Author: DW

Three Valencia football fans who racially abused Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr have each been jailed for eight months.The convictions are the first for racist abuse at a football match in Spain, according to LaLiga – and were described as “great news for the fight against racism”.The league said the prison terms follow an incident at Valencia’s Mestalla stadium on 21 May 2023.The individuals were also given a two-year stadium ban from any venue hosting LaLiga matches, or games held under the jurisdiction of the Spanish football federation.LaLiga said Valencia had co-operated with the investigation and had expelled the three…

06/10/2024June 10, 2024Projected distribution of seats in the European ParliamentThe center-right European People’s Party (EPP), is to remain the largest party in the European Parliament, according to an initial forecast, with all polls closed on Sunday. The center-right grouping of European political parties, the European People’s Party (EPP), is to remain the largest party in the European Parliament, according to the latest projections released by Brussels following a 4-day EU-wide election. The EPP could secure 189 seats in the 720-seat parliament, while the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) in second place could pick up 135 seats. The result, if confirmed, will boost…

Real Madrid say they will play in next year’s expanded Club World Cup, after their manager Carlo Ancelotti reportedly told Italian media that the Spanish side would “refuse” the invitation.The five-time Champions League-winning coach claimed in a post on social media that his comments were “not interpreted in the way I intended”. In an interview with Italian newspaper Il Giornale, the 65-year-old appeared to suggest that the Spanish side would not participate in the tournament.It was reported that the Italian coach said: “FIFA can forget it, footballers, and clubs will not participate in that tournament.”A single Real Madrid match is…

French President Emanuel Macron announced Sunday he was dissolving the National Assembly and calling a snap legislative election after his centrist alliance was trounced by the far-right National Rally in the European Parliament elections. According to the first exit polls, the National Rally won around 32%, more than double Macron’s pro-EU coalition, which received 15% of the vote. The first round of France’s parliamentary election will be held on June 30 and a second round is scheduled for July 7. Exit polls on Sunday have shown the far-right making substantial gains in other member states in the European Parliament election, including in Germany…

Belgium’s Prime Minister Alexander De Croo has announced his resignation after disappointing federal and regional election results. “This is is a very difficult evening for us. We have lost this election,” De Croo told supporters, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. His Flemish liberal party, Open VLD, is projected to lose almost half its seats in the Chamber of Representatives. Sunday’s vote in the linguistically divided country, which is split between Dutch-speaking Flanders in the north and French-speaking Wallonia in the south, was held on the same day as the European Parliament elections.  Vlaams Belang remains excluded The right-wing nationalist New Flemish…

Evidence of a “cataclysmic” collision of giant asteroids which took place just 20 years ago has been found by scientists.Astronomers said the event could help them to further understand how Earth and other planets are formed. The collision happened in Beta Pictoris, a bright star system in the constellation of Pictor around 63 light years away. One light year is equal to nearly six trillion miles.Researchers have been studying the system, which is 20 million years old, for more than three decades.The evidence was found from latest data captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which was launched in 2021 as…

Kim Yo Jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister warned the South created a “prelude to a very dangerous situation.” It comes as South Korea resumed loudspeaker broadcasts of anti-North Korean propaganda in border regions on Sunday in response to an ongoing campaign of sending trash balloons southwards. North Korea then sent out another wave of 300 balloons filled with trash overnight. More than 1,000 balloons carrying garbage bags containing waste paper, cigarette butts, and even excrement have landed in northern provinces of South Korea in recent weeks. “I sternly warn Seoul to immediately cease its dangerous activities that…

Suzuka and Nipa have adopted the all-black attire that is the unofficial uniform of the Toyoko Kids, the Japanese capital’s tribe of young runaways.   Nipa arrived in the Kabukicho red-light district of Tokyo in January and was quickly taken in by the group. Suzuka arrived in April. Like most of the girls in this loose-knit clan of a couple of hundred teens and 20-somethings, they have turned to sex work to get by. Otherwise, they sleep on the streets or at friends’ apartments. When the weather is too bad, they club together to share a cheap hotel for the night. Tourists bask in…

It is quiet when we arrive in the French town of Henin-Beaumont.A rain cloud sits above our heads while a solitary young man is strolling towards us, purposefully. The cloud looks menacing; the man looks very friendly. “You are a journalist?” he asks, beaming. He’s dressed in a smart shirt and tie, I guess that he must surely be linked to politics and, almost certainly, to the National Rally (Rassemblement National – RN) party.He is. Like so many in this area, Yanis Gaudillat backs the RN to the hilt. He’s an activist with the far-right party and believes its moment…

Dramatic gains for far-right parties in France and Germany failed to overturn the centrist working majority in the European Parliament, the EU’s lower house, as results poured in on Sunday night, putting Ursula von der Leyen on track to stay president of the European Commission until 2029. “We won the European elections. We are by far the strongest party. We are the anchor of stability,” the German conservative declared to journalists assembled in the European Parliament in Brussels as projections rolled in. “The center is holding.” According to provisional projections from all 27 EU countries, her center-right European People’s Party (EPP)…