Author: DW

More than 50 people are now confirmed to have died in a major landslide that swamped a village in the southern Philippines.A further 63 people are still missing following the disaster on Tuesday, which came after weeks of torrential rains in the region.Authorities initially said seven people had been killed, but on Sunday said 54 bodies had now been recovered.The landslide, which happened close to a gold mine in Masara, Davao de Oro province, smashed into multiple buildings and vehicles.Miners who were waiting in two buses to be driven home are among the missing.At least 32 residents were injured but…

Two days before UNRWA Secretary-General Philippe Lazzarini was due to meet the EU development ministers in Brussels, the Israeli army once again made serious accusations against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA): The Israel Defense Forces said on Saturday they had found a tunnel under the UN organization’s headquarters in the Gaza Strip, which Hamas had used for intelligence activities. The militant Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas is classified as a terrorist organization by the EU, the USA and other states. The UNRWA chief denied knowledge of this tunnel or its supply of electricity from the headquarters. He…

Myanmar’s military junta made military service mandatory for both young men and young women, state media reported over the weekend.  All men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27 will have to serve for up to two years, while specialists like doctors aged up to 45 can be called on for up to three years.  During a state of emergency — in effect in Myanmar since 2021, soon after the junta took power from a democratically elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi — these service periods can all be stretched to up to five years, state…

Madagascar is set to castrate child rapists after its parliament passed a controversial law last week. The Indian Ocean island’s senate approved the law which will allow for chemical, and in certain cases, surgical castration of those found guilty of raping a minor.It must now be ratified and then signed into law by President Andry Rajoelina, who first raised the issue in December leading to the proposal of the new law.The move has drawn criticism from international human rights groups, but has also encouraged support from activists in Madagascar who say the law is an appropriate deterrent to curb a…

Hundreds of thousands of people took part in rallies across Iran on Sunday to mark the 45th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The commemoration of the toppling of the US-backed monarch and the takeover by the Islamic cleric Ayatollah Khomeini comes amid rising tensions across the Middle East over Israel’s continued war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. How was the anniversary marked? Sunday’s processions took place across the country, with major streets and squares decorated with flags, balloons and banners with revolutionary and religious slogans. In Tehran, crowds waved Iranian flags, chanted slogans, and carried placards with the traditional phrases “Death to America” and…

When Roman Kaczmarczyk became mayor of Ladek-Zdroj in 2014, he envisioned a field outside the town full of solar panels instead of wheat. People thought he was crazy. At a time when renewable energy was still uncharted territory for most of the country, Kaczmarczyk pledged to turn the small spa town near the Czech border into Poland’s first energy self-sufficient community. This, he argued, would kill two birds with one stone: It would cut the town’s dreadful air pollution as well as its high energy costs. Kaczmarczyk, a computer engineer and economist by profession, has lived among Ladek-Zdroj’s 5,500 residents almost all…

NATO has criticised comments made by Donald Trump at a campaign event – claiming they “put American and European soldiers at increased risk”.The former US president had said he would let Russia “do whatever the hell they want” to members of the alliance that don’t pay enough for defence. At a rally in South Carolina on Saturday, Mr Trump recalled an exchange with an unnamed “big country” who asked if they would be protected if Russia attacked them.”I said: ‘You didn’t pay? You’re delinquent?’ No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the…

A man has died after coughing up “litres of blood” on board a plane from Bangkok to Munich, passengers have said.The German national, said to be aged 63, looked ill as soon as he and his wife boarded the Lufthansa flight on Thursday, according to witnesses. The man was sweating heavily and appeared to be struggling to breathe – but his partner told the crew he was safe to fly and tired after running to catch the flight, reports claim.Passenger Martin Missfelder said the man’s condition rapidly deteriorated soon after take-off and he began spitting blood into a bag -…

Several of Iraq’s powerful armed groups have told Sky News in rare interviews that they will continue attacks against US forces based in Iraq and the region for what they see as America’s support of the Israeli bombardment of Gaza. And one of Iraq’s leading MPs, who was put on the US terror sanctions list just a few weeks ago, accused America of deliberately trying to destabilise his country – telling us: “We don’t want war, but we are not afraid of it.” The language and warnings from all those interviewed bodes very badly for the stability of both Iraq and…

It’s going to be a flying visit, but a very significant one nonetheless. Donald Tusk is traveling to Paris on Monday for a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, and then flying to Berlin to meet German Chancellor Olaf Scholz  the same day. For Poland’s new liberal prime minister, the visit to Berlin will be a real balancing act. While Tusk is keen to repair his country’s battered relationship with Germany, he must guard against getting too close to Poland’s western neighbor. PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski has stepped up his anti-German rhetoric since losing last year’s parliamentary electionImage: Wojtek Radwanski/AFP The…