Author: DW

Maryland Governor Wes Moore asked for $60 million (€55.6 million) in emergency federal funding on Thursday in response to the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. “Government is working hand in hand with industry to investigate the area, including the wreck, and remove the ship,” Moore said. The Democratic governor said the emergency funding was needed to “lay the foundation for a rapid recovery.” ‘Long road ahead’ for Baltimore’s port The Baltimore bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River in the early hours of Tuesday when it was hit by a large container ship. Six people, who had…

A bus crash in South Africa has killed 45 people. The bus had a total of 46 people on board, including the driver. Only one child, an eight-year-old, survived the accident and is being treated in hospital. In a statement, the transport ministry said the driver lost control, and the bus fell onto a rocky surface, some 50m under a bridge and caught fire, near Mamatlakala in the northeast province of Limpopo.The passenger bus was transporting people from Botswana, who were reportedly travelling to Moria in Limpopo for an Easter weekend church service.Rescue operations continued until the late hours of…

The United States on Thursday branded Russian officials “pretty good manure salesmen” after Moscow sought to link the attack on the Crocus City Hall music venue to “Ukrainian nationalists.” “My uncle used to say that the best manure salesmen often carry their samples in their mouths. Russian officials seem to be pretty good manure salesmen,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters. His remarks come after Russian investigators said they had evidence linking “Ukrainian nationalists” to last week’s attack on the concert hall on the outskirts of Moscow in which at least 143 people were killed. Russian investigators link…

In the early hours of March 26, the Singapore-flagged ship Dali, loaded with 5,000 containers, slammed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing the 1.6-mile (2.5-kilometer) bridge to collapse in a matter of seconds. The Dali was departing for Colombo when the disaster struck. Initial fears were confirmed  that half a dozen people lost their lives in the accident. Baltimore’s port had to be shut down, leaving millions of tons of coal, hundreds of cars, and deliveries of lumber and gypsum stranded. About 40 ships were ready to depart on Tuesday, and a big number of ships coming from the Atlantic cannot dock…

The Chinese electronics manufacturer Xiaomi released their first electric vehicle in China on Thursday, and began taking orders for the car via an app.  The company’s first EV is called SU7 and is a sporty four-door sedan. The price of the vehicle is estimated by analysts at 300,000 yuan (€37,000, $40,000) The low price should help to compete with the competition from overseas. Government subsides helped China to become the world’s largest market for electric vehicles, with sales remaining mainly domestic. Xiaomi plans on being in the top five worldwide automakers in the next 15 to 20 years. ‘Human x Car x Home’ ecosystem Xiaomi is…

Russia was the only nation to veto the annual renewal of a panel of experts who monitor the enforcement of longstanding UN sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile activities. The block comes as the US has accused Pyongyang of transferring weapons to the Kremlin, which Russia has used in the Ukraine war. Both countries have denied the allegations but said there was a desire to strengthen military relations last year.Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un met at Russia’s Vostochny Cosmodrome in September, when the North Korean leader had pledged his support to Moscow to “fight…

A young basketball player is being put through his paces in a sports medicine lab. On command, he jumps and lands with one leg onto a force plate embedded in the floor. “I need one more,” Dr. Hauke Dewitz calls out to him. So the same procedure again: taped with reflective beads, so-called markers, and electrodes that measure muscle activity, the 16-year-old jumps again. Pain in his right knee, which has been bothering him for months, has brought him to the lab. With the controlled movements completed, now comes the analysis by the sports orthopedist treating the athlete. Based on the…

A Manhattan federal court on Thursday sentenced former cryptocurrency billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison. The hearing is the culmination of Bankman-Fried’s fall from grace as a wealthy entrepreneur to a convicted felon behind one of the biggest financial frauds in US history. What the court said Judges in the sentencing on Thursday said they rejected Bankman-Fried’s contention that customers of the now-bankrupt FTX would not actually lose money.  A jury found the 32-year-old guilty in November last year on seven fraud and conspiracy counts stemming from the 2022 collapse of the FTX exchange that he founded. “He knew it was wrong,” US District Judge Lewis…

Once the poster child for responsibility in the cryptocurrency sector, Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in jail on Thursday (March 28, 2024) following his conviction in November in what prosecutors called one of the biggest financial fraud cases in history. US prosecutors were seeking a prison term of between 40 to 50 years, after a jury found him guilty on seven fraud and conspiracy counts contributing to the downfall of his FTX company — once a leading crypto exchange. Sam Bankman-Fried, known in the crypto community as “S.B.F.,” founded the collapsed FTX exchange in 2019, after launching the crypto hedge fund Alameda Research in 2017. Prior…

This article includes accounts of rape and physical assault Having escaped attacks by violent criminals and armed gangs known as bandits in their villages, many displaced women and girls are facing a new challenge. Sexual harassment is rife in camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) across northern Nigeria — mostly for food or money. With little protection, IDPs are at risk of being kidnapped by bandits and jihadists. What are IDPs fleeing from? A bloody conflict between the army and jihadist groups, including Boko Haram, has been raging in Nigeria since 2009. It is estimated that more than 40,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million more displaced — 80% of whom…