Author: DW

Rwanda is on alert after new cases of sickness caused by Marburg virus – one of the deadliest pathogens known – were reported in late September. While outbreaks of the viral disease it causes are rare and usually confined to sub-Saharan Africa, four concerning incidences have occurred since 2021. The most recent Rwandan outbreak has seen at least 36 cases of Marburg virus disease (MRV), with more than 400 people currently being monitored for symptoms. Like many diseases, MRV’s name derives from when the disease was first reported in western countries, tracing back to lab outbreaks in Germany and the…

France’s newly appointed Prime Minister Michel Barnier is facing the mammoth task of getting the 2025 budget through a parliament where he doesn’t have a majority. And the pressure is mounting, as this year’s budget deficit will now exceed 6% of the country’s economic output — as opposed to the initially predicted 4.4%. The topic was at the center of Barnier’s general policy speech in the National Assembly on October 1. “A sword of Damocles is hanging over us. It could push us to the brink of the abyss,” he told lawmakers. President Emmanuel Macron appointed Barnier after months of hesitation following early July’s…

Parts of Antarctica are turning green more quickly than previously thought, leaving scientists “shocked” at the impact of climate change in the region.The area covered by vegetation in the Antarctic Peninsula is 10 times larger than four decades ago, a UK research team has said. It means the 800-mile (1,300km) area in the northernmost part of the continent – could become vulnerable to invasive species as a result. Image: Green Island in the Antarctic Peninsula. Pic: University of Exeter/PA Using satellite data, researchers from the universities of Exeter and Hertfordshire, and the British Antarctic Survey studied how much the area…

Every October, a handful of scientists get woken up by a phone call to find out they’ve won a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Physics or Chemistry. Startled and bleary-eyed, they throw a shirt on over their pajamas, join a video call to Stockholm and try to explain a life-time’s worth of research to the world’s media in a few short minutes. Journalists then desperately try to understand what “quantum dots,” or “entangled photons” are, file their reports, then breathe a sigh of relief that it’s all over until next year. By the following week everyone’s forgotten — what was…

Jackline Juma made history in September when she became the first female coach to lead a professional men’s team in the top tier of a major African league. The fact that she got her first win with FC Talanta, a 1-0 victory over Sofapaka in the Kenyan Premier League, was almost secondary. At the final whistle, her opposite number Robert Matano, one of the country’s most experienced and well-known coaches, seemed to take the loss badly. “He has won everything and thought that he would get maximum points against me,” Juma told DW. “After the match, he did not say anything or shake hands. On social media,…

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to use nuclear weapons against South Korea “without hesitation” if his country’s sovereignty were threatened, state media KCNA reported on Friday. During a visit to a special forces training base on Wednesday, Kim said any attempt by South Korea to encroach on the North’s sovereignty would bring forth “without hesitation all the offensive forces it possesses, including nuclear weapons.” “If such a situation comes, the permanent existence of Seoul and the Republic of Korea would be impossible,” Kim said, using South Korea’s official name. Harsh words between two Koreas Kim’s comments came in response…

“Yes! We have no bananas” isn’t just the title of a funny old song. In the US, it could soon become a reality as around 45,000 port workers along the eastern and Gulf coasts go on strike. Important produce could be stranded and spoil at ports, or on ships at sea. Before the strike began, New York Governor Kathy Hochul asked consumers not to stockpile food. Nonperishable goods like vehicles from Germany will be able to last longer in the salty air, but they bring their own challenges. No matter what type of goods, strikes at ports could be yet another shock…

Dozens of people are believed to have died in a boat accident in the Democratic Republic of Congo.Thursday’s incident was the latest boat accident in the central African country, where overcrowding is often blamed. Witnesses have told The Associated Press a least 50 people died as the boat capsized on Lake Kivu, in the east of the country, with another 10 taken to hospital.According to Colonel Molatelo Motau of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) mission, about 23 bodies have been recovered and 40 people rescued.Reuters news agency reports a local migration authority said about 45 males and 35 females…

The Unity Monument in Berlin is to be a walkable shell. The idea is that people can tread on it, and the monument  tips from one side to the other if enough people gather in one direction — which is why the project became popularly known as the “Einheitswippe,” or “unity seesaw.” The monument was planned as a commemorative symbol of the peaceful protests of East Germany’s citizens that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and later to German reunification. The German Bundestag voted to have such as monument erected 17 years ago. But 35 years after Germany’s reunification, the construction of the walkable shell of the “Citizens on…

It was sometime during the COVID-19 pandemic when Wegovy and Ozempic hit mainstream awareness. Since then, they have taken the weight loss industry by storm. It’s worth noting from the start that while both are based on the same drug or active ingredient — semaglutide — as products, Wegovy and Ozempic were originally intended for different uses. Ozempic was first approved in 2017 by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an injectable drug to help “lower blood sugar levels in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus, in addition to diet and exercise.”  Wegovy was approved the same year to help adults and children aged 12 years and older, who…