Author: DW

Rory McIlroy has filed for divorce from his wife of seven years, Erica Stoll, on the eve of the PGA Championship.According to court records in Palm Beach County, Florida, the couple, who met during the Ryder Cup in 2012, are now heading their separate ways. They began dating two years later and married in 2017 before going on to have one daughter, Poppy, in September 2020.The filing was first made on Monday and a statement from McIlroy’s manager, Sean O’Flaherty, confirmed the split.He said: “Rory McIlroy’s communications team confirmed today that a divorce has been filed. “They stressed Rory’s desire…

Catalans voted on Sunday in a regional election which could serve as a barometer for the level of support for seceding from Spain. According to a near-complete count of the ballots, the Socialists under Salvador Illa became the largest party, achieving 42 seats.  However, this is far from the 68 seats required for an absolute majority in the chamber. The Socialists will therefore need to win the support of other parties.  Meanwhile, separatist parties appear to have lost power in Catalonia. The four pro-independence parties, led by former regional president Carles Puigdemont’s Junts party, were set to win a total of 61 seats. Sanchez…

Two years ago, Russia tried to capture Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv. Now, it has launched a second attempt. Until recently, experts were certain that Russian operations near Kharkiv were little more than a propaganda effort, believing Russia lacked the forces to take the city. In early May, however, Russia took control of several villages in the north of the Kharkiv region, stoking fears it was pushing to capture the region’s capital as well. Should that happen, Ukraine would not only lose more territory, but also one of its key cities. Kharkiv is an economic and cultural hub, and has come to symbolize Ukrainian resilience against…

Eight people have died and another eight were critically injured after a bus carrying farm workers crashed and overturned in Florida.The bus was transporting 53 workers when it collided with a pickup truck in Marion County, north of Orlando, the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) said. The bus then swerved off State Road 40 – a hilly two-lane road that goes through farms – and crashed through a fence, before overturning, authorities said.The incident took place at 6.35am local time on Tuesday and it is unclear why the two vehicles crashed.A total of 40 people needed hospital treatment – eight of…

One of the most esteemed contemporary writers, Canadian author Alice Munro, has passed away at the age of 92 in her home in Ontario, a spokesperson for her publisher confirmed on Tuesday. A titan of short-story writing, Munro revolutionized the architecture of short stories and demonstrated that the format was worthy of the Nobel Prize. She published 14 original short-story collections and several short-story compilations. With this body of work, she became the first Canadian to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013. “Dear Life” was the title Munro gave to her last work, a 2012 collection of short stories. Some…

The Georgian parliament on Tuesday approved in the third and final reading a divisive bill that sparked weeks of mass protests. It requires media, NGOs, and other non-profits to declare themselves as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they are more than 20% funded from outside Georgia.  Critics have called it a threat to domestic freedoms and the country’s aspirations to join the European Union. They have also drawn comparisons with comparable rules introduced in Russia in recent years.  Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze recently defended the plans, saying the law was “solely aimed at promoting transparency and accountability.”…

Protesters in Pakistan-administered Kashmir ended their rallies on Tuesday after organizers accepted an aid package and price reduction measures from the government. Pakistan and India both control part of the Himalayan region but claim it in full. It has been a major flashpoint between the two nuclear powers that have fought three wars over the territory. Pakistan-administered Kashmir is divided into a semi-autonomous region officially known as “Azad Kashmir” and the federally administered territory of Gilgit-Baltistan. What do we know about the ‘Azad Kashmir’ protests? The protests against price hikes broke out last Friday. Nadeem Janjua, who is the deputy…

A prisoner is on the run in France after escaping during an ambush that left two prison guards dead. The inmate was being transported in a prison van when heavily armed and hooded men set upon the convoy. Here is what we know so far about the inmate and how he escaped.Who is the prison escapee?The escaped prisoner is Mohamed Amra, who is nicknamed “La Mouche”, or “The Fly”, according to reports by French media. The 30-year-old is a drug dealer from northern France, police sources said.One of the sources said Amra is suspected of ordering a murder in Marseille and…

For decades, the small Arab Gulf state of Kuwait has been one of the most democratic countries in the Middle East. Although the oil-rich country is ruled by a royal family, which gets to appoint Kuwait’s prime minister, it also has an elected parliament representing diverse interests, consistently high voter turnout, and a political opposition that may criticize the monarchy (within limits). This is why Kuwait has been described by long-time observers as “an oasis of democracy” and a “liberal outlier” among autocratic Arabian Gulf states. In Freedom House rankings, Kuwait and Lebanon are the only countries in the Middle East classified “partly free”…

What does Nakba mean? The Arabic word Nakba means catastrophe, or disaster. In reference to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict , the term Nakba or al-Nakba refers to the Palestinians having lost their homeland during and after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. It’s thought that around 700,000 people in what is now Israel either fled or were forced from their homes. Many Palestinian refugees abroad remain stateless to this day. By the time the war was over, some 700,000 Palestinians had left or been expelled from their homesImage: Eldan David/Pressebüro der Regierung Israels/picture alliance /dpa What is Nakba Day? May 15, 1948 was the beginning…