Author: DW

A Paris court on Tuesday acquitted filmmaker Roman Polanski in a defamation case brought by British actress Charlotte Lewis. Lewis had claimed that Polanski raped her in the 1980s when she was a teen. Polanski refuted the accusation in a 2019 interview, telling the French magazine Paris Match, “The basic quality of a good liar is an excellent memory.”  More to come…  js/rt (dpa, Reuters) Source link

At least two French prison officers were shot dead and three injured on Tuesday in an ambush on a prison van, French police said on Tuesday. The attackers escaped alongside an unarmed inmate. France has launched a major manhunt to find the fugitives, according to Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin. “All means are being used to find these criminals. On my instructions, several hundred police officers and gendarmes were mobilized,” Darmanin said on the platform X, formerly Twitter. Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti said two of the injured officers were in a critical state. “Absolutely everything will be done to find the…

What has the Biden administration announced? In a move that is likely to inflame trade tensions between the world’s two biggest economies, the Biden administration announced on Tuesday it was imposing more stringent curbs on Chinese imports worth $18 billion (€16.67 billion). After nearly four years of review, Washington will hike tariffs in targeted sectors, with Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) bearing the brunt of the increase. The total tariff on these vehicles will skyrocket to 102.5% from the current 27.5%. The new measures also target other technologies including batteries, solar cells, steel, and aluminum. Levies will rise from 7.5% to 25% on lithium batteries, from zero…

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”…

Hundreds of police officers have been deployed after heavily armed men attacked a prison convoy in France – with a convict who is reportedly nicknamed “The Fly” having escaped during the raid.Two male prison officers have been shot dead and three others were seriously injured during the ambush on a motorway in Incarville in northwest France at around 9am local time. Eric Dupond-Moretti, France’s minister of justice, has said one of the prison officers who was killed leaves behind a partner who was five months pregnant, while the other leaves a wife and two children.He added that two of those…

Delegates from the 211 FIFA members are to vote at a Congress in Bangkok on Friday, May 17 on where the 2027 Women’s World Cup will be held. This will be the first time that a full FIFA Congress decides whether a country or countries will host a Women’s World Cup. The previous nine World Cup hosts were decided either by the FIFA Executive Committee or later by the FIFA Council. The last World Cup, hosted by Australia and New Zealand last year, featured 32 teams for the first time. The 2027 edition of the tournament will remain at 32 teams.…

A concrete wall spanning 74 kilometers (45 miles) is to be built along a section of Iran’s border with Afghanistan and help close a known illegal crossing point, Iranian officials say. The wall is set to be 4 meters (13 feet) high and expanded with additional barbed wire fencing. The border between Iran and Afghanistan is about 920 kilometers long. For over 40 years, thousands have braved tough desert and mountain terrain to enter Iran and leave behind civil war and poverty. Now, they are once again fleeing the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Iranian authorities see their northeastern Razavi-Khorasan province and North and South Khorasan as the top destinations…

Orcas have sunk a yacht off the coast of Gibraltar – the latest in a string of similar attacks by the mammals over the past four years.The Alboran Cognac sailing vessel was rammed by an unknown number of killer whales in the Strait of Gibraltar at around 9am local time on Sunday, the Spanish maritime rescue service said. Two people were on board, who reported feeling blows to the boat’s hull and rudder before it started taking on water.They had to be rescued by a nearby oil tanker after they radioed the coastguard for help. The pair were taken to…

Economy ministers from the European Union’s 27 countries gave the final greenlight on Tuesday to an overhaul of the bloc’s migration and asylum policies.  The plan seeks tougher borders and shared responsibility of asylum seekers among the EU’s members.  The reform, comprised of 10 pieces of legislation, was backed by a majority of the bloc’s countries despite opposition from Hungary and Poland. The new rules come into effect from 2026.  The final approval comes shortly before the European Parliament election, with migration seen a major topic in many campaigns.  What is the EU migration reform? The so-called New Pact on Migration and Asylum is…

The White House said on Tuesday that it was increasing tariffs for goods from China worth some $18 billion (roughly €16.5 billion), calling it a response to Beijing’s “unfair” trade practices.  “China’s unfair trade practices concerning technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation are threatening American businesses and workers,” the White House said. “China is also flooding global markets with artificially low-priced exports.”  What’s being subjected to more tariffs? Perhaps the most notable and sharpest increase was for Chinese-built electric vehicles.  The tariff will increase from 25% to 100% for these, plus some other extra costs, with the White House citing “extensive…