Author: DW

In 1989, widespread protests erupted across several Chinese cities, posing one of the biggest challenges to Communist Party rule. Tensions culminated in April, when a large group of students gathered in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, demanding freedom of expression and an end to corruption. Their protests grew over the following weeks as thousands of citizens joined them in the square. On the nights of June 3 and 4, the Chinese government forcefully suppressed demonstrations in central Beijing, resulting in numerous deaths and injuries. The Chinese government described the unrest as a “counterrevolutionary insurgency” and claimed it was engineered by foreign adversaries…

The latest move comes shortly after a controversial “foreign agent” law was adopted in May despite weeks of unrest and pro-EU rallies. The opponents, who dubbed the law “Russian” believe that it emulates the Kremlin’s crackdown on civil society groups, NGOs and opposition media. Brussels has warned the law will jeopardize Georgia’s EU accession.  The Georgian parliament, where the ruling Georgian Dream party has a decisive majority, will start discussing the planned LGBTQ+ bill in the coming weeks. The final reading is expected to be held in the fall. “Even if they [opponents] brand the law against LGBT ‘propaganda’ not Russian,…

The German city of Mannheim is in mourning.It’s grieving for the police officer killed by a failed asylum seeker from Afghanistan last Friday. In the marketplace, rows of people queue to lay flowers.A line of police marches forward, lowering their caps; colleagues and residents gathering to pay their respects and reflect on a crime that has shaken Germany and stoked divisions as people prepare to vote in the European elections.”This attack happened before the election so it might be now that many people who live here vote for the far right,” says Imam Adeel Ahmad Shad. “Some people feel safe,…

US President Joe Biden on Friday called on the US to protect democracy as he evoked the memory of those involved in the D-Day invasion during World War II. Biden was speaking at the US Ranger Monument at Pointe du Hoc in northern France on the last day of events marking 80 years since the Allies stormed the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944. Soldiers scaled seaside cliffs Biden recounted the events of that day, and spoke of the US Army Rangers who moved to take Nazi positions under heavy fire, as they launched an amphibious assault on Pointe…

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, around 9,000 Russian scientists signed an open letter against the war of aggression. Since then, Russian authorities have stepped up their repression of scientists in the country. Physicists in particular have been targeted and many have been imprisoned on charges of treason after taking part in international conferences or publishing articles in foreign journals. For many who signed the open letter — who then became the target for the secret services — the best solution was to leave Russia if they had not done so already. White House campaign to attract Russian scientists Within weeks of Moscow’s invasion, the…

On the French Open finals weekend one tennis fan will be paying more attention than most to Roland Garros. Arij Mutabagani is the president of the Saudi Tennis Federation, a tennis mum, a fan, a player and the women charged with bringing tennis to a nation of 35 million from scratch. When Saudi Arabia was awarded the WTA Finals, the crown jewel of the women’s game, there were questions from many within the game.Awarding such a key female event to a country with no track record of women’s sport – was that progress, a money grab (this will be the biggest…

06/07/2024June 7, 2024Europe no longer a continent of peace, Zelenskyy tells French lawmakersUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he hoped a summit hosted by Switzerland this month on bringing peace to Ukraine could hasten a fair end to the war in his country. “The inaugural peace summit could become a format that would bring closer a just end to this war,” Zelensky told the French parliament on Friday, warning 80 years after the D-Day landings of World War II that Europe was “unfortunately, no longer a continent of peace.” “Again, Europe’s cities are being destroyed and villages are burned,” he said of Russia’s…

Ballots rendered invalid if voters’ check marks or Xs are too large, or if there are holes punched in them, parties and candidates reportedly excluded from the tally — many voters are unsettled by the current glut of fake information surrounding the European parliamentary elections taking place between June 6 and 9.  Tommaso Canetta, fact-checking coordinator at the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO), told DW that the spread of false claims serves to undermine trust in state institutions and reduce voter turnout. “The minorities — the extremist groups and very, very polarized minorities — are the ones more likely to vote. If the general population is less…

The astronaut who captured the famous first colour photo of the Earth from space has died in a plane crash in the US.William Anders, 90, was the only person aboard the small aircraft he was piloting when it plummeted off the coast of Jones Island, near Washington state, on Friday. His son, Greg Anders, confirmed the death, adding the family is “devastated”.”He was a great pilot and we will miss him terribly,” he added.Mr Anders circled the moon with Apollo 8 in December 1968, in the first human spaceflight to leave Earth’s orbit. During the flight, Mr Anders captured what…

Antidepressants are some of the most commonly prescribed medicationsin rich countries, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and much of western Europe. The question of what happens when a person stops taking these drugs, which are typically not prescribed for long-term use, has been controversial since they were identified in the 1950s. Now, a new study published Wednesday in the journal The Lancet Psychiatry, has found that 14% of people — roughly one in six — who discontinued antidepressants experienced withdrawal symptoms such as dizziness, headaches, nausea, insomnia and irritability. The one-in-six figure is lower than some researchers who study antidepressants…