Author: DW

“I wanted a nose job since turning 13. I heard Turkish doctors were good at them. A few girlfriends of mine had similar surgeries; they were very satisfied.” Benita Paloja, a 28-year-old woman from the US, decided to do as her friends had done and flew to Turkey to get cosmetic surgery on her nose. She says she paid just $5,000 (€4,600) and was able to fly home a week later. Paloja, who works in the finance industry and as a part-time model, is pleased she had the surgery. She says she feels more confident today and has been hired for more modelling gigs. She…

Hyperion, the first democratic renewable-energy community in Athens, closely resembles one of Germany’s progressive energy cooperatives. And the idea behind it is much the same as those in Germany, too, namely to create a democratic collective that produces renewable energy for the cooperative’s members and for others in the greater community. With 50% more solar irradiation per square meter than Germany, Greece has some of the highest potential for renewable energy in Europe. Indeed, the country is ranked one of the most attractive investment opportunities for renewable energy in the world. Over the past decade, the share of renewable energy…

A member of Israel’s war cabinet has indicated a ground invasion of Rafah may begin around Ramadan, which is expected to start on 10 March.Retired general Benny Gantz, part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s three-member war cabinet, told a conference of Jewish American leaders: “If by Ramadan our hostages are not home, the fighting will continue to the Rafah area.” It marks the first time Israel’s leaders have publicly discussed a timeline for a ground offensive on Rafah, where more than half the enclave’s 2.3 million people have sought refuge.Ramadan – the Islamic holy month of fasting – has historically…

Martin Scorsese is undeniably a monument of film history. The influential director and producer, now aged 81, has already been honored with a number of lifetime achievement awards, and now the Berlin International Film Festival is also celebrating him with its Honorary Golden Bear, which will be handed out on February 20. Since 1967, Scorsese has directed 26 feature films and many more documentaries. His latest work, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” focuses on the systematic killing of members of the Osage Nation for their oil-rich land by white settlers in the 1920s, a story based on historical facts. The…

The UN’s top court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), opens a week of hearings on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories on Monday. Judges have been asked to review “occupation, settlement and annexation…including measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and from its adoption of related discriminatory legislation and measures.” The advisory opinion will not be legally binding. The UN General Assembly requested the ICJ provide the advisory opinion before the Hamas terror attacks on Israel on October 7 and the subsequent Israeli offensive in Gaza.  What…

The trial of a US man accused of murder and rape near Germany’s famed Neuschwanstein Castle began on Monday. The 31-year-old is alleged to have pushed two fellow US tourists into a ravine close to the popular tourist attraction in the southern state of Bavaria last June. One of the women died as a result of her injuries. What we know about the attack The women, aged 21 and 22, had been hiking on June 14, 2023, during a visit to Germany following graduation from university.  Having approached and then persuaded the women to follow him down a trail to a lookout point near the Marienbrücke bridge, the…

The widow of former Russian Federal Security Service agent, Alexander Litvinenko, has said Vladimir Putin critics in Russia need support from the West. Marina Litvinenko’s husband, a prominent Putin critic, died in 2006 after being poisoned in London with Polonium 210, a rare and very potent radioactive isotope. The former FSB agent’s murder was suspected to have been personally signed off by Mr Putin, but Russia has always denied any involvement.Russia-Ukraine latest: Follow live updatesNow, following the death of another critic of the Russian leader, Alexei Navalny, Mrs Litvinenko has said she cannot be silent. Image: Alexei Navalny in 2022.…

The UN’s top court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), opens a week of hearings on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories on Monday. Judges have been asked to review “occupation, settlement and annexation…including measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and from its adoption of related discriminatory legislation and measures.” The advisory opinion will not be legally binding. The UN General Assembly requested the ICJ provide the advisory opinion before the Hamas terror attacks on Israel on October 7 and the subsequent Israeli offensive in Gaza.  What…

A two-day UN conference on Afghanistan kicked off in Qatar on Sunday. The event, chaired by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, will address approaches to increasing international engagement with the impoverished and war-torn Muslim country. The prospects of success appear limited from the start, as the country’s ruling Taliban has refused to attend after its demand of being “the sole official representative of Afghanistan” at the conference was turned down. Another demand that was not met was a guarantee that no one at the conference would criticize the militant Islamic theocrats and how they have run the country since returning to…

Ludmila misses her parents and longs to return home to Ukraine. War forced her to flee the country in 2022. Image: Ludmila Kolesnyk and her family Pregnant at the time, she waited until the birth of her youngest child to be reunited with her husband.Russia-Ukraine latest: Follow latest updates”I hope one day we can return back to Ukraine, especially me and my husband,” she told Sky News. “I miss our roots, and I miss my parents and my brother.”Ludmila is among 200,000 Ukrainians who arrived in the UK on various refugee schemes since the war broke out. They will all now…