Author: DW

Marte van der Graaf does not hold back when it comes to criticizing airlines’ efforts to protect the environment. “It’s difficult to take the aviation industry’s net-zero targets seriously,” she says. Graf is Germany Aviation Policy Officer at the NGO Transport & Environment, which focuses on promoting sustainable transportation. “The aviation sector must significantly reduce its consumption of fossil fuels in the next decades. But things are going in the opposite direction at the moment,” she says. More and more people flying As climate change threatens the planet, the industry’s CO2 emissions continue to rise. And according to future projections, more and…

Akebono, the first non-Japanese grand champion or “yokozuna” of sumo wrestling, died of heart failure this month at age 54, said his family in a statement received by the office of Hawaiian Governor Josh Green. “It is with sadness that we announce Akebono Taro died of heart failure earlier this month while receiving care at a hospital in the Tokyo area,” the statement said. He is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter. At a height of 2.03 meters (six feet, eight inches) and weight of 233 kilograms (513 pounds), he was known for using his body to thrust…

Germany’s Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development has produced a 15-point paper aimed at what it calls “the mobilization of the private sector for the reconstruction of Ukraine.” Meetings have been held in the German and Ukrainian capitals for weeks to prepare for Berlin’s Ukraine Recovery Conference on June 11 and 12. Similar events have been held in Locarno, Switzerland, and most recently, London, which largely focused on financial aid for the Ukrainian economy. However, those close to the German government say the Berlin conference will highlight “four dimensions of reconstruction.” In addition to training workers, the issue of EU accession will also be…

US President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. are set to meet on Thursday in Washington for their first-ever trilateral defense summit. The meeting, to be held after a bilateral meeting between Biden and Marcos, comes as Chinese and Philippines coast guard vessels in the disputed South China Sea regularly become involved in skirmishes, with China increasingly asserting its territorial claims in the region. Kishida, for his part, is to address Congress on Thursday as part of a Washington visit, becoming the second Japanese premier to do so since Shinzo Abe in 2015. His address, which comes after a Wednesday…

The risks of the Gaza war expanding into a much bigger regional conflict had seemed to have subsided. Not any longer.Comments from Iranian and American leaders in the last 24 hours may be entirely predictable but they raise the prospects of escalation.Iran knows it’s been directly attacked in the airstrike on its embassy in Damascus and unless it retaliates it is weakened.And in this region that is dangerous.So on Wednesday, celebrating the end of Ramadan, Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei issued a stern warning that Israel must be punished and will be.Middle East latest:Iran attack on Israel could be imminent…

Marte van der Graaf does not hold back when it comes to criticizing airlines’ efforts to protect the environment. “It’s difficult to take the aviation industry’s net-zero targets seriously,” she says. Graf is Germany Aviation Policy Officer at the NGO Transport & Environment, which focuses on promoting sustainable transportation. “The aviation sector must significantly reduce its consumption of fossil fuels in the next decades. But things are going in the opposite direction at the moment.” More and more people flying As climate change threatens the planet, the industry’s CO2 emissions continue to rise. And according to future projections, more and more people…

Troops loyal to Myanmar’s military junta have pulled out from the town of Myawaddy at the Thai border after a dayslong assault by an ethnic armed group, a rebel spokesman said on Thursday. The fighting has caused large numbers of people to try to flee to neighboring Thailand from the border town, which is a major trading hub. Myanmar’s military junta, which took power in a 2021 coup, has suffered a number of recent defeats at the hands of ethnic rebel groups and a civilian militia movement, with some saying it could soon be toppled. What do we know so far?…

The US is “considering” Australia’s request to drop its persecution push against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, said President Joe Biden on Wednesday.  Assange is wanted in the US on criminal charges over the release of confidential US military and diplomatic records in 2010. He has been indicted on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse. The 52-year-old is currently in Britain awaiting extradition to the US. It has been five years since he was incarcerated in the Belmarsh prison. If convicted, he could face up to 175 years in prison.  He was supposed to be extradited in March, but it…

Commuters at a train station in Australia were left doing a doubletake as an escaped racehorse joined them to wait for a passenger service.The rogue animal turned up at Warwick Farm station, New South Wales, and trotted down the platform before pausing ahead of the train’s arrival – when it even stood behind the yellow line. Footage shared by Transport for NSW shows shocked commuters stepping back as the horse made its way past just before midnight on 5 April.The transport authority saw the funny side as they shared an update about the incident on Facebook.In a post about a…

South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and senior presidential advisers submitted their resignations to President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday following the ruling party’s crushing defeat in the parliamentary elections, according to the Yonhap news agency. In a separate press conference, the leader of the ruling People’s Power Party, Han Dong-hoon, said he would also step down to take responsibility for the election defeat. The results of Wednesday’s election posed a huge political blow to President Yoon Suk Yeol, setting back his domestic agenda and leaving him facing an intensifying political offensive by his liberal opponents during his remaining three years…