Author: DW

The United Kingdom is set to announce new sanctions against Russia on Monday, marking three years since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said Sunday. “This is also the time to turn the screws on [Vladimir] Putin’s Russia,” Lammy said in a statement.  “Tomorrow, I plan to announce the largest package of sanctions against Russia since the early days of the war — eroding their military machine and reducing revenues fuelling the fires of destruction in Ukraine,” he added. The UK has already imposed sanctions on 1,900 people and organisations with connections to Putin’s government since Moscow invaded…

The political rise of economist Javier Milei to the presidency was largely driven by Argentinians’ hope that he could revive the debt-laden country’s economic fortunes. But now the libertarian’s key credentials as an economic expert have suffered a massive blow as lawyers have filed a fraud lawsuit against him in an Argentine court. What’s come to be known as the “cryptogate” scandal is gripping Argentina, with the rapid rise and collapse of the $LIBRA cryptocurrency at the center of controversy. Investors — most of them reportedly from Argentina and the United States — had poured the equivalent of $100 million (€95.3 million) into short-term investments in…

Just how many languages are there in the world? The figures vary: According to the German Economic Institute, there are currently 7,186 native languages worldwide. The world cultural organization UNESCO puts that figure at just over 6,000 languages. What is undisputed is that the diversity of native languages is under threat. Researchers say that every two weeks, another mother tongue falls silent. To counteract this trend, International Mother Language Day was launched more than 25 years ago. What is a mother tongue? “Russian, of course,” answered this author’s 16-year-old son when asked what his mother tongue was. Born in Cologne,…

“What is lupus?” “How long does the flu last?” “How do you treat piles?” These are some of the most common health questions people are asking ChatGPT. The popularity of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT for giving personalized health advice is growing. One in ten Australians now use the platform to ask medical questions, according to a survey of about 2,000 Australians conducted in mid-2024. The study, published on Tuesday, found that almost two out ofthree people (61%) who use ChatGPT for medical advice ask questions that usually require clinical advice. “AI tools are popular because they can give…

A man was convicted of attempted murder on Friday for the stabbing of novelist Salman Rushdie in New York nearly three years ago. Rushdie, an atheist born into a Muslim Kashmiri family in India, has faced death threats since the 1988 publication of his novel “The Satanic Verses.” The book was denounced as blasphemous by Iran’s then-supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. What do we know? Hadi Matar, 27 of New Jersey, was found guilty by a court in Mayville, New York, after a little less than two hours of deliberations. On August 12, 2022, Matar ran onto the stage at the Chautauqua Institution, an arts foundation and stabbed…

Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich are to face Bayer Leverkusen in the round of 16 of this year’s Champions League. Germany’s other team in Friday’s draw, struggling Borussia Dortmund , who are also last year’s Champions League finalists, are to face French Ligue 1 outfit Lille. Bayern Munich, who are looking for their first Champions League title since 2020, are eight points clear of Leverkusen in the Bundesliga and the two teams played out a scoreless draw last weekend. Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen broke Bayern’s lock on the Bundesliga title last season, winning the club’s first league title.Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich have never previously met in a…

US President Donald Trump called Friday for his Ukrainian and Russian counterparts Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin to “get together” to end the Ukraine conflict. “I think that President Putin and President Zelenskyy are going to have to get together. Because you know what? We want to stop killing millions of people,” Trump told reporters at the White House. Trump has been pushing for a deal to end the war soon and has held separate calls with both leaders. His top officials recently met their Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia in talks that did not include Ukraine. Trump’s new call follows comments by…

There is no doubt that further feverish behind-the-scenes mediation to try and ensure the ceasefire remains on track – and that Saturday’s exchange goes ahead.Hamas says as much, that it has “received the occupation’s allegations and claims from the mediators” and will examine them “with complete seriousness”. Israel is accusing Hamas of the utmost cynicism, by returning a body Israel claims Hamas knew was not that of Shiri Bibas. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 1:11 Israel will ‘never forget and never forgive’ There is no reason in any of these past 16 months of horror…

In the three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, nothing has changed as much economically for Moscow as its trade relations with the rest of the world. In 2021, almost 50% of Russia’s exports went to European countries, including Belarus and Ukraine, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC). The bulk of those exports were energy products, primarily crude oil and gas. Yet, by the end of 2023, less than two years after the invasion began on February 24, 2022, the picture was completely transformed. The OEC’s recently published figures for 2023 show China and India out in…

In an Instagram post last Sunday, Oscar-winning actress Julianne Moore wrote she was “deeply saddened” by the Trump administration’s decision to put her 2007 children’s book “Freckleface Strawberry” under review and removing it from schools serving the children of US military personnel and civilian defense employees. It tells the tale of a red-headed youngster who hates her freckles but eventually learns to love them — as well as the differences of others. According to The Guardian, the Department of Defense circulated a memo stating that all library books “potentially related to gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology topics” were being looked into,…