Author: DW

The infected blood scandal has been described as the worst treatment disaster in the history of the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). In total, almost 30,000 people in the UK contracted HIV or hepatitis after receiving blood transfusions contaminated with the viruses back in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. More than 3,000 people died, and more continue to die every week. A governmental inquiry published in May 2024 found evidence of large-scale cover-ups by health workers and ministers, which ignored, downplayed, or denied the risks and damages caused by contaminated blood donations. “It’s not just the impact of the infection itself, the fallout…

Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann announced on Monday that Bayern Munich’s veteran defender, Joshua Kimmich, would be the national team’s new captain – starting with Saturday’s Nations League match against Hungary in Düsseldorf. Germany are also to face the Netherlands in Amsterdam on Tuesday, in the second match of the new Nations League campaign. In addition to Kimmich, Nagelsmann named Antonio Rüdiger and Kai Havertz as alternate captains. “Josh was one of the three captains at the European Championship, so it’s logical that if the others aren’t there, it’s logical that he’s the (leading) candidate,” the Germany coach told a press…

09/03/2024September 3, 2024UN nuclear watchdog chief set to visit Zaporizhzhia plant and meet with Zelenskyy in KyivUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet with the director of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Tuesday. Rafael Mariano Grossi posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, that he was on his way to the plant to continue assistance to avoid any nuclear accident. Grossi will then travel to the Ukrainian capital city Kyiv to meet with Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian leader said. Grossi is visiting the nuclear plant after Ukraine and Russia last month blamed each other after a fire broke out at the plant. There was no reported harm to…

Venezuelan authorities issued an arrest warrant for opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez on Monday night. The warrant comes after officials declared President Nicolas Maduro to be the winner of Venezuela’s election in July, despite opposition parties claiming to be in possession of tally documents that show Gonzalez with more votes. International observers have also disputed the official tally. The prosecutor who submitted the arrest warrant to court accused Gonzales of terrorism-related crimes, including charges of conspiracy, falsifying documents and usurpation of powers. The attorney general’s office said the court had accepted the arrest warrant for “serious crimes.” Opposition rallies behind Gonzalez…

The AfD emerged as the strongest force in Thuringia and nearly tied with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Saxony, substantiating fears of a political shift to the right in parts of former Communist East Germany. Following the results, AfD leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla demanded a role in the regional governments, claiming a mandate for a center-right coalition including their party and the conservative CDU. The CDU has rejected any collaboration with the AfD though, maintaining a so-called political firewall against the far-right which rules out any ties to that party. Before the elections, both labor unions and…

The trial has begun of a man accused of drugging his wife and letting at least 50 men rape her while she was sedated.Dominique P. is alleged to have recruited them on a chat room called “without her knowing” in a case that has shocked France.The 71-year-old was first arrested in September 2020 for filming up women’s skirts in a supermarket.A computer file labelled “abuses” seized from his home contained more than 20,000 photos and videos of the attacks, according to Le Monde.The crimes allegedly began in 2011 and the victim – who’s from the Provence region – has no…

Have you ever considered leaving everything behind and starting anew on a remote island? In the early 1930s a motley group of Europeans — made up mostly of Germans — did just that. Their destination? Floreana: a then-uninhabited island in the Galapagos off the coast of Ecuador. Two couples and a tempestuous threesome traveled there in succession seeking their personal paradise, but they ended up making global headlines for their spats, (s)exploits and, in some cases, strange deaths or disappearances. Dore Strauch and Nietzsche-follower Friedrich Ritter rejected the capitalist Western civilization for a simpler life on the Galapagos islandsImage: CAP/NFS/IMAGO Searching for paradise…

Organizers of the 2024 Paralympics in Paris postponed world triathlon events for 24 hours on Sunday due to a fall in the water quality of the River Seine, where the swimming part of the endurance test was due to be held. France’s capital spent €1.4 billion ($1.5 billion) upgrading its sewage and water treatment facilities to allow athletes at both the Paris Olympics and Paralympics to compete in the river. Swimming in the Seine had been banned for around a century, due to levels of pollution in the water.Several water events had to be postponed during the Olympic Games this summerImage: DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP What did…

Pope Francis begins the foreign trip of his papacy on Monday, a 12-day journey to four countries in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Francis, 87, will first head to Indonesia. Despite being the most populous Muslim-majority country in the world, Indonesia is also home to 8.6 million Catholics. He will then travel to Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore. Of all the stops, only East Timor is a most of the population Catholic. Health issues slowing pope down This is Francis’ first major trip abroad this year. Health issues have prevented the pontiff, who now often uses a wheelchair, from…

The Israeli military said on Sunday it had discovered the dead bodies of six hostages who had been in Gaza since the October 7 Hamas attacks, sparking wide condemnation and fury. While several world leaders have condemned the hostages’ killing, the news created a wave of anger against the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu inside Israel. The families of the hostages and several Israeli politicians have called for a deal to bring the remaining hostages home, with plans for protests and strikes to pressure the Cabinet. What do we know about the recovered hostages? Israel identified the bodies of six hostages…