Author: DW

Setting red lines is all very well, as long as you follow through when they are crossed. President Joe Biden knows that all too well.But he also knows that if he follows through on this big new red line of withholding offensive weapons for Israel it could cost him dearly domestically. The push-me-pull-you balance of geopolitics and domestic politics is intensely difficult right now for the American president.Gaza latest: Follow live updatesI’ll break this down into two parts. The politics in a moment. First the challenges of red lines. Western leaders throw them down in interviews, like Mr Biden’s pronouncement…

Rescue teams in South Africa were racing against time on Wednesday to find more survivors after a deadly building collapse in the country’s Western Cape province, as search operations entered a third day. Rescuers used underground cameras and sniffer dogs amid the rubble, looking for nearly 40 construction workers still missing, two days after the collapse of an apartment building under construction in the city of George. At least eight people were killed as an under-construction five-story building collapsed on Monday for reasons that are still to be determined.Cranes and other heavy lifting equipment were brought in to lift some of the huge concrete slabs that came…

Luis Rubiales, the former president of the Spanish football federation, will stand trial for kissing a female player after Spain won the women’s World Cup.The 46-year-old kissed Jenni Hermoso on the lips following Spain’s 1-0 win over England last August in Sydney. Hermoso, 34, has testified in court that the kiss was not consensual.Rubiales faces one count of sexual assault and one of coercion for his alleged actions in the aftermath of the kiss.The offences carry prison terms of one year and 18 months, respectively. Spain’s High Court said it would also try the former coach of the women’s team,…

Russian forces will push into the heart of Ukraine if they succeed in capturing the frontline town of Chasiv Yar and the wider Donbas region, a Ukrainian governor has warned.Vadym Filashkin, governor of the eastern Donetsk region, told Sky News his country’s soldiers would not allow this to happen and would do “everything possible – and impossible” to push the Russian invaders back. But he said Vladimir Putin’s troops were attempting to break through Ukraine’s defensive lines, with between 1,500 to 2,500 artillery rounds and airstrikes fired in the region daily.Ukraine war latest: ‘Undeclared Russian military intelligence officer’ expelled from…

President Joe Biden has warned Israel in his toughest public comments so far that the US would stop supplying it with some weapons if Israel invades the southern Gaza city of Rafah.If Israeli forces launch an all-out assault on the city, the last major Hamas stronghold in the besieged enclave, the US president said “we’re not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells used, that have been used”. In an interview with CNN, Mr Biden acknowledged US weapons have been used by Israel which have killed civilians in Gaza during its seven-month offensive aimed at destroying Hamas.Middle East latest:…

Greta Thunberg, the Swedish climate activist who inspired the “Fridays for Future” movement, was ordered to pay 6,000 Swedish crowns ($550, €512) by a Stockholm court on  Wednesday. Thunberg was accused of ignoring police orders to leave two protests in front of Sweden’s Parliament in March calling for action to be taken against climate change. What did Thunberg say in court? The activist was being charged with two counts of civil disobedience. She has denied the charges in court. She told the judge she refused to move because “there was a (climate) emergency and there still is. And in an emergency, we all…

It’s hard to overstate the importance of Victory Day in Russia, which marks the anniversary of the end of the Second World War.The patriotic fervour has been building for the past fortnight. Moscow has been coloured red with giant flags on almost every corner. Buses, rubbish lorries and even tractors bear some reference to 9 May.The day will see a huge military parade on Red Square, involving troops, tanks and missile launchers. This year, the 79th anniversary, is not exactly a major milestone – so why is it so big?I think it can be summed up by three Ps: pain,…

Bayern Munich were two minutes plus added time away from setting up a repeat of 2013’s all-German Champions League final at Wembley before two late goals from Real Madrid’s Joselu sent the Spanish giants through to face Borussia Dortmund instead. After enduring waves of Madrid pressure, Bayern took the lead against the run play through Alphonso Davies, who cut inside and fired an unstoppable shot past Andriy Lunin in the Madrid goal. It was almost the winner, but 14-times Champions League winners Real Madrid inevitably had other ideas. First, Manuel Neuer, who had pulled off a series of spectacular saves throughout the game,…

Porn star Stormy Daniels has described to jurors an awkward and unexpected sexual encounter she claims she had with Donald Trump in 2006.Ms Daniels was testifying at the former president’s criminal trial over hush money she was paid to keep silent about the alleged encounter during the presidential race. But it was not all bad news for Mr Trump. On the day the court heard from Ms Daniels, his trial in Florida on charges of illegally keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence after leaving office, scheduled to start on 20 May, was postponed indefinitely by a federal judge.Ms Daniels,…

Pre-election polls and the outcome of the first round of the presidential election on April 24 indicate that a convincing victory is within reach for the opposition nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party in North Macedonia. Opposition candidate Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, a 70-year-old retired law professor, gathered twice as many votes as Stevo Pendarovski, North Macedonia’s incumbent president and candidate of the ruling Social Democrats, who received less than 20% — a mere 180,000 votes. Dissatisfied with the country’s stalled EU accession process, weak economy and pervasive corruption, many voters decided to support the opposition candidate in the first round of the presidential election,…