Author: DW

Floodwaters in the Russian city of Orenburg passed official expectations to reach a record high on Saturday, after days of floods along the Ural River. Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated in Russia and Kazakhstan. Russia’s worst flooding in decades was caused by winter’s heavy snowfall melting faster than expected in April. Flooding continues in Orenburg On Saturday, the water level of the Ural River reached almost 12 meters (39 feet) in Orenburg — more than 2.5 meters above the level considered critical. “We expect this to be the plateau: There will be no further rise, the situation…

Masked gunmen who killed nine people after abducting them from a bus in southwest Pakistan are being hunted by police as the country’s prime minister vowed they would be “punished”.The gang had earlier shot dead two more people and wounded six others in a car, when they failed to stop at a makeshift roadblock. The deadly kidnapping happened on Friday in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province, where separatists have been battling for independence. Image: There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the deadly attack. Pic: AP Speaking on Saturday, district deputy commissioner Habibullah Mosakhail said the gunmen set up a blockade,…

Qantas Airways said on Saturday that its flights from the western Australian city of Perth to the British capital would take a different route for the time being owing to the current crisis in the Middle East. The announcement comes after US President Joe Biden said Iran was on the point of carrying out its promised retaliatory attack for the killing last week of a senior officer in Iran’s embassy in Damascus in an Israeli airstrike. What did Qantas say? “We’re temporarily adjusting the flight paths for our flights between Perth and London due to the situation in parts of the Middle East,”…

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have detained a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported on Saturday. Footage provided to the news agency Associated Press showed commandos rappelling down from a helicopter and raiding the ship. UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) and British maritime intelligence firm Ambrey also said that a ship had been seized by regional authorities 50 nautical miles (92 km) northeast of Fujairah. A US defense official said “we are aware of the situation reported by UKMTO and we are monitoring it.” What do we know about the ship? Iranian media and ship…

Six people have been killed and several are in a critical condition, including a baby, after stabbings at a shopping centre near Bondi Beach in Sydney.Police said the attacker, believed to be a 40-year-old man, acted alone and was shot dead by an officer who confronted him on her own.Authorities said the suspect is known to them and his attack is not thought to be terror-related.Hundreds of people were evacuated from the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre, while an ambulance spokesperson said people were still inside the building.Police confirmed there is no longer a threat following the attacker’s death. Image:…

Earlier this year, human rights activists, members of the European Parliament and former political prisoners in Belarus signed an open letter calling on the Forest Stewardship Council, the world’s leading forestry certification scheme, to investigate why furniture made in Belarusian jails was able to receive the FSC seal of approval. They accuse the Germany-based FSC of shutting its eyes to the use of forced labor in Belarus and thus helping Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko make more money. “FSC’s seal was instrumental in giving an appearance of sustainability to timber products linked to these penal colonies and forests and served to open…

One person has died and 10 others have been injured after a cable car cabin collided with a pole and burst open in Turkey.Passengers were sent plummeting to the ground below after the Tunektepe cable car crashed at around 6pm local time on Friday in the popular tourist city of Antalya.A further 184 passengers were stranded in 24 cabins that were suspended dozens of feet in the air as a huge rescue effort began, Ali Yerlikaya, Turkey’s interior minister, said.Helicopters, mountain rescue teams and 160 emergency workers were involved in the evacuation, which was ongoing into the early hours of…

Israel remains braced for an attack from Iran as the US moves “additional assets” to the Middle East.Joe Biden said he expects an attack “sooner, rather than later” and simply told Tehran “don’t”, with warnings growing of retaliation for the killing last week of a senior officer in Iran’s embassy in Syria.The White House said the threat of an imminent attack on Israel is real and viable, while at least three other countries have updated their travel advice, including France, Russia and India.As Mr Biden pledges the US is “devoted” to Israel’s defence, an official has told Sky News “additional…

Former US diplomat Victor Manuel Rocha led a double life spanning decades. While working for the US government, he also served as a spy for Cuba. Rocha was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Friday after pleading guilty to acting as an illegal foreign agent and will pay a $500,000  (€469,000) fine. He is also required as part of a deal with prosecutors to disclose details of his cooperation with Cuban intelligence. The US Justice Department called it “one of the highest-reaching and longest-lasting infiltrations of the US government.” What Rocha did as a spy for Cuba Victor Manuel Rocha, 73, was arrested six months…

Haiti’s government on Friday issued a decree formalizing the creation of a nine-member Presidential Transition Council tasked with choosing the next prime minister and Cabinet. The decree, published in Le Moniteur gazette a month after Prime Minister Ariel Henry said he would step down, calls for the council to “participate, in agreement with the prime minister, in the formation of an inclusive ministers’ Cabinet.” It says the council must “rapidly” choose a new prime minister but does not set an exact timeframe. The decree stipulates the council be headquartered in the National Palace in downtown Port-au-Prince. First step to restoring security The…