Author: DW

Rescuers are searching for six skiers who have gone missing amid difficult weather conditions in the Swiss Alps.The cross-country skiers – five of whom are members of the same family – had set off on a ski tour from the Alpine town of Zermatt, Switzerland. They went missing around Tête Blanche mountain on Saturday, on the Zermatt-Arolla path near the Matterhorn mountain that straddles the Switzerland-Italy border, police said.The authorities added that a storm “raging in the south of the Alps and the risk of avalanches has prevented helicopters and rescuers from approaching the area”.The missing skiers are between the…

All over Europe, farmers have been taking to the streets to protest in recent months, snarling traffic with their tractors. Farmers in Turkey haven’t yet taken to the streets, but the agricultural sector there is just as incensed by an adverse economic situation and dissatisfied with state subsidies. Turkish farmers face worse conditions than their counterparts in Poland, Germany and elsewhere, representatives for the sector say. “One of the driving forces behind agricultural protests in Europe was that aid for agricultural diesel was being cut,” said Baki Remzi Suicmez, president of the Chamber of Agricultural Engineers of Turkey. “In Turkey, there are no…

The United States has airlifted non-essential embassy personnel from Haiti, the US military said on Sunday. It comes as violent gangs have overrun the country threatening to bring down the government. “This airlift of personnel into and out of the embassy is consistent with our standard practice for embassy security augmentation worldwide, and no Haitians were on board the military aircraft,” the US military’s Southern Command said in a statement. The embassy clarified on social media that it “remains open.” “Heightened gang violence in the neighborhood near US embassy compounds and near the airport led to the State Department’s decision to arrange for…

Seven people, including two children, are missing in southeastern France after floods swept cars away.”Extremely violent episodes” brought “very heavy rainfall” in Gard and Ardeche overnight, Gerald Darmanin, the interior minister, said on Sunday. Searches are under way for six people in Gard and one person in Ardeche after vehicles were found but without the people, Mr Darmanin added.In Gard, divers joined rescue teams to search for three members of a family who went missing when their car was swept away at about 11.30pm.The vehicle was about to cross a submersible bridge, according to France Info. The 40-year-old mother was…

The Saudi Arabian Oil Group, often referred to simply as Aramco, on Saturday reported a 24.7% decline in profits for 2023 compared to the previous year, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had driven oil prices well above current levels. Net income reached 454.7 billion Saudi riyals (roughly $121 billion or €111 billion) compared to profits in excess of $160 billion in 2022, the oil giant said in a filing with the Saudi stock market.  “The decrease mainly reflects the impact of lower crude oil prices and lower volumes sold, and weakening refining and chemical margins,” Aramco said.  Why the Middle East won’t…

Pope Francis has come in for fierce criticism over remarks that Ukraine should have what he called the courage of the “white flag” and negotiate an end to the war with Russia.  The head of the Catholic Church made the remarks in an interview recorded last month with Swiss broadcaster RSI, but partially released on Saturday. It sparked widespread criticism from Ukraine and its allies, as many interpreted it as a call for Ukraine to surrender. What did the pontiff say? “I think that the strongest one is the one who looks at the situation, thinks about the people and…

Fireworks were ignited and eggs thrown as pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in Amsterdam where a new National Holocaust Museum has been opened. The Israeli president’s visit to the newly-opened National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam has sparked protests in the city. Thousands of protesters were heard chanting “never again is now” and “ceasefire now” at Waterloo Square in central Amsterdam, near the museum, which held an opening ceremony on Sunday and invited guests including the Israeli president Isaac Herzog and Dutch King Willem-Alexander.They also held Palestinian flags and signs that said “Jews against genocide” and “the grandchild of a holocaust survivor says:…

Israeli President Isaac Herzog attended the opening of the National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam on Sunday. The museum tells the stories of some of the 102,000 Jews who were deported from the Netherlands and murdered in Nazi camps during the Holocaust in World War II. Among the exhibits are a prominent photo of a boy walking past bodies at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp after it was liberated, dress buttons excavated from the grounds of the Sobibor extermination camp, and walls covered with the texts of hundreds of laws discriminating against Jews enacted by the German occupiers of the Netherlands. The museum is…

The death toll has continued to climb after days of torrential rains triggered flash floods and landslides on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, officials said on Sunday. The West Sumatra capital of Padang has been inundated by flooding since Thursday, while masses of mud, rocks and uprooted trees tumbled down the mountains and tore through villages in Pesisir Selatan district to the south. “As of Sunday, 21 people were found dead and six people remained missing,” Fajar Sukma, an official from the West Sumatra disaster mitigation agency, told the AFP news agency. The National Disaster Management Agency said more than 80,000…

Days of torrential rainfall have led to flash floods and a landslide on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, killing 19 people with seven others missing.Mud, rocks and uprooted trees came down a mountain and reached a river that burst its banks, tearing through villages in the West Sumatran province. Seven bodies were pulled from the rubble in the village of Koto XI Tarusa by Saturday, said Doni Yusrizal, who leads the local disaster management agency. Image: Damaged houses in Langgai. Pic: AP Three others were recovered in two other neighbouring villages, while rescuers retrieved another six bodies in Pesisir Selatan…