Author: DW

When Patagonia was hit by a wave of unusual, extreme weather, it measured temperatures as low as -15°C. It is winter in the Southern Hemisphere, but those temperatures were beyond normal. Ducks froze to death in ponds. Sheep were stuck in piles of snow. And military personnel transported food to affected areas for people and livestock. “This is an unusual phenomenon,” said Raúl Cordero, a climatologist at the University of Santiago de Chile. But, said Cordero, this was not the first of the season and “may not be the last.” What’s the origin of the extreme cold in Patagonia? The…

A gunman has shot dead five people in a nursing home in the Croatian town of Daruvar, some 130 kilometers (80 miles) east of the capital, Zagreb, Croatian media and officials reported on Monday. The Index news portal said five people died immediately, while others were wounded and still receiving medical assistance. The suspect fled the scene, but the police soon caught him in a cafe near the facility, the report said. Police officials said in a statement that they were carrying out an investigation, but gave no details. Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that “We are appalled…

A gunman has shot dead five people in a nursing home in the Croatian town of Daruvar, some 130 kilometers (80 miles) east of the capital, Zagreb, Croatian media reported on Monday. The Index news portal said five people died immediately, while others were wounded and still receiving medical assistance. The suspect fled the scene, but the police soon caught him in a cafe near the facility, the report said. Police officials said in a statement that they were carrying out an investigation, but gave no details. Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that “We are appalled with the…

Israel’s military has confirmed the deaths of two men who were taken as hostages by Hamas on 7 October.”Today, the IDF informed the families of the two hostages Alex Dancyg and Yagev Buchshtab that they are no longer alive,” the Israeli Defence Forces said in a statement on X. “Alex and Yagev were brutally abducted into Gaza and their bodies are still being held by Hamas.”The confirmation of their deaths comes after thorough intelligence review and expert committee approval of the Ministry of Health in cooperation with the Ministry of Religious Services and the Israel Police.”The circumstances of their death…

“It’s a really nice feeling that we’re the first sibling pair to go to the Olympic Games and the Paralympics,” a delighted Malte Braunschweig tells DW. “It’s really cool to be able to say that you’ve left at least a small footprint in the history of the sport,” brother Ole says. The two swimmers from Germany are standing next to the pool in Berlin. They have just finished a training session and are resting in the recovery pool. At the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo 2021, the two Berliners became the first pair of brothers to represent Germany at the two events.…

In the end, it was his age that prevented Joe Biden from running for president again. The US president has announced he will not seek reelection in November. Biden will see out the rest of his term in office, but the Democrats will look for a new presidential candidate at their convention in August. Calls from his allies in the Democratic Party and the US media for the president to withdraw his candidacy had been getting louder since his disastrous performance in a TV debate against Donald Trump on June 27. Biden’s frail appearance and his many bungled, confused answers had fueled concerns that, at 81,…

Taiwan on Monday launched the annual Han Kuang drill, during which the island nation’s preparedness for a possible Chinese invasion is tested and refined. The five-day exercises come as relations between Taipei and Beijing are particularly strained following the inauguration speech on May 20 of President Lai Ching-te, which China denounced as being full of separatist content. China considers democratically governed Taiwan to be its territory and has not ruled out using military force to assert its claimed sovereignty. What will happen during the drills? Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense has said that this year’s drill will probe the island nation’s ability to protect critical…

It was 1.46pm in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, when President Joe Biden posted a letter on his personal account on the social media site X announcing he would be withdrawing from the presidential race.By 2.13pm he had sent another post, this time endorsing Kamala Harris to replace him as the Democratic Party’s nominee. It took 27 minutes to get there but President Biden has now put his former running mate in the pole position to take on Donald Trump.There seems limited doubt now that she will be their runner in the race.Follow live: Reaction as Biden pulls out of race Please…

Kamala Harris has hit the ground running as she battles to replace Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee, securing the backing of several top party figures.Half an hour after announcing his decision to drop out of the US election, Mr Biden endorsed his vice president and told his party it was time to “come together and beat Trump”. Several prominent Democrats have since backed Ms Harris, including former president Bill Clinton, with the party’s fundraising platform seeing its biggest day of the year, with nearly $50m (£38.7m) pouring in.However, Ms Harris was dealt a blow as former US president…

“I love him, I voted for him, I stand by him,” says Angela Dean, a Democratic voter from Connecticut.She’s standing in front of the White House holding a handwritten sign that reads “thank you Joe” because she didn’t want the president to “think that we abandoned him”. As America grapples with Joe Biden’s shock resignation from the presidential race, voters around the US tell Sky News and Sky’s US partner NBC they are “devastated” and “emotional” to see him go. Image: Angela Dean holds a sign outside the White House thanking Joe Biden as he steps out of the presidential…