Author: DW

A few solitary election billboards and stands are the only indications that local elections are taking place this weekend in the city of Novi Sad in northern Serbia. The scene is similar in the southern Serbian city of Nis, where residents say they cannot recall such a quiet election campaign. Nevertheless, public sentiment suggests that the opposition may have a chance of defeating the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) of President Aleksandar Vucic in both cities. “I believe the expectations are partially justified,” Dusko Radosavljevic, a political scientist from Novi Sad, told DW. “In these major centers in Serbia, the opposition…

International authorities have carried out a major operation targeting malware, with four people arrested in Armenia and Ukraine and more than 2,000 domains taken under the control of law enforcement, Europol said on Thursday. “The actions focused on disrupting criminal services through arresting High Value Targets, taking down the criminal infrastructures and freezing illegal proceeds. This approach had a global impact on the dropper ecosystem,” the EU’s law enforcement agency said. Malware is the name given to any software that allows cybercriminals to secretly connect with peoples’ computers for malicious purposes. Besides the four arrests, eight fugitive suspects were also added to…

The Home Office has “little to show” for the money it has used on the Rwanda scheme and “does not have a credible plan”, a group of MPs has warned.The Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said the government department had spent millions of pounds so far on the policy and its asylum accommodation plans. Last month, the government passed a bill to push through the policy which involves sending some asylum seekers who have arrived in the UK illegally to Rwanda to be processed and housed there.Follow live general election updatesIn a report published on Wednesday, the committee said the…

Pope Francis allegedly used a highly offensive term to refer to LGBTQ+ people during a closed-door meeting with Italian bishops, Italian media reported on Tuesday. The major Italian daily newspapers La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera both cited anonymous sources as saying that the pope had made the remark while reiterating his position against gay people becoming priests. The 87-year-old pontiff was reported as saying that the Catholic seminaries were already too full of “frociaggine” — a highly derogatory term in Italian. The Vatican later on Tuesday issued a rare public apology, albeit without confirming the accuracy of the media…

Venezuela rescinded an invitation to European Union observers to monitor the presidential vote in July. The country’s electoral authority cited EU sanctions against Venezuela for their decision on Tuesday. “They are not worthy people to come to this country…while they maintain sanctions,” Elvis Amoroso, the head of the National Electoral Council (CNE), said in a statement on state television. The EU called on the National Electoral Council to reconsider its decision. Why is Venezuela under EU sanctions? The EU introduced sanctions against Venezuela in 2017. The bloc has imposed restrictions on Venezuelan officials, including travel bans, asset freezes, and an…

An Icelandic volcano has started erupting again – the fifth time since December.The outburst happened on the Reykjanes peninsula, home to 30,000 people, just south of the capital Reykjavik. The eruption began in the early afternoon following a series of earthquakes north of Grindavik, a fishing town of 3,800 people that was evacuated.Lava was shooting around 50 metres into the sky from a fissure that is roughly 1.5 miles long and growing, Iceland’s Met Office said.The Blue Lagoon thermal spa, which is popular with tourists, was evacuated before the eruption, Iceland’s national broadcaster RUV reported. Flights to and from Reykjavik’s…

Georgian lawmakers on Tuesday voted down a presidential veto of the controversial “foreign agents” legislation, clearing the way for the bill to come into force.  The law, which has led to weeks of mass protests, would require media outlets and NGOs that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power.” Lawmakers voted 84 to 4 to override a veto by President Salome Zourabichvili and pass the bill. Most opposition MPs walked out of the 150-seat chamber ahead of the vote.Georgian parliament adopts ‘foreign influence’ lawTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to…

A person has died at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam after becoming trapped in a running aircraft engine, according to police.The Dutch airline KLM said the aircraft was bound for Billund in Denmark, carrying passengers on flight KL1341. In a statement, the company said: “We are currently taking care of the passengers and employees who witnessed the incident at Schiphol.” Image: KLM aircraft at Schiphol airport. Pic: Reuters KLM added that “the circumstances are currently under investigation”.Dutch media reported that the aircraft’s engine was running when the person was killed, indicating the plane was due to take off.A Royal Military Police…

People in the Ukrainian frontline city of Kharkiv are still searching for the dead, identifying corpses. On Saturday, Russian forces fired two guided bombs at a home improvement store, killing at least 18 people and injuring over 40 more — seven are still unaccounted for. A DW reporter was in Kharkiv last week as air-raid sirens blared for 16 hours straight. It was impossible to sleep because the city was under constant missile and drone attacks. Still, the next morning, nine-year-old Sashko got up, combed his hair, ate his breakfast and went to school for the first time in the two…

A mayoral candidate was fatally shot in southern Mexico on Wednesday during a campaign rally, Guerrp state governor said, just days before Mexicans go to vote in a general election. The attack is the latest in a string of attacks on candidates ahead of the weekend vote. What we know about the killing According to a video published by local media, a person approached mayoral candidate Alfredo Cabrera and shot him several times, causing chaos and panic in the crowd. Cabrera was a candidate for an opposition coalition in the town of Coyuca de Benitez. In a post on social media…