Author: DW

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday ordered Israel to “immediately” halt its military offensive in the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip. Panel judges voted 13 to 2 in favor of the order, which characterized the humanitarian situation in Gaza as “disastrous” and “catastrophic.” What has the ICJ said? The ICJ said Israel must “immediately halt its military offensive and any other action in the Rafah Governorate which may inflict on Palestinian groups in Gaza conditions of life that would bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.” It added that Israel…

A town in Thailand known for its monkeys has grown weary of them keeping customers and potential residents away.Locals have begun an offensive against the monkeys in Lopburi, central Thailand – using ripe tropical fruit as bait to lure them into cages. The animals have become a symbol of Lopburi, a town 90 miles north of Bangkok, which is home to about 2,500 monkeys. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 1:22 Overrun town uses fruit to trap monkeys Several high-profile cases of monkey-human conflict recently convinced the authorities that their numbers had to be slashed.Footage of…

Three years of military rule in Chad has ended with President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno officially taking office after his swearing in on Thursday. He succeeds his late father, Idriss Deby Itno, who ruled for more than 30 years after taking power by leading a coup in 1990.  Deby took power after his father was killed by rebels while commanding troops fighting rebels in the country’s north in 2021. The return to constitutional rule in Chad makes it the first of six junta-led states in West and Central Africa to hold elections and transition back to democracy.  DW’s West Africa correspondent, Bram Posthumous, explained how the long-delayed May 6 election…

Journalists in Indonesia are decrying the parliament’s plans to revise the country’s broadcasting law in ways they say will muzzle press freedom. Herik Kurniawan, chairman of the Indonesian Television Journalists Association (IJTI), told DW that the broadcasting law would amount to “press castration.” “With this regulation, we can’t do anything, can’t investigate, can’t produce exclusive journalism,” he said. “For example, in a corruption case, we should be able to cover it exclusively.” Why do journalists oppose the broadcasting bill? According to the International Federation of Journalists, the proposed revisions include an article prohibiting digital and television broadcasts of “exclusive investigative journalism.”…

A terminally-ill British woman who chose to end her life by assisted dying on a secluded New Zealand beach surrounded by close family and friends has been remembered for her “selflessness, intellect, and pragmatism”.Tracy Hickman, 57, who was treated for breast cancer in 2019 only for it to return and aggressively spread last year, had urged the UK to change its laws on euthanasia before she passed away on Wednesday. Having been given only two to three months to live, the Auckland-based marathon enthusiast was eligible for assisted dying under New Zealand’s End of Life Choice Act, which was introduced…

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 tabloid, the Bild, on Wednesday evening. Die Welt newspaper chimed in: “Germany would extradite Netanyahu, government spokesman hints.” Is that 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…

French President Emmanuel Macron was beaming with joy during a press conference with Microsoft President Brad Smith held on the sidelines of a special investment summit in Paris earlier in May. The US software giant had just announced additional investments of €4 billion ($4.3 billion) in data centers and the artificial intelligence (AI) sector in France until 2027. “[Microsoft’s new] data centre will be one of Europe’s biggest and help us be one of the data storage and AI leaders,” Macron claimed. Last summer, France published a national AI strategy with €500 million to be invested in the creation of AI clusters until…

Right now, two competing versions of the internet are evolving. The US-based version is dominated by companies like Meta, Alphabet and Apple, which are leading consumption and commerce. The Chinese internet, on the other hand, is designed as a service and surveillance platform. Chines companies such as ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent have almost unrestricted market sovereignty in this internet. The Chinese version is being promoted by Beijing in as the “Digital Silk Road,” as a digital arm of the wider Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). A recent report from the London-based think Article 19 on China exporting “digital repression in…

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,…