Author: DW

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ordered Israel to stop its military offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.The top United Nations court said the humanitarian situation in Rafah had “deteriorated further” since its previous court order for Israel to improve it, adding that what was happening there was “disastrous”.It comes after South Africa put in an emergency request to the ICJ for it to order Israel to stop its Rafah assault.The ICJ president Nawaf Salam said: “The state of Israel shall… immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah governorate, which may inflict on…

Skip next section Zelenskyy visits Kharkiv amid Russia’s assault on region05/24/2024May 24, 2024Zelenskyy visits Kharkiv amid Russia’s assault on regionUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, discussing Russia’s assault on the region and battle for the border town of Vovchansk. In a social media post, Zelenskyy said he also received updates on the recovery of damaged energy infrastructure. “We paid special attention to the housing needs of our people who had been displaced from Kharkiv region territories targeted by enemy shelling,” he wrote. Seven people were killed in Russian strikes in Kharkiv on Thursday,…

Senthil Nayagam is the founder of Muonium, an Indian start-up that uses generative artificial intelligence (AI) to produce high quality videos. For India’s 2024 election season, Nayagam dabbled in political content creation using AI that brought long-deceased popular politicians back to life on screen. This included videos featuring M. Karunanidhi, the former chief minister of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu who died in 2018, and former Prime Ministers, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Narasimha Rao, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. “We are using AI, but we are doing it with good intentions. We don’t want to misuse the technology or…

Vladimir Putin is ready to halt the war in Ukraine with a ceasefire that recognises the current battlefield lines, four Russian sources have told the Reuters news agency.Three of the sources claimed that the Russian leader had expressed frustration about what he views as Western-backed attempts to hinder ceasefire negotiations. “Putin can fight for as long as it takes, but Putin is also ready for a ceasefire – to freeze the war,” a senior Russian source who has reportedly worked with Mr Putin and has knowledge of top-level conversations in the Kremlin, told Reuters.They said freezing the conflict along current…

Dissident Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof has arrived in Cannes to present his new film, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” just weeks after he escaped Iran, fleeing an 8-year prison sentence. Details of the director’s harrowing escape were made public last week after he had already arrived safely in Germany. He left Iran over the mountainous border by foot, after authorities sentenced him to a lengthy prison sentence, as well as a flogging. Rasoulof’s case dates back to 2022, when he was arrested and imprisoned in Tehran’s notorious Evin jail for signing a petition calling on security forces to “Lay Down Your…

For the first time in 15 years, an African leader is making a state visit to the US. This week Kenya’s President William Ruto took the historic step. But what’s next for the strategic alliance? Source link

A restaurant collapse on Spain’s Mediterranean island of Mallorca left at least four people dead and 16 others injured on Thursday night. According to Spanish media, the incident took place at around 8:30 p.m. local time (1830 GMT) in the Playa de Palma area, just south of the island’s capital, Palma de Mallorca. Emergency services said that the Medusa Beach Club on the Calle de Cartago, which consisted of a two-story restaurant, roof terrace and cellar bar, suddenly collapsed, trapping people downstairs. What we know about the victims On Friday, a spokesman for the local city council confirmed that the fatalities included two female…

Hundreds are feared dead after a landslide flattened dozens of homes and buried families alive in a remote in a remote part of Papua New Guinea.Rescue efforts are under way in the village of Kaokalam, which lies about 370 miles (600km) northwest of the South Pacific island nation’s capital, Port Moresby. Disaster struck at about 3am local time on Friday as people slept.Australian media reported that more than 100 people have been killed – although villagers believe this figure may be nearly 300. No official estimate has yet been made by the authorities.Footage posted on social media showed locals pulling…

The trial of Italian anti-fascist activist Ilaria Salis is set to begin in Hungary on Friday. Salis will stand trial in a Budapest court, where she will face charges of attacking two participants in a neo-Nazi march in February 2023. On Thursday, the 40-year-old teacher was released from a Hungarian prison and placed under house arrest after paying 16 million forints (€41,000) in bail. Incidentally, Salis is running in the upcoming European elections on June 9. What are the accusations against Salis? Salis faces three counts of attempted assault and accused of being involved in an extreme left-wing criminal organization following a…

Armenia on Friday returned to Azerbaijan four border villages it seized decades ago, officials in Yerevan and Baku said. The move is seen as a new step toward normalizing relations between the historic rivals. Armenian border guards “officially” took up new positions, Armenia’s national security service said. Meanwhile, Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev announced that Baku’s border guards had taken control of the four settlements in the Gazakh district on the border with Armenia under an agreement with Yerevan. On May 16, Baku and Yerevan agreed on the demarcation of 12.7 kilometers (almost seven miles) of their border that returned…