Author: DW

Barcelona is set to “substantially” raise the tourist tax for cruise passengers visiting the city for less than 12 hours.It comes as anti-tourism protests have taken place across parts of Spain in recent weeks. Jaume Collboni, the mayor of Barcelona, has confirmed the charge will be increasing but hasn’t said by how much.The tourist tax for stopover cruise passengers is currently €7 (£6).Mr Collboni said in an interview with El Pais newspaper: “We are going to propose… substantially increasing the taxfor stopover cruise passengers. “In the case of stopover cruise passengers (less than 12 hours) there is intensive use of…

The number of executions in Saudi Arabia has risen sharply in the first half of this year. As of July 15, the state executed 98 men and two women for charges related to murder, terrorism and drugs. This marks a 42% increase compared to the same period in 2023,  according to a recent report by the Berlin-based European Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR). “Some executions are not even for recognized common crimes, but for such political offenses as ‘endangering national unity’ or ‘undermining societal security,'” Kenneth Roth, the former director of Human Rights Watch and current professor at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs, told DW.…

North Korea has resumed sending balloons carrying trash toward South Korea, Seoul’s military said on Sunday. The military added that South Korea was stepping up its anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts across the heavily guarded border between the two Koreas. “The North is launching another batch of rubbish-carrying balloons,” the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement, advising people not to touch the objects and report them to nearby military or police authorities. South Korea responds with loud speakers The latest balloons from North Korea come after South Korea announced on Thursday that it had resumed loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts directed at the North.…

China’s emergency services are still searching for more than 30 missing people after a bridge collapsed on Friday night during flooding in the western province of Shaanxi.So far, a dozen people have been found dead after more than 20 cars plummeted into the river when the bridge snapped.There’s now a gaping hole where the highway bridge used to be. One side is undamaged. But on the other side, the road looks as though it was snapped and bent vertically down. A local farmer in Xin Ping village told us what happened: “Around 9pm, water poured down from that mountain. I…

Barcelona plans to increase the tourist tax for cruise passengers staying in the city for less than 12 hours, the mayor revealed in a Sunday interview. “We are going to propose.. substantially increasing the tax for stopover cruise passengers,” Jaume Collboni told El Pais newspaper. It is the latest in a series of measures that he has announced to reduce the impact of mass tourism. It comes just weeks after protesters in Barcelona, chanting: “Tourists go home,” sprayed visitors with water as part of a demonstration against mass tourism. Fewer, higher paying tourists wanted According to Statista, Barcelona reported the highest…

Bangladeshi authorities extended a curfew on Sunday before the country’s Supreme Court ruled to reduce government job quotas that this week sparked nationwide student-led protests. The quotas originally reserved 30% of positions in the civil service for the families of people who fought for independence from Pakistan in the so-called Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. Local media reported that a curfew imposed late on Friday was to run until 3 p.m. local time (0900 GMT/UTC), after the hearing, then continue until further notice after a two-hour break for people to take in supplies. Internet and text message services in Bangladesh have been suspended since Thursday amid the…

A couple who had embarked on a mission to sail across the Atlantic Ocean have been found dead in a lifeboat boat off the coast of Canada. Brett Cribbery and Sarah Packwood were found after their raft washed ashore on Sable Island, around 108 miles southeast of mainland Nova Scotia, local media said.It is believed Ms Packwood was from the UK and Mr Cribbery was from Canada, although the Royal Canadian Mounted Police initially reported they were both from British Columbia.Formal identification is yet to take place.The pair were heading to the region of Azores – an autonomous region of Portugal…

After the start of the war on Ukrainein 2022, many Russians fled their country with only a state-issued identification card. Around 110,000 Russians have found refuge in Armenia alone, according to estimates by the Russian news portal The Bell. That’s where exiles Daniil Chebykin and Richard King, co-founders of the Omsk Civic Association, were among the first Russians to report that their ID cards had been revoked. Classified as “extremist” by Russian authorities, their organization addresses problems in their southwest Siberian city, protests the war in Ukraine, and fights corruption. After both activists left Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, they eventually lost access…

Bangladeshi authorities extended a curfew on Sunday as the country’s Supreme Court was due to rule on government job quotas that this week sparked nationwide student-led protests. Local media reported that a curfew imposed late on Friday will now run until 3 p.m. local time (0900 GMT/UTC), after the hearing, then continue until further notice after a two-hour break for people to take in supplies. Internet and text message services in Bangladesh have been suspended since Thursday amid the protests, and universities and colleges have been closed since Wednesday. What is the hearing about? The Supreme Court is to rule on quotas for…

Since 8 October when Hezbollah first fired rockets into Israel in solidarity with Palestinians following the Hamas attacks, the two sides have exchanged nearly 5,000 strikes.The majority have come from Israel – but analysis by Sky News’ Data and Forensics team shows Hezbollah is changing its tactics, with its attacks stretching further into Israeli territory than ever before. This is Alex Crawford’s report:We’re with UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon and we can hear the regular crumple of explosions on the horizon.We occasionally see plumes of smoke as the rockets land. “It’s going to be a hot day,” says Lieutenant Colonel…