Author: DW

Injuries and “material losses” have been reported after a large explosion at a military base in Iraq.The cause of the blast – at the Kalsu facility in the city of Babylon – is currently unconfirmed However, two security sources told the Reuters news agency an air strike from an unknown source was to blame.A US official said it wasn’t caused by American military operations.The base is used by Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an umbrella group of dozens of armed groups, and is home to its chief of staff. One PMF fighter was killed and six were wounded, according to…

On Wednesday, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) witnessed the heaviest rainfall it had seen in 75 years. Some regions on the eastern edge of the Arabian Penisula reported more rainfall in a single day than they usually received in an entire year. In Dubai, the UAE’s most populous city, floods brought traffic to a halt, flights at Dubai International, one of the world’s busiest airports, were cancelled, and roofs collapsed under the sheer weight of the water. Neighboring Oman also experienced unprecedented amounts of rain, which resulted in the death of at least 20 people and extensive property damage.UAE reels from unprecedented…

The Netherlands’ KNVB football association handed Vitesse Arnhem an 18-point deduction on Friday, making the struggling side’s relegation a mathematical certainty.  It’s the largest penalty of its kind in the history of Dutch football. However, the club said it did not plan to appeal, and it welcomed the lifeline offered by the KNVB that means it might at least be able to retain its license and continue to exist as a club. The club’s been in turmoil for some time now, as it tries and fails to extricate itself from Russian ownership following the invasion of Ukraine and EU sanctions…

Violence in the Middle East will not stop until the war in Gaza ends, a senior Hezbollah figure has told Sky News in a world-first interview in which he also castigated the West and scoffed at Israel’s actions.Ibrahim Moussawi, a Hezbollah spokesperson, also warned Israel “will see results” if they continue provoking Iran. “Nobody has an interest in going into an open confrontation, comprehensive war in the region, because this might lead to other things. This is not because the Western side has an awakening of humanity or whatever,” he said.Middle East latest – follow live updates”This is because it…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday admonished NATO defense ministers, telling them, “the choice of whether we are indeed allies,” will be determined by whether NATO countries are willing to provide his beleaguered country with more military aid as it struggles to defend itself against a Russian onslaught that is now in its third year. Zelenskyy described the state of Western aid as “very limited,” contrasting the current lack of support for Kyiv to the aid being extended to Israel. Zelenskyy said his country needs seven further US-made Patriot air-defense systems, adding “[Russian President Vladimir] Putin must be brought down to earth and our…

A man set himself on fire on Friday outside the Manhattan courthouse in New York where former President Donald Trump is on trial in a hush-money case. New York Police Department Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said the man, who is from Florida in the United States, walked into the center of the park across the street from the courthouse and set himself on fire.  An eyewitness said the man threw pamphlets into the air before dousing himself with a liquid and lighting himself on fire. Police said the pamphlets appeared to be “conspiracy-based.” The man was rushed to hospital and was in a…

India’s election has kicked off with the first day of polling taking place in 102 constituencies, across 21 states and territories.With close to a billion people registered to vote in seven phases across 44 days, co-ordinating the election is a mammoth task. In the old town of Jaipur, Rajasthan – where temperatures are this week hitting highs of 38°C – voters lined up early at a polling station to avoid queuing during the hottest hours of the day.A public holiday was declared to encourage voting and at the booths, the laborious process of checking voters’ identities against the registration data…

If you want to understand the world, you don’t necessarily have to travel it. Take one look at Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). On April 22, the world celebrates the 300th anniversary of his birth. The German philosopher never left his East Prussian home of Königsberg — now Kaliningrad and part of Russia — yet this did not stop him from trying to understand the world. His ideas have revolutionized philosophy and made him a pioneer of the Enlightenment. His most famous work, “Critique of Pure Reason,” is regarded as a turning point in intellectual history. Today, Kant is one of the most important thinkers of all time.The philosopher never left…

An Italian court on Friday dropped a case against crew members of migrant rescue ships, which has dragged on for nearly seven years. They were accused of rescuing migrants and aiding traffickers in illegal migration. “These unfounded accusations have attempted to tarnish the work of humanitarian search and rescue teams for years,” Doctors Without Borders (MSF) International President Christos Christou said. MSF operated one of the rescue ships.  “They were intended to remove vessels from the sea and to counter their efforts of saving lives and bearing witness. Now these accusations have collapsed.” What do we know about the case?…

As the United States and European Union (EU) consider new economic measures against Iran, the Islamic Republic is touting its resilience to Western boycotts. According to the government in Tehran, the country has exported more oil than ever in the last six years, despite massive sanctions imposed byformer US president Donald Trump in 2018. Last month, Iran’s Oil Minister Javad Owji said oil exports had “generated more than $35 billion [€32.8 billion]” in 2023. The British business daily Financial Times quoted him as saying that while Iran’s enemies wanted to stop its exports, “today, we can export oil anywhere we want, and with minimal discounts.”…