Author: DW

Pressure is mounting on European broadcasters to boycott Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest because of the war in Gaza.More than 27,000 people have been killed in Israeli military action, and over 66,000 have been injured since the conflict began, according to Gaza’s Hamas-led health ministry. Israel retaliated after Hamas fighters killed more than 1,000 Israelis and took hundreds of hostages in attacks on 7 October last year.It’s the second time politics has dominated Eurovision, after Russia was expelled from the 2022 contest over its invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine went on to win the competition. Image: Ukrainian rap-folk group…

Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife have been sentenced to seven years in prison on a charge that their 2018 marriage broke the country’s laws, officials and their defence lawyers have said. The verdict follows another case in which Khan, who is also a cricket legend in the country, and his wife Bushra Bibi were sentenced to 14 years in prison on Wednesday after being convicted of corruption. The developments come ahead of parliamentary elections on 8 February in Pakistan in which Khan has already been disqualified as part of his corruption conviction.Intisar Panjutha, the couple’s lawyer,…

Ukraine’s biggest backers in its struggle against Russia’s invasion appear to be wobbling. Kyiv is at risk of losing its number one weapons supplier, the United States — an aid package proposed by US President Joe Biden worth $61 billion (€56.6 billion) has been blocked since late last year due to a fight in Congress. Who can Kyiv count on these days? London, Paris, Berlin London is one of the first doors Ukraine can knock on. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak visited Kyiv and announced an unprecedented military aid package for the Ukrainian armed forces worth over $3 billion. Britain is also…

The stylized red car splashed against a black background certainly looks threatening. The question posed on posters lining the streets of the French capital ahead of a referendum on Sunday is rhetorical: “Do you want more SUVs on the streets of Paris or fewer?” Mayor Anne Hidalgo is hoping that the 1.3 million Parisians entitled to vote go for the latter. “The bigger, the more environmentally damaging” is how the center-left politician sums up her views on cars. It is around this stance, and others, that she has been radically remodeling Paris in recent years. Hidalgo says she wants to make the…

North Korea says it has tested cruise missiles fitted with new “super-large” warheads – as well as a new type of anti-aircraft missile.The tests, reported by North Korean state media on Saturday, mark the regime’s fourth round of launches so far in 2024. It comes a day after South Korea’s military said it detected the North launching multiple cruise missiles into waters off its western coast.North Korean photos of the test showed a low-flying cruise missile striking a target built on a coastal shore, and another projectile soaring into the air after being launched from the ground.North Korea’s official Korean…

US actor Carl Weathers, known for prominent roles in movies ranging from the “Rocky” films of the 1970s and 1980s to the recent “Star Wars” spinoff series “The Mandalorian,” died on Thursday, his manager announced on Friday. While the cause of death was not immediately disclosed, the actor’s family issued a statement saying Weathers died “peacefully in his sleep.” Weathers’ defining role, and the one that launched him to stardom, was that of boxer Apollo Creed in the “Rocky” movies, where he played opposite Sylvester Stallone, helping boost the latter’s career as well. In 1987, he played CIA agent George Dillon in the Arnold…

Boris Nadezhdin successfully cleared the first hurdle to running for president when he received permission to collect signatures for his candidacy. He’ll need this proof of support to run against incumbent Russian President Vladimir Putin in the presidential election this March. Nadezhdin said he had already gathered 200,000 signatures, twice as many as required by Russia’s Central Election Commission. As a candidate for the center-right Civic Initiative Party, Nadezhdin only had to gather over 100,000 signatures to seek approval for the presidential ticket. Running as an independent candidate, Putin had to collect at least 300,000 signatures to make it on the ballot.  Only after…

Three people have been stabbed at a railway station in Paris.The attack, at the major travel hub Gare de Lyon, ended when police arrested a suspect. One person is seriously injured after the incident at around 8am local time (7am in the UK).The attacker was armed with a sharp weapon.France’s national railway company, SNCF, posted on X, formerly known as Twitter to warn customers of disruption due to “an act of malicious intent”. They said halls 1 and 3 were “temporarily inaccessible ” due to intervention by the police and emergency services, with delays between Paris Gare de Lyon and…

Poland’s top diplomat on Tuesday urged Germany to provide “financial compensation” for losses his country suffered at the hands of Nazi troops during World War II. Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski made the call during his first visit to Berlin since a center-left, pro-European government led by Donald Tusk took office in Poland in mid-December after defeating the national conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS) in elections. “A strong Europe, whose center will continue to move eastwards in the coming years, needs more than ever a lively German-Polish friendship and deep trust between Warsaw and Berlin,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock…

The US is trying to hit Iranian targets in the Middle East hard enough to stop attacks against American forces but not so hard that it triggers wider escalation or even direct war with Iran. Experts in recent days have dubbed the strategy the “Goldilocks” approach because it needs to be just right. Joe Biden made clear that a response was coming from the moment he accused “radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq” of killing three US service personnel in Jordan in a drone attack almost a week ago.But the president also signalled his retaliation would be…