Author: DW

The Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) report into the October 7 Hamas terror attacks in southern Israel made for difficult reading for most Israelis. The conclusions in the report, released last week, were not entirely new, but they added another layer after an emotional few weeks in which 30 hostages were returned alive but eight more came home in coffins. And while the first phase of the ceasefire and hostage release deal has come to an end, the next phase remains unclear. Fifty-nine kidnapped soldiers and civilian hostages remain in Gaza, 24 of whom are believed to be alive. After the publication…

Israel stopped the entry of essential aid into the Gaza Strip on Sunday, following a decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, drawing a strong rebuke from the United Nations, regional powers Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and humanitarian organizations. The move is in response to what Netanyahu’s office called “Hamas’ refusal” to accept an outline for the resumption of truce talks presented by US President Donald Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff. The first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, which included a surge in humanitarian assistance, expired on Saturday. The two sides disagree about the next steps in the…

Earlier this month, Brazil’s state-controlled oil giant Petrobras couldn’t have found a bigger event to unveil a major new customer. At the Brazil Energy Forum in Rio de Janeiro, the company’s director of logistics, commercialization and markets, Claudio Romeo Schlosser, said an agreement had been reached with India’s Bharat Petroleum Corporation for the delivery of 6 million barrels of oil annually between 2025 and 2026. “We are expanding our international customer base. Until now, it has been heavily concentrated on China,” Schlosser said in Rio, before traveling to India 10 days later where the deal was finalized and signed on February…

Boxer Gervonta Davis has held onto his WBA lightweight title despite voluntarily dropping a knee to the canvas and getting hair product wiped from his face.His opponent, Lamont Roach, said the knee position should have counted as a “knockdown”. Had it been, Davis would have lost a point and Roach would have won their bout in New York, leading to Davis’s first career defeat.But the fight was scored as a majority draw, meaning that Davis – nicknamed Tank – held onto his belt.One judge gave the contest to Davis 115-113, the other two scoring it 114-114. Davis willingly took a…

US President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order making English the official language of the United States, a White House official said on Friday, without specifying when it will be signed. Designating English as the national language “promotes unity, establishes efficiency in government operations, and creates a pathway for civic engagement,” according to a White House document.  While acknowledging that over 350 languages are spoken in the United States, the White House document says that English has always been “the language of our nation, with historic documents like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution written in English.”…

A US private spaceship has achieved its first ever uncrewed lunar landing on Sunday, marking the second commercial moon landing. Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost touched down near an ancient volcanic vent on Mare Crisium, a large basin in the northeast corner of the moon’s Earth-facing side. “We’re on the moon,” Mission Control reported, adding the lander was “stable.” The mission is part of a NASA partnership with industry to cut costs and support the Artemis program, which strives to return astronauts to the moon. “We’re going to be putting America first, we’re making America proud, we’re doing this for the…

World Boxing, the body hoping to be in charge of the sport at the next Summer Olympics, has vowed to make boxer safety “absolutely paramount,” telling DW it will announce a policy on transgender and difference of sexual development (DSD) competitors in the “coming weeks.” On Wednesday, the organization, which was formed in April 2023, received provisional recognition as an international sports federation from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the most significant step so far in a process that would safeguard boxing’s place at the Los Angeles Games in 2028. The IOC has run the boxing competition at the past…

Most Ukrainians have been closely following President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Washington, where Ukraine and the US were to sign an agreement on minerals. From the American side, it was supposed to pave the way for negotiations on peace in Ukraine. But a row between Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance turned everything on its head. Truth, weapons and security guarantees Volodymyr Viatrovych, a deputy from the Ukrainian political party European Solidarity, believes that Zelenskyy defended the truth about Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine with a clear message: Who started the war, who is to blame…

The Israeli government agreed to adopt a proposal by US President Donald Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, to extend  the temporary ceasefire in Gaza through the month of Ramadan and the Jewish Passover festival.  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office made the announcement early on Sunday, just hours after the first phase of the ceasefire expired.  The Muslim holy month of Ramadan started this weekend and continues through March 30. The Jewish festival of Passover begins on the evening of April 12 and ends on the evening of April 20. Half of hostages to be released in ceasefire’s extended first phase According to Witkoff’s proposal, half of the remaining…

Every day, millions of cheap products bought online are mailed directly to consumers in the United States, European Union and elsewhere, from China. But unlike most imports, they are allowed to circumvent customs procedures. In just three short years, Temu has grown into a major rival to Amazon and other Western online shopping platforms, offering up to ten million products from clothes to toys, electronics to beauty treatments, at ultra-low prices.  In the first nine months of 2024, Temu achieved revenues of $40.3 billion (€38.5 billion), a nearly 80% increase on the same period in the previous year. A YouGov poll published in March last year found that nearly…