Author: DW

Olaf Scholz said, “Germany is ready” to take on an increased leadership role. The German chancellor said his country has a “special responsibility” as the largest NATO country within Europe. “I will fully live up to that responsibility,” Scholz said. I spoke with delegates who attended the “EU Defense Night,” and it was evident that they had high expectations of Germany as a stabilizing force in the defense alliance. They are not the only ones with expectations. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy started a bilateral meeting with Olaf Scholz by saying, “Thank you, Olaf, for the air defense.” Germany provided Ukraine with…

Three days after the election, Emmanuel Macron had still not commented on the new balance of power in the country. There was silence at the Elysee. The French president was playing for time before appointing a new government. Though his prime minister, Gabriel Attal, resigned on Monday, he had decided to keep him in power until further notice. Observers doubted that France would have a new government before the Olympic Games came to an end in August. The new National Assembly, whose first session will be on July 18, is now dominated by three comparably large political camps. The broad…

“The influence of China on Guinea-Bissau is undeniable, especially in economic terms,” Bissau-Guinean sociologist and China expert, Diamantino Lopes, said in an interview with DW. Since the country’s independence from Portugal five decades ago, almost all infrastructure measures have been carried out and financed by the Chinese, the analyst added. “The government palace, the justice building, the parliament, the renovation of the Palace of the Republic, the 13-kilometer (8-mile) highway between the airport and Safim, the national stadium in Bissau, or the new fishing port in Bandim — the Chinese control almost everything here,” Lopes explained. This week, Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro…

F-16 fighter jets will be flying in Ukrainian skies this summer, the US secretary of state Antony Blinken has said.Speaking at an event on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington, Mr Blinken said the jets are en route to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands. Follow latest updates on UkraineHe added that a robust package for Ukraine will be unveiled over the next couple of days that will build a clear bridge for Ukraine’s NATO membership. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 5:58 NATO to send Ukraine ‘historic’ aid package “Those jets… will be…

Several European cities particularly popular with tourists have been witnessing protests by local residents. In Venice, some protesters even squatted in apartments in recent years. They say their city is being plagued by tourism, which has left few affordable homes for locals. About 49,000 people live in Venice’s historic city center. According to various estimates, more than 20 million tourists visit the city each year. And so, the daily lives of some provide the backdrop for the vacation memories of others. Europe is the continent that attracts the most international tourists. And Venice is not the only European city suffering from the impact of mass tourism.…

A video shows an episode of Family Guy, one of the world’s best-known cartoon comedy shows, in which Peter Griffin, the main character, drives a van containing a bomb at gunpoint over the bridge. It is a clip from the episode “Turban Cowboy,” which aired in 2013. However, the audio accompanying the video has changed, as Peter Griffin, normally voiced by show creator Seth MacFarlane, sings some unusual lyrics. “Our weapons are heavy, our ranks are many, but the soldiers of Allah are more than ready,” he warbles in the song in his distinctive Rhode Island accent, meant to encourage followers of the extremist…

Imprisoned Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza’s health is “relatively stable”, his lawyer has said, after he was transferred to a prison hospital.One of Mr Kara-Murza’s lawyers was able to visit him in the prison hospital on Wednesday where he had been held incommunicado for several days, his legal team said. They had tried to visit him last Thursday at the penal colony in the Siberian city of Omsk, but were told he had been transferred to hospital for an unspecified “examination,” according to his wife Evgenia and lawyer Vadim Prokhorov.Mr Prokhorov said they were denied access to the politician over…

So, there’s speculation about US President Joe Biden’s health. Many “experts” have delivered their verdicts on Biden’s fitness for a second term in office. Is Biden hiding dementia? There’s no way of telling by remote diagnosis. But presidents and their challengers are loath to be explicit about their health. They assume, rightly or wrongly, that the  electorate wants strong, healthy leaders. So, they keep schtum. And that can create more speculation.    In a historical review, the researchers concluded that [several] presidents hid their “infirmity outright or otherwise minimize[d] its severity.” Before we take a look, let’s first clear up that speculation…

Stability has been in short supply in Germany’s women’s national team recently. Through the coaching confusion, World Cup post-mortems and international retirements of stalwarts Svenja Huth and Melanie Leupolz, Alexandra Popp has been one of very few constants. Although the Wolfsburg striker, 33, will miss Friday’s Euro 2025 qualifier against Iceland due to a minor foot ailment, she is poised to captain a new-look Germany squad hoping to recapture Olympic gold in Paris as the only survivor in the 16-woman squad of the 2016 win. With Sara Däbritz also absent through injury, interim coach Horst Hrubesch, who will give way to Christian Wück after the…

“The influence of China on Guinea-Bissau is undeniable, especially in economic terms,” Guinean sociologist and China expert, Diamantino Lopes, said in an interview with DW. Since the country’s independence from Portugal five decades ago, almost all infrastructure measures have been carried out and financed by the Chinese, the analyst says: “The government palace, the justice building, the parliament, the renovation of the Palace of the Republic, the 13-kilometer (8 mile) highway between the airport and Safim, the national stadium in Bissau, or the new fishing port in Bandim — the Chinese control almost everything here,” Diamantino Lopes states. From July 9 to…