Author: DW

Chinese Coast Guard rammed and boarded Philippine naval boats and confiscated their weapons in the South China Sea, injuring a Filipino soldier, the Philippine military said on Wednesday. “The Chinese Coast Guard personnel illegally embarked on our RHIBS (rigid-hulled inflatable boats),” Rear Admiral Alfonso Torres told reporters, adding that Chinese boarders had some guns. The incident is the latest in a series of escalating confrontations between Chinese and Philippine vessels in recent months off the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, where a tiny Philippine garrison is stationed on an old warship BRP Sierra Madre that was deliberately beached. What do we…

Love Island star Jack Fowler has called for serving nuts on planes to be banned after claiming he suffered an “extremely scary” allergic reaction on a flight to Dubai.The reality star, who appeared on the hit ITV2 show in 2018, shared details on social media, saying he had to use his epi pen and required five tanks of oxygen after being served a chicken curry with nuts in it on an Emirates flight, despite flagging his allergy twice. He has now spoken out after receiving messages from others “completely relating” to his experience. Image: Fowler was given oxygen on the…

Croatia is engulfed in football fever again – especially since captain Luka Modric led the Vatreni (fiery ones) to a 2-1 win over Portugal in Lisbon last Saturday. The veteran star of Champions League winners Real Madrid was Croatia’s linchpin in their last friendly ahead of Euro 2024. His and Croatia’s goal at the European Championship is nothing less than the title, Croatian sports reporter Ines Goda Forjan told DW. “This will probably be his last major tournament with Croatia,” said Forjan, who reported on the national team from their training camp northwest of Berlin. “He is a special player, very focused…

German Deputy Chancellor Robert Habeck heads to South Korea on Wednesday as part of an East Asia trip. Habeck will then head to China on Friday before returning to Germany. In Seoul, Habeck will meet representatives from politics and business. The Green lawmaker will be accompanied by a business delegation and members of the Bundestag during the visit. South Korea is a big market for Germany, says Habeck Habeck says South Korea is Germany’s second most important market in Asia with goods exports — mainly vehicle related — worth around €20 billion ($21.5 billion). Seoul is also a significant producer of IT equipment.EU targets Chinese e-vehicles with higher…

The struggle to survive Sudan’s civil war has taken its toll on Taj-Alseer Ahamed. After holding out for two months in Darfur’s besieged city El Fasher,  Ahamed is on the verge of breaking down. “We don’t have money to buy food or water. We don’t know where our relatives are. We cannot sleep and have to hide from bullets or missiles day and night,” he told DW in El Fasher. During the first year of war, which broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), El Fasher had turned into a relatively safe place…

Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un have signed a comprehensive strategic partnership in a bid to unite against the US. The agreement includes a vow of mutual assistance if either country is attacked. The Russian leader is visiting North Korea for the first time in 24 years.Russian state media said Mr Putin spoke to Mr Kim face-to-face for about two hours and thanked him for his country’s support for the war in Ukraine.The Kremlin chief was treated to lavish ceremony when he arrived in the North Korean capital on Wednesday. Huge crowds lined streets to greet the motorcade, chanting “Welcome…

Jude Bellingham’s thumping header made it all worthwhile for the England fans. A win in their team’s opening Euro 2024 game against Serbia kept them happy, even when an unconvincing performance, along with rain and long travel delays, threatened to ruin their day. And one other thing was not quite as they would have liked it to be in Gelsenkirchen: the beer. Various special measures had been put in place for what authorities had designated a “very high-risk game,” with a focus on alcohol. The usual full strength Bitburger pilsner was not on sale at the stadium, only the brewery’s…

The European Union on Wednesday is expected to take nearly 10 member states to task over excessive spending. The assessments of the 27 EU states’ budgets and economies will be published by the European Commission on Wednesday. with France, Italy and Belgium among the member states that could be slapped with legal action over their accumulated excessive new debt. The EU suspended debt and deficit regulations to help countries cope with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The rules are now back in place and now any EU country going over debt and deficit limits run the…

The US State Department and Pentagon said on Tuesday that the government had approved the sale of various military goods, including drones and related equipment, worth an estimated $360 million (roughly €335 million) to Taiwan.  The sale “will help improve the security of the recipient and assist in maintaining political stability, military balance, and economic progress in the region,” the Pentagon said.  The sale includes Switchblade anti-personnel and anti-armor loitering munitions (pictured at the top of the story) and ALTIUS 600M-V drones and related equipment. Loitering munitions are so called because of their suitability to wait and circle near a…

Willie Mays, considered one of the best players in the history of baseball and called the ‘Say Hey Kid’, has died at the age of 93.His son Michael Mays confirmed the legendary centre fielder had passed away on Tuesday evening in a statement through the San Francisco Giants. “My father has passed away peacefully and among loved ones,” he said.”I want to thank you all from the bottom of my broken heart for the unwavering love you have shown him over the years. You have been his life’s blood.”Chairman of the Giants Greg Johnson also said: “He had a profound…