Author: DW

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday criticized Donald Trump for reposting a video with Nazi-era language on his social media account. “This is Hitler’s language, not America’s,” Biden said during a fundraiser in Boston in the northeastern state of Massachusetts. The video, reposted by Trump on his Truth Social media account, referred to a “united reich” if the Republican former president wins the 2024 election against incumbent Democratic President Joe Biden. The German word “Reich,” meaning “empire,” is associated with Nazi Germany. Under Adolf Hitler from 1933 to 1945 six million Jews in Europe were murdered in the Holocaust.  White House: Trump repost ‘abhorrent, sickening…

The 73-year-old British man who died from a suspected heart attack after “sudden extreme turbulence” on a London-Singapore flight has been named as Geoff Kitchen.Dozens more were injured in the incident, with passengers describing people being “launched into the ceiling” and overhead lockers.Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 from Heathrow was forced to make an emergency landing at Bangkok Airport in Thailand.Mr Kitchen, from Thornbury near Bristol, was on a six-week holiday with his wife to Singapore, Indonesia and Australia. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 6:42 Extreme turbulence comes ‘out of the blue’ In a post on…

As more protesters voice their support for Palestinians in Gaza in streets around the world, the UN General Assembly has expanded the rights of Palestine within the global body.  Now, five EU members are planning to extend their solidarity to the population of Gaza by officially recognizing Palestine as a sovereign country. This is seen as a step toward the two-state solution, which is looking increasingly less likely for the Israeli government as it presses ahead with its offensive in Rafah. After the October 7 attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israeli forces would destroy Hamas, the militant organization that…

EU ministers on Tuesday signed off on a landmark law that sets out rules for using artificial intelligence in situations and sectors that are deemed particularly sensitive. Under the law, AI systems used in areas such as law enforcement and employment will have to demonstrate that they are adequately transparent and accurate, fulfill cybersecurity standards and meet criteria regarding the quality of the data used to train them. The vote by EU countries came two months after the European Parliament backed the AI legislation. The bloc’s law goes well beyond the voluntary compliance approach to AI in the US, for example,…

Police are investigating the source of the ketamine which killed actor Matthew Perry, it has emerged.Perry, who was best known for playing wise-cracking Chandler Bing in Friends, died at his LA home last October after being found unresponsive in a swimming pool. A post-mortem found his death was an accident from “the acute effects of ketamine”.Ketamine is a sedative that can be used as a recreational drug, as well as to treat depression.Read more: Matthew Perry – A life in pictures Los Angeles Police Department says it is working with the Drug Enforcement Agency as part of an investigation into…

Political activist Netiporn “Bung” Sanesangkhom suffered cardiac arrest last Tuesday morning and was pronounced dead just before noon, according to a statement from Thailand’s Corrections Department. The 28-year-old woman died in pre-trial detention, not long after coming off hunger strike. She was facing trial for “insulting” Thailand’s royal family. Bung had two charges of lese majeste pending against her, both of them involving conducting polls in public spaces in 2022 asking people’s opinion about the royal family, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), a legal aid group.Netiporn ‘Bung’ Sanesangkhom (center) is the first activist to die in custody…

The Israeli government on Tuesday stopped the Associated Press (AP) news agency from taking a live video feed from Gaza.  AP had been filming northern Gaza from the southern Israeli town of Sderot, in order to provide footage of the Gaza war. Israel is currently engaged in a military operation in Gaza against the Palestinian militant-Islamist group Hamas following the October 7 terror attacks. Israel accuses AP of providing footage to Al Jazeera The Israeli communications ministry said in a statement that its inspectors had “confiscated” equipment from AP at the direction of the Israeli government “in accordance with the law.” Later Tuesday,…

Donald Trump did not take the stand in his hush money trial, as jurors could start deliberating on whether or not he is guilty next week.Mr Trump, 77, is accused of falsifying business records over hush money payments to the porn star Stormy Daniels in the lead-up to his 2016 presidential campaign. But on day 20 of the trial, the former president’s defence rested without calling him to the stand. Instead, former federal prosecutor Robert Costello was called as the final witness.Follow latest: Defence rests case without calling TrumpJudge Juan Merchan said he expects closing arguments to happen on 28…

The first of several funeral ceremonies began in Iran on Tuesday for President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and other victims of Sunday’s helicopter crash near the Azerbaijan border. It comes after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared five days of mourning for the late president. State TV broadcast live images of mourners, many of them dressed in black, gathering in the city of Tabriz on Tuesday. Raisi’s body was later flown from Tabriz, the closest major city to the remote crash site, to Tehran airport before heading to the holy Shiite Muslim city of Qom. From there,…

In the wake of a thwarted coup attempt in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) over the weekend, Congolese and foreign observers alike are expressing uncertainty about the future. On Sunday, the Congolese army announced that it had foiled a coup attempt in Kinshasa involving both Congolese and foreign citizens — including three US nationals and a naturalized British subject. A group of approximately 50 men in camouflage had allegedly attacked the residences of the prime minister, the defense minister and the likely future President of the National Assembly, Vital Kamerhe. They later breached the Palais de la Nation in central…