Author: DW

Tropical Storm Beryl hit the US state of Texas on Monday, killing at least four people and causing major flooding. The storm was downgraded from hurricane status by the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) after it made landfall near the coastal Texas town of Matagorda. It was later downgraded to a tropical depression, and expected to weaken further.  Despite the downgrade, the NHC said that conditions caused by Beryl could create tornadoes in Texas, as well as in the neighboring states of Louisiana and Arkansas. A a tornado in Jasper County, on the border with the state of Louisiana, destroyed about…

Fifty feet underground, in one of the most secure rooms in Israel, is the country’s blood vault.We’re told we can’t say its exact location and they won’t reveal what measures have been taken to protect it, but it is safe against missile, chemical, and cyber attacks, and in the air-conditioned room are boxes and boxes of blood of every type, hundreds of litres ready to be used in mass casualty scenarios.War between Israel and Hezbollah is looming and so plans are being readied for another conflict.Not far away, in part of the same subterranean complex, is a new operations room…

The leader of an evangelical doomsday cult in Kenya went on trial in Mombasa on Monday, charged with “terrorism” after allegedly inciting over 400 of his followers to starve themselves to death in order to “meet Jesus.” What do we know about the legal proceedings?  Self-proclaimed preacher Paul Nthenge Mackenzie appeared in court in the port city on the Indian Ocean along with 94 co-defendants.  The accused are also facing charges of murder, manslaughter, kidnapping and child torture and cruelty in separate cases. They all pleaded not guilty at an initial hearing in January. The remains of more than 440…

Tropical Storm Beryl hit the US state of Texas on Monday, killing at least 3 people and causing major flooding. The storm was downgraded from hurricane status by the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) after it made landfall near the coastal Texas town of Matagorda. It was later downgraded to a tropical depression, and expected to weaken further.  Despite the downgrade, the NHC said that conditions caused by Beryl could create tornadoes in Texas, as well as in the neighboring states of Louisiana and Arkansas. Three dead, power outages expected for days A 53-year-old man and a 74-year-old woman were…

Just days into his premiership, Sir Keir Starmer is heading to the US for a meeting with NATO leaders. We take a look at why he is taking the trip and what might happen when he is there. Why is the prime minister going to Washington?NATO – or the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation – regularly holds meetings where its 32 member countries, 30 from Europe and two in North America, come together to discuss the issues they are facing in the world.This meeting in Washington is slightly different, however, as it is the 75th anniversary of the founding of the…

Within days of Hungary taking over the rotating presidency of the European Union Council for six months, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has hopped between Kyiv, Moscowand Beijing as a self-appointed interlocutor and self-professed peacemaker. In a video he tweeted on Monday, Orban hailed China as the only world power “clearly committed to peace” between Russia and Ukraine, and portrayed himself as a man on a peace mission as he wrapped up his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. “This is important for Hungary and the entire European Union,” he said in the same video he tweeted from a tarmac in Beijing, and added, “we…

In the eastern Chadian town of Adre, refugees continue to pou rin, coming on horseback, with donkeys or — in most instances — on foot, recounting harrowing tales of survival. Located on the border between Chad and Sudan, Adre is at the forefront of an unfolding crisis, as thousands of Sudanese war refugees report how they are grappling with severe hardship after escaping the devastating conflict in their homeland. For 15 months now, Sudan has been ravaged by a brutal war between General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s official army and his adversary, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and his paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), resulting in a mass exodus of people to…

This feels like a significant moment in the war in Ukraine, and the timing is telling, coming on the eve of the NATO summit in Washington. If Vladimir Putin wanted the West’s attention, he most certainly has it now.Follow latest: Aftermath of deadly strike on children’s hospitalAs ever, there are competing narratives about what happened in Kyiv.Ukraine is adamant Russia was deliberately targeting civilians, a children’s hospital no less.But Moscow says it did nothing of the sort. Image: Pic: AP According to Russia’s Ministry of Defence, it successfully targeted “objects of the Ukrainian military-industrial infrastructure”.In a statement posted on Telegram, Russia…

France’s surprising parliamentary election results have left all three of the country’s political camps — the left, the far-right, and the center — feeling victorious. Against expectations, the far-right National Rally (RN) emerged in third place, but still managed to win a significant number of new seats. RN party leader Jordan Bardella, who had been eyeing the office of prime minister, complained that his party’s rise to power had been hindered by an “unnatural” and “dishonorable alliance.” His malcontent was directed at the tactical withdrawal of many candidates in the centrist and leftist camps shortly before the runoff elections — which ensured that right-wing…

Following European parliamentary elections in June, France’s voters witnessed two surprising developments at home. First, in light of the defeat he suffered at the European polls, French President Emmanuel Macron moved to dissolve France’s parliament, the National Assembly, and called snap elections. A day later, France’s political left, traditionally splintered into numerous small parties, announced it was forging a new alliance, the New Popular Front (NFP) in order to prevent the far-right National Rally (RN) from winning at the polls. They appear to have achieved that goal, emerging from Sunday’s runoff election with the most seats in parliament. “The New Popular Front is…