Author: DW

A baby giraffe at a zoo in Florida has died after suffering a broken neck.The young female was found dead by staff on Saturday morning, said Ron Magill, a spokesman for Zoo Miami. But it is not clear what led to the animal breaking her neck, as it happened overnight and away from the view of workers at the facility.Mr Magill said they “can only speculate that something startled the animal and caused it to run into a fence, resulting in the fatal injury”.None of the other giraffes have shown signs of trauma but zoo staff “continue to closely monitor…

Russian and Belarusian athletes will not be allowed to participate in the parade of nations at the opening ceremony of the Paris Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said. The athletes, who will be competing in the Games under a neutral flag, “will not participate in the parade of delegations and teams during the opening ceremony since they are individual athletes,” IOC director James McCloud said after an IOC executive board meeting on Tuesday in Lausanne, Switzerland.  Russian and Belarusian athletes who qualify for the Games will do so without their flags and anthems as a result of Russia’s full-scale…

On March 18, the results of an independent, international UN fact-finding mission on Iran’s response to a nationwide protest movement were introduced to the UN Human Rights Council during its regular session in Geneva. In the over 300-page report, UN investigators spelled out how Iran’s government carried out a brutal campaign of oppression against the protests, which chairperson Sara Hossain said in some cases amounted to crimes against humanity. In November 2022, two months after the death of 22-year-old Jina Mahsa Amini sparked an Iran-wide protest movement, the UN Human Rights Council established the fact-finding mission on the “deteriorating situation…

Hong Kong’s parliament has unanimously passed a new security law which grants the government more power to quash dissent.The new legislation threatens sentences of up to life in prison for offences including treason and insurrection, as well as stringent penalties for other offences such as sabotage, external interference and theft of state secrets. Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, which is packed with Beijing loyalists, says the new law aims to protect national security.However, the move is widely seen as the latest step in a sweeping political crackdown following large-scale 2019 street protests that challenged China’s rule over the semi-autonomous territory.Critics fear…

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…

German authorities in the city of Potsdam on Tuesday said they had obtained an entry ban against an “EU citizen.” What do we know so far?   Several German news outlets reported that the ban was imposed on Austrian far-right activist Martin Sellner, with Sellner also confirming the news on his X account. Sellner said in his social media post that he was no longer allowed to enter German territory for three years, otherwise he will pushed back and punished.   The 35-year-old holds hardline views on migration, and has also expressed racist and antisemitic beliefs. Sellner was reportedly the key speaker at…

Bricklayer Rafiq Masih and his four children have been living in fear since August 2021, when his wife was taken away by police in Islamabad, for allegedlycommitting blasphemy. Having lived in the Pakistani capital for many years, the Christian minority family had to move to the adjoining Rawalpindi city to live a low-profile life for their own safety. Shagufta Kiran, 48, a nurse, was moved into detention on the charge of making derogatory remarks about Islam in a WhatsApp group. “During a discussion, some Muslim members of the WhatsApp group found Shagufta’s words about the teachings of Islam blasphemous, made screenshots and…

Ethiopia’s biggest bank is trying to recover millions after a technical glitch allowed customers to withdraw more money than they had in their accounts.The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia lost more than 2.4 billion Ethiopian birr (approximately £32m), local media reports suggested. The bank has not said how much was withdrawn but its CEO, Abe Sano, told reporters half a million transactions were made during the glitch.News of the technical issue was spread on social media by university students, who withdrew much of the money, he said.The bank will not press charges against students who took out cash that did not…

EU foreign ministers met in Brussels on Monday to discuss the ongoing war in Ukraine, Belarus, the situation in the Middle East and other current affairs. The meeting was led by the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who earlier on Monday had an informal discussion via video conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “A solid compromise has been agreed at the working level and I hope that this will be continued until full adoption soon, but the political agreement is there,” Borrell told reporters afterwards. EU sanctions Israeli settlers for first time The bloc agreed to impose further sanctions on…

Campaigning is in full swing in Senegal with rallies, motorcades and door-to-door canvassing just days before the presidential elections, which are scheduled for Sunday, March 24. This year though, because of delays to the polls, which originally were scheduled for February, presidential candidates were given a shorter campaign period than normal. The 19 candidates have just over two weeks in total to convince the West African nation’s more than 7 million registered voters to choose them. Bassirou Diomaye Faye, one of the election frontrunners, has even less time: He had been held in prison since April 2023 and was only freed as part…