Author: DW

Skip next section Kremlin: No orders to extend ceasefire04/21/2025April 21, 2025Kremlin: No orders to extend ceasefireThe US State Department said on Sunday that it would welcome the extension of an Easter ceasefire beyond just one day – but the Kremlin said no such orders had been given. On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin had unilaterally declared a 30-hour Easter Sunday truce. Kyiv responded by pledging to mirror Russia’s actions, but both Russian and Ukrainian officials subsequently accused each other of continuing to launch artillery and drone attacks. Asked by Russia’s state TASS news agency whether the supposed ceasefire could be extended,…

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele proposed a prisoner exchange with Venezuela on Sunday. Bukele suggested sending 252 Venezuelans deported from the United States and incarcerated in his country to Venezuela, in exchange for taking “political prisoners” held by Venezuela. Bukele asked Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to hand over 252 “of the political prisoners you are holding,” he posted on X. The Salvadoran leader did not specify whether the prisoners would be jailed again after the swap took place. Venezuela’s chief prosecutor, Tarek William Saab, criticized Bukele’s proposal and accused El Salvador of unlawfully imprisoning the Venezuelans. Bukele addresses Maduro in…

The Israeli military has said its investigation into the killing of aid workers in Gaza has found there were “several professional failures, breaches of orders, and a failure to fully report the incident”.A deputy commander will be dismissed for providing an “inaccurate report” and a commanding officer will be reprimanded following the military probe, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said, adding there was “no attempt to conceal the event”. Fifteen aid workers were shot dead by Israeli troops who opened fire on a convoy of vehicles, including ambulances, on 23 March.They were then buried in a shallow grave where their…

Larissa Zeichhardt employs a robotic dog at her construction company — a four-legged machine equipped with various cameras and sensors to document the daily work done at the Berlin-based business LAT. LAT specializes in laying high-voltage cables along railway tracks, and Zeichhardt says none of her 130 employees is really keen on getting back to the office to write down what’s been done after a full shift on the construction site. But without proper documentation, the next shift wouldn’t know exactly where the cables are located, she told DW. This is where LAT’s new robo-dog comes into play, as the…

Donald Trump is doing well. The US president is in “excellent cognitive and physical health” and is “fully fit to execute the duties of the Commander-in-Chief and Head of State,” according to a report by White House physician and former US Navy Captain Sean Barbabella. The memorandum was released on Sunday and states Trump’s exact height, weight, blood pressure and resting heart rate. Interested parties could read about the medical exams Trump underwent during his routine physical, which medications he’s taking to control his cholesterol and that he had his appendix removed when he was 11. Captain Barbabella also noted…

“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…