Author: DW

Iran and Israel are exchanging blows, as global fears rise that the conflict in the Middle East could widen. On Saturday, Iran launched some 300 ballistice missiles, drones and cruise missiles   toward Israel, according to Israeli defense officials. Tehran says the attack was in retaliation for what it called an Israeli strike on Iran’s consulate in Damascus that killed seven people in early April. Peter Lintl, a research associate at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, says Israel’s response to this most recent attack will have far-reaching consequences for the wider Middle East. Who decides on Israel’s response? Shortly after…

Riot police started on Tuesday evening to clear protests organized outside Georgia’s parliament building in Tbilisi, as lawmakers approved a draft of a controversial NGO bill for further reading. Thousands of protesters gathered for the second day outside parliament, decrying the Russian-styled “foreign agents” bill. The controversial bill stipulates that non-commercial organizations and news media that receive 20% or more of their funding from overseas would have to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power.” What happened at the protests? Inside parliament, the controversial bill received 78 votes in favor of further debate, with only 25 votes against. The…

When the first pictures of downed Iranian rockets emerged on Sunday morning, they didn’t look real.Even seasoned military spokesman Peter Lerner was fooled. “I thought it was fake news,” he told Sky News.The huge black tubes littering the Dead Sea and other parts of Israel seemed too colossal to be genuine.We had seen them on the back of trucks on parade in Tehran but not fired in anger before.Middle East latest:Hezbollah commander killed in strike, IDF says Image: Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari stands next to one of the Iranian ballistic missiles Israel intercepted. Pic: AP In a military base…

Brussels city authorities on Tuesday ordered the shutdown of a gathering of right-wing European political figures. One keynote speaker at the “national conservatism” — or NatCon — conference was Britain’s Nigel Farage, former leader of the euroskeptic UKIP party and major pro-Brexit campaigner. Themes included “Why Should We Prefer Our Own Culture to Others?” and “Challenging Wokeism: An International Matter.” Several hundred people attended the event. What happened at the national conservative conference in Brussels? Farage held his speech as rumors began to surface that the event was about to be shut down. “I think it’s absolutely monstrous,” Farage later told reporters, referring to…

Germany’s economy will grow less than expected this year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday. It said it expected the German economy to grow by 0.2%, which is 0.3 percentage points less than it estimated in its January outlook. What did the IMF say about growth in Germany and the eurozone? According to the figures, Germany is expected to have the weakest growth of any state belonging to the G7 group of industrialized countries. For 2025, the organization expects the German economy to grow by 1.3%.  The report cited structural problems such as the decline in the working…

The alleged mastermind of arguably the largest corruption scandal in Southeast Asian history was sentenced to death in Vietnam last week as the country’s communist government ratchets up its anti-corruption campaign. Truong My Lan, 67, was charged with the embezzlement of around  $12.5 billion  (€11.7 billion), the equivalent of around 3% of Vietnam’s 2022 GDP, from the Saigon Joint Commercial Bank (SCB). She also illegally owed a majority share of the bank, and was found guilty for allowing loans that resulted in losses of €25.2 billion. The Ho Chi Minh City court said that her actions “not only violate the…

The United Arab Emirates has been hit by heavy rainfall, including in Dubai where homes and roads were flooded and partially submerged cars were left abandoned.More than 120mm (4.7 inches) of rain soaked the city-state on Tuesday, which is the typical yearly average in the desert nation – with more expected in the coming hours. The tarmac at Dubai airport – the world’s busiest for international travel – was also flooded as planes made their way around what looked more like a lake.Airport operations were suspended for 25 minutes due to the bad weather, with at least 21 outbound and…

Nigeria has become the first country in Africa’s “meningitis belt” to introduce the new Men5CV or ‘MenFive’ meningitis vaccine. It is the world’s first vaccine to provide protection against all five strains of the meningococcal bacteria that cause meningitis. Around half of meningitis cases and deaths occur in children under 5 years old, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).  Since 2010, Africa, which sees the highest burden of meningitis infection in the world, has been fighting outbreaks using the MenAfriVac vaccine. Although it has successfully eradicated about 80% of meningitis infections across the continent, the vaccine only protects against a single strain…

After Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran’s supreme leader at the time, issued a fatwa condemning Salman Rushdie to death for alleged blasphemy in his novel “The Satanic Verses” in 1989, the Indian-British author went underground. But he never remained silent. Living in the US, Rushdie felt safe enough to participate in public events. But on August 12, 2022, he and the world realized that hatred of writer had not abate.  At a literary event in the US state of New York, a then 24-year-old man attacked Rushdiewith a knife, seriously injuring the author. The 76-year-old writer and winner of the Peace Prize of the German…

The Commonwealth Games, a quadrennial multi-sport event featuring nations that were formerly part of the British Empire, is in trouble. In April 2022, the Australian state of Victoria was awarded hosting rights for the 2026 edition, when over 70 nations were expected to participate. But just over a year later, it backed out. Organizers have not found it easy to find a replacement. Even if the next games go ahead, there are doubts as to whether it can survive into the second half of the century. Perhaps it is impressive that it has lasted this long. Starting life as the British…