Author: DW

“No more farmers, no more bread” was a popular slogan during the more than 200 street blockades organized by Polish farmers in February this year. Outside the Polish town of Kock, a two-hour drive from the Ukrainian border, for example, hundreds of tractors blocked a street to prevent cheap Ukrainian grain from entering the country. For farmers here, there’s another major worry: They fear that the entry of Poland’s eastern neighbor into the EUcould threaten their livelihoods. “They must forget about it. It’s a crazy idea,” one of the protesting farmers told DW during the blockade. For more than a decade, the EU seemed…

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said the social media company would put up a legal fight in court against a US law calling for its divestment from Chinese ownership.  “Make no mistake, this is a ban. A ban on TikTok and a ban on you and your voice,” Shou said in a video posted on the app shortly after the bill was signed into law by US President Joe Biden on Wednesday.  The newly signed law, which was passed through Congress in conjunction with a large-scale military aid bill for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, gives Chinese owner ByteDance nine months…

Iran has sentenced a renowned rapper to death for backing protests in the country, his lawyer has said.Hip-hop artist Toomaj Salehi, through his music, supported months of demonstrations in Iran in 2022 sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini who was arrested by morality police for allegedly wearing an “improper hijab”. Officials said Amini had suffered a heart attack and was taken to hospital, but her family blamed the police for her death, and reports say that she was beaten with batons and suffered a brain injury. Follow Sky News on WhatsApp Keep up with all the latest news from…

A girl with a story only needs a camera and a mic. Those are the main ingredients of GirlZ Off Mute. Aged 13–18, our teen reporters across Africa ask their own questions about the future. We have over 40 teen reporters Source link

The European Commission on Wednesday announced it is launching an investigation into Chinese public procurement of medical devices. The 27-member bloc fears China favors local suppliers under the “Buy China” policy. The Commission’s announcement comes weeks after it opened investigations into two Chinese solar panel manufacturers it suspected of receiving unfair subsidies from Beijing. What do we know about the probe into Chinese medical device procurement? The EU’s official journal said Brussels was concerned that Beijing was imposing conditions “leading to abnormally low bids that cannot be sustained by profit-oriented companies.” “The… restrictive measures and practices put at a significant and systematic…

The Israeli economy is showing signs of a return to normality despite the strain the war against Hamas has put on it. Although official economic data for the first three months of 2024 has yet to be released by the government, recent labor market data from the Central Bureau of Statistics and credit card transaction data from the Bank of Israel suggest the country’s economy is rebounding from the shock of the October 7 terror attacks and the war that has followed. Israel’s economy suffered a major contraction in the final quarter of 2023, following the terrorist attacks. Its economy…

China on Wednesday decried a fresh package of US military aid for Taiwan, which is intended to boost the island’s defenses in the case of a possible Chinese invasion.  The US Senate passed the $8 billion (€7.48 billion) military aid package late Tuesday, as part of larger legislation that includes fresh assistance for Israel and Ukraine. Having already passed the House, the bill will now head to US President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law. How can Taiwan defend itself from China?To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video China: US aid…

Mae Tao clinic in Mae Sot, a frontier town along the border with Myanmar, is a harrowing window into a civil war that has suddenly escalated.In the searing heat of early morning, the wards are packed full of patients, some with catastrophic injuries. We walk into a room full of amputees, many recently injured by airstrikes and landmines.Lying on a bed with his stomach held together by a bandage, we meet Maung Maung.His voice is incredibly strained, and he can hardly move. He’s just lost his two daughters. One was two years old, the other 14. “They were hiding in…

Police in Germany shot a man who was allegedly wielding a machete at the University of Mannheim on Tuesday afternoon. The suspect, a 31-year-old German national, later died in hospital. What happened at the university? The incident occurred when the man was reportedly being disruptive in the library of the economics faculty. Police said the man assaulted a library employee and was allegedly holding a large machete when officers arrived at the scene. Officers responded to the “threatening situation” by shooting the man, police said. The Mannheimer Morgen newspaper reported that lectures were taking place at the time and the building was subsequently evacuated.…

Lawmakers in the US state of Tennessee passed a law on Tuesday that would allow teachers to carry concealed guns in schools. The bill passed 68-28 vote in Tennessee’s Republican-dominated legislature, as protesters shouted from the visitors gallery, “Blood on your hands.”  It will now be sent for consideration by Governor Bill Lee, a Republican. “What you’re doing is you’re creating a deterrent,” said Republican State Representative Ryan Williams, who sponsored the bill. “Across our state, we have had challenges as it relates to shootings.” All Democrats plus four Republicans voted against the proposal. “My Republican colleagues continue to hold our…