Author: DW

The German central bank, the Bundesbank, on Monday warned that a technical recession was possible by the end of the first quarter of 2024, particularly given recent strikes and their impact on infrastructure like public transport and airports.  The Bundesbank said it could “not be ruled out, that the various strikes, among other places in areas like rail and air travel, reduce productivity.” The next round of such strikes scheduled for Tuesday this week will affect German airports, with Lufthansa ground staff from trade union Verdi stopping work. Germany’s gross domestic product contracted by 0.3% year-on-year in the last quarter of 2023, as…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu didn’t mince words. On Saturday, he said that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will march into the city of Rafah in southern Gaza — even if negotiators manage to arrive at a deal that would see Hamas release all remaining Israeli hostages. “Even if we achieve it, we will enter Rafah,” Netanyahu said in a televised address. “We’re going to do it.” According to Israel, 130 hostages are still held by Hamas. There are currently an estimated 1.4 million people crammed into Rafah. Many of them have fled, some multiple times, from elsewhere in the Gaza…

A mum-of-two who has just completed a solo row across the Atlantic Ocean is already planning another adventure – but this time she’s staying on dry land and will be joined by one of her young sons.Leanne Maiden, 42, was reunited with her family at the weekend after completing The World’s Toughest Row race. Ms Maiden spent 66 days at sea – rowing 3,000 nautical miles from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to Antigua in the Caribbean.During the epic quest she navigated 20ft waves, swinging temperatures, and overcame a capsized boat.As well as sleep deprivation and salt sores, the…

The mother of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been refused access to his body, his spokesperson said. Spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said Navalny’s lawyers and his mother weren’t allowed into the morgue in the northern Russian town of Salekhard on Monday morning. “One of the lawyers was literally pushed out. When the staff was asked if Alexei’s body was there, they did not answer,” she wrote in a social media post. She added that the investigative committee looking into the 47-year-old’s death was extending their probe and that the cause of death was still “unknown.” “They lie, buy time for themselves and do not even…

A grand total of 1,776 days: That’s how long Julian Assange will have been detained in Britain’s maximum-security Belmarsh Prison by Tuesday, when he faces what could be the final hearing in the tug-of-war over his extradition to the US. Before that, the 52-year-old founder of the whistleblowing platform Wikileaks had spent seven years under diplomatic asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. And if US prosecutors have their way, he will soon be facing another 175 years in prison. The hearing before the High Court in London will take up the question: Has Assange already exhausted all legal options…

A former Chinese takeaway worker on trial after police seized Bitcoin worth £1.4bn has told a jury she was “duped” by the woman who defrauded the money.Jian Wen, 42, is alleged to have acted as a “front person” to help launder some of the profits of a £5bn investment fraud carried out in China by Zhimin Qian between 2014 and 2017. Qian, which means money in Chinese, fled the UK after police raided the six-bedroom house the women rented for more than £17,000 a month near Hampstead Heath in northwest London, a court has heard.Officers seized devices from the property,…

Germany is pressing for more European Union sanctions against Russia, German top diplomat Annalena Baerbock said Monday ahead of an EU foreign ministers’ meeting due to be attended by the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Navalny fell unconscious and died on Friday after a walk at the “Polar Wolf” penal colony in Kharp, about 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow, Russia’s prison service said. Germany calls for sanctions, summons Russian ambassador Baerbock said Germany would propose new sanctions against Moscow, expressing hope that they would be approved soon by the 27-nation bloc. “We have seen the brutal force with which the…

German politician and former Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen will seek a second term as chief of the European Commission, her center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party announced on Monday. CDU leader Friedrich Merz told a Berlin press conference von der Leyen was unanimously nominated. Her nomination is expected to become official when the CDU’s European umbrella, the center-right European People’s party (EPP), which is meeting in Bucharest in early March. What do we know about von der Leyen’s bid? The 65-year-old politician told CDU colleagues on Monday she looked forward to a joint campaign ahead of elections for the European…

An uncontrolled satellite is expected to hurtle through Earth’s atmosphere on Wednesday, almost 30 years after it was launched.The satellite, known as ERS-2, is expected to break up into pieces on reentry, the majority of which will burn up. Because the reentry is “natural” – in other words, not controlled by humans – it is impossible to predict exactly when and where it will happen, according to the European Space Agency (ESA).But as the time draws closer, the agency is able to say with greater accuracy what will happen.It released its latest forecast on Monday, predicting the satellite would reenter…

02/19/2024February 19, 2024Japan hosts Ukraine reconstruction meeting to showcase supportJapanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Monday vowed his nation’s long-term engagement in Ukraine’s reconstruction, calling it a future investment, as Japan hosted Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal for talks. Support for Ukraine’s reconstruction is about “investing in the future,” Kishida said in his opening remarks at a conference in Tokyo, which Japan co-organized with the Ukrainian government and business organizations.  “The war in Ukraine is still going on at this very moment and the situation is not easy. The promotion of economic reconstruction, however, is not only an investment for the…