Author: DW

A $5m (£4m) reward is being offered in the hunt for the fugitive “Cryptoqueen” Ruja Ignatova.Bulgarian-born Ignatova, who has German citizenship, has been on the FBI’s most-wanted list since 2022 for fraud and money laundering. The 43-year-old is accused of defrauding investors out of $4bn (£3.3bn) by selling a fake cryptocurrency called OneCoin, founded in Sofia in 2014.The US agency, which has called OneCoin “one of the largest global fraud schemes in history”, previously offered a $100,000 (£82,463) reward for her capture.However, that has now been raised to £4m. “Ignatova is believed to travel with armed guards and/or associates. Ignatova…

Iranians are going to the polls on Friday, June 28, to elect a new president to replace the late Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash last month. The Islamic Republic’s Guardian Council, a panel of Islamic clerics and jurists, had approved the names of six men to run for the election. But on Wednesday, just a day before the election, a candidate withdrew from the race. Amirhossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, 53, dropped his candidacy and urged other candidates to do the same “so that the front of the revolution will be strengthened,” the state-run IRNA news agency reported. Hashemi’s…

A United Nations-led meeting with Afghanistan’s Taliban will be held in Qatar’s capital Doha this weekend, in which representatives from some 25 countries are expected to take part. It will be the third such meeting, but the first attended by the Islamic fundamentalist group, which has ruled the war-torn nation since it seized power in August 2021 as US-led troops withdrew after 20 years of war. The UN political chief who will chair the meeting said it’s not about granting recognition to the Taliban. “This is not a meeting about recognition. This is not a meeting to lead to recognition……

At least one person has been killed and 20 others injured after a cable car crashed in Colombia.Officials said the cable car in Medellin – which was part of the city’s public transport system – failed and plunged into a pavement next to a station platform.There were 10 people in the car when it fell, according to the city’s mayor, but it is not yet known if the person who died was on board or on the ground.A 55-year-old man died of multiple injures, the Clinica CES hospital said in a statement. Image: Pic: AP The 20 people who were…

Asteroids and comets were formed about 4.5 billion years ago, during the earliest moments of our solar system.  They orbit the sun, just as planets do. But while it takes a terrestrial year for our planet to fly around the sun, an asteroid can take anywhere between three and six years — they are located in an “asteroid belt” between Mars and Jupiter. Comets, on the other hand, can spend thousands, if not millions, of years way out in the solar system before coming back round the sun. Others don’t even have fixed or “closed” orbits — so, their flightpaths can be…

Oleg Sentsov was used to fighting Moscow even before he enlisted in the Ukrainian Defense Forces, shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It’s just that previously, instead of a gun, he’d used his camera. When Russian special forces arrived in Crimea in 2014, Sentsov was on the ground documenting the annexation of the region. He was arrested, sent to Russia, and given a 20-year sentence on  charges of “plotting terrorism.”In 2015, Sentsov, was arrested in Crimea by Russia’s FSB security service for allegedly forming a group of saboteurs Image: SERGEY VENYAVSKY/AFP/Getty Images Following a coordinated effort by the European Film Academy, Amnesty International and the European Parliament with…

Expecting efficiency? Think twice Perhaps the most talked-about takeaway from the tournament so far has been this: German efficiency isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. Surprised? Well, while locals are well accustomed to a rail network characterized by caprice and chaos, transport headaches came as an unwelcome shock to tens of thousands of visiting fans. The country that many supporters expected to find – where things work as advertised and the trains run on time – has turned out to be a mirage. Many have faced delays, overcrowding, or unexplained cancellations, in various locations right across the country. Some…

Skip next section What else is on the agenda?06/27/2024June 27, 2024What else is on the agenda?Leaders of the EU’s 27 member states are set to discuss the Israel-Hamas war and economic competitiveness. They are also expected to adopt a strategic agenda for the next five years. The EU’s support for Ukraine will also be discussed, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expected to sign a security agreement with the bloc. Attending the talks in Brussels, Zelenskyy is set to brief EU leaders on the situation on the front line in Ukraine. https://p.dw.com/p/4hYxASkip next section Who are the candidates?06/27/2024June 27, 2024Who are the candidates?After the June…

Three bodies were discovered inside a crater at the summit of Japan’s Mount Fuji, police said on Thursday. One of the bodies was already brought down the iconic mountain, according to police officials. Authorities said, efforts to retrieve the other two bodies will continue depending on weather conditions. On Thursday, the search was halted due to heavy rain forecasts. The bodies were found several meters apart, making it unclear if they were climbing together. Authorities did not reveal the identities, including gender and age. Rescue teams were searching for a 53-year-old man who was reported missing, when they found the…

Jay Slater’s mother has said the family are working with GoFundMe to withdraw some of the £36,000 that has been raised since the teenager disappeared.Debbie Duncan, posting on the “Get Jay Slater home” page which has been set up on the crowdfunding platform, said the money would be used to help cover accommodation and food expenses while the family are out in Tenerife helping to search for the 19-year-old. The fundraiser which was set up to support Mr Slater’s family had raised more than £36,400 by this morning.Ms Duncan, who is in Tenerife with Mr Slater’s father and brother, said…