Author: DW

Starving children and adults in Gaza are dying after being reduced to the “size of a skeleton”, according to the World Food Programme boss.Cindy McCain, executive director of the UN agency, said her staff describe it as “a complete disaster” and there are serious problems getting trucks in safely and in sufficient numbers.Israel’s offensive following the Hamas attack on 7 October has displaced much of Gaza’s population, many of whom are fleeing again as Israel escalates attacks in the southern city of Rafah.Hundreds of thousands are starving and desperate, and Mrs McCain told Sky News the reality is devastating. Image:…

Far-right Dutch firebrand Geert Wilders on Wednesday announced that he and the leaders of three right-wing parties have finally come to agreement over the formation of a coalition government. Speaking in The Hague, Wilders, who will not serve as prime minister, said, “We have a negotiators’ agreement and we will return to the position of prime minister at a later moment.” It is widely thought that such a candidate will be a technocrat from outside the political system.  Wilders had long desired the job but was seen as too risky to be a national leader, hence he has put his…

Israel’s relentless war against Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that rules the Gaza Strip, is leading to increasingly strained ties with Egypt. Relations between the two states have taken a turn for the worse since Israeli troops seized control of the Hamas-controlled side of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt on May 6.  In photos that have since gone viral, Israeli soldiers can be seen raising the Israeli flag near the border crossing. Since then, Egypt has kept its side of the border shut and has said it will remain closed as long as Israeli troops are on the Gaza side. It…

South Africa has told a UN court the situation in Gaza is at a “new and horrific stage” – as it tries to convince it to order a ceasefire and stop Israel’s operation in Rafah.It was the third time the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has held hearings on Gaza since December, when South Africa first accused Israel of genocide.”Seven months ago South Africa could not have imagined that Gaza would be largely wiped off the map,” the country’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Vusimuzi Madonsela, told judges.Israel denies allegations of genocide and says it takes great care to avoid civilian…

05/16/2024May 16, 2024Ukraine accuses Russian troops of war crimes in Kharkiv regionUkraine has accused Russian troops of kidnapping civilians and killing a non-combatant in the city of Vovchansk in the northeastern Kharkiv region, which has again become a key front in the war. “The first shootings of civilians by the Russian military have become known,” Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko wrote on his Telegram channel. According to Klymenko, a resident who tried to flee and defied Russian orders was killed. Other residents of the embattled city were prevented from leaving, “kidnapped and driven into cellars,” he wrote. Meanwhile, the head of…

Activists in Pakistan-administered Kashmir say the recent protests over soaring food and energy costs reflect larger problems involving the semi-autonomous region’s local government and the central government in Islamabad. On Monday evening, four people, including one police officer, were killed after paramilitary forces, called rangers, responded to protests in the regional capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Muzaffarabad. An estimated 100 people were injured. Authorities also shut off internet services and closed schools in response to the unrest.  Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif approved $82 million (€75 million) worth of subsidies on Tuesday in a bid to defuse the situation by partly…

Spanish police say they have dismantled a drug distribution network run by a major South American cartel after seizing 1.8 tonnes of methamphetamine.The Sinaloa cartel was using vehicles with false bottoms to send illegal drugs on to other European countries, Spain’s National Police said. Officers, who had doubted the cartel was established in Spain, made five arrests after raiding six properties in the Valencia region.Those detained included a Mexican national thought to be the group’s leader, as well as three Spanish people and one Romanian, police said. Follow Sky News on WhatsApp Keep up with all the latest news from…

European Union regulators have opened a formal investigation into Facebook and Instagram over child protection concerns, the European Commission said on Thursday. The Commission said in a statementthat systems of both Facebook and Instagram, including the algorithms, may “exploit the weaknesses and inexperience of minors and cause addictive behaviour.” It also noted concerns over so-called “rabbit-hole” effect which it said “draw you in to more and more disturbing content,” according to the statement. The bloc is also looking into potential privacy concerns and also minors’ potential access to inappropriate content. The European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton said the bloc was not convinced Meta had done enough to…

The ruling ANC is projected to lose its majority in the May 29 elections. For many voters, the polls offer another shot at restoring hope in South Africa’s democracy. Source link

A Turkish court on Thursday sentenced Selahattin Demirtas, the former leader of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party, or HDP, to 42 years in prison for his alleged role in deadly protests in 2014 that were triggered by an Islamic State attack on the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani. Another leading pro-Kurdish politician, Figen Yuksekdag, was sentenced to just over 30 years. Many other senior HDP figures were convicted among a total of 108 defendants charged with 29 offenses, including murder and harming the unity of the Turkish state. At least 10 other defendants were acquitted of the charges against them.…