Author: DW

BTS star Jin is going to be a torchbearer at the Olympic Games in Paris.The 31-year-old recently completed his mandatory 18 months of military service in South Korea. He’s set to spread a message of “harmony” and “peace” as he tours France. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 0:30 Team GB kit unveiled for Olympics The Olympic flame was lit in Greece and arrived in the host country last month. Now, it is travelling through more than 400 locations nationwide.It is covering a distance of about 7,500 miles (12,000km) over 69 days before arriving at the…

Joe Biden has said he “nearly fell asleep” during last week’s first presidential debate and put his poor performance down to travel exhaustion after going “around the world a couple of times” shortly before it.The US president, 81, said he “wasn’t very smart” for having travelled extensively in the weeks leading up to the event in Atlanta, where he performed so poorly that friends and foes alike have told him to quit the race for the White House. Image: Pic: AP Mr Biden told supporters at a campaign event in Virginia on Tuesday: “I decided to travel around the world…

Japan issued its first new banknotes in two decades on Wednesday. The new cash is fitted with 3-D hologram technology to curb counterfeits. The bills use printed patterns to generate holograms of the portraits facing different directions, depending on the angle of view. Japan’s National Printing Bureau, which is responsible for printing yen, claimed it is the world’s first for paper money. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida praised the “historic” state-of-the-art features of the new 10,000 yen, 5,000 yen and 1,000 yen notes. “I hope the people will like the new bills, and they will help energize the Japanese economy,” he told…

Taiwan has called on Beijing to release a fishing boat seized near the Kinmen islands off the coast of China. China considers the self-governing, democratic island of Taiwan to be part of its territory. China’s coast guard said in a statement that the boat was suspected of illegal fishing and was seized. The Kinmen islands are located 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the Chinese mainland but are administered by Taipei.The Kinmen islands are near the port of Xiamen in China’s southeastern Fujian provinceImage: Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images What do we know about the seized fishing boat? Taiwan’s coast guard said in…

Tear gas has been used to break up anti-government protests in Kenya following violent clashes over now abandoned tax rises.Footage showed riot police on the streets of the capital, Nairobi, with clouds of tear gas billowing along a main road. Kenyan television stations have also been showing peaceful protests, with people marching with palm fronds in Mombasa and Kisumu.The protesters have rejected appeals from President William Ruto for talks, even after he abandoned proposed tax rises.Dozens have been killed in clashes since 18 June – most of them shot by officers last week when protesters attempted to storm parliament to…

It can’t have been an easy meeting for Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Tuesday, but both leaders mustered a smile as they shook hands for the cameras. “I asked the Ukrainian president to think about whether we could reverse the order, to speed up peace talks by making a cease-fire first,” Orban, a strident nationalist, said in a brief press statement alongside Zelenskyy in Kyiv during his first visit to the Ukrainian capital since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. “A cease-fire connected to a deadline would give a chance to speed up…

Australian police are searching for a 12-year-old child who was reportedly attacked by a crocodile while swimming.The alert was raised on Tuesday night in Palumpa, a remote Northern Territory town about seven hours drive from Darwin.Police said the child was last seen swimming in a creek and that “initial reports stated the child had been attacked by a crocodile”.A search involving officers and locals has been launched.”Local officers are on scene and our thoughts are with the family and the community,” said senior sergeant Erica Gibson.”Officers are currently searching a large section of the creek via boat and we thank…

A woman who pleaded for the release of her daughter held hostage by Hamas has died from brain cancer less than a month after she was rescued.Noa Argamani was kidnapped from the Nova music festival in October and video of her being taken away on a motorbike made headlines around the world.Her mother, Liora, 61, said she wanted to see her only child again before she died. Image: The image of Noa being kidnapped became one of the most recognisable of 7 October Image: Liora Argamani with family about six weeks after her daughter was kidnapped. Pic: Reuters She finally…

US President Joe Biden has blamed his poor performance at last week’s debate with Donald Trump on exhaustion from international travel. The 81-year-old president faced calls to step aside after he delivered rambling answers in a raspy voice and appeared to lose his train of thought at times. “The fact is that you know, I wasn’t very smart. I decided to travel around the world a couple times, going through around 100 time zones … before … the debate. Didn’t listen to my staff and came back and nearly fell asleep on stage,” Biden said at a fundraiser on Tuesday. “That’s no excuse…

Hurricane Beryl has battered islands in the eastern Caribbean, killing at least six people and is now barrelling towards Jamaica.Although it’s weakened to a category four storm, a hurricane warning is still in place for Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, Cayman Brac and Haiti’s southern coast. Beryl is the earliest storm on record to hit the Caribbean with such strength.But why did it form so early in the year and why has it been so intense?Climate change leads to warmer oceans Warmer oceans are likely to be behind the unusually early formation and rapid intensification of the storm.The water in…