Author: DW

Yet another horrific event in the Gaza Strip: Seven members of the international aid organization World Central Kitchen were killed in an Israeli attack. The aid workers were trying to reduce the suffering of the estimated 2.4 million people in the Gaza Strip. The shocking news, which drew international condemnation, has again highlighted the difficulty of getting international aid, including aid from Germany, to those trapped in the war zone. For weeks, German aid groups have increasingly voiced their concern that the help they are able to provide is extremely limited. Gerda Hasselfeldt, president of the German Red Cross (DRK), is not prone…

During the first months of the war in Gaza, deaths were counted through a network of computers connecting morgues across the territory. It was a system that, in the years beforehand, had won the trust of human rights groups, the UN and the World Health Organisation.But amid repeated Israeli attacks on hospitals and chronic fuel shortages, this system has now effectively collapsed.Of the eight major hospitals responsible for collating morgue data, just three are still providing information to the health ministry.As a result, the morgue monitoring system is now only capturing a small fraction of deaths across the territory. Datawrapper…

Skip next section US is stronger with NATO, Stoltenberg tells DW04/04/2024April 4, 2024US is stronger with NATO, Stoltenberg tells DWNATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has rejected suggestions that some lawmakers in the United States are turning their backs to the miliary alliance. “The US is stronger with NATO than without NATO. There’s a strong bipartisan support for NATO in in the United States,” Stoltenberg said in an interview with DW’s Alexandra von Nahmen in Brussels. “And we have to remember that the criticism from former President Donald Trump and also from others in the United States has not been mainly against…

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati denied any wrongdoing after two anti-corruption organizations filed a complaint against him and his family alleging financial fraud including money laundering. The complaint was submitted in France this week by anti-corruption watchdog Sherpa and the Collective of Victims of Fraudulent and Criminal Practices in Lebanon. Sherpa’s lawyer William Bourdon called for an investigation despite any legal protections  granted to Mikati through his office. “That’s the kind of mechanical consequences of being a billionaire politician — you consider your position to be a kind of shelter against prosecution,” Bourdon told the Reuters news agency. Echoes of Riad Salameh’s scandal…

On death row, there’s the man you meet and the man you Google. When I walked into East Block, San Quentin, there was a genial wave from inside the condemned cell of David Carpenter. His internet history has him as the serial rapist and murderer known as “The Trailside Killer”. Raynard Cummings was on good form, mimicking my Scottish accent as he stood the height of the cell door that separated us.”I don’t think lions and tigers should be locked up like this,” he told me, reverting to Californian drawl. Search his name and you find it’s a view formed in…

Far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) politician Petr Bystron has pushed back on allegations that he took money from an online Russian disinformation network, according to a letter seen Thursday by German news outlets Tagesschau, Welt and others. Bystron has been accused of taking payments from the now-defunct Russian web portal “Voice of Europe” (VoE), which was based in Prague.     “At no time have I received any payment or cryptocurrencies from an employees of VoE (or any Russian),” Bystron said in the letter to AfD leadership. He complained of a “defamation campaign” regarding the matter against politicians from six European political parties. …

On the morning of April 3, Taiwan was shaken by the worst earthquake to hit the island state in at least 25 years. Several people died and hundreds were injured. Social networks are full of videos and images of the natural disaster. Most are authentic, but there is also footage that has been taken from other contexts and manipulated. Claim: One video currently circulating on X, formerly Twitter, purports to show several high-rise buildings that toppled almost like building blocks in the wake of the Taiwan earthquake. One post with at least 10,000 views reads: “See the condition of skyscrapers after 7.5…

Civil servants overseeing arms exports to Israel have requested to “cease work immediately” over fears they could be complicit in war crimes in Gaza.Officials in the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) have raised concerns with senior civil servants that they may be liable if it is deemed Israel has broken international law. Politics Live: Ex-Foreign Office minister hits back after probe into Israel commentsIn correspondence seen by Sky News, the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), which represents civil servants, has requested an urgent meeting with the department to discuss “the legal jeopardy faced by civil servants who are…

A cycling champion was rushed to hospital after a mass pileup at the Tour of the Basque Country bike race on Thursday. Several riders slid off a corner in the final stages of the run from Etxarri Aranatz to Legutio and fell into a concrete ditch. Danish two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard was carried away on a stretcher with an oxygen mask and a neck brace. Vingegaard had won last year’s edition of the race. “Jonas is on his way to the hospital. An update will follow later,” his team Visma-Lease a Bike said on social media.  Belgian cyclist Remco Evenepoel was seen…

Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced plans for a major restructuring of the military on Thursday. The changes include the establishment of a fourth branch of the armed forces that specializes in cyber warfare, which will operate alongside the army, the air force and the navy. The expanded Cyber and Information Domain Service (CIR) will be tasked with fending off cyberattacks, protecting electronic infrastructure and analyzing disinformation and other hybrid threats. It’s the latest step in an overhaul of the German army, or Bundeswehr, that was launched in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. “No one should have the idea of…