Author: DW

European Council President Charles Michel has announced he is backtracking on his plans to run in the European Parliament elections scheduled for June. The Belgian politician referred to “extreme reactions” to his decision from outside the European Council, suggesting it guided his decision. He also said he was subjected to “personal attacks.” “For all these reasons, and to maintain the focus of my mission, I will not be a candidate in the European elections. I will devote all my efforts to my current responsibilities with steadfast determination until they come to an end,” Michel said in a social media statement…

Mali’s ruling junta issued a decree to establish a new committee that will oversee a national peace dialogue. The move comes a day after the junta scrapped a key 2015 peace deal with northern separatist groups, accusing mediator Algeria of interfering in its affairs. Algeria previously mediated between the government and mainly Tuareg armed groups. “There will be no negotiations outside Bamako. We will no longer… go to a foreign country to speak about our problems,” the military-appointed head of government, Choguel Kokalla Maiga, said in a video posted on social media on Friday. Tuareg rebels reject the initiative The…

The UK will temporarily pause funding to the UN’s relief agency in Gaza over claims members were involved in Hamas’ attack on Israel.The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said on Friday it sacked “several” employees over accusations by Israel that 12 employees were involved in the 7 October attack. In the wake of the allegations, the Foreign Office says it is “temporarily pausing any future funding of UNRWA whilst we review these concerning allegations”.Follow live: US destroys Houthi anti-ship missile in YemenIt said it was “appalled” by the claims, adding: “We remain committed to getting humanitarian aid to…

“There are no more small teams; all the countries are now well prepared,” Gernot Rohr, coach of Benin, told DW. The 70-year-old German has had a pitch side seat as a TV analyst at the Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast, where fans have been left astounded by the performances of small countries like Cape Verde and Equatorial Guinea. They are among the smallest countries in Africa by population. But they are punching well above their weight. Both teams won their groups against established teams and former champions Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Egypt, and Ghana. For avid African football observers, these results…

Houthi attacks on international ships in the Red Sea have hit Egypt especially hard. As vessels have begun to avoid sailing the strait between the Arabian Peninsula and northeastern Africa, and thus the passage through the Suez Canal, the government has seen considerable income disappear. In fiscal year 2022-23, the Suez Canal brought Egypt $9.4 billion (€8.6 billion) in transit fees. Events suggest that this year will not be nearly as lucrative. Osama Rabie, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, said on Egyptian television that income is down 40% compared to last year. He added that ship traffic between January 1 and 11 was…

Beijing has sent 33 fighter jets and a group of six naval vessels toward Taiwan, the island’s Defense Ministry said on Saturday, adding that Taiwan responded by deploying its own forces. The number of daily warplane deployments marked a new high since Taiwan held its democratic presidential and legislative elections on January 13. The increased military pressure from Beijing came as two US Congressmen wrapped up a three-day visit to Taiwan on Friday. Ami Bera and Mario Diaz-Balart had come as the first official US delegation since the election of  William Lai Ching-te as Taiwan’s new president. 13 of the 33 Chinese…

Antisemitic incidents referencing the Holocaust have increased by 104% across the UK in 2023, new figures obtained by Sky News show.The Community Security Trust (CST), a charity that protects British Jews from antisemitism, last year received 955 reports of Holocaust-related antisemitism, defined as incidents containing some kind of reference to the Holocaust, Nazis, Hitler or swastikas.That number is more than double the 469 incidents reported in 2022.Of these instances, more than half occurred after the 7 October attacks, when Hamas killed around 1,200 Israelis and abducted more than 200 others.More than 26,000 people in Gaza have been killed in Israel’s…

Premier League club Liverpool has announced that Jürgen Klopp will step down as head coach at the end of the current season after eight-and-a-half years in charge. The German has been in charge of the “Reds” since 2015, winning six major trophies including the Champions League in 2019 and the club’s first Premier League title in 30 years one year later. Klopp: ‘running out of energy’ “I love absolutely everything about this club, I love everything about the city, I love everything about our supporters, I love the team, I love the staff. I love everything. But that I still take this…

For 10 years now, an empty streetcar has rolled silently through the streets of Warsaw on January 27. Instead of a route number, it has a large Star of David on the roof. Its route takes it through the part of the city that Poland’s Nazi occupiers turned into Europe’s largest Jewish ghetto in 1940. The journey of this empty streetcar is a reminder of the Warsaw Jews murdered during World War II. Before Nazi Germany’s persecution and killing of Jewish citizens, there were 330,000 Jews in Warsaw — a third of the capital’s population. After New York, Warsaw was home…

A subsidiary of German pharmaceutical giant Bayer was ordered to pay $2.25 billion (€2.07 billion) to a Pennsylvania man who said he developed cancer from exposure to the company’s Roundup weedkiller. A jury found that John McKivision developed non-Hodgkins lymphoma as a result of using Roundup for yard work over several years. The verdict includes $2 billion in punitive damages and $250 million in compensation. “The jury’s punitive damages award sends a clear message that this multi-national corporation needs top to bottom change,” Tom Kline and Jason Itkin, McKivision’s attorneys, said in a joint statement. Bayer said in a statement…