Author: DW

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Panama on Saturday, marking his first international trip as the country’s top diplomat amid President Donald Trump’s bid to reclaim control over the Panama Canal. Trump has suggested that China’s growing influence in the region, particularly through its investment in Panama’s ports, poses a national security risk. He has refused to rule out military action to take back the canal, which the US handed over to Panama in 1999. “They’ve already offered to do many things,” Trump said on Friday, “but we think it’s appropriate that we take it back,” adding that…

Ukraine accused Russia on Saturday of bombing a boarding school sheltering civilians in the Russian town of Sudzha, which is currently occupied by Ukraine. At the same time, Russian officials said Kyiv was behind the air strike, which they described as a “crime.” “Russian aviation struck a boarding school in the town of Sudzha, Kursk region, with a guided aerial bomb,” the Ukrainian army’s general staff said on Telegram. “The strike was carried out on purpose.” Ukrainian officials said at least four people were dead. Kyiv deployed its forces across the Russian border into the Kursk region last August, seizing dozens…

If you haven’t visited the Louvre, then you haven’t really seen Paris — this thought may well be shared by the nearly 9 million visitors who descend upon the museum every year to try and catch a glimpse of the Mona Lisa through the crowds. The museum itself is 230 years old, and many of its structures are reaching their limits. The walls are moist, putting the artwork at risk, and the entrance under the iconic glass pyramid is far too small for the ever-growing number of visitors.  That is set to change by 2031. That should be the year…

A Holocaust survivor has said he will return his federal order of merit award.Albrecht Weinberg’s decision comes after a parliamentary majority was secured in Germany with cooperation from the far-right for the first time since the Second World War. The 99-year-old survived the Nazi death camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau and Bergen-Belsen. He was first condemned to forced labour in 1939 – and was freed on 15 April 1945.He saw his parents led to a gas chamber and 39 other members of his family were also killed during the Holocaust.Mr Weinberg told AFP on Thursday: “I want to give it [the order…

President Donald Trump has repeated a threat to BRICS member states that he would slap a 100% tariff on their imports to the United States if they continued with efforts to create a reserve currency to rival the US dollar. The renewed warning was published on Trump’s Truth Social platform on Thursday and followed a similar statement he made right after winning the November 2024 election. Trump now said there was “no chance” that BRICS would replace the US dollar in international trade, adding that “any country that tries should say hello to tariffs, and goodbye to America!”  Why does BRICS want to…

A new type of painkiller aimed at treating pain from an injury or surgery has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The drug suzetrigine, also known by its brand name Journavx, only works on nerves outside the brain, where it blocks the signals that cause pain.  The drug has a completely different mechanism of action to other painkillers like opiates, paracetamol or aspirin. It’s the first new class of pain medicine to be approved in the US in more than 20 years.  The drug’s manufacturer, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, said suzetrigine provides effective relief for moderate to severe…

Since Syria’s civil war broke out in 2011, around 500,000 people have died and, as the United Nations reported in 2024, 14 million have been displaced, with almost half of them heading overseas. Among them is Syria’s first female football coach, Maha Janoud, who is currently at the academy of Breidablik, one of Iceland’s leading clubs. Like many of her compatriots, she was happy to see the regime of longtime strongman Bashar Assad fall in December — even if the country’s future remains uncertain. “It is deeply painful — my family haven’t been together for 12 years,” Janoud told DW. “I hope…

Russia does not officially provide figures regarding the number of soldiers killed or wounded in the war against Ukraine. This information is classified and so far, the authorities have only made occasional statements regarding casualties. In October 2023, Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Protection Alexei Vovchenko, said that 54% of severely wounded Russian soldiers had had at least one limb amputated, and of these one fifth had required upper limb amputations. At the end of 2024, Deputy Defense Minister Anna Tsivilyova, who is described by uncensored Russian media outlets as being a relative of Russian President Vladimir Putin, put the…

The M23 rebel group was advancing towards another city in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) a UN expert said on Friday, just days after seizing the key eastern city of Goma. Bukavu is the capital of South Kivu province and home to hundreds of thousands of people. Rwandan-backed M23 rebels entered Goma, the capital of North Kivu and the largest city in eastern Congo, on Monday. Large parts of the city are now under rebel control in what’s considered the worst escalation of a long-running conflict in more than a decade.M23 rebels in DR Congo advance on Bukavu after seizing…

As Dry January comes to an end, those who took up the challenge of abstaining from alcohol for the first month of the year may be looking forward to their first drink in February. Others might be rethinking their relationship with alcohol altogether.  Similarly, a growing number of people in Germany are taking a more conscious approach to drinking. Consuming beer and wine has long been an integral part of culture in the land of Oktoberfest.  Not only is drinking in German public spaces like parks tolerated, teenagers as young as 14 are legally allowed to consume alcohol when accompanied by their parents. Germans drink…