Author: DW

In positive news for businesses and households, inflation for 2023 as a whole fell in comparison with 2022, figures published by German statistics agency Destatis showed on Thursday. However, after months of steady decline, price rises started to pick up again in December. How do the numbers look? Destatis said inflation stood at 5.9% for the whole of 2023, down from 6.9% in 2022 — a figure that had not been seen for decades. Inflation has been falling month by month since June when the last increase was recorded,. Inflation did, however, climb again in December. Consumer prices rose 3.7% year-on-year…

South African Oscar Pistorius was released on parole on Friday, nearly 11 years after murdering his then-girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in an incident the former Paralympic star claimed was an act of self-defense. “The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) is able to confirm that Oscar Pistorius is a parolee, effectively from 5 January 2024. He was admitted into the system of Community Corrections and is now at home,” the DCS said in a statement. The athlete killed Steenkamp, a 29-year-old law graduate and model, by firing four shots through the bathroom door at his Pretoria home in the early hours of Valentine’s Day in 2013. Pistorius, now…

A drone boat packed with explosives has detonated in the Red Sea.The US navy says the vessel belonged to Houthi rebels, and no damage or casualties have been reported since the blast. Houthis, who control much of Yemen and are aligned with Iran, have launched multiple attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea since November. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 1:08 Who are the Houthis? The group say the attacks are a protest against Israel’s military operations in Gaza.International shipping has been severely disrupted as a result, with multiple companies suspending journeys through the…

Scientists have made a breakthrough in electronics, creating the world’s first functional semiconductor made from graphene — a material known for being tough, flexible, light, and with a high resistance. Their discovery comes at a time when silicon, the material from which nearly all modern electronics are made, is reaching its limit. Scientists have been racing to develop graphene semiconductors because of their superior speed and energy efficiency compared to silicon. The study, published in Natureon January 3, demonstrates a functional graphene semiconductor which is suitable for use in nanoelectronics. The authors say the discovery could mark a major step towards the next generation of computing…

Ambassadors from Ukraine and NATO countries are set to hold a special meeting next week, as Kyiv calls for urgent deliveries of air defense equipment to protect it from increasingly intense Russian strikes. Over the New Year period, Russia launched some of its heaviest missile and drone attacks on Ukraine since the early days of the invasion in February 2022. At least 32 people were killed in Ukraine in the December 29 attack. “NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg will convene a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council next Wednesday,” NATO spokesman Dylan White said.  “The meeting will be held at ambassadorial level and is…

It takes money to make money. There is hardly a better example of this than the French billionaire Francoise Bettencourt Meyers. In late December, she broke through the $100-billion threshold and became the first woman to ever amass so much wealth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. In 2023, she added $28.6 billion (€26.1 billion) on top of the billions she already had. Though she was down to $96.2 billion on January 4, 2024, Bettencourt Meyers is still by far the richest woman in the world and the 13th richest person overall, according to Bloomberg calculations. Forbes, which also compiles a list of…

Mahima Begum moved to the port town of Mongla in southwestern Bangladesh after a natural disaster struck her village and destroyed the home her father had built. The 32-year-old is one of the millions of people in the South Asian country who have been forced to relocate due to climate-related disasters. Historically, migrants have made their way to the country’s capital, Dhaka. But the city is already one of the most overcrowded places on Earth and it’s poorly equipped to accommodate the waves of people moving from climate-impacted areas of the country into urban centers, seeking residence and employment. Mongla, located around…

In the city of Wajima, there is barely a building untouched.Home after home lies crumbled as rubble, their traditional Japanese roofs smashed down to ground level.Even those that are still standing are visibly not structurally sound, almost all sit at a precarious angles without windows, doors or walls.Wajima is at the very heart of the devastation, for a corner of Japan that is currently littered with it.Down one street an entire five-storey building lies flat on its side. A solitary man combs through the rubble beneath it with nothing more than a garden rake, before sitting across from the wreckage…

Last week, Albert Yaloke Mokpeme, spokesman for the Central African presidency, mentioned the country’s efforts to diversify its relations, seeking assistance from countries like the United States and Russia to train its soldiers. “The United States is also offering the Central African Republic to train its soldiers, both on Central African soil and on American soil,” Mokpeme said. While details of the discussions were not made public, Bancroft’s potential involvement suggests a US interest in challenging Russia’s dominance in the Central African Republic (CAR). US sets foot in Wagner-dominated landscape This comes as the Wagner Group, a private Russian military group,…

It takes money to make money. There is hardly a better example of this than the French billionaire Francoise Bettencourt Meyers. In late December, she broke through the $100-billion threshold and became the first woman to ever amass so much wealth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. In 2023, she added $28.6 billion (€26.1 billion) on top of the billions she already had. Though she was down to $96.2 billion on January 4, 2024, Bettencourt Meyers is still by far the richest woman in the world and the 13th richest person overall, according to Bloomberg calculations. Forbes, which also compiles a list of…