Author: DW

The appointment of Xabi Alonso Though the stunning unbeaten campaign of 2023-24 has captured global attention, Bayer Leverkusen’s charge to a first Bundesliga title has its origins in a miserable start to the previous campaign. Gerardo Seoane, who had overseen a third-placed finish the season before, was gone by October 2022, having won just five points from the first eight games. The subsequent appointment of Xabi Alonso, who had never coached a senior side before, was something of a risk, with Leverkusen in real danger of following other German heavyweights such as Schalke, Hamburg and Hertha Berlin into the second division. “This shouldn’t…

Experts monitoring developments in Iran have raised concerns about Israel’s potential response to the weekend’s drone and missile attacks, warning both sides could quickly launch a dangerous tit-for-tat exchange. General Hossein Salami, the commander of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard, said on Iranian state TV that Tehran had entered a “new equation” in which any Israeli attack on its “interests, assets, officials, or citizens would be reciprocated from its own territory.” General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, the chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, warned Iran’s “response will be much larger than tonight’s military action if Israel retaliates against Iran.” As…

Flooding caused by heavy seasonal rains in Afghanistan has killed more than 30 people, a Taliban spokesperson said on Sunday. Flash floods were first reported on Friday, causing “high human and financial losses,” Taliban spokesperson Abdullah Janan Saiq of the State Ministry for Natural Disaster Management said. He added that “unfortunately 33 people died and 27 people were injured due to the flooding.” Rains expected to continue Some 600 houses and more than 85 kilometers (53 miles) of roads were damaged or destroyed, along with around 2,000 hectares of farmland, Saiq said. Most of the victims were killed by their houses collapsing on them.…

This was an ambitious Iranian attack on Israel in several respects.It was ambitious in the numbers involved – 185 drones, 36 cruise missiles and 110 ballistic missiles – 331 in all, according to the Israel Defence Forces.And it was ambitious in being a multi-directional attack, targeting the Israeli homeland from 180 degrees – from Iran itself, from Iranian proxies in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, and even from the other end of the Red Sea in Yemen.Follow live: Israeli foreign ministry outlines ‘initial price’ Iran must pay Spreaker This content is provided by Spreaker, which may be using cookies and other…

​​​​​​​Temperatures in some parts of Spain are up to 16C higher than normal for this time of year.People in Bilbao, northwestern Spain, usually spend April facing rain showers but instead this year swapped umbrellas for ice creams. Elsewhere in Spain over the weekend, temperatures tipped 30C at 65 stations across Aemet’s network – Spain’s state forecasting agency – with 33C reached in the Pyrenees, north of Castilla y Leon, south of Galicia and the Canary Islands.It was a similar story in Portugal, where temperatures near Lisbon reached as high as 29C.Aemet said in a post on social media: “Saturday was…

During the night of April 14, 2014, dozens of fighters from the Boko Haram Islamist militant group stormed a school dormitory for girls in the remote town of Chibok, a small Christian enclave in the majority-Muslim north of Nigeria. The 276 schoolgirls, mostly aged between 16 and 18, were herded at gunpoint through the forest to waiting trucks after the militants set fire to the school buildings. Within hours of the abductions, 57 girls managed to escape. Some hid in the bushes, while others jumped out as they drove through the dark night of the Sambisa Forest that had become Boko Haram’s hideout.…

“What next?” It’s a question anxiously asked too many times in the past six months.And no doubt the question formed the crux of the late-night call between President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu.Follow live: Iran launches attack on IsraelIran’s spectacular drone and missile assault on Israel is truly unprecedented.A region already reeling from the Hamas attacks and the Israeli retaliation on Gaza is being rocked again.American leadership and leverage, tested repeatedly, is undergoing a bigger strain still.This time though the consequence of President Biden’s test is all-out war, or not, in the Middle East. It is the scenario most feared…

The world’s oldest conjoined twins have died at the age of 62.Lori and George Schappell were born in 1961 in Pennsylvania with partially fused skulls and shared vital blood vessels and 30% of their brain, Guinness World Records reported. The pair died on 7 April, at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, according to an obituary posted online by Leibensperger Funeral Homes. The cause of death remains unknown.Having held the title of the world’s oldest living conjoined twins since 2022, they also became the first same-sex conjoined twins to identify as different genders after George came out as transgender…

Australian police say six people have been killed in stabbing attacks at a Sydney shopping mall, with the suspected attacker also shot dead by police. Five of the victims died at the scene, and one died later in hospital, police said. Five of those killed were women, and the sixth fatality a man, they said. The incidents occurred at the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping complex, with hundreds told to evacuate the area.Knife attacker kills six people in Sydney mallTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video What do we know so far? A single…

There have been several moments in the last six months when the feeling of acute geopolitical anxiety from the Middle East could be felt in Washington DC.In the hours after the Hamas attacks of 7 October there was a profound sense of “what now?”Since then, there have been a few anxious inflection points.Follow live: Iran attackBut without question this moment – right now – is the most dangerous yet, by a long way.A direct attack by Iran against Israel is unprecedented. Even if the drones are intercepted, even if casualty numbers are low or zero, Israelis will feel profoundly vulnerable…