Author: DW

US President Joe Biden and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi have reached an agreement on aid delivery to Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing, Cairo says. The plan is for Egypt to hand over humanitarian aid and fuel to the United Nations at the crossing temporarily until there is a legal mechanism to reach and reopen the Rafah crossing from the Palestinian side. In a phone call, Biden and al-Sissi also affirmed their rejection of all attempts to displace Palestinians from their land, and their support for all means to prevent the aggravation and expansion of the conflict. The crossing agreement aims to reverse a dramatic drop in UN aid entering…

Severe flooding in northern Afghanistan over the past week has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people. The country’s Taliban government reports that more than 1,500 people have been injured and thousands of homes damaged or destroyed. Heavy rainfall was immediately followed by hot weather, which has hampered rescue efforts. Speaking from the Afghan capital Kabul, Thomas ten Boer, the country director of the non-governmental aid organization Welthungerhilfe, told DW: “In some areas, the temperature has risen to more than 30 degrees. Many villages are buried in mud, which dries and becomes hard, making it very difficult to remove.…

The daughter and son-in-law of a Republican politician are among three Americans killed by gangs in Haiti.Davy and Natalie Lloyd, a missionary couple in the country, were shot dead in capital Port-au-Prince after being ambushed as they left a youth group activity held at a local church, according to a police official. Their identities were confirmed in a Facebook post from Ms Lloyd’s father, Missouri state representative Ben Baker.A third person, as yet unnamed, was also killed during the attack on Thursday evening in the community of Lizon in northern Port-au-Prince, Lionel Lazarre, head of a Haitian police union, told…

After a string of scandals and just two weeks out from EU elections, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has been ejected from the European Parliamentary group it shared with France’s Rassemblement National among others. “The Bureau of the Identity and Democracy Group in the European Parliament has decided today to exclude the German delegation, AfD, with immediate effect,” the political faction announced on Thursday. The decision comes after Maximilian Krah, the AfD lead candidate in next month’s poll, had to fire a senior staff member who was arrested on suspicion of spying for China. Krah’s own ties to both China and Russia…

Cockroaches boast some impressive skills: They can move incredibly fast, they can make themselves totally flat in order to squeeze through tiny cracks, and their feet are equipped with special adhesive organs, as well as claws, that enable them to climb even smooth vertical surfaces. Above all, cockroaches are incredibly resilient. A roach’s carapace is capable of resisting 900 times its body weight, which makes them virtually unsquashable. Even most insecticides have little effect on them. And this is a big problem, because cockroaches act as vectors for a great many bacteria, viruses and fungi. They can trigger allergies and cause diarrhea,…

A crowd of mountain climbers were left stuck on the summit of Mount Everest as snow and ice slid off the world’s highest peak, leading to the disappearance of two climbers, including a British man.Videos and photos on social media show what appears to be hundreds of people on the Hillary Step, a nearly vertical rock face near the top of Everest at around 8,800m. Disaster struck when the snow cornice could not stand the weight and collapsed, dragging some climbers down the side of the mountain.Vinayak Malla, an International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations (IFMGA) guide climbing Everest on…

Kabosu, the dog that spawned a deluge of online memes and became the face of the Dogecoin cryptocurrency,  passed away on Friday. She was believed to be 18 — past the average lifespan for a Shiba Inu. “Kabosu crossed the Rainbow Bridge on the morning of May 24,” her owner, Hatsuko Sato, wrote on social media.Kabosu pictured in March, 2024Image: Philip Fong/AFP/Getty Images “She quietly passed away as if asleep while I caressed her,” Sato added. “I think Kabo-chan was the happiest dog in the world. And I was the happiest owner.” ‘The Mona Lisa of the internet’ Sato rescued…

A preliminary report published by Iran’s armed forces general staff late on Thursday states that the May 19 helicopter crash that killed the president, his foreign minister and six other people was most likely an accident.  Ebrahim Raisi was laid to rest on Thursday in his home city, Mashhad.  What we know about the crash  The helicopter carrying Raisi, Hossein Amirabdollahian, and others caught fire on impact after going down in rough terrain while in transit to the northern Iranian city of Tabriz, according to Iranian forces. Investigators stated that they had found no entry holes of any kind in the helicopter’s…

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday ordered Israel to “immediately” halt its military offensive in the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip. Panel judges voted 13 to 2 in favor of the order, which characterized the humanitarian situation in Gaza as “disastrous” and “catastrophic.” What has the ICJ said? The ICJ said Israel must “immediately halt its military offensive and any other action in the Rafah Governorate which may inflict on Palestinian groups in Gaza conditions of life that would bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.” It added that Israel…

A town in Thailand known for its monkeys has grown weary of them keeping customers and potential residents away.Locals have begun an offensive against the monkeys in Lopburi, central Thailand – using ripe tropical fruit as bait to lure them into cages. The animals have become a symbol of Lopburi, a town 90 miles north of Bangkok, which is home to about 2,500 monkeys. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 1:22 Overrun town uses fruit to trap monkeys Several high-profile cases of monkey-human conflict recently convinced the authorities that their numbers had to be slashed.Footage of…