Author: DW

Franz Anton Beckenbauer believed in reincarnation. “Maybe I’ve been here once before, as a plant or something,” he told a Berlin newspaper in 1994. “I’ve not been able to transport myself back yet but it’s something I’d like to do.” Who knows how many lives Beckenbauer had already lived, or as what, before the one which ended on January 7, 2024, after his family informed the German press agency dpa he passed away peacefully on Sunday surrounded by his family. He was 78. And they were many. Because, whatever he’d been in a previous life, whatever he’d done, it certainly…

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne resigned on Monday after less than two years in office. “Ms Elisabeth Borne today submitted the resignation of the government to the president, who accepted it,” the presidency said in a statement. French President Emmanuel Macron thanked her for “work in the service of our nation that has been exemplary every day.” Borne’s resignation coincides with recent political tensions over contentious immigration legislation backed by Macron to enhance the government’s ability to deport some foreigners His office did not name her successor but she will act as caretaker until a new government is named. Borne became…

Pakistan’s Supreme Court scrapped a lifetime ban for politicians with criminal convictions on Monday, paving the way for former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to run for top office a fourth time. In his ruling, Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa said that life bans “abridge the fundamental right of citizens to contest elections.” Sharif cleared to run on February 8 Sharif, 74, was found guilty of dishonest practices in 2017 and disqualified from office under a subsequent ban the following year. Last year, the courts overturned the two convictions, but he remained disqualified. Sharif’s party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), is tipped…

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced all 171 Boeing 737-9 Max aircraft will remain grounded after a window and chunk of fuselage blew out of one of its passenger planes in mid-air.The US transportation agency said the planes would not fly until “enhanced inspections” of jets were completed including both left and right cabin doors, exit plugs, door components, and fasteners. The FAA had said on Saturday it expected the inspections would take four to eight hours.This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.Please refresh the page for the fullest version.You can receive…

“Oppenheimer” — Christopher Nolan’s historic drama about the inventor of the atomic bomb  —  bagged the Golden Globe for best drama on Sunday The blockbuster movie took home five prizes in total, including best score and acting wins for protagonist Cillian Murphy and antagonist Robert Downey Jr. On the television series front, “Succession” dominated the show claiming best drama series, and acting wins for stars Kieran Culkin, Sarah Snook and Matthew Macfadyen. HBO’s ‘Succession’ revolves around the ageing owner of a powerful global media and entertainment conglomerate and his children, vying for powerImage: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images “The Bear,” about the struggles of…

North Korea has ushered in the new year with threats of violence and three days of live-fire artillery exercises near two South Korean islands. The South Korean military reported that more than 200 artillery rounds were fired into the sea and that civilians from Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong islands were ordered to evacuate and seek shelter. It was among the fiercest North Korean barrages in the region since November 2010. The South Korean military responded with artillery rounds into the sea over the weekend. While there have been no reports of additional firing on Monday, analysts have said that 2024 is likely…

Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina secured a fourth consecutive term in power on Monday with her Awami League party taking three-quarters of seats in parliament following a controversial election.  The vote was boycotted by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), who described it as “illegitimate.” The BNP had demanded a neutral caretaker government to oversee the polls, saying that Hasina’s government could not hold free and fair polls. But the ruling party rejected the calls. The election commission on Monday said the Awami League won 222 out of 298 parliamentary seats in Sunday’s polls. Authorities suspended voting in two constituencies,…

A senior Hezbollah commander has been killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon, according to a Lebanese security official.Sky News has been unable to independently verify the claims, and Israel is yet to respond to them. Security sources told the Reuters news agency the victim was the deputy head of a unit within Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force.They identified him as Wissam al Tawil and said he was killed along with another fighter.Sources told the agency the fatalities came when a car was hit in a strike on the Lebanese village of Majdal Selm. Middle East correspondent for Sky News,…

Nature is noisy. If you sit on a rock in a forest, on a mountain or in a field, you will commonly hear something chirrup or snuffle about. Even in the concrete city of Berlin, I’m often yelled at by flocks of thuggish sparrows living in bushes or lulled to sleep by nightingales that visit the German capital annually in May. We know that cows moo with regional accents, monkeys make sounds that are specific to the threats they face, mice sing and crickets scream for sex. And now new researchsuggests that “clicks” heard in sperm whale vocalizations are like vowels in human speech. It appears that sperm whales communicate…

Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” dominated the Golden Globes on Sunday, taking five prizes, including best drama, best director for Nolan, best score, as well as acting wins for Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. Emma Thomas, the film’s producer and Nolan’s wife, noted that the three-hour epic about “one of the darkest developments in our history” is “unlike anything anyone else is doing.”  The story of the ‘father of the atomic bomb’ Julius Robert Oppenheimer was born in New York City on April 22, 1904. He was a US physicist and a key figure in the Manhattan Project, the top-secret program that was responsible for…