Author: DW

Lockdowns imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic saw changes in newborn babies that may have protected them against allergies, according to a study.Infants raised when coronavirus social distancing restrictions were in place were found by Irish researchers to have more of the beneficial microbes acquired after birth from their mother, which could act as a defence against disease. The scientists believe this led “pandemic babies” to have lower than expected rates of allergic conditions, such as to food, compared to pre-COVID babies.The findings, published in the journal Allergy, highlighted the gut health benefits for the youngsters as a result of the…

Haiti witnessed a second day of extreme violence on Friday as gangs looking to oust Prime Minister Ariel Henry rocked the capital Port-au-Prince with heavy gunfire near the city’s international airport and a prison. Haitian gang leader Jimmy Cherizier said on Friday held a press conference and said that he would keep trying to remove Henry. “The battle will last as long as it needs to. We will keep fighting Ariel Henry. To avoid collateral damage, keep the kids at home,” the powerful gang boss, known by the nickname Barbecue, said. Cherizier, a former elite police officer runs a gang federation…

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will meet Pope Francis on Saturday at the Vatican for a private audience. Although the two leaders have met before, this would be their first private face-to-face meeting. Neither the Chancellory nor the Vatican said what they would discuss, but the situation in the Middle East and Russia’s war in Ukraine were likely to come up.Scholz also met Italian President Sergio Mattarella during his two-day visitImage: picture alliance/ANSA/ZUMA Press Scholz arrived in Rome on Friday and met Italian President Sergio Mattarella. He will not meet Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is currently visiting the United…

Animal rights activists have disrupted Victoria Beckham’s catwalk show at Paris Fashion Week.PETA campaigners stormed the runway at the as the 49-year-old designer, who found fame in pop group the Spice Girls, showcased her autumn/winter 2024 collection on Friday. Protesters walked alongside the models holding up signs saying “viva vegan leather”.Their T-shirts read: “Animals aren’t fabric. Turn your back on animals skins.”The group said while Beckham’s brand has banned the use of fur and exotic skins, “it still uses a large quantity of cruelly obtained leather, particularly calfskin”. The organisation said it had also staged demonstrations on the catwalks of…

There’s a heavy police presence in the center of the Eternal City. The headquarters of Partito Democratico, Italy’s social democratic party — only a stone’s throw away from the Spanish Steps — has been cordoned off. Socialist heavyweights from across the continent, including Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, are in town to rally Europe’s center-left lawmakers. In a packed room inside the building on Friday, Iratxe Garcia Perez, the leader of the Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, delivered a passionate briefing on the upcoming campaign. “The key issue for the campaign is to defend our values,…

American drugstore chains CVS Health and Walgreens said they will soon begin dispensing the abortion pill, mifepristone, in states were abortion is allowed. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in January 2023 finalized a rule to allow greater access to mifepristone, including by extending its availability across major pharmacy stores. The FDA labeling had previously limited availability owing to safety concerns. CVS Health and Walgreens have now completed the procedure in keeping with the FDA rule change that will allow them to sell mifepristone. The drug, along with a second pill, misopristol, is used for medical abortions, a term used to describe a method where…

Photographer Edward Burtynsky says people should be “screaming 10 alarm fire right now,” due to the urgency of the climate crisis. Instead, he says “it still feels like we’re rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic”.The 69-year-old Canadian artist has re-invented landscape photography, spending the last 40 years documenting man’s dominance over the planet.He explores human impact across the world – in all its beauty and bleakness.But does he see any conflict in creating beautiful images documenting such devastating impact on the earth?He tells Sky News: “My work is revelatory, not accusatory.”Every living species takes something from nature to survive,…

President Joe Biden twice confused Gaza with Ukraine as he announced the US would provide desperately-needed aid to the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.Mr Biden, 81, confirmed on Friday that humanitarian assistance would be airdropped into Gaza – a day after the Hamas-run health ministry said 30,000 Palestinians have died since the war began last October. “In the coming days, we’re going to join with our friends in Jordan and others who are providing airdrops of additional food and supplies”, the president said, adding the US will “seek to open up other avenues in, including possibly a marine corridor”.But Mr Biden twice…

Ireland’s president will remain in hospital over the weekend after being admitted yesterday.Michael D Higgins had been taken to St James’ Hospital in Dublin after feeling unwell. The 82-year-old will stay there over the weekend as a precautionary measure, it is understood, and for his blood pressure to be monitored.A discussion about discharging the president is thought to have taken place today, before a decision was made for him to stay in hospital.A statement said: “President Michael D Higgins has thanked the public for the outpouring of well-wishes which he has received since his admission to St James’s Hospital yesterday…

Iran held its first parliamentary elections since mass protests swept the Islamic Republic in 2022, triggered by the death of Jina Mahsa Amini while in custody. “Voting for the 12th term of the Islamic Consultative Assembly and the 6th term of the Assembly of Leadership Experts began following an order by the interior ministry,” state TV reported Friday, using the official name of the Iranian parliament. State television said that polling began at 8 a.m. and voting was extended for two hours and would now end at 8:00 p.m. “There is a wide — and probably even irreversible — gulf between state and society, a regime that…