Author: DW

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…

Australian workers will now have the legal “right to disconnect” from work, as per a rule which came into effect on Monday. This means they can now ignore their bosses’ emails, phone calls, and texts outside of work hours. It entitles employees to ignore out-of-hours attempts by employers to contact them unless this refusal is deemed to become “unreasonable.”  “We want to make sure that just as people don’t get paid 24 hours a day, they don’t have to work for 24 hours a day. It’s a mental health issue, frankly, as well, for people to be able to disconnect…

Chidimma Adetshina has been crowned Miss Universe Nigeria after a contentious attempt to compete in Miss South Africa last month.Adetshina, 23, was born to a Nigerian father but has South African citizenship. However, when she ran for Miss South Africa, she found herself the subject of a national row when some South Africans, including a government minister, opposed her participation because of her roots.South Africa’s minister of sports, arts and culture Gayton McKenzie posted on X saying: “We truly cannot have Nigerians compete in our Miss SA competition. I wanna get all facts before I comment but it gives funny…

Millions of Oasis fans All Around The World were up early on Saturday morning as tickets went on sale for the British band’s highly-anticipated reunion tour next year. But patience was required as ticket websites left them waiting online for hours as Part of The Queue. Tickets went on sale at 9 a.m. UK time, four days after brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher announced that they were putting an end to a 15-year family feud to reunite the seminal band which shot to stardom at the head of the “Britpop” movement in the 1990s.More than 1 million tickets went on…

Low testing rates in theDemocratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) are concerning the region’s health experts as it battles an Mpox outbreak. “In the DRC, only less than 40% of cases are tested, laboratory-confirmed,” said Dimie Ogoina, an infectious diseae specialist at Niger Delta University, Nigeria. DR Congo is “working blindly” as it tries to combat the outbreak, Ogoina said in a press statement. There are now more than 3,500 confirmed Mpox cases across 11 West and Central African nations, with DRC accounting for 90% of cases. Refugee camps in DR Congo are facing particularly severe Mpox outbreaks, with children most…