Author: DW

Elon Musk’s SpaceX started providing Ukraine free access to its Starlink internet service shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. The strategic benefits were clear: Skylink would provide internet access to the Ukrainian people and military after Russia had disrupted internet connections. The technology has been instrumental in guiding Ukraine’s drone strikes on Russian tanks and positions. But according to Ukraine’s intelligence services, Russian soldiers have been using the technology for months in the territories they occupy. That would mean Russia was circumventing sanctions by importing products via third parties. Starlink’s operator and the Russian government have both denied the allegations. SpaceX, which owns Starlink, says…

The list of candidates for a stake in German football’s future broadcast revenues could soon be down to just one after US financial investor Blackstone said it was considering withdrawing from the bidding process, a move which would leave CVC Capital Partners as the only remaining contender. After Bloomberg first reported Blackstone’s concerns, a source also confirmed to DW on Tuesday that the private equity firm was indeed considering stepping away from the process which they said had “gone on for a very long time, during which parameters have moved.” The source cited “structuring and economic factors around the deal…

Senegalese authorities on Tuesday suspended mobile internet services and banned a demonstration against the postponement of the presidential election, as international observers including France and the United Nations voiced concern about rising tensions in the country. Three people have been killed during violent protests after President Macky Sall’s decision to push back the February 25 vote until December 15 plunged traditionally stable Senegal into one of its worst crises in decades. The Aar Sunu Election (“Let’s protect our election”) collective, which includes some 40 civil, religious and professional groups, had called for a peaceful rally in Dakar on Tuesday afternoon.…

With Nigeria’s current minimum wage set to expire in April, a federal panel consisting of state governors, trade unionists and private sector and labor leaders is reviewing by how much the minimum wage should increase. Currently, the minimum monthly wage stands at 30,000 naira ($20, €19). Economic reforms introduced after Nigerian President Bola Tinubu’s inauguration nine months ago have left ordinary Nigerians battling to keep their heads above water amid soaring living costs. “The cost of everything has gone up: food items, rent, school fees, tariffs, water, electricity, transport,” says Benson Upah, spokesman for the union platform Nigerian Labour Congress.Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has come under…

Botticelli’s painting “The Birth of Venus” on Tuesday has become the latest piece of art to be the focus of climate protests. Two activists from the Last Generation group in Italy stuck several photographs of flooding on the painting displayed at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, police said.  The protesters also held up a poster demanding a €20 billion ($21.43 billion) fund to repair climate damage. “The government continues to pretend that fields did not burn in January, that water will not be a problem this summer, that houses destroyed by floods are accidental events and not caused by human…

Vladimir Putin’s ambassador to the UK says the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which Russian forces razed to the ground, is now “beautiful” and “rebuilt”.In a wide-ranging interview with Sky News’ Yalda Hakim, Andrei Kelin also said Moscow has “no interest in Poland, Latvia, Estonia or any other countries” after NATO warned of future Russian invasions in Europe. When asked about accusations of human rights abuses in Mariupol, Mr Kelin said: “Go to Mariupol, now look at it, it’s a… totally rebuilt city… it is amazing how beautiful it is.”Not every building has been restored right now, but a lot of…

Marko Ivanovic points to a large building his father bought in the Old Quarter of the Croatian capital, Zagreb, before the Second World War. “I should have been born in this house in 1948,” says the bearded, gray-haired man, struggling to keep his composure. The pale-yellow house with the broad, dark green double door and decorative entrance stands beside a number of other beautiful old houses on a narrow street. Some have been renovated; others are not in such good condition. The whole area is evidently well-to-do. Ivanovic’s parents survived the Second World War. His father, a Croatian Jew, twice…

India and the Untied Arab Emirates inked a trade deal on Tuesday to connect the subcontinent with Europe via ports in the Middle East. The deal was announced during a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Abu Dhabi, where he met Emirati President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. “This would build on previous understandings and cooperation on this matter and foster India and the UAE cooperation furthering regional connectivity,” India’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Sheikh Mohammed said “our region is going through a difficult time but because of our relationship with [India], we are building a…

Recent fighting near the city of Goma in Eastern Congo has alarmed the United Nations Security Council, which said on Monday that it was worried by the “escalating violence”. The council condemned the offensive launched earlier this month by M23 rebels. Also on Monday, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that his country was deploying 2,900 troops as part of a joint effort of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to quell the fighting in the Congo. SADC forces are already combating alongside Congo’s army. Confrontations between M23 and government forces are concentrated around the town of Sake. With its roughly 50,000…

South Africa has submitted an “urgent request” to The Hague to consider if Israel’s operations targeting Rafah are a breach of court orders.Last month, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to do all it can to prevent the deaths of Palestinian civilians, after South Africa accused its military of genocide in Gaza. With Israel’s forces threatening a ground invasion of the southern Gazan city of Rafah – where 1.4 million Palestinians have fled – South Africa has sent a follow-up request.Follow live: IS arrest at nuclear power plant”The South African government said it was gravely concerned that the…