Author: DW

Lord Cameron has reacted after a US congresswoman’s outburst, in which she said the foreign secretary should “kiss my ass”.He laughed off the comments by prominent right-wing Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, which came following his call for US legislators to pass a bill committing more funding for Ukraine. Lord Cameron addressed the comments – made to Sky News – during a speech at the Munich Security Conference on Friday.”We met,” he told the audience in Germany.”I went to the Republican study group lunch, talking about exactly this issue.” “We didn’t get anatomical at that stage, it was very early in…

Interest in obtaining Russian citizenship has fallen sharply since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. According to the Russian Interior Ministry, some 63,600 people applied for a Russian passport in 2023 — almost half the number in 2022, and a quarter of that in 2015. Denis (not his real name) was born in the Latvian city of Liepaja on the Baltic coast. He lived there until 1994 before moving to Veliky Novgorod in Russia with his family and obtaining Russian citizenship. But in 2012, he had to decide between his Latvian and Russian passport, after Latvia decided to accept dual…

A US judge on Friday ordered Donald Trump to pay nearly $355 million (€329.4 million) for fraud. He also banned Trump from operating businesses in the state of New York for three years. “The Court hereby enjoins Donald Trump… from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or other legal entity in New York for a period of three years,” Judge Arthur Engoron wrote in his ruling. He said that Trump and other defendants in the case “are incapable of admitting the error of their ways” and showed a “lack of contrition and remorse.” Trump’s adult sons,…

US President Joe Biden has said he is “contemplating” steps to punish Moscow after he blamed Vladimir Putin and his “thugs” for the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.Mr Biden said he was “outraged” but “not surprised” by the death of the prominent Putin critic as he joined other world leaders in saying the Kremlin should be held accountable.UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described Mr Navalny as the “fiercest advocate for Russian democracy”, while Canadian leader Justin Trudeau said his passing is a reminder of “exactly what a monster Putin is”.Mr Navalny had been serving a 19-year sentence on…

Skip next section Zelenskyy signs security pact with Macron in Paris02/16/2024February 16, 2024Zelenskyy signs security pact with Macron in ParisUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a security deal with France. He traveled to Paris on Friday evening after signing a separate deal with Germany. “It’s an ambitious, very substantive security agreement … We can’t talk openly about all the details,” Zelenskyy told reporters at a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron. “Each of the agreements strengthens Ukraine in its own way,” he said, comparing the deals reached with France and Germany. The agreement, which is set to last…

The war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is increasingly influencing Saudi Arabia’s foreign and domestic policies. “The situation has become a delicate balancing act for Saudi Arabia,” Sebastian Sons, senior researcher for the German think tank CARPO, told DW. “The current war offers a possibility to correct years of relatively little Saudi commitment on behalf of the Palestinians, while at the same time, Saudi Arabia, the guardian of two holy sites in Islam, continues to pursue its normalization efforts with Israel,” Sons said. For months, the process of normalizing Saudi-Israeli ties, one promoted by the US, was seen by Saudi Arabia and Israel as offering…

Does the death of Alexei Navalny reveal weakness within Putin’s regime as it tries to project confidence about the direction of its war in Ukraine?Many in the West will assume Vladimir Putin ordered the assassination of Navalny, given his track record of killing so many others. His agents tried to poison him with Novichok four years ago, after all. But Navalny was in jail out of the way and unable to pose much of a threat. Why kill him now?Follow live – Russia-Ukraine: Putin blamed for Navalny’s death Image: Alexei Navalny behind a glass panel in court in 2021. Pic:…

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) eastern city of Goma is struggling to deal with an influx of internally displaced people (IDPs) from the territories of Masisi, Rutshuru and Nyiragongo in North Kivu province, where M23 rebels control swathes of land. Clashes between the M23 rebels and government forces has been intensifying in Sake, which is a strategic town on the road to Goma and a flashpoint in the latest fighting. Tensions flared in March 2022 when the rebels, after a decade of relative calm, attacked Congolese army positions near the border between Uganda and Rwanda, causing locals to flee for their safety.  But M23 has…

February 2024  — Navalny dies in Arctic penal colony, authorities say The Kremlin’s most prominent critic, Alexei Navalny, died on February 16 in an Arctic prison, according to the Russian Penitentiary Service. His death comes a month before an election poised to extend Vladimir Putin’s hold on power. Navalny, 47, led campaigns against corruption in Russia and staged massive anti-Kremlin protests. He was serving a 19-year prison sentence on extremism charges in a remote penal colony. According to the Russian Penitentiary Service, he felt unwell after a walk, lost consciousness and efforts to revive him were unsuccessful. Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila…

Ukraine’s military has said outnumbered troops have been withdrawn from part of the eastern city of Avdiivka.The decision comes as battles escalate in the region, but Ukraine insists the withdrawal from the southeastern part of the city provides no strategic advantage for Russia. Speaking on Telegram, the commander of Ukraine’s southeastern sector Oleksandr Tarnavskyi said units were removed with minor losses.”In a difficult battlefield situation, when only ruins and a pile of broken bricks remain from the fortification, our priority is to save the soldiers’ lives,” he said.Follow live: Putin blamed for death of Navalny One of Ukraine’s most prominent…