Author: DW

Attacks on Jews and Muslims in Germany have surged since the outbreak of the recent Israel-Hamas war, new figures showAntisemitic incidents rose by more than 80% last year, compared to 2022. Some 4,782 episodes were recorded – an average of 13 per day.The figures from the monitoring group the Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS) show there was a major up tick following Hamas’s 7 October attacks.In the three months following, 2,787 incidents were documented. That’s more than the whole of 2022 when 2,616 were recorded.While many complaints were linked to anti-Israel activism, authors of…

Historian and journalist Anne Applebaum has been named by the German Publishers and Booksellers Association as the winner of the German Book Trade Peace Prize for 2024. “At a time when democratic values and achievements are increasingly being caricatured and attacked, her work embodies an eminent and indispensable contribution to the preservation of democracy and peace,” the award citation said of Applebaum.  The Polish-American journalist is a writer for US magazine, The Atlantic, and has written extensively about Central and Eastern Europe. According to Appelbaum’s biography, she is considered an expert in Eastern European history and “warned early on of Vladimir…

Following Croatia’s 2-2 with Albania on Wednesday, Jovan Surbatovic, general secretary of the Football Association of Serbia (FSS), said his organization had submitted a formal complaint to UEFA, claiming that the two sets of fans had chanted, “Kill, kill, kill the Serb” during the match. He even indicated that the FSS would be prepared to withdraw from Euro 2024 if UEFA, which governs European football, fails to take what it sees as sufficient action. “What happened is scandalous and we will ask UEFA for sanctions, even if it means not continuing the competition,” he told Serbian state-owned broadcaster RTS. “If UEFA…

The Schisto refugee camp is located in a barren landscape on the outskirts of Athens, around half an hour’s drive from the city center. By early morning, temperatures are already over 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit). Despite the dry heat, a barefoot boy of around 5 runs across the dusty gravel to watch a group of firefighters carry out a safety drill. Schisto is currently home to 193 such children under the age of 17. Most of them are from Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia and Iraq. There are no longer any unaccompanied minors here. In the past, there was a so-called “safe zone”…

For a few days, a subway station in Dalian, China, will be renamed. Instead of simply Congress Center it is now plastered with huge decals that say “Annual Meeting of the New Champions.” Outside, the streets and sidewalks are sparkling clean, access roads all around have been cleared far and wide. Colorful flags flutter in the wind. Dalian, a city on the Yellow Sea in northeast China, is the proud host of this year’s “Summer Davos,” as the meeting is more commonly known.  The World Economic Forum (WEF) event is taking place in China for the 15th time. From June 25…

American civil liberties groups filed a lawsuit against Louisiana on Monday after the state made it mandatory to display the Ten Commandments from the Bible in school classrooms. The complaint was filed by American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, all representing nine families with children enrolled in Louisiana public schools. “The state’s main interest in passing H.B. 71 was to impose religious beliefs on public school children, regardless of the harm to students and families,” the lawsuit says. It added that requiring public schools to display the…

China’s lunar probe has returned to Earth, making the country the first to bring back samples from the moon’s far side.The re-entry capsule of the Chang’e probe touched down in the northern Chinese region of Inner Mongolia at about 2pm Beijing time (7am UK time), carrying lunar soil collected earlier in June. At the start of the month, the probe had successfully landed at the moon’s South Pole, in the Aitken Basin, a gigantic impact crater that always faces away from Earth. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 0:55 Chang’e-6’s mission was programmed to collect around…

Prosecutors in Wuppertal on Monday said it was pursuing a blackmail investigation against at least two individuals accused of trying to extort money from the family of German F1 legend Michael Schumacher.  Last week, the German officials said two people had been arrested on suspicion of attempted blackmail “to the disadvantage of a celebrity.” On Monday, Wuppertal prosecutors confirmed media reports the Schumacher family was targeted. According to prosecutors, the suspects told employees of the family that they possessed information the Schumachers would not want to be released in public. “They demanded a payment in the millions in order to prevent the publication…

Argentina’s libertarian President Javier Milei believes his radical economic program could win him a Nobel Prize. “Together with my senior advisor Demian Reidel, we are rewriting a large part of economic theory,” Milei said during a visit to the Czech Republic on Monday. “If we get it right, I will probably receive the Nobel Prize for Economics Sciences together with Demian,” he added. Milei made the comments while purportedly accepting an award from Czech think tank, the Liberal Institute. However, the Liberal Institute said the ceremony was an unauthorized event that had been organized by individuals who had not been…

When North Korean troops poured across the frontier with the South on June 25, 1950, Rah Jong-yil was a boy of nine-years-old. He and his family would endure more than two months of indoctrination from the communist invaders before they were liberated. Now, as South Korea marks the 74th anniversary of the start of the three-year Korean War, Rah fears the regime of Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang has been emboldened by its new military pact with Russia and that Kim believes the nations that stood with the South in 1950 will not commit to its defense again. Rah said the situation could…