Author: DW

The trial of health care workers who treated late Argentine footballer Diego Maradona shortly before his death could be thrown out after a key judge stepped down Tuesday. Julieta Makintach recused herself after it was revealed that she has been taking part in a documentary about the high-profile case. The case was adjourned last week after a series of police raids which led to Makintach, 47, being accused on Tuesday of violating impartiality rules, of influence peddling and bribery over her role in the “Divine Justice” miniseries.The prosecution and the defense supported Makintach’s removal from the case Image: Gustavo Garello/AP/dpa/picture…

Never before had Germany’s new Chancellor Friedrich Merz expressed himself so clearly on the situation in the war in Gaza. “What the Israeli army is now doing in the Gaza Strip, I frankly no longer understand with what goal,” Merz said at the Re:publica digital conference in Berlin on Monday. Merz added that in his view, a line had been crossed and international humanitarian law had been breached. To cause such suffering to the civilian population “can no longer be justified as a fight against Hamas terrorism,” he said. Germany’s “reason of state” Since the attack on Israel by Islamist…

The European Union and the UK are pushing for a lowering of the oil price cap — a key economic sanction against Russia. The price cap is currently set at $60 (€52.7) per barrel of oil and has been in place since December 2022. Its provisions mean shipping and insurances services from G7 group of advanced economies and EU nations, which dominate global shipping, are not provided for the transit of Russian oil unless the oil is being sold at or below the level of the cap. The EU is currently working on an 18th package of sanctions against Russia, having released its 17th…

A veteran Sherpa guide has scaled Mount Everest for the 31st time, beating his own record.Kami Rita, who first climbed Everest in 1994, reached the summit of the world’s highest mountain on Tuesday. The Nepali guided a group of clients and reached the summit in the early morning, according to Kathmandu-based Seven Summits Treks.Before embarking on the record-breaking climb, the 55-year-old told the Associated Press news agency he would possibly even climb to the top for the 32nd time, after he made two successful climbs last year.He is one of many Sherpa guides whose expertise and skills are vital to…

The first scene of the film “The Tasters” is set in November 1943, in the East Prussian village of Gross-Partsch (present-day Parcz, Poland). A young woman called Rosa Sauer (played by Elisa Schlott) is fleeing her bombed-out apartment in Berlin and moving in with her in-laws, who live in the village. Her husband, a German soldier, is fighting in Ukraine. Just a couple of kilometers away from the village, hiding in a thick forest surrounded by barbed wire, is the “Wolf’s Lair” — the Eastern Front military headquarters of Adolf Hitler. Shortly after her arrival, Rosa lands among a group of women who…

Thirty-five years ago, millions of people around the world suddenly became “healthy.” It was on that day — May 17, 1990 — that the World Health Organization (WHO) removed homosexuality from a list of human diseases. Until then, same-sex love was considered as a kind of mental illness. Those affected were often locked up in sanatoriums or prisons and “treated” with electric shock therapy and other questionable psychotherapies. But homosexual, bisexual and transsexual people are not — and never were — sick, said Klaus M. Beier, the director of the Institute for Sexology and Sexual Medicine at the Berlin Charité hospital. …

Hungary’s opposition leader Peter Magyar was wearing a traditional Hungarian-style white shirt and a white waistcoat embroidered with bright blue flowers when he and several dozen supporters walked across the Hungarian–Romanian border at about 9 a.m. on Saturday morning. As they continued their walk through northwestern Romania, people came out to speak to the Hungarian politician, asking him to pose for selfies or shaking his hand. Drivers honked their horns in greeting. By lunchtime, the group had reached the city of Oradea. Later, while addressing a crowd of several hundred people outside the city’s fortress, Magyar said: “the countdown has…

Spain has asked European countries to suspend arms shipments to Israel as international condemnation grows over its conduct in Gaza. At a meeting of the “Madrid Group” hosted by the Spanish government, the host country’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares called for an immediate suspension of Europe’s cooperation deal with Israel. He also called for an embargo on arms shipments. “We must all agree on a joint arms embargo,” said Albares prior to the conference. “The last thing the Middle East needs right now is weapons.” Among those at the meeting were representatives from Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia,…

Tens of thousands of people have flocked to see the remains of a revered Spanish saint, more than 440 years after her death, prompting debate over whether such displays “encourage morbid curiosity”.Catholic worshippers in their droves have travelled to Alba de Tormes in western Spain to view relics of Saint Teresa of Avila, a 16th-century religious reformer. Faithful lined up to see her, silent and wonderstruck as the remains of the mystic were put on display in a silver casket for the first time in more than 100 years. Image: The remains of Saint Teresa of Avila, who died more…

 “I was afraid I’d misheard,” said the 41-year-old director and screenwriter Mascha Schilinski when her film was named Jury Prize winner at the Cannes International Film Festival. “It was kind of a surreal moment — simply wonderful.”  Ahead of the festival, the filmmaker said that she was “insanely happy” to have her film “Sound of Falling” selected in the main competition lineup at the Cannes Film Festival. ” It’s a filmmaker’s dream!” This year, Germany was represented by Fatih Akin, whose historical film “Amrum” screened out of competition, and Christian Petzold, whose feature “Mirrors No. 3” was selected for the Directors’ Fortnight, an independent…