Author: DW

A person has died after two masked gunmen attacked a church in Istanbul during Sunday services. Two “masked assailants” attacked the Santa Maria Church in the Sariyer district at around 11.40am, Istanbul officials have said. Turkish broadcaster T24 confirmed reports that one person died after being shot in the head during the attack.They also reported that the attackers escaped, and others in the church threw themselves on the ground to protect themselves. No other injuries have been confirmed.It is unclear what the motive behind the attack was and whether it is linked to any group. An investigation has been opened…

French President Emmanuel Macron was chief guest at India’s annual Republic Day celeberations on Friday in the capital New Delhi. Indian President Draupadi Murmu escorted Macron in a ceremonial horse-drawn carriage from the nearby president’s palace to the viewing stand. Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted Macron there. Macron and Modi attend the parade Friday morningImage: Manish Swarup/AP Photo/picture alliance “A great honor for France. Thank you, India,” Macron wrote online, sharing a video clip of part of the parade. A French 30-member band and 90-member marching group joined the parade. A French transport aircraft and two fighter jets from the French air force joined 54…

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on donor states to “guarantee the continuity” of the operations of the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA). The plea came after multiple countries paused their funding for the organization following Israeli allegations that some of the agency’s staffers were involved in the terror attacks on Israel carried out by Hamas militants on October 7. “While I understand their concerns — I was myself horrified by these accusations — I strongly appeal to the governments that have suspended their contributions to, at least, guarantee the continuity of UNRWA’s operations,” Guterres said in a statement. He also vowed that…

This is a troubling moment on many levels.It represents yet another clear indication that America and its allies are facing a regional conflict in the Middle East. It is a conflict in which they are protagonists, a conflict they are struggling to influence and a conflict which they have not contained.It’s moments like this which will come to mark turning points; a shifting of the dial, an attack which will force President Biden to respond.Follow live: Biden blames ‘radical Iran-backed militant groups’ for drone attack The moment presents him with a complex range of challenges.In an election year and with…

Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, said Sunday they are leaving the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) immediately. All three countries, which were founding members of ECOWAS in 1975, are currently led by militaries that seized power from civilian leaders. “After 49 years, the valiant peoples of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger regretfully and with great disappointment observe that the (ECOWAS) organization has drifted from the ideals of its founding fathers and the spirit of Pan-Africanism,” Colonel Amadou Abdramane, Niger junta spokesman, said in a statement. The three countries were suspended from ECOWAS following the coups, and relations between them and the…

Former Prime Minister Alexander Stubb won the first round of Finland’s presidential election on Sunday, official data showed as 99.0% of votes were counted. Stubb will face runner-up Pekka Haavisto in a runoff next month. According to election officials, Stubb won 27.1% of votes, while Haavisto secured 25.8%. None of the nine candidates who participated in the election, the first since Finland joined NATO, managed to secure more than 50% of the votes in the first round held on Sunday, leading to a runoff election.  Polls across the country closed at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT). Initial voter turnout was 74.9%. Speaking to supporters, Stubb…

The killing of three US soldiers and the injuring of dozens more in a drone attack creates one near-certainty – the United States will retaliate with military force.The harder question is whether this response will be contained to the “radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq” that the White House has accused of carrying out the carnage, or widened to include the regime in Tehran that supports them – or both. Joe Biden must respond forcefully to deter future threats against the large numbers of US forces operating across the region.But this foreign crisis is playing into domestic…

Who makes the decision in tennis? The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the world governing body responsible for the rules of the game. The ITF is made up of 213 national federations. It also organizes the Olympic tennis tournaments, the Davis Cup for men and the Fed Cup for women, as well as the four most important tennis tournaments of the year, the Grand Slams: Australian Open in Melbourne, French Open in Paris, the Wimbledon Championships in London and the US Open in New York. There is also the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for men and the Women’s Tennis…

Many African smallholder coffee farmers, who primarily sell their harvest to European markets, now find their main source of income in jeopardy. In 2023, the European Union (EU) established mandatory rules for companies dealing in commodities such as coffee, palm oil, and cocoa. The rules are designed to ensure that products imported to Europe do not originate from deforested land, land acquired forcibly from local and/or indigenous communities, or whose cultivation involves labor and/or human rights abuses. To avoid heavy fines, companies must prove compliance by the end of 2024. “We’re not seeing many buyers this year,” Tsegaye Anebo, general manager of…

When Carolina Shiino was recently adorned with  the crown and sash denoting her as “Miss Japan 2024” in a Tokyo hotel, the 26-year-old burst into tears. After all, she was the first woman born outside of Japan to non-Japanese parents to win the title. After her coronation, Shiino, who was granted Japanese citizenship as recently as 2022, said it had all been “like a dream.” “I have often had to fight against obstacles that prevented me from being accepted as Japanese, which is why I am extremely grateful to be recognized as Japanese in this competition,” she said. Despite her words,…