Author: DW

An operation trying to salvage a stricken oil tanker, burning in the Red Sea for almost a month now after attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, has begun, according to a European Union naval mission on Saturday. The EU’s Operation Aspides released images showing its vessels escorting three ships making their way toward the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion. The operation aims to prevent an environmental disaster in the region. Second salvage attempt A Greek defense ministry source told AFP news agency that Aigaion Pelagos, a Greek-flagged tugboat, “has begun to gradually tow the tanker northwards, escorted by military vessels.”  Satellite images analyzed by the Associated…

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello told a press conference in Caracas on Saturday that Venezuela had arrested three American citizens, two Spanish nationals and a person from the Czech Republic, alleging a multinational plot to overthrow the government.  The arrests come amid severe tensions between Venezuela, Spain and the US, following July 28’s disputed presidential election that Caracas says was won by incumbent Nicolas Maduro. What did the minister allege?  Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said that the six were arrested on suspicion of planning to “destablize” Venezuela through “violent actions.”  He posed in front of a large number of firearms during…

A star ballerina who appeared in Beyonce’s Lemonade video and on Dancing With The Stars has died at the age of 29.Michaela DePrince’s death was announced on her Instagram page and confirmed by her family on Facebook, where they paid tribute to “an unforgettable inspiration to everyone who knew her or heard her story”. They said her death was “sudden” but no further details have been released.DePrince was born in war-torn Sierra Leone as Mabinty Bangura. She spent some of her early childhood in an orphanage, before being adopted by a couple from New Jersey. Image: Pic: AP/Denis Farrell 2012…

In a much-anticipated report on the 27-nation EU’s economic competitiveness, originally due in June, Mario Draghi has called for joint borrowing and much more collaboration among member states to compete with Washington and Beijing. The former prime minister of Italy and ex-president of the European Central Bank (ECB) also urged EU leaders to invest €800 billion ($883 billion) annually to boost growth. Released in Brussels on Monday (September 9), the report has demanded “radical change” amid growing concern over a massive productivity gap with the United States, where since 2000, incomes have grown twice as much as in the EU. “This…

When the Canadian mining company Lucara Diamond Corp announced its find of an epic 2,492-carat stone in Botswana in late August, many geologists around the world rubbed their eyes in disbelief. Were she around today, Oscar-winning actress Elizabeth Taylor would presumably have had a quotable reaction to that stone. Renowned for her adage of “big girls need big diamonds,” her love of jewelry was legendary — and her private collection was one of the most expensive in the world, including the whopping 69-carat Taylor-Burton diamond. That’s more than 60 times the average engagement ring diamond in the US today. So why are people so…

“Vb weather conditions” are seldom reported in English-language media, were first described in 1891 by German meteorologist Wilhelm Jacob van Bebber, who cataloged typical paths of low-pressure systems and labeled them with Roman numerals. Although the terms Va, Vc and Vd have since fallen out of popular usage, Vb (pronounced five-B weather conditions, V = Roman 5) is still used by meteorologists to describe a rare pressure system that can bring heavy rainfall, and often catastrophic damage, to Europe. Unusual trajectory In Europe, weather is often determined by low pressure systems that move across the continent from west to east.…

Rami Hamadeh has done what many of the world’s best goalkeepers have failed to do: keep Tottenham Hotspur star Son Heung-min off the scoresheet. But a few days before helping his Palestinian team secure a crucial and historic 0-0 draw in South Korea last Thursday, Hamadeh had been training on his own in Jerusalem while looking for a new club against the bloody backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war. “It is difficult,” he told DW. “The war is the worst thing in the world. Everyone, everywhere, wants to live in peace. I don’t want to see my people die like this: children, women, men. It’s not easy…

In the halls of the Federal Chancellory in Berlin, it would appear the time for re-doubled diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine has come. In an interview with the German public broadcaster ZDF on Sunday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said: “I believe that now is the moment when we also need to discuss how we can get out of this situation of war faster than the current impression is.” While he did not offer a concrete plan on how to achieve this, he did endorse Russia attending the next Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland.German Chancellor Scholz in Washington for talks…

South Sudan has postponed its long-awaited elections until December 2026, the government announced on Friday, revealing the fragility of the peace process in the world’s newest country. President Salva Kiir’s office posted on Facebook that the elections previously scheduled for December 2024 would be postponed until December 22nd, 2026. This also further extends the transitional period agreed under a 2018 peace deal by two years, as South Sudan struggles to usher in a vote following the 2013-18 civil war. Cabinet Affairs Minister Martin Elia Lomuro said on Friday that the delay was agreed because “all the tasks which are critical for the conduct…

China will begin raising the retirement age for the first time in more than 70 years as the 1.4bn-strong country faces a shrinking and ageing population.China’s legislature, known as the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, has signed off a new policy which will see retirement age rise for both men and women as of January 2025, state broadcaster CCTV announced. Over 15 years, the retirement age for men will be raised from 60 to 63 and for women, who can currently retire at 50 if they are in blue-collar employment or 55 if they have white-collar jobs, will…