Author: DW

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a series of deal in Vietnam on Thursday after talks with President To Lam . Hanoi is Putin’s final stop on the two-nation tour, during which he first visited North Korea and signed a defense deal with leader Kim Jong Un. Vietnam is the third country Putin has visited since being sworn in for his fifth term in May, after China and North Korea. It is his first visit to Vietnam since 2017, though he visited four times before that. Putin, Lam hail ties during visit During the visit, Lam congratulated Putin on his March re-election and praised him for…

A court in Stockholm on Thursday acquitted a former general charged with war crimes during Syria’s civil war. Brigadier General Mohammed Hamo was accused of “aiding and abetting” war crimes in the first half of 2012. Hamo had the highest rank of any Syrian military official to go on trial in Europe, although other countries have sought to press charges against more senior soldiers and officials. Evidence presented deemed insufficient The charges relate to attacks “on several towns or places in the area in and around the towns of Hama and Homs” in a period from January 1 to July 20, 2012.…

Today is a “key day” in the search for a British teenager who has been missing in Tenerife since Monday morning, with search and rescue teams hoping “to have good news”, a journalist on the island has said.Jay Slater, from Lancashire, who was holidaying with friends, was last seen on a night out in Tenerife on Sunday evening, having been to the NRG music festival. Tenerife-based reporter Clio O’Flynn said Thursday “is a key day, the day they [the rescuers] want to have good news and say they’ve found Jay”. Image: The search resumed on Thursday. Pic: Bomberos Voluntarios de…

One of the largest art museums in Switzerland is selling a painting by Claude Monet in order to pay back the family of the Jewish art collector who was forced to sell it during World War II. Monet painted “L’Homme à l’ombrelle” (“Man with a Parasol”) in the late 19th century.  The Kunsthaus Zürich acquired the painting from Carl Sachs, a Jewish entrepreneur who fled to Switzerland with his wife in 1939 to escape the Nazis. Sachs was forced to sell the painting and several others in order to make a living. He died shortly afterward in 1943. “A swift sale was needed…

England have Wembley, France have Stade de France, but the German national team does not have a stadium that can be considered their true home, even when hosting Euro 2024. Ask any fan of the team which stadium they prefer, and the responses will vary widely. But this evening, Stuttgart made a strong case for itself in Germany’s 2-0 victory against Hungary. The win, which followed an opening day thrashing of Scotland, assures German passage to the knockouts, with a match against Switzerland on Sunday to spare. Starting with the national anthem, the German fans provided a deafening noise from the get-go on…

Storm Alberto hit the coast of northeastern Mexico near the US border, bringing heavy rains late on Wednesday and killing at least three people.  The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the storm was located about 135 miles (217 kilometers) east of the Mexican port of Tampico, with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (80 kph) — below hurricane strength. “Heavy rains, coastal flooding, and gusty winds forecast to continue through the morning along the coasts of Texas and Northeastern Mexico,” the NHC said on X. The agency added that the storm could strengthen slightly overnight. Mexico’s national water commission Conagua has issued…

German lawmaker Katrin Göring-Eckardt on Thursday deleted a social media post commenting on the skin color of German football players after it was met with backlash. She apologized for the post made after Germany’s 2-0 victory over Hungary in their second Euro 2024 stage match on Wednesday. Göring-Eckhardt is a member of the Greens and vice president of the Bundestag, Germany’s lower house of parliament.Germany beat Hungary 2-0 in Stuttgart, paving the way for the team’s entry into the knockouts stage of the tournamentImage: Bernd Weißbrod/dpa/picture alliance What was the deleted tweet about? “This team is truly exceptional. Just imagine…

Filipino soldiers used their “bare hands” to fight off armed Chinese coastguard in the disputed South China Sea, a Philippine military chief has said.General Romeo Brawner Jr, head of the Philippine armed forces, accused Chinese personnel of boarding more than eight motorboats and repeatedly ramming, then boarding, two inflatable vessels on Monday. Comparing the act to piracy, he said the Chinese had bladed weapons and tried to prevent the transfer of food, firearms and other supplies to a Philippine territorial outpost in the disputed area of the Second Thomas Shoal.Hostilities between the two countries have escalated in and around the…

It sounds like the stuff of horror movies, but Japan is seeing record levels of a highly fatal “flesh-eating” bacterial infection. Official figures show there have been over 1,000 cases of streptococcal toxic shock syndrome since January in the country, surpassing the total number recorded last year. Streptococcal Toxic Shock Syndrome, also known as STSS, is a rare but serious disease typically caused by infection with the bacteria Streptococcus pyogenes. STSS initially causes fever and throat infections but can develop very quickly into a life-threatening emergency, causing “toxic shock” and organ failure within days of infection. “Even with treatment, STSS can be…

Skip next section EU to introduce tariffs on Ukrainian egg imports06/19/2024June 19, 2024EU to introduce tariffs on Ukrainian egg importsThe European Commission will impose tariffs on Ukrainian egg imports within the next two weeks after a previously agreed annual threshold for those imports is reached, a spokesman said. The Commission made the same decision on Tuesday regarding oat imports from Ukraine. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine has benefited from a special mechanism set up to boost trade flows with the EU, its main export market.  However, the EU set import caps after farmers across the bloc protested against…