Author: DW

China has tested its ability to “seize power” by launching mock missile strikes on Taiwan and pretending to bomb foreign assets.The two-day tests were staged to punish Taiwan’s new president, Lai Ching-te, who China has previously denounced as being a “dangerous separatist”. China dispatched fighter jets carrying live missiles along with bombers on Friday, state broadcaster CCTV said.The bombers set up several attack formations in waters east of Taiwan – which China views as its own territory. Mock attacks were carried out in coordination with naval vessels, CCTV added. Image: China launched mock missile strikes on Taiwan. Image: Chinese warships…

These are exactly the headlines that the German government was desperate to avoid. “Scholz spokesman hints: Germany would arrest Netanyahu,” ran the headline of the country’s highest-circulation broadsheet, Bild, on Wednesday evening. Die Welt newspaper chimed in: “Germany would extradite Netanyahu, government spokesman hints.” Is it really conceivable that Germany would arrest or even extradite the leader of Israel if the International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu? For the leader of the biggest opposition party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Friedrich Merz, the mere thought of this is absurd. “The silence of the German…

The International Court of Justice, which is colloquially known as the World Court, ordered Israel to cease its offensive in southern Gaza on Friday in yet another blow to the country’s international standing. Judges said evacuation efforts were insufficient to alleviate the “immense risk” for civilians. “Israel must immediately halt its military offensive or any other action in the Rafah governorate which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part,” ICJ President Nawaf Salam said. Two weeks ago, and despite warnings from its allies, Israel launched…

Meals will be halted and crew will be told to strap in during turbulence, Singapore Airlines has said, as it introduces new safety measures following a fatal flight earlier this week.Geoff Kitchen, 73, from Gloucestershire, died from a suspected heart attack as the SQ321 flight he was on encountered sudden extreme turbulence on Tuesday and was forced to make an emergency landing in Bangkok. The Boeing 777-300ER, carrying 211 passengers, was travelling from London to Singapore when people were jolted out of their seats as the aircraft shuddered in mid-air. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player…

US President Joe Biden and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi have reached an agreement on aid delivery to Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing, Cairo says. The plan is for Egypt to hand over humanitarian aid and fuel to the United Nations at the crossing temporarily until there is a legal mechanism to reach and reopen the Rafah crossing from the Palestinian side. In a phone call, Biden and al-Sissi also affirmed their rejection of all attempts to displace Palestinians from their land, and their support for all means to prevent the aggravation and expansion of the conflict. The crossing agreement aims to reverse a dramatic drop in UN aid entering…

Severe flooding in northern Afghanistan over the past week has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people. The country’s Taliban government reports that more than 1,500 people have been injured and thousands of homes damaged or destroyed. Heavy rainfall was immediately followed by hot weather, which has hampered rescue efforts. Speaking from the Afghan capital Kabul, Thomas ten Boer, the country director of the non-governmental aid organization Welthungerhilfe, told DW: “In some areas, the temperature has risen to more than 30 degrees. Many villages are buried in mud, which dries and becomes hard, making it very difficult to remove.…

The daughter and son-in-law of a Republican politician are among three Americans killed by gangs in Haiti.Davy and Natalie Lloyd, a missionary couple in the country, were shot dead in capital Port-au-Prince after being ambushed as they left a youth group activity held at a local church, according to a police official. Their identities were confirmed in a Facebook post from Ms Lloyd’s father, Missouri state representative Ben Baker.A third person, as yet unnamed, was also killed during the attack on Thursday evening in the community of Lizon in northern Port-au-Prince, Lionel Lazarre, head of a Haitian police union, told…

After a string of scandals and just two weeks out from EU elections, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has been ejected from the European Parliamentary group it shared with France’s Rassemblement National among others. “The Bureau of the Identity and Democracy Group in the European Parliament has decided today to exclude the German delegation, AfD, with immediate effect,” the political faction announced on Thursday. The decision comes after Maximilian Krah, the AfD lead candidate in next month’s poll, had to fire a senior staff member who was arrested on suspicion of spying for China. Krah’s own ties to both China and Russia…

Cockroaches boast some impressive skills: They can move incredibly fast, they can make themselves totally flat in order to squeeze through tiny cracks, and their feet are equipped with special adhesive organs, as well as claws, that enable them to climb even smooth vertical surfaces. Above all, cockroaches are incredibly resilient. A roach’s carapace is capable of resisting 900 times its body weight, which makes them virtually unsquashable. Even most insecticides have little effect on them. And this is a big problem, because cockroaches act as vectors for a great many bacteria, viruses and fungi. They can trigger allergies and cause diarrhea,…

A crowd of mountain climbers were left stuck on the summit of Mount Everest as snow and ice slid off the world’s highest peak, leading to the disappearance of two climbers, including a British man.Videos and photos on social media show what appears to be hundreds of people on the Hillary Step, a nearly vertical rock face near the top of Everest at around 8,800m. Disaster struck when the snow cornice could not stand the weight and collapsed, dragging some climbers down the side of the mountain.Vinayak Malla, an International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations (IFMGA) guide climbing Everest on…