Author: DW

“Her leg is bleeding. Carry her from below… slowly and avoid the gas cylinder… let’s get out of here, pull!” a man shouted.It was 20 February and an aid shelter in Gaza occupied by Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders, had been struck.Inside, the atmosphere was chaotic. People rushed to try to put a fire out in one of the building’s rooms, as others helped another person laying on the floor.The attack on the shelter, which was housing 64 people including MSF drivers and their families, killed two people and injured seven others.Using on-the-ground footage, open-source…

Two senior Russian intelligence officials on Tuesday alleged either Ukrainian or US or UK involvement at some level in last week’s attack on a concert hall just outside Moscow that killed at least 139 people and wounded 180 others.  However, they did not provide evidence, and Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko almost simultaneously risked undermining the only apparent basis for this speculation — that the attackers allegedly tried to flee southwest across the border to Ukraine — by saying that they had first tried to cross into Belarus instead. The attack at Crocus City Hall has been claimed by the ISIS-K terror group, an offshoot…

For over a week, Israeli forces have occupied al Shifa hospital, one of the few remaining large medical facilities in northern Gaza. On the ground, tanks, soldiers and heavy equipment take the place of ambulances and patients. Visible above is evidence of possibly irreparable damage. On 26 March, a fire occurred on the grounds of al Shifa hospital. Clearly identifiable on satellite imagery captured on the day by Planet, smoke can be seen rising from the hospital’s grounds, centred around its surgical building and emergency ward. The imagery appears to match footage and images captured on the ground that were shared…

The European Union (EU) called on Facebook, TikTok and other social media sites on Tuesday to crack down on artificial intelligence deepfakes ahead of European elections in June. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, published guidelines for the big sites before Europe-wide elections this summer. Brussels has particularly grown wary about the impact of Russian “manipulation” and “disinformation” on European elections. “With today’s guidelines we are making full use of all the tools offered by the DSA to ensure platforms comply with their obligations and are not misused to manipulate our elections, while safeguarding freedom of expression,” said  Europe’s digital Commissioner Thierry Breton, referring to the EU’s Digital…

In a hostel in northern France, the atmosphere was tense.A father and his family were waiting for a call, a sign sea conditions were right and it is finally time to go. After fleeing from Kurdistan, they’ve paid around €8000 (£6,850) to cross the Channel on a dinghy provided by smugglers who value money over life.”We don’t have any other option except this dinghy. The surveillance for the trucks [crossing the Channel] is very strong and that is why we have to take this journey. We will either die or succeed,” Mohammed said ahead of the journey. Image: The family…

Russia’s Health Ministry said the death toll from last week’s Moscow concert hall attack rose to 140 on Wednesday after another victim died in the hospital. The massacre at Crocus City Hall on Friday night was the deadliest terrorist attack on Russian soil in almost two decades. What we know about the victims “Unfortunately, one of the injured, who was in an extremely serious condition, died,” Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency, referring to the latest fatality. “The doctors did everything possible.” Murashko added that in hospitals in Moscow and the Moscow region “there…

The Polish commander of the Eurocorps military unit has been recalled by the Polish Defense Ministry amid a counter-intelligence investigation into his security clearance. Lieutenant General Jaroslaw Gromadzinski had been serving as commander of Eurocorps, a joint military group of some EU and NATO states, since June 2023, but has been ordered back to Warsaw. “The Military Counter-Intelligence Service initiated inspection proceedings regarding the personal security clearance of Lieutenant General Jaroslaw Gromadzinski in connection with obtaining new information about the officer,” read a ministry statement on Wednesday. It said another officer has already been assigned to “ensure continuity” in the post “with…

Hamas’s deputy political commander, Marwan Issa, was “eliminated” in a military strike earlier this month, Israel has said.If the intelligence is correct, he would be the highest-ranking Hamas leader to have been killed in Gaza since the start of the current conflict between Israel and Hamas in October. Fighter jets struck an underground compound in central Gaza between 9 and 10 March.Another Hamas commander, Aziz Abu Tamaa, was believed to be with Issa.The Israel Defence Forces said it had confirmed preliminary reports. “We have checked all the intelligence,” Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.”Marwan Issa was eliminated in the strike we…

Slovakia’s government on Wednesday said a bear that wounded five people in the country earlier this month was shot dead. Dangerous bear was identified by biometric drone Slovakian Environment Minister Tomas Taraba announced on Facebook that the animal had been killed on Tuesday evening.  “A biometrics drone was used to identify it,” Taraba said. The bear attack occurred in the center of Liptovsky Mikulas, a town nestled in the foothills of the Tatra mountains near popular ski resorts. The victims between ages of 10 and 72, suffered bites and scratches, and one of them almost lost an eye, it was reported at the time.…

Strikes by Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters killed people on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border on Wednesday as tensions and fear of a wider conflict continue. An overnight strike on the southern Lebanese village of Hebbariye killed at least seven people. On Wednesday, Hezbollah fired a salvo of rockets at the Israeli border town of Kiryat Shmona, killing at least one individual. Israel says it took out militants in Lebanon Lebanese media reported that the overnight strike hit a medical center belonging to the Sunni militant group al-Jamaa al-Islamiya. State-run news agency NNA said that “enemy fighter jets had…