Author: DW

The French economy has taken a hit following president Emmanuel Macron’s decision to call a snap election, new figures suggest.Business confidence and private sector output both dropped in June, a survey of around 750 major companies in the country revealed on Friday. France’s services sector – which includes industries such as hospitality and entertainment – also contracted by more than expected, according to the data.It comes after Mr Macron took the surprise gamble of calling a national poll earlier this month, after Marine Le Pen’s hard right National Rally (NR) party won around 32% of the vote in European elections…

A cabaret duo from Berlin has gained worldwide success with a witty rap that’s gone viral on Instagram and YouTube, and is a top trend on TikTok where users lip-sync and dance to the tune. The musical cabaret artist Bodo Wartke and his collaborator, music producer Marti Fischer, were no strangers to social media within Germany. But their tongue-twister rap, “Barbaras Rhabarberbar” (Barbara’s Rhubarb Bar), has broken global records and even knocked R&B queen Beyoncé off her streaming throne for a time. Now one half of the duo, Bodo Wartke, himself is followed by nearly 900,000 people on TikTok — not bad for a local Berlin comic.…

Euro 2024 in Germany has made Europe the hub of the soccer world this summer – or so the European governing body, UEFA, would like you to believe. With the Copa America, the world’s oldest competition of national football teams, Latin America is a strong competitor. It’s due to a decision by the South American football association, CONMEBOL, which entered into a strategic partnership CONCACAF, the football association of North and Central America and the Caribbean, to play the tournament in the US. Their declared goal is to strengthen and further develop football in both regions.  The 48th edition of the Copa America will compete with Euro…

Keiko Ishii admits to being more than a little relieved that her youngest son decided to swap the bright lights of Tokyo to return to his home town and take over the running of their farm, making him the fifth generation of the family to make a living from the soil. “He went to Tokyo for a few years to work and I was worried that he might not want to come back, but his grandmother had always talked to him about life on the farm and it looks like that sank in,” 75-year-old Ishii told DW. “He said he missed…

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Vietnam to a rather muted welcome, a contrast to his lavish visit to North Korea earlier this week. At the airport, he was greeted by lower-ranking Vietnamese ministers. But things picked up quickly enough — Putin met with Nguyen Phu Trong, Vietnam’s communist party chief, the new state president, To Lam, and signed more than a dozen accords on bilateral cooperation, including education, medicine, fossil fuels and a nuclear science and technology center in Vietnam. None of the documents that have been made public are linked to defense, but Vietnamese President Lam said there were other…

Eight England fans have been arrested in Frankfurt, where the Three Lions took on Denmark on Thursday night in their Euro 2024 clash.One was detained for riding an e-scooter while under the influence of alcohol. Others were held for bodily harm and violating narcotics laws.The police also confirmed one arrest had been made after a person attempted to enter the stadium dressed as a referee – though their nationality was not specified. Image: German police monitor fans from a bridge in Frankfurt Pic: AP Hessen Police said no Danish fans were arrested in Frankfurt yesterday. A spokesman added that there…

It’s approaching midnight on Thursday evening and tens of thousands of Spanish and Italian supporters are filing meekly over a footbridge towards the Arena AufSchalke tram station. The Italians are in the downcast mood you’d expect them to be, having spent the evening watching their team be pinned back, outplayed and shown up. Oddly though, the victorious Spanish seem miserable too. Beneath them, every five minutes or so, a tram sidles along and loads before heading off, at a snail’s pace, towards the city center. Occasionally, from a ground-level section of the station so far removed and so poorly signposted…

Skip next section EU launches membership talks with Ukraine, Moldova06/21/2024June 21, 2024EU launches membership talks with Ukraine, MoldovaEuropean Union member states formally approved launching accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova next week. EU ministers will start negotiations with Ukraine in Luxembourg on Tuesday afternoon. Talks with Moldova will begin later on the same day. Kyiv and Chisinau applied to join the EU shortly after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Membership talks are likely to go on for years with applicants required to bring regulations in line with EU standards and maintain media freedom and the rule…

Armenia’s Foreign Ministry on Friday announced that it was recognizing Palestine as a state. Yerevan becomes the latest government to recognize Palestinian statehood as the war in Gaza continues, ongoing for over eight months. Yerevan calls for ‘peaceful coexistence’ In a statement, Armenia cited the “catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza and the ongoing military conflict” as being “among the primary issues on the international political agenda that require settlement.” Armenia said that it “categorically rejects the targeting of civilian infrastructure, violence against the civilian population” and also rejected “the hostage-taking of civilians during armed conflict, joining the international community’s demands for…

Helicopters, rescue dogs and drones have continued to scour the holiday island of Tenerife for a missing British teenager as concerned family and friends endure a “living nightmare”.The hunt for 19-year-old Jay Slater from Oswaldtwistle, near Blackburn in Lancashire, is now in its fifth day. The apprentice bricklayer was holidaying with friends on Tenerife before he disappeared on Monday. Image: Pic: PA Image: Pic: PA He was last heard from when he called a friend to say he was setting off on an 11-hour walk to get home, after he missed his bus.It came as new photographs showed the property…