Author: DW

Latvia, one of the European Union’s smallest member states with a population of fewer than 2 million, has emerged as the number-one supplier of whisky to its heavily-sanctioned neighbor Russia. In the first nine months of last year, Russia imported almost €244 million ($266 million) worth of the amber-colored spirit. Of that total, almost three quarters came from Latvia, according to figures published by the Russian news agency RIA Novosti. In second place came another Baltic country, Lithuania, which sold Russia €27 million worth of whisky. Latvia, which has a frigid climate and produces negligible amounts of wine compared to viticulture…

US and Canadian cities have been dealing with the aftermath of a powerful and fast-moving storm which buried streets under snow and left one person dead.People have been seen trying to free their cars on Wednesday after up to 12 inches of snow fell on the the cities of Halifax and Sydney in eastern Canada. It comes after the winter storm, called Nor’easter, led to the cancellation of more than 1,000 flights in the northeast of the US on Tuesday morning, mostly at airports in the New York City area and in Boston. Image: Two people shovel snow in Sydney,…

The man suspected of abducting Madeleine McCann goes on trial for sex crimes on Friday – but on charges unrelated to the disappearance of the young British girl.German drifter Christian B is accused of three rapes and two sex assaults. The youngest alleged victim was 10 and the oldest was in their 70s when the offences are said to have taken place. German privacy laws mean media outlets cannot make Christian B identifiable – which is why Sky News has covered most of his face and not given his full surname.The alleged victims in relation to the trial include Irish…

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday announced his engagement to his partner, Jodie Haydon. Albanese posted a picture of the couple, with Haydon showing off the new ring, on social media. “She said yes,” the prime minister wrote. Albanese and Haydon first met at an event in Melbourne in early 2020, and appeared together during the 2022 federal election campaign. Albanese, who is 60 years old, was sworn in as prime minister in May 2022. Haydon has had a long career in finance and banking and currently works as women’s officer for the NSW Public Service Association which is the public sector union…

At least one person died and more than 20 people were wounded on Wednesday after shots were fired at the end of the Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory parade in Kansas City, Missouri. Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves said on Wednesday that the gunshot wound total had risen to 22 people, eight of them children. However she said police were still working to ascertain a total number of victims and said the case was “still an active investigation.”  Third person detained, crime scene cleared, radio DJ killed Police chief Graves also mentioned police detaining a third individual, having initially reported two detentions. “We do have three persons…

Britain will send more than 50 tanks to Eastern Europe to take part in the largest NATO war games in a generation as warnings grow about the threat of all-out conflict with Russia.A majority of the ageing Challenger 2 main battle tanks will be transported by rail via the Channel Tunnel from the UK, but 12 tanks will be brought out of storage in Germany – where they are based – to join the exercise, it is understood. British forces are already sending hundreds of other types of military vehicles by ferry to Germany for the opening phase of the…

Former Dutch international footballer and once a target of Manchester United, Quincy Promes, has been sentenced to six years in prison in absentia for drug trafficking. Amsterdam District Court ruled that the 32-year-old – who plays in the Russian Premier League for Spartak Moscow – was involved in the import and export of hundreds of kilograms of cocaine in 2020. Promes, who lives in Moscow, did not attend his trial in the Dutch capital and is not expected to return to the Netherlands in the foreseeable future.Prosecutors had asked judges to sentence him to nine years for his involvement in…

Exhausted after months on the move, Palestinians in Rafah face impossible decisions once again. More and more people have crammed into Gaza’s southernmost city, which itself is squeezed against the heavily fortified border with Egypt, and wonder where they can go as the threat of an Israeli ground offensive in the city weighs on their minds. “We are afraid for our lives,” Iman Abu Musa told DW in a WhatsApp message. The 22-year-old recently fled to Rafah from neighboring Khan Yunis, where heavy ground fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas militants has sent thousands of people south and west in search…

At least one person has died and several people were wounded Wednesday after shots were fired at the end of the Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory parade in Kansas City, Missouri, according to local officials. Fire Department Battalion Chief Michael Hopkins said up to 15 people were injured in the shooting. Of the injured, three were in critical condition, five were in serious condition and one person had non-life-threatening injuries, he said. “Shots were fired west of Union Station near the garage and multiple people were struck,” Kansas City police said on X. “We took two armed people into custody for more investigation.” Fans were urged to exit the…

The top Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, was one of the main planners of the 7 October attack on Israel but did not expect the consequences to become “this dangerous”, a friend has told Sky News.Esmat Mansour said last year’s cross-border raid was supposed to be a strategic operation designed to lift the Israeli siege on the territory, release Sinwar’s friends from prison, and make him a “leader of the Palestinian people”. But the calculations “didn’t go as planned”, the reaction of the Israelis was “uncontrolled, without any justification”, and “now we have this result”, he explained.”He [Sinwar] didn’t…