Author: DW

Bella Hadid’s new Adidas campaign has been pulled after being called “sick” and an “egregious error”.The US supermodel had been the face of the campaign for a relaunched shoe from the 1972 Munich Olympics. At those Olympic games, Palestinian terrorists from the group Black September killed 11 Israeli athletes and a German police officer.The criticism comes with Hadid – whose father is Palestinian – being a vocal critic of Israel and frequently speaking out against the Israel-Hamas War on social media.She and her sister Gigi Hadid donated $1m to Palestinian relief efforts last month. Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs heavily…

The economy in Ivory Coast has long been under pressure from regional security threats and predatory markets. Now, an acute heat wave is driving the prices for basic goods up even further. Source link

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last spoke before the US Congress, he railed against the then-Obama administration’s signature diplomatic project – the Iran Nuclear Deal, straining his ties with the White House. Nine years later, Netanyahu is due back at the Capitol. And this time, the circumstances are even more tense. Barbara Slavin, a distinguished fellow for the Middle East and North Africa at the Washington-based think tank Stimson Center, said the timing of the visit cannot be worse.Israel presses offensive across entire Gaza StripTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that…

Venice officials have indicated they plan to double a daily tourist tax after a successful summer trial.Over 29 days during the summer, the city said the €5 (£4.20) tax was paid 485,062 times, generating around €2.4m (£2m). The trial ran from 25 April to 14 July and applied to day-trippers. Image: Tourists show QR codes on their smartphones to city officials to prove payment of the tax. Pic: Reuters Final numbers included paper access tickets as well – which accounted for around 1,000 entrances each day.Italians accounted for 60% of visitors to Venice during the trial period, followed by US,…

The US has been Israel’s foremost arms supplier for decades. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) 99% of arms imports for Israel between 2019 and 2023 came from the US (69%) and Germany (30%). Before Hamas-led attack in Israel on October 7, 2023, Washington was exporting arms worth an average of $3 billion (€2.76 billion) per year to Israel. In absolute terms, however, Israel imports fewer arms from the US than other countries in the region. Over the past five years, Israel has received 3.6% of US arms exports, while15% have gone to Saudi Arabia, 8.2% to Qatar and…

The European Union (EU) is looking for lithium to power its transition away from fossil fuels and help it compete in the global race for clean technology. Over the past three yearsm the bloc has been on a self-styled “raw material diplomacy” mission, inking resource deals with 13 countries including Canada, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Rwanda, Argentina and Namibia. Now, the EU has a new name to add to the list: Serbia.  The Balkan country is more often at odds with the EU than on the same page. It’s kept close ties with Russia and China, and resisted Brussels’ longstanding expectation that aspirant EU…

American journalist Evan Gershkovich has been jailed for 16 years after being convicted of espionage in a trial widely seen as politically motivated.The Wall Street Journal reporter was first arrested and detained in March 2023 after Russia claimed he had been “gathering secret information” on orders from the CIA. US President Joe Biden said Mr Gershkovich had been “targeted” and that they were “pushing hard” for his release.He added: “There is no question that Russia is wrongfully detaining Evan. Journalism is not a crime. Evan has endured his ordeal with remarkable strength. We will not cease in our efforts to…

07/19/2024July 19, 2024Ukraine’s Zelenskyy calls on the UK to allow it to use weapons for strikes inside RussiaIn an address to a British cabinet meeting, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Britain’s new government to allow Ukrainian forces to strike deeper into Russia to stop deadly missile attacks on his country. “I ask you to show your leadership” in lifting restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Western weapons to strike inside Russia, Zelenskyy told Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The key to Ukraine’s defense, Zelenskyy said, is “long-range capability” to destroy sites where Russian weapons are concentrated. Zelenskyy received a standing ovation from senior ministers as he became…

The United Nations human rights chief on Friday called the attacks on student protesters in Bangladesh “shocking and unacceptable,” as the death toll from the crackdown by authorities crossed the 100 mark. Almost daily demonstrations broke out at the beginning of July against plans to reintroduce job quotas for public sector jobs, which were abolished in 2018 after earlier student protests. The students are demanding a merit-based system.Dozens killed in Bangladesh protests with death toll risingTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video What did UN rights chief Volker Turk say? “I am deeply concerned by…

After 50 years in business and annual retail sales of $5bn (£3.87bn) last year, you may think Hello Kitty is the cat that got the cream.But she’s not a cat at all, according to her creators. “She’s actually a little girl – born and raised in the suburbs of London,” said Jill Cook, the director of retail business development at Sanrio, the Japanese company that made the iconic character.”She has a mum and dad and a twin sister Mimmy, who is also her best friend.” Image: The Hello Kitty balloon makes its way through Manhattan in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day…