Author: DW

A court in New York on Wednesday sentenced Juan Orlando Hernandez to 45 years in prison. The Honduran former president was convicted of helping cartels to traffic hundreds of tons of cocaine into the US in March.  The sentence also included an $8 million (roughly €7.5 million) fine. The prison term fell short of the life sentence prosecutors had sought, however, given the 55-year-old’s age, he is likely to die behind bars.  Judge P. Kevin Castel said the sentence should serve as a warning to “well educated, well dressed” individuals who gain power and think their status will insulate them from justice.  “I…

Emergency services searching for missing British teenager Jay Slater have honed in on a specific area, authorities have said.Police officers told Sky News they were examining the area, a rock face where there is a water source, with the help of drones. They said the land they were focusing on was arid, barren and difficult to get to on foot. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 0:53 Police released new video in search The search for the 19-year-old from Lancashire, who is missing in Tenerife, has now entered its 10th day.He has been missing since Monday…

The Deutsche Bahn (DB) board member responsible for long-distance travel, Michael Peterson, apologized in the Wednesday edition of Germany’s top-selling Bild newspaper for delays and cancellations inconveniencing thousands of football supporters during the opening phase of Euro 2024 championship.  “We understand the dissatisfaction and criticism from fans,” Peterson told Bild. “Deutsche Bahn is not currently offering the quality that everyone deserves. But at the same time we are doing everything possible to bring passengers reliably to their destinations.”  Delayed, overcrowded and canceled trains have led to fans being late to games, or sometimes even missing the matches altogether. The competition was always sure…

The Taliban ban on opium production in Afghanistan, the world’s biggest supplier of the drug, could drive up the use of synthetic opioids in its stead, consequently increasing overdose deaths, the UN drug agency warned on Wednesday. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in its annual drug report that opium production fell globally by around 74% last year. The Taliban banned opium production in 2022. While the agency said there were still “no real shortages” of the drug in the main destination markets as of yet, it warned that this would become an inevitability should its…

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The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday issued a guilty verdict in the case of an al-Qaeda-linked jihadist accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity during an alleged reign of terror in Mali. Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud will be sentenced at a later date, but the crimes he is convicted of could amount to life imprisonment. The charges brought against him included torture, rape and sexual slavery, as well as destroying religious and historic buildings. The crimes are believed to have taken place when al-Qaeda-linked insurgents, a group known as Ansar Dine, took over the Malian ancient…

The US Supreme Court declined on Wednesday to impose curbs on the executive branch’s communication with social media. The ruling rejects a challenge made in 2022 on how federal officials encouraged the removal of social media posts deemed misinformation. The case was brought by the Republican-led states of Missouri and Louisiana and five individuals. What did the Supreme Court say in its ruling? Ruling on the motion in 2023, the New Orleans-based 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals found that various federal officials had likely violated the US Constitution’s First Amendment that protects free speech. The court also issued an injunction constraining contacts…

Outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has been chosen as NATO’s next boss.The 57-year-old takes the helm of the world’s biggest military alliance at a critical time – against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, mounting global insecurity, and uncertainty over the United States’ future attitude to the transatlantic organisation. Mr Rutte is bowing out of Dutch politics after nearly 14 years as leader.He will take over as secretary general on 1 October from Norway’s Jens Stoltenberg, who is stepping down after a decade in the post.Ambassadors from the alliance’s 32 members approved his appointment at a meeting at…

On Monday, Romania played against Ukraine in Munich at the EURO 2024 football championship, winning its first match of the tournament 3-0.  After the game, a video went viral on social media, in which Romanian fans in the stadium chant “Putin, Putin” – apparently in support of Russia’s president Vladimir Putin.  One of the posts on X has been viewed almost two million times. The video spread widely and was shared in different languages, such as Russian, German,  Czech, Chinese, Arabic, and on other platforms like Youtube, Telegram and TikTok.  The fans in the stadium were filmed from behind, which made it impossible to identify…

Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi will not run as a candidate in the Southern African nation’s election scheduled for October 9. The Mozambican constitution limits the president to two consecutive five-year terms and Nyusi has been in power since 2015.  Frelimo — the ruling party that has held power since Mozambique’s war for independence from Portugal in 1975 — selected Daniel Chapo as its presidential nominee. At 47 years old, the former radio announcer is the first Frelimo candidate born post-independence.  Although a relatively unknown figure in national politics, Chapo is the governor of the southern Mozambican province of Inhambane. He holds a law…