Author: DW

US President Joe Biden has announced new sanctions against Russia aimed at forcing Russian President Vladimir Putin to pay “an even steeper price” for the war in Ukraine and the death of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. In a statement just ahead of the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Biden also paid tribute to the Ukrainian people and appealed to US lawmakers to release funds for Kyiv. The sanctions target 500 entities involved in the invasion and occupation of Ukraine, as well as those connected to the imprisonment of Navalny, who died last week. “They will ensure Putin pays an…

Donald Tusk made no attempt to hide his irritation when he spoke to the press on Thursday. His center-left government is currently making a huge effort to restore the rule of law, which was eroded by the national-conservative PiS government that ruled Poland from 2015 to 2023. Calm in other domestic areas would help matters enormously. But the nation’s farmers have other ideas. After an extended break, Polish farmers on Tuesday once again began blocking roads across the country and approach roads leading to border crossings with Ukraine. In some cases, the already tense situation escalated. At the Medyka border…

A melted watch frozen in time during the Hiroshima bombing has been sold for more than $31,000 (£24,000) at auction.The wristwatch shows the exact moment the atomic bomb was detonated over the Japanese city, at 8.15am on 6 August 1945, during the final days of the Second World War, according to Boston-based auction house, RR Auction. The brass-toned timepiece is believed to have been recovered from the ruins of the blast zone by a British soldier on a mission to provide emergency supplies and assess the damage.It fetched a total of $31,113 (£24,550) at auction on Thursday, with a number…

After months, if not years, of debate, German legislators took the first step to legalize cannabis on February 23. If the law passes final scrutiny in Germany’s upper house, it will take effect on April 1. There will be a legal limit for THC — the psychoactive element in cannabis — for users in road traffic, similar to Germany’s blood alcohol limit of 0.5 mg/ml, or a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05%. But unlike alcohol, the proposed legal limits of cannabis will vary based on the user’s typical level of consumption. For occasional users, the limit is 1 nanogram (ng) of THC per milliliter of…

The auditorium of the only cinema in Benin’s capital, Cotonou, is filled to capacity. Anyone who arrives late has to sit on the floor. On this evening, one woman takes center stage: Cornelia Glele. This is the third time since 2019 that the 26-year-old has organized the Cotonou International Women’s Film Festival (FIFF), which runs until Saturday. Glele is a journalist, filmmaker and blogger. She has succeeded in inviting female filmmakers, directors, and actors from all over Africa, organizing a competition with 18 films, and initiating debates about African productions and therole of women in cinema. What is remarkable is that women directed all…

The death toll from a devastating apartment fire in the eastern Spanish city of Valencia has risen to 10, officials said Friday. Initially, the death toll stood at four with up to 15 people missing. “We can confirm that following a first inspection, forensic police have found 10 fatalities,” regional administrator Pilar Bernabe told reporters. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday traveled to Valencia to see the damage firsthand and to meet with local officials.  Speaking with reporters, Sanchez said residents had, “lost everything in a matter of minutes in this terrible fire.”Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited the 14-story building that…

A Vienna court has found former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz guilty of perjury and handed him an eight-month suspended jail sentence.   A young and charismatic hardliner, Kurz was once hailed as a “wunderkind” of Europe’s conservatives. The verdict followed a four-month trial and the case marked the first time in more than 30 years that a former Austrian chancellor had stood trial.   Kurz left politics in 2021 amid allegations of financial impropriety against his office. What were the allegations against Kurz? The case related to statements made by Kurz to an investigative committee of the Austrian parliament in 2020. As part of the inquiry, he was…

Lord David Cameron has warned the UN about the consequences of withdrawing support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.The foreign secretary was speaking to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on the eve of the second anniversary of the invasion. War latest: Navalny’s mother given three-hour ultimatum over secret funeralLord Cameron said: “Two years on, I recognise some want to rethink. There is a sense of fatigue, there are other problems, a compromise might seem attractive.”But this is wrong. “We must recognise the cost of giving up.”Putin has said there will be no peace until Russia’s goals…

Lisa, a Scottish woman living in Abu Dhabi, was in the middle of what seemed like a normal pregnancy. Her blood pressure was normal. And at her regular checkups, everything else seemed to be progressing normally as well. But at around 20 weeks in, Lisa received a single sign that something could be awry: The fetus was smaller than it should have been at that stage. Lisa’s doctor said they would keep an eye on it, but that it was nothing to worry about. Four weeks later, Lisa started feeling what she thought was heartburn. A few days later, the…

American media personality Wendy Williams has been diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia (FTD), her care team announced in a press release Thursday.   “Over the past few years, questions have been raised at times about Wendy’s ability to process information and many have speculated about Wendy’s condition, particularly when she began to lose words, act erratically at times, and have difficulty understanding financial transactions,” her team wrote.   Williams, the former host of “The Wendy Williams Show,” received her diagnosis last year, according to the statement.   Her care team explained they chose to share the news to “to…