Author: DW

South Africa has taken Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing it of violating the UN’s 1948 Genocide Convention in Israel’s current war against Hamas in Gaza. The Israeli military launched a massive operation against Hamas after the militant Islamist group carried out a series of terror attacks on Israel on October 7 that killed 1,200 people and saw 240 taken hostage. Hamas is classified as a terrorist organization by the European Union, Germany, and the United States, among other nations. Over the coming weeks, the court will have to decide whether to issue the provisional measures requested by…

Namibian President Hage Geingob was diagnosed with cancer earlier in the month and will undergo treatment, his office said Friday. The presdincy did not provide details about his condition, but stated that he would continue to perform his duties. “As part of regular annual medical examinations, the Presidency informed the Namibian public that the head of state was due for a colonoscopy and a gastroscopy on 8 January 2024, which were followed up with a biopsy, of which the results revealed cancerous cells,” the presidency statement said. “On the advice of the medical team, President Geingob will undertake appropriate medical treatment to deal with the cancerous…

An online predator who blackmailed dozens of women around the world into performing sexual and degrading acts, including child abuse, has been jailed for 24 years.Anthony Burns, originally from Lowestoft in Suffolk, used multiple online identities when engaging with the women on the internet.On one occasion he posed as the head of a model agency searching for clients, while on another he pretended to be an officer with the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA).Once the 39-year-old had gained the trust of his victims he would move the conversation over to WhatsApp.The women were ordered to film themselves carrying out sexual…

A mere four months after Japan’s first attempt to land on the moon ended in failure, the country quickly set its hopes on a second attempt. It launched SLIM — the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon — in September 2023. The spacecraft is better known as Moon Sniper because it was designed as a “pinpoint” lander. Controllers on Earth wanted to use new technology to land this and future spacecraft at precise locations.  Japan appeared to become the fifth nation ever to have landed a spacecraft on the lunar surface January 19/20, 2024.  No mean feat — it’s tough to land on the…

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has lent its support to Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova after the pair of tennis legends shared their concerns at the anticipated WTA Championships being held in Saudi Arabia. Evert and Navratilova wrote an open letter to WTA chief Steve Simon and other board members that was obtained and released by US sports magazine “Sports Illustrated” on January 17, 2024. In it, the serial Grand Slam winners say hosting the finals in Saudi Arabia “would represent a significant step backwards” and is “entirely incompatible with the spirit and purpose of women’s tennis and the WTA itself.”…

For 34 years, the first foreign trip of the year has always taken the Chinese foreign minister to Africa. This week, Wang Yi visited Egypt, Tunisia, Togo and Ivory Coast before traveling on to South America. In addition to the crisis in the Middle East, his agenda included economic cooperation and civil society exchange. Africa is playing an increasingly important role for China, which is hungry for energy and raw materials. After World War II, communist China cultivated intensive cooperation with African countries. Beijing fraternized and positioned itself as a spokesperson for these underdeveloped countries, which later would become part…

The Aachen International Charlemagne Prize 2024 goes to the President of the European Rabbinical Conference Pinchas Goldschmidt and the Jewish communities in Europe, the board of directors of the prize announced on Friday. According to the statement, the aim of the award is to broadcast the message that Jewish life is a natural part of Europe, and that there is no place for antisemitism in Europe. “Jewish life is an essential part of Europe’s past, its present and its future,” the board said, adding that Goldschmidt has always advocated that people of different religious and cultural backgrounds should find their…

A teacher in the US has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly being caught on hidden camera poisoning her husband’s smoothie.Sarah Scheffer’s partner installed the surveillance equipment after suspecting his wife had been contaminating his food and drink over a number of weeks, causing him to feel unwell. When questioned by police in Missouri, the 37-year-old woman is said to have admitted adding the root of the lily of the valley to a blender “with the intent to cause the victim harm”, according to a probable cause statement.It also said: “The defendant admitted to knowing that ingesting ‘lily of…

In 2018, everything was still comparatively okay in the Eurovision Song Contest universe, where the rules define it as a “non-political event.” That year, Israeli singer Netta won the song contest in Lisbon with her brilliant plea for diversity and self-confidence, bringing the following year’s competition to Tel Aviv, where it was held in May 2019. Smaller pro-Palestinian demonstrations took place on the sidelines of the popular event but received little attention, given the many thousands of Eurovision fans who just wanted to celebrate in Tel Aviv. By winning in 2018, Netta brought the contest to Israel the following yearImage: Vyacheslav Prokofyev/TASS/dpa/picture…

With the limited facilities on the summit already at breaking point, rubbish piling up and concern over rising numbers of injuries, the local government that oversees one of the most popular hiking routes to the top of Japan’s iconic Mount Fuji is imposing a toll and a daily cap on the number of climbers.  Yamanashi prefectural government announced in late December that a limit of 4,000 climbers per day would be introduced on the popular Yoshida Trail, on the northern flank of the mountain, at the start of the 70-day summer climbing season on July 1.   Announcing the plan,…