Author: DW

The Irish government been defeated in the twin referendums on changing the country’s constitution, prime minister Leo Varadkar has conceded.Mr Varadkar, who said he wanted to remove “very old-fashioned language” in his country’s constitution, said it was clear the amendments were “defeated comprehensively on a respectable turnout”. “It was our responsibility to convince the majority of people to vote ‘yes’ and we clearly failed to do so,” he said.Earlier, transport minister Eamon Ryan said the government “didn’t convince the public of the argument for a ‘yes, yes’ vote”.Mr Ryan said: “You have to respect the voice of the people. It’s…

Italy plans to stop sending out speed camera photos out of privacy concerns, the Italian Transport Ministry said on Saturday. The ministry said drivers caught speeding would only be sent fine notices to their homes. Authorities will only use images taken by speed cameras if a driver lodges a formal objection to a fine. The Corriere della Sera newspaper reported that the decree has been approved by Italy’s data protection authorities. The newspaper said there had been various reports of people’s relationships, marriages or business deals failing after speed camera photos revealed that someone not expected to be traveling with them was in…

Since February 2022, about 20,000 people have been detained at anti-war protests in Russia, according to human rights project OVD-Info, with almost 900 of these cases leading to prosecution. Despite the intimidation, Russian activists who oppose the war in Ukraine still put up resistance to the Kremlin’s policies. Where do they find the courage? Three tell their story. Anush: A clown’s nose in the courthouse For a long time, 36-year-old Anush Panina from St. Petersburg “basically kept out of politics.” All of that changed in 2020 with the mass protests following the disputed Belarus elections and the poisoning of recently…

Portugal is set to hold early parliamentary elections on Sunday with voters set to elect 230 lawmakers to the National Assembly. Leaders of Portugal’s political parties have wrapped up a two-week campaign for the tight election that could end eight years of Socialist rule. The election was called after Socialist Prime Minister Antonio Costa resigned in November following an investigation into alleged illegalities in how his government handled major investments. The scandal included a police search of Costa’s official residence and the arrest of his chief of staff. Costa has not been charged.Corruption scandals have cost the Socialist Party of Pedro Nuno Santos…

Italy plans to stop sending out speed camera photos out of privacy concerns, the Italian Transport Ministry said on Saturday. The ministry said drivers caught speeding would only be sent fine notices to their homes. Authorities will only use images taken by speed cameras if a driver lodges a formal objection to a fine. The Corriere della Sera newspaper reported that the decree has been approved by Italy’s data protection authorities. The newspaper said there had been various reports of people’s relationships, marriages or business deals failing after speed camera photos revealed that someone not expected to be traveling with them was in…

Olive oil is now the most stolen product in supermarkets in Spanish regions covering about half the country, according to new figures.It comes as prices surge after a scorching drought in the south last year hit the olive harvest. Organised criminal gangs are stealing the oil, dubbed ‘liquid gold’, to then resell it, according to Ruben Navarro, the head of the Tu Super supermarket chain, which operates 30 stores in Spain’s Andalucia region.”Olive oil has become an ideal product for them to steal,” he said.It is the second most stolen item in all of Spain’s supermarkets, just behind spirits. Iberico…

German local councils on Saturday called for the government to refurbish out of use bunkers. The comments were made by André Berghegger, the head of the Association of Towns and Municipalities, to the Funke media conglomerate. They come as Russia’s war in Ukraine enters its third year and a day after Defense Minister Boris Pistorius visited civil protection facilities in Finland. What is the association demanding? Berghegger said that the level of threat had changed and that this was shown by “Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.” He demanded Germany build more bunkers, saying that only 600 out of the 2,000 public shelters…

Mohammed looks at me, his eyes wet from tears, and shakes his head gently. Grief is like a weight around him, which he meets with forced smiles and choked-back tears.”Every day, I think of dying a hundred times,” he says. Next to him is his wife, Nour, heavily pregnant and sobbing into her hands. She is due to give birth in just a couple of weeks, but now mourns her daughter just as she awaits the arrival of a son.It is less than a week since Rula drowned in a French canal, and the devastation is still desperately etched on…

On February 24, 2022, almost all the traffic on the M07, the main highway connecting Kyiv with western Ukraine, was heading in one direction: westwards. Thousands of people, most of them women and children, were fleeing the Russian invasion. Only a few were going the opposite way; one of them was Steve M., a German firefighter from the town of Borna in Saxony, near Leipzig. Steve M. set out for Kyiv just a few hours after the bombs had begun to fall: 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) separated him from his Ukrainian wife and her son. They had only been married a…

Since 2021, five political prisoners have died in Belarusian prisons. Rights activists say the cause of death is inhumane treatment that saw people denied immediate, high-quality medical care: Three of them were already battling serious health issues before their incarceration. Under Belarusian laws, authorities should heed the health conditions of detainees. According to data from country’s judiciary, back in 2010, 10% of complainants seeking release from prison were successful. By 2021, that proportion had fallen to 1.3%. Belarus opposition calls election a ‘farce’To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Today,…