Author: DW

The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann will appear in court in Germany today accused of unrelated sex offences.Christian B, whose last name is withheld due to privacy laws, will stand trial over two counts of rape and three counts of sexual abuse. The prosecution claims the offences took place in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.A pensioner and a 10-year-old were among the alleged victims. None of the charges relate to Madeleine McCann.The 47-year-old is currently in prison after being convicted of raping a 72-year-old in an apartment in Praia da Luz in 2005. Two years later, Madeleine…

Senegal’s Constitutional Council on Thursday overturned the postponement of this month’s presidential election. The delay caused widespread protests and sparked the worst chaos Senegal has seen in years. The Senegal election postponement Parliament had voted earlier this month to delay elections until December. That came after President Macky Sall announced his decision to postpone the ballot that was slated for February 25. Senegal’s top election authority canceled Sall’s decree in a judgement that was approved by seven members of the Constitutional  Council. The National Assembly’s move on February 5 to reschedule the vote for December 14 was “contrary to the constitution,” the judgement said. Senegal: Anger…

The Greek parliament on Thursday voted in favor of a bill to allow same-sex couples to marry. It makes Greece the first Orthodox Christian country to legalize same-sex civil marriage. The bill was approved by a cross-party majority of 176 lawmakers in the 300-seat parliament. “This is a historic moment,” Stella Belia, the head of same-sex parents group Rainbow Families, told Reuters. “This is a day of joy.” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called the outcome “a milestone for human rights” and noted that Greece was the 16th country in the European Union to legislate marriage equality. Parental rights extended to same-sex…

Domino’s Pizza has apologised after a video of an employee appearing to pick his nose and wipe his hand on dough went viral. The video was filmed in the chain’s Amagasaki branch in the Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, and posted on forum website Bakusai. It shows an employee, wearing Domino’s branded uniform and blue gloves, kneading dough and speaking to the person behind the camera.They then reach up to their face and appear to put their finger in their nose – before wiping it on the dough in front of them. X This content is provided by X, which may be…

02/15/2024February 15, 2024Russia mounts fresh missile attack on Kyiv, other citiesRussian forces launched missiles overnight, targeting Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, Ukraine’s officials said. Officials reported explosions in the regions of Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv and Poltava. In Kyiv, the local government said the “anti-aircraft defense destroyed all enemy missiles” aimed at the capital city. Governor of the eastern Zaporizhzhia region said one person was injured and “an infrastructure object” was hit. The Ukrainian air force reported that several Tu-95MS strategic bombers had taken off from the Olenya airfield in Russia’s far north, prompting a nationwide air alert which lasted for over two hours. Ukraine’s…

Russia is believed to be developing an anti-satellite weapon, the White House said on Thursday. US intelligence officials have information that Russia has obtained the capability but added that such a weapon is not currently operational. “First this is not an active capability that’s been deployed and though Russia’s pursuit of this particular capability is troubling, there is no immediate threat to anyone’s safety,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said. “We’re not talking about a weapon that can be used to used to attack human beings or cause physical destruction here on Earth.” Kirby said US President Joe Biden…

Israel says its special forces have raided the biggest functioning hospital in Gaza, with a number of suspects detained.The Israeli military said the operation at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis was “precise and limited” and claimed it had information Hamas fighters were hiding there.Israel also said the ruling militant group in Gaza may have kept hostages at the medical facility, and it was possible some captives’ bodies were at the site.Hamas has denied the accusations, calling them “lies”, with health authorities saying Israel has pushed out displaced people and medical workers’ families who were sheltering in the hospital.Middle East latest:Hezbollah…

The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates said that writing things down would make people forgetful. Now, thousands of years later, we’re in the fortunate position of being able to discuss Socrates’ thinking precisely because it was written down. Commentators often say the written word, books, is best and that computers negatively impact learning, almost for the same reasons that Socrates was against writing things down: forgetfulness, when memory is a cornerstone of learning. You may wonder: What have people got against new technologies? As more and more classrooms shift from print to digital books and other materials, researchers are looking into the impact on children’s learning.…

Donald Trump’s hush money trial will go ahead as scheduled after a judge on Thursday threw out his request to dismiss the criminal charges. Justice Juan Merchan set a trial date of March 25 for the case, which relates to money that the former US president allegedly paid to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. “Given all the information I have before me, we are moving ahead to jury selection on March 25,” the judge said. Trump repeated unfounded claims that the case brought against him is politically motivated. “They wouldn’t have brought this except for the…

The looming prospect of NATO-skeptic Donald Trump winning a second term as US president is serving as food for thought in Europe on everything from climate to trade. But this week, explosive comments from the isolationist front-runner to be the Republican Party’s candidate for president have pushed concerns about EU security to the fore and loomed large over a NATO defense ministers’ meeting in Brussels on Thursday. At a campaign rally on Saturday, Trump implied he wouldn’t come to the aid of NATO states attacked by Russia if they hadn’t met the alliance’s military spending targets. In fact, he would have opted…