being translated into many languages. Vargas Llosa was granted honorary doctorates, prizes and awards worldwide throughout…

Anti-corruption authorities in Bangladesh have issued a warrant for the arrest of British Labour MP Tulip Siddiq. Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) sought the warrant over allegations Ms Siddiq received a 7,200sq ft plot of land in the country’s capital, Dhaka. Ms Siddiq’s lawyers have told Sky News the allegations are “completely false”, adding there was “no basis at all for any charges to be made against her”.They said there was “absolutely no truth” behind the allegations regarding the plot of land.The MP resigned as a Treasury minister earlier this year following an investigation by the prime minister’s ethics adviser into…

“I have great relations with a man named Erdogan,” United States President Donald Trump said last week. “I like him, and he likes me. We have never had a problem.” But his statement about the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wasn’t quite true. Relations between the two leaders have at times been fraught. In October 2019, Trump threatened to “totally destroy and obliterate the Turkish economy” if the country didn’t obey his wishes militarily. In a letter to Erdogan later that month, Trump called on him to make a “good deal” regarding military tensions in the region, warning the Turkish leader again that he…

In Josephine Baker’s memoir, “Fearless and Free” — an English translation (from the French) was published in February — she described the moment she left the United States as an unknown dancer in 1925. “I was just a little showgirl — not even that, a little Black girl,” she wrote. “I was finished with America. I had to start again.” As the ship bound for France went out to sea from New York, she “felt the fear draining away … I was alive, I was free.” Baker had escaped segregated America and would soon light up Europe’s greatest stages with her…

A new at-home spit test is better at predicting men’s prostate cancer risk than current hospital tests, a new study shows. The test assesses 130 genetic variants in people’s DNA to provide a risk score of their developing prostate cancer. The study found the saliva-based test was more accurate at screening for prostate cancer than existing, blood tests, which measure the levels of a protein called prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Scientists say the new genetic test — known as a polygenic risk score (PRS) — could help turn the tide on prostate cancer, which globally claims the lives of 400,000 men…

Bulgaria is now in the final stages of joining the eurozone, the currency union of 20 EU member states. The country’s ruling coalition said adopting the euro is a top priority that, ideally, will become a reality at the beginning of 2026.   Meanwhile, pro-Russian parties and popular pro-Kremlin actors have been actively — and in some cases aggressively — campaigning against the move. At the end of February, supporters and members of the pro-Russian party Vazrazhdane (in English: “Revival”) vandalized the European Commission’s building in Bulgaria’s capital, Sofia.   With the possibility of Bulgaria entering the eurozone getting closer and closer, disinformation…

Electronics such as smartphones and laptops will be excluded from reciprocal tariffs, the Trump administration has said.US Customs and Border Protection added that machines used to make semiconductors and flat-panel monitors would also be exempt. The move could help keep prices down for popular consumer items that are mainly produced in countries like Taiwan and China – among the hardest hit by Donald Trump’s tariffs.Tech firms, including Apple, Samsung and Nvidia, have struggled in the stock market since the levies were first announced.Earlier this week, the head of the trading floor at Currencies 4 You told Newspage that Mr Trump’s…