Author: DW

German and World Cup football legend Franz Beckenbauer – widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time – has died at the age of 78.The sublimely talented defender won an array of trophies and honours across his glittering career, including a World Cup with West Germany as both a player and a manager, and two Ballon d’Or awards. He was also famed for carving out his own role as a sweeper – sitting slightly behind his team’s defensive line and sweeping up any man or ball that broke through.Former England striker Gary Lineker, paying tribute to Beckenbauer,…

The mayor’s office in Madrid has apologized for distributing videos for the holiday of Epiphany that featured a white actor wearing blackface. The videos showed King Balthazar, one of the legendary Three Wise Men from the Bible, depicted by a white man wearing thick black makeup. Early Christian texts describe Balthazar as African, and Renaissance paintings often depict him as Black. In the video, the man addressed children watching and promised them lots of presents while putting on a fake foreign accent and speaking with grammatical errors. “It is obviously not the right person to feature in these videos. It’s a regrettable mistake…

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina appeared on track to gain an overwhelming majority in Bangladesh’s parliamentary election that was boycotted by opposition parties, according to local media reports on Sunday. TV stations with networks of journalists across the country reported that Hasina’s governing party, the Awami League, won 216 out of 229 seats, meaning Hasina wins a fourth consecutive term in office. The general elections were boycotted by the main opposition party, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), and their allies. Independent candidates took 52 seats, while the Jatiya Party, the third largest in the country, took 11 seats. The results for the rest of the constituencies were still trickling…

France’s prime minister Elisabeth Borne has resigned after two years in the role.Her resignation comes ahead of an expected reshuffle by French President Emmanuel Macron. Mr Macron faces a tough fight in the European Parliament vote later this year, in which Eurosceptic candidates are expected to make gains in France.He has also faced recent turbulence with domestic policy, including large-scale protests over pension reforms last year.His government recently scraped through new immigration legislation which will strengthen their ability to deport migrants. But it only passed after his centrist alliance was able to strike a deal with the conservative Republican Party.The…

The start of the new year in Ukraine has been marked by a massive wave of aerial attacks from Russia. In response, some in Germany are renewing the call for Berlin to supply Kyiv with Taurus cruise missiles. On Friday, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, the defense expert from the Free Democrats (FDP), one of the coalition partners in the three-way German government, told the daily Rheinische Post that “Germany must finally deliver it in order to disrupt Russian supply lines” — “it” being a reference to the medium-range Taurus missile. Zimmermann also chairs the parliamentary defense committee, However, just two days earlier, a government spokesperson reiterated Berlin’s…

Thousands of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh were left without shelter on Sunday after a fire tore through their camp in the early hours of Sunday morning. No deaths were reported from the incident, which occurred at Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar. “The fire was big, and it destroyed about 1,040 shelters in the camp,” local fire brigade chief Shafiqul Islam told the Associated Press. “We took about two hours to get the blaze under control, engaging 10 fire units from Ukhiya and other stations in the district.”Firefighters took around two hours to get the blaze under controlImage: Shafiqur Rahman/AP Photo/picture…

United Airlines says it has found loose bolts on plug doors on multiple 737 Max 9 aircraft during inspections.It comes as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced all 171 Boeing 737-9 Max aircraft will remain grounded after a window and chunk of fuselage blew out of one of its Alaska Airlines passenger planes in mid-air. Industry publication Air Current reported that United found loose bolts on other parts on at least five panels that were being inspected following the accident over the weekend.”Since we began preliminary inspections on Saturday, we have found instances that appear to relate to installation issues…

The Maldives government suspended three deputy ministers on Sunday after they mocked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media. Three officials from the Youth Ministry had called Modi a “clown,” a “terrorist,” and a “puppet of Israel” on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. The President of Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu, has ordered an investigation and suspended the deputy ministers pending the outcome. “The government of Maldives is aware of derogatory remarks on social media platforms against foreign leaders and high ranking individuals,” the government said in a statement. “These opinions are personal and do not represent the views…

US carrier United Airlines announced Monday that it founded loose bolts on grounded Boeing 737 Max 9 planes in its fleet. “Since we began preliminary inspections on Saturday, we have found instances that appear to relate to installation issues in the door plug _ for example, bolts that needed additional tightening,” Chicago-based United said. The plug closes a hole that could be used for an extra emergency exit door on planes configured with relatively high numbers of seats. The discovery comes after a door plug blew out on an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 on Friday, alarming regulators both in the US and abroad.…

Benjamin Netanyahu should not be allowed by the international community to drag the Middle East into a wider regional war, Jordan has warned. Source link