Author: DW

Palestinian militant group Hamas said in a statement on Saturday that it was reviewing Israel’s latest counterproposal for a cease-fire in Gaza. “The movement will study this proposal, and upon completion of its study, it will submit its response,” Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas’ deputy Gaza chief currently based in Qatar, said of the proposal presented to Egyptian and the Qatari mediators on April 13. Hamas, recognized as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, and Israel, among others, had earlier submitted a proposal for a permanent cease-fire, which Israel rejected. After more than six months of the Israel-Hamas war…

The money that we use to buy things is only printed paper or stamped metal. If the payment is electronic, as is increasingly the case, then it’s no more than electronic data. Money’s actual value comes from the trust we have in it: Every person should be able to count on the fact that the paper or metal they possess is worth precisely what it has been marked as being worth. Counterfeit currency causes economic damage that affects everyone. Anyone who happens to be paid with counterfeit money or receives it as change, bears additional costs, as it can be confiscated by law…

A journalist for the Russian edition of the US business magazine Forbes has been placed under house arrest after being accused of disseminating “false information” about the armed forces, the Russian state-run RIA news agency said on Saturday. Sergei Mingazov has been held in the Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk since Friday, his magazine said. He was reportedly ordered into house arrest following a hearing at a court in the city on Saturday. Mingazov is the latest prominent figure to fall foul of laws introduced by the Kremlin after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 that criminalize any statements seen as…

The daughter of a British man who died in Cambodia says she has been left with unanswered questions – and claims the Foreign Office isn’t “doing enough” to address them.Sonny Suberu, 60, was found dead in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh following a fall from the 22nd floor of his hotel on 26 March.The retired IT consultant and author from London was on a solo trip through South Asia and had travelled the world extensively.Cambodian authorities say Mr Suberu’s death was suicide but his daughter Shannon doesn’t believe the police account – and points out another man fell to…

Togo’s parliament adopted a new constitution last weekend, paving the way to transition from a presidential to a parliamentary regime in Togo. This has sparked great debate across the nation, with both opposition leader and civil society groups decrying the change in the political landscape as an attempted power grab by President Faure Gnassingbe. The shift from a semi-presidential to a parliamentary regime marks a notable departure from Togo’s political tradition. Dodji Apevon, leader of the opposition party Action Committee for Renewal, told DW that the parliamentary decision to change the constitution needs to be overturned. “Whatever it costs us, we will fight. We are all…

Joe Biden has said he would be open to debate his presumptive Republican opponent Donald Trump ahead of November’s presidential election.The US president was speaking to radio host Howard Stern on Sirius XM, who asked Mr Biden if he would debate Mr Trump, to which he said: “I am, somewhere. I don’t know when. But I’m happy to debate him.” His answer is the clearest indication Mr Biden has given on the prospect of a clash between the two, having evaded the idea so far.In March, Mr Biden entertained the notion when he said a debate with Mr Trump “depends…

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Friday that pasteurized milk is safe, despite the recent outbreak of bird flu affecting herds of cows in the country. It comes a day after they said one in five retail milk samples tested positive for viral fragments. Additional tests showed that the pasteurization process killed the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) causing concern. Preliminary results indicated “pasteurization is effective in inactivating HPAI,” the FDA said on Friday. Risk to public remains low The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirmed dairy cows in Colorado tested positive for bird flu, following earlier infections in Texas, Kansas, Michigan, Ohio,…

The Canadian province of British Columbia is reversing its policy of allowing the open use of hard drugs in public. Premier David Eby said Friday that police will soon have the power again to enforce drug use laws in all public places, including hospitals, restaurants, parks, and beaches. It brings to an end a much-criticized pilot program that allowed the personal use of some illegal drugs, including cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA, heroin, morphine, and fentanyl.  The program launched in January last year, to remove the stigma associated with drug use that keeps people from seeking help, was supposed to run for three years.  ‘Addiction a health issue’…

The family of a missing high school student who may have been the first victim of a suspected serial killer in Mexico City have protested at the site where bones were found last week.The bones were discovered with the belongings of at least six women, police said, and Amairany Roblero’s relatives have been told that evidence was found relating to her 2012 disappearance.Ms Roblero was 18 when she vanished and, as is often the case in Mexico, her family was left to investigate her disappearance with little help from prosecutors.Family friend Alejandra Jimenez said: “The prosecutors had the case file…

A court in Bucharest, Romania, on Friday gave the green light for the start of the human trafficking trial of controversial influencer Andrew Tate after rejecting appeals lodged by the defendants as “unfounded.” What did the court rule? The Bucharest Tribunal ruled that the prosecutors’ case file against Tate met the legal criteria. However, it did not set a date for the trial to begin. The court has “established the legality of the administration of evidence and the execution of acts by the criminal prosecution authorities and orders the start of the trial,” a statement said.  Tate’s spokesperson, Mateea Petrescu, said the ruling…