Author: DW

Finland has remained the happiest country in the world for the seventh year a row with nordic neighbors Sweden, Denmark and Iceland also retaining their places in the top 10, according to the annual World Happiness Report published on Wednesday.  But rising unhapiness especially among young people has seen other Western countries drop down the UN-sponsored index, with the United States and Germany dropping out of the top 20 for the first time since the report’s first edition more than a decade ago. Taking their place were Costa Rica and Kuwait at 12 and 13 respectively, while Eastern European countries Serbia,…

An explosion inside a coal mine in southwest Pakistan has left 12 miners dead while eight others have been rescued, officials said on Wednesday. A gas explosion shook the private coal pit in Balochistan’s mining region of Khost on Tuesday evening, trapping the workers about 800 feet (244 meters) below ground. The bodies of the dead were all recovered as the rescue operation ended on Wednesday morning. “The rescue operation has been just completed,” Balochistan province’s chief inspector of mines, Abdul Ghani Baloch, told news agencies on Wednesday. He said that 20 miners had been inside the mine when the…

The UK has provided food for 275,000 people in Gaza as Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron called for “sustained humanitarian access” to the territory’s besieged population.More than 2,000 tonnes of food aid distributed by the UK has crossed the border and will be distributed by the World Food Programme (WFP). It comes as a report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a partnership of more than a dozen governments, UN aid and other agencies that determines the severity of food crises, warned “famine is imminent” in Gaza.Lord Cameron urged Israel to allow more aid into the war-torn territory.”It’s crucial…

Just when communities were starting to understand the lethal effects of fentanyl and oxycodone abuse, yet another painkiller opioid has emerged from the pharmaceutical archives as a deadly street drug. Commonly known as nitazenes, 2-Benzyl Benzimidazole opioids are said to be up to 500 times more potent than heroin, making people more prone to addiction. Drug and health agencies in the UK, elsewhere in Europe, and the US are reporting a rise in the number of overdoses and fatalities linked to nitazenes. There are indications that while authorities clamp down on fentanyl, and heroin cultivation in Afghanistan slows under the Taliban, nitazenes…

It might seem a strange thing for a practicing Muslim to say, but Kholoud Khardoum, a 53-year-old living in Iraq, is clear. “Not all of Ramadan is necessarily about religion,” the Baghdad-based writer said. “It’s also about the atmosphere and the tradition of people coming together.” Iraq is a Muslim-majority country, but in areas where different religious communities live together, you’ll often find non-Muslims participating in celebrations around the month-long Muslim holiday of Ramadan, she told DW. In particular,  “iftar,” the sunset meal where friends and family come together to break the daily fast, can be a community occasion. “Sometimes Christian people…

Two men have been accused of starting a business in China by stealing trade secrets from electric car manufacturer Tesla and conspiring to sell them to undercover law enforcement officers, US federal prosecutors said on Tuesday. A 58-year-old Canadian citizen who lives in Ningbo, China, was arrested in New York’s Long Island, where he had traveled for a meeting with undercover agents whom he had believed were businesspeople, prosecutors said. According to media reports, the second business partner remains at large. Why was the man arrested? The man along with his partner built their business using trade secrets belonging to “a…

A kangaroo at a zoo in western Russia has been killed in shelling, the zoo has announced.The zoo in Belgorod said the animal, named Grandi, was outside when her enclosure was “damaged by cluster fragments” on Tuesday. It came as Russian officials said air defence systems destroyed Ukraine-launched missiles and drones over Belgorod and other regions bordering Ukraine.Follow latest: French units in Ukraine would be ‘priority’ target, Moscow warns”There are no words to convey the pain. And anger. And powerlessness,” Belgorod Zoo said in a social media post announcing the death. None of its employees were injured in the attack,…

A Polish police spokeperson said farmers in Poland blocked two crossings on the German border in protest Monday. The farmers parked their tractors on the A2 highway, blocking traffic in both directions at the Swiecko and Gubinek crossings, both western towns in Poland. The demo first began on Sunday. Marcin Maludy, a spokesperson for the police in Gorzow Wielkopolski said: “Traffic in Swiecko and Gubinek is blocked, you cannot travel in either direction,” and the protest “will continue until Wednesday evening.” Why are Polish farmers demonstrating? Polish farmers staged the protest against farm imports from outside the  European Union  and the bloc’s environmental red tape.The current demo is expected to continue through Wednesday, but it…

Around 2,000 Nepali men have been recruited by Russia to fight in its war against Ukraine, Sky News understands.Driven by poverty, many of the Nepali mercenaries are now desperate to return. Ganesh, 35, is one of the few recruits lucky enough to have made it home. He spent four and a half months fighting in Donetsk and he says Nepalis were “treated like dogs”.”It was very frightening. It wasn’t man to man, bullet to bullet. We were attacked by drones and it was terrifying,” he said.We spoke to him in Kathmandu as he prayed at a temple, relieved but traumatised…

Skip next section ‘Ukraine’s survival is in danger’ US defense secretary says03/19/2024March 19, 2024’Ukraine’s survival is in danger’ US defense secretary saysUS Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has warned that Ukraine’s ability to keep fending off Russian forces is at risk as US urgent aid continues to be held up by lawmakers in Washington. “Ukraine’s survival is in danger,” Austin said in a press conference after Kyiv’s allies met at the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany’s Rhineland-Palatinate state.  “Our allies and partners continue to step up, the United States must also,” he added. The Republican-run US House of Representatives has…