Author: DW

The rich and powerful of the world are descending on the idyllic Swiss resort town of Davos for the meeting of the World Economic Forum. The annual event is taking place at a time when the world is witnessing devastating wars in Gaza and Ukraine, breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI) that are causing as much excitement as worry, a catastrophic debt crisis amid an economic slowdown and a deterioration in the health of the planet.   Over 2,800 participants are slated to attend the 5-day event starting Monday, January 15, including more than 60 heads of state and government. The theme of…

Houthi rebels on the Arabian Peninsula, supported by Iran, have been attacking cargo ships in the Red Sea since since Israel launched its military operion in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip in October 2023. In a statement on Thursday evening, US President Joe Biden reported that there had been 27 attacks on ships to date. Numerous shipping companies have halted traffic through these waters as a result, and have redirected their ships to take the much longer route around the southern tip of Africa. The Red Sea, which connects the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal, is a vital trade route…

The former prime minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, has married her partner after years of delays.Ms Ardern, 43, married Clarke Gayford, 47, in a private ceremony in the Hawke’s Bay region of Aotearoa. The couple have been engaged for almost five years but have faced delays due to COVID, the birth of their daughter and Ms Ardern’s duties as her country’s leader.The ceremony reportedly took place at a luxury vineyard 200 miles from New Zealand’s capital, Wellington.Guests were limited to family, close friends and some of Ms Ardern’s former colleagues. Outside the venue, a small group of protesters had…

Pregnancy means new life to most of us — and a unique experience every time, bringing your baby into this world. But in all too many cases, pregnancy also means the end of a life. In late February 2023, the United Nations released a new report on maternal mortality around the world. The report described how one woman dies every two minutes due to child birthor complications experienced in pregnancy. “Pregnancy is tragically still a shockingly dangerous experience for millions around the world,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO). In the year 2000, the global maternal mortality rate (MMR) stood…

On a December afternoon, when DW visited Ostend, the hometown of James Ensor, it did not exactly present itself as a “lovely colorful flower”, as the Belgian painter once called it. The town is situated on the Flemish North Sea coast. Dark clouds hovered over the beach that stretches between the Netherlands in the east and France in the west. Before its destruction during World War II, Ostend was known as the “Queen of Seaside Resorts.” Today, the coastal strip is built up with modernist vacation apartment buildings. James Ensor lived in this charming, sleepy town from his birth on April 13, 1860 until…

The dopamine hit that social media provides is something many around the world are familiar with. Less familiar is being sent death threats for your performance at work. For professional athletes, this is sadly becomingly an increasingly common reality. After German ice hockey team Cologne Sharks recently lost 5-4 in a league game, defenseman Moritz Müller, who was awarded a penalty just 70 seconds in for a heavy foul, received a death threat on Instagram. A user first posted a knife and a red drop of blood before writing on the photo of Müller with his three children: “I would kill these worms…

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) on Friday said it had arrested a Russian national, working for a state firm, who it said was planning to pass on sensitive information to Poland. The FSB said the man was working at a “secure facility” in the central Penza region and was held for attempting to pass on information about his workplace to Polish intelligence, state news agency RIA reported. Poland says FSB claims ‘fake news’ Poland’s deputy foreign minister Andrjez Szejna poured cold water on the claims in comments carried by Polish news website Onet. “Any information provided by the Russian side…

Taiwan’s economy, once hailed as a miracle, is not as dynamic as it used to be. Growth in the gross domestic product (GDP), which was an impressive 6.6% in 2021, fell to 2.6% in 2022 and then 1.4% in 2023. No wonder, then, that future prosperity is on the minds of many on the self-governing island as the January 13 election nears. There is indeed debate over defense spending — but the military threat from China, which regards Taiwan as part of its territory, only has some voters concerned, as two academics argued last week in the Australian Financial Review. “Just under half of…

On Tuesday afternoon at 3:14 p.m. local time (07:14 a.m. UTC), all cell phones in Taiwan sounded an alarm, four times in a row. “Air Raid Alert! Missile flyover Taiwan airspace, be aware,” warned the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense in English.  It sparked the question in many people’s minds: Is Beijing attacking days before the Taiwanese presidential and parliamentary elections?  Many foreign journalists, including DW reporter Richard Walker, also received the warning message during a press conference with Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu. But the minister was able to reassure everyone, as the Chinese language warning message described the situation more clearly:…

Rishi Sunak will visit Kyiv today as he announces a new package of military aid, security assurances and humanitarian support.Mr Sunak will sign a UK-Ukraine Agreement on Security Cooperation with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy – committing the UK to provide intelligence sharing, cyber security, medical and military training, and defence industrial cooperation. The UK will provide £2.5bn in military aid to Ukraine in 2024-25, an increase of £200m on the previous two years, the prime minister announced.The package will provide the country with long-range missiles, air defence, artillery ammunition and maritime security.Around £200m will also be spent on a push to…