Author: DW

NASA’s little helicopter on Mars, “Ingenuity,” has taken its last flight, the US space agency announced on Thursday. “It is bittersweet that I must announce that Ingenuity, the ‘little helicopter that could’ — and it kept saying, ‘I think I can, I think I can’ — well, it has now taken its last flight on Mars,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said. First aircraft on another planet Ingenuity is a small helicopter that became the first aircraft to achieve powered flight on another planet, in 2021. The mission was intended to last 30 days to see whether it would be possible to make…

Cautious anticipation hovers over the cluster of South African communities that have consistently organised on behalf of Palestinians in the months of lethal Israeli military assault on Gaza that followed Hamas’s 7 October attacks.An interim ruling from the United Nations’ International Court of Justice on South Africa v Israel is imminent, with a decision expected to come from the Hague at midday on Friday. It is a pivotal moment and the case could secure an interim ceasefire and increased humanitarian aid to Gaza if ruled in South Africa’s favour.South Africa alleges Israeli forces have carried out genocidal acts including killing…

Kenneth Smith was convicted for his role in a murder in 1988 and sentenced to death. In 2022, Smith survived an attempted execution by lethal injection when his executioners repeatedly failed to insert an intravenous line for the drugs used to flow into his body. They had tried veins in his hands and arms, and finally, as has been reported by the New York Times, one near his heart. Lethal injections were introduced in 1982 in the US, where they are the most common method of execution. Lethal injections contain one or more drugs, including anesthetics, barbiturates and paralytic agents…

Although many know the magnificent CologneCathedral as the city’s main tourist attraction, few are aware that it’s also a major attraction for archaeologists. “We’ve uncovered a huge area here and worked our way back to the ancient Roman period,” says archaeologist Ruth Stinnesbeck, with an area of around 4,000 square meters (43,055 square feet) under the famous church being explored. The well-preserved finds discovered underground at depths of between 3.5 to 16 meters (37-172 ft) under the cathedral have thrilled Stinnesbeck and her colleagues. “It’s unlike everywhere else in the city, where old buildings are constantly being replaced by new ones and…

One by one, the Nürnberg Ice Tigers players step out onto the ice. Constantin Braun is among them, firing a few shots on goal before stopping to chat with head coach Tom Rowe. On this day, the 35-year-old defenseman happens to be wearing a red jersey, signaling to his teammates that bodychecking him is off limits. This is because Braun is still suffering from the effects of a concussion suffered when he got hit in the face with a puck in the previous game. While the doctors were quickly able to fix his teeth, concussions aren’t that simple, and he…

Members of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group who fled to Belarus after last June’s failed coup have the support of Belarusian security forces and propagandists. Television images of joint maneuvers frequently show the flags of Belarus and Belarusian law enforcement agencies alongside those of the Wagner Group. Belarus’ Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and incumbent Commander of Internal Troops Mikalai Karpiankou even wears insignia depicting Wagner imagery. At the end of June 2023, the former head of the Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin led an armed mutiny against Russian military leadership. He was marching toward Moscow with part of his private…

The European Central Bank (ECB) kept its key interest rates on hold for a third straight month on Thursday.  All three of the central bank’s rates will remain where they have been since September 20.  ECB President Christine Lagarde confirmed the bank’s decision in the first press briefing of 2024 saying inflation trends “broadly” confirmed the bank’s previous assessment but removed a reference in previous statements to elevated domestic price pressures and strong labour cost growth. “Aside from an energy-related upward base effect on headline inflation, the declining trend in underlying inflation has continued and our past interest rate increases keep being…

Africa’s Sahel is considered a strategic location for Germany, which has long been a significant player in stabilization and development efforts in the largely francophone region. Germany in July 2023 took over the rotating one-year presidency of the Sahel Alliance, a key development body for the region. The alliance was founded in 2017 to assist Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger — collectively known as the G5 Sahel Group — in their struggle against poverty and terrorism.   German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock last year pointed out the region’s significance to Berlin when she said that, “Whether we like it or not, whatever…

Four people have drowned at an unpatrolled beach in the Australian state of Victoria – the worst tragedy in the state’s waters in 20 years.Police identified the victims who drowned in the sea off Newhaven, Phillip Island, as two women aged 20, a 23-year-old man and a 43-year-old woman. They were all of Indian origin, according to Australia’s High Commission of India.Two off-duty lifeguards who were surfing in the area pulled three of the victims out of the water, while a rescue boat attended to the fourth.All four were unconscious and unresponsive, with the man and two of the women…

A flurry of studies published since the outbreak of the 2019 “vaping crisis” have tried to measure the health impact of e-cigarettes on pregnant women and their newborn babies. And for good reason: In the UK, estimates suggest that up to 23%of pregnant smokers and ex-smokers vape nicotine. But the results of research so far have been mixed. In March 2023, the authors of an article in the journal Toxic had looked at “existing evidence and knowledge gaps on the risks of vaping during pregnancy.” In summary, the authors advised against vaping in pregnancy because of the potential presence of unknown toxins in vape juice. A studypublished in…