Author: DW

Turkey on Thursday suspended all trade with Israel, citing the “worsening humanitarian tragedy” in Gaza. “Export and import transactions related to Israel have been stopped, covering all products,” Turkey’s trade ministry said in a statement. It said the measures would stay in place until Israel allowed “an uninterrupted and sufficient flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.” The two countries had a trade volume of $6.8 billion (€6.3 billion) in 2023. Katz blames Erdogan for breaking agreements Earlier, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of breaking agreements by blocking Israeli exports and imports. “This is how a…

Taiwan detected a renewedincursion by Chinese aircraft around the democratically-governed island, Taiwan’s defense ministry said on Friday, as China reported that its navy had conducted combat exercises with landing craft. A statement from Taipei said that at least 14 Chinese military aircraft crossed the Taiwan Strait’s median line and entered Taiwan’s northern and central ADIZ (air defense identification zone). The median line is used to serve as an unofficial border between the two sides. However, China does not recognise the line’s existence and Chinese military aircraft now cross it regularly. The sorties come ahead of the May 20 inauguration of President…

A scuba dive boat captain has been jailed four years for criminal negligence over a fire that killed 34 people.Captain Jerry Boylan was also sentenced to three years supervised release by a federal judge in Los Angeles, California.The blaze on the vessel named Conception in September 2019 was the deadliest maritime disaster in recent American history.Boylan was found guilty of one count of misconduct or neglect of ship officer last year. Image: Captain Jerry Boylan. Pic: AP The charge is a pre-Civil War statute, known colloquially as seaman’s manslaughter, and was designed to hold steamboat captains and crew responsible for…

“There was no such word as ‘rest’ on Chinese fishing vessels,” explained a former crew member to a group of investigators from the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), a London-based NGO. “If there were a lot of fish, the work could be up to 22 hours long.” The testimony was part of a recently released report by the EJF accusing China’s fishing fleets of environmental and human rights abuses in the southwestern Indian Ocean.  As a leading fishing nation, China’s distant water fishing (DWF) industry is the world’s largest in both catch volume and fleet size. And according to the Illegal, Unreported and…

Senior officials from the United Nations, European Union and United States have condemned Georgia’s attempt to pass a “foreign influence” law that critics say would muzzle independent media and rights groups. “I urge Georgian authorities to withdraw this draft law, and to engage in dialogue, including with civil society and media organizations,” UN rights chief Volker Türk said on Thursday. “Labeling NGOs and media outlets receiving foreign funding as ‘organizations acting in the interest of a foreign power’ poses serious threats to the rights to freedom of expression and association.”Tens of thousands of Georgians protested against the bill outside the…

At least 15 people have been hurt, including 11 Britons, in a crash between tourist minibuses in Turkey. One of those injured, a 53-year-old British man, is in a life-threatening condition, Turkish media reported on Thursday. A witness claimed one of the semi-open vehicles smashed into the back of the other bus in the Manavgat district of Antalya, which is a popular destination for tourists.It then swerved off the road and overturned – causing passengers to be thrown from the vehicle.An Irish tourist was also hurt, along with three staff working for the tour company, according to reports. Image: One…

Reliable, cheap and low carbon — since coming into use over a hundred years ago, hydropower has become a vital clean energy source, today providing more electricity than all other renewables combined. But recent power shortages in Ecuador and Colombia have highlighted its vulnerability in the face of climate change.  A drought fueled by the El Nino weather phenomenon has reduced reservoir water levels in hydropower plants, which both countries rely on for most of their electricity. This has led Ecuador to declare a state of emergency and institute power cuts. In neighboring Colombia, water has been rationed in the…

Brazilian archer Graziela Santos is an exceptional athlete. “I am the first Indigenous woman on the Brazilian archery team,” she told DW. “This is a historic milestone for all of us.” Santos wants to become the first Indigenous woman ever to compete for Brazil at the Olympic Games. Getting a ticket to Paris would not only be the fulfillment of a personal dream, but also an accolade for a development project in the Amazon that supports young Indigenous athletes. Graziela Santos was still at school when she first learned about the Sustainable Amazon Foundation (FAS). “It was a five-hour boat…

“We all possess firearms, but no one will openly admit it,” said Ivan M. (38) from Novi Sad. The full names of the people who spoke to DW for this story are known to the author. They agreed to speak on the condition that their full names not be published. As if to illustrate his claim, Ivan’s family remains tight-lipped about exactly what firearms it has. Ivona R. (40) from Novi Sad, on the other hand, acknowledges that she inherited a gun from her late father, while Goran P. (59) from a small town in the province of Vojvodina makes no bones about the…

The US Federal Reserve’s announcement on Wednesday that it would not be cutting interest rates any time soon was not a surprise. For the past few months, inflation has crept back up steadily, causing significant headaches for policymakers, central bankers and investors who had been expecting not one but several interest rate cuts over the course of 2024. The picture is not hugely different in Europe. Germany’s inflation rate rose more than expected in April, on the back of strong food and energy prices. That has also reduced expectations that the European Central Bank (ECB) will make several rates cuts this…