Author: DW

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said the war in Gaza is “greater than a war of extermination”. Speaking to Egyptian TV channel ON, Mr Abbas claimed the impact of the conflict between Israel and Hamas on the Palestinian people is “greater than a disaster”. He went on to compare the war to the mass displacement and dispossession of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war – which the Palestinians call nakba, meaning catastrophe in Arabic.”What happened in 1948, emigration and destruction, and what is happening now is far uglier than what happened (then),” Mr Abbas said.”What is happening now is the…

Five dead bodies were found on Christmas Day in an apartment near Paris, French prosecutors said on Tuesday. The incident occurred in the town of Meaux, some 40 kilometers (24.8 miles) east of the center of Paris, in the northern Ile-de-France region. The news website Actu17 reported that the victims were a woman and her four young children. It said that police were searching for the 33-year-old father who was “on the run.” He was already known to the police and was the primary suspect in the case. The bodies were found at around 9 p.m. local time (2000 UTC) on…

One of Brazil’s top criminal leaders has surrendered after negotiations with local authorities, according to the country’s federal police. Luis Antonio da Silva Braga, better known as “Zinho,” had been on the run since 2018 and is the subject of at least a dozen outstanding warrants, according to a police statement issued late Sunday. ‘Public enemy Number 1’ “Zinho” had been designated the state of Rio de Janeiro’s “public enemy Number 1.” He is now in custody awaiting trial, according to a police statement. “After the formalities due to his arrest, the inmate was taken for medical forensics and then sent to the state’s…

Russia has completed its shipments of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, according to the country’s president, raising international concern.At a meeting of a Moscow-led economic bloc in St Petersburg, Alexander Lukashenko said the deliveries were finished in October – though he didn’t say how many or where they have been deployed. Tactical nuclear weapons, which are designed for use on the battlefield, have a short range and a low yield compared with much more powerful nuclear warheads fitted to long-range missiles.They can have a yield as small as about 1 kiloton, significantly less than the 15 kiloton-yield of the US…

Czech police worked on Friday to determine the motive of the man who a day earlier shot 14 people dead and injured over two dozen more in Prague. Authorities said on Friday that the people injured included three foreigners, one person from the Netherlands and two from the United Arab Emirates. Media reports Friday varied with some placing the number killed at 13 or 14 plus the shooter.  A 24-year-old opened fire at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in the heart of the Czech capital. On Friday, police said the perpetrator killed himself after shooting his victims. The mass…

Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza will expand over the coming days, Benjamin Netanyahu has warned, as attacks appeared to intensify on Christmas Day.The Hamas-led Gaza health ministry says 250 Palestinians have been killed and 500 wounded in the past 24 hours – with 106 of those said to have died in an airstrike on the Maghazi refugee camp.But despite international efforts to halt the fighting, Israel’s prime minister told members of his Likud Party the war “isn’t close to finished”.”We are not stopping. We are continuing to fight and we are expanding the fight in the coming days,” Mr Netanyahu…

Police in France were questioning two men after authorities grounded a flight to Nicaragua carrying more than 300 Indian passengers over suspected “human trafficking,” prosecutors said on Friday. According to a statement from the Paris prosecutor’s office, an anonymous tip-off signaled that the flight, which had flown in from the United Arab Emirates was carrying people who could be victims of human trafficking.  Two passengers have been detained so far as part of a special investigation into suspected human trafficking by an organized criminal group, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. Those aboard included children and families. The youngest passenger is a…

Serbian police said Monday they had detained at least 38 people who participated in anti-government demonstrations over reported irregularities during a recent election. The governing populist SNS party emerged as the winner of the parliamentary and local council ballot. The SNS won about 46% of the vote in the parliamentary elections, while the leading opposition coalition Serbia Against Violence (SPN) received 23.5%, according to official results. But opposition groups have questioned the validity of the contest, accusing the government of allowing unregistered voters from neighboring Bosnia to vote illegally in the capital. Serbia Against Violence has been staging protests since the December 17 elections, claiming foul play in…

Jailed Russian politician Alexei Navalny has been tracked down to one of the country’s toughest prisons, after supporters lost touch with him for more than two weeks.Mr Navalny – seen as a leader for those in Russia who oppose President Vladimir Putin – is in the IK-3 prison in Kharp, about 1,200 miles (1,900km) northeast of Moscow and north of the Arctic Circle, his spokeswoman said. Known as the Polar Wolf colony, the prison is where those convicted of the most serious crimes are kept, with harsh winters and temperatures expected to soon drop to -28C.It was founded as part…

Skip next section Polish farmers to suspend a protest at Medyka border crossing over Christmas break12/23/2023December 23, 2023Polish farmers to suspend a protest at Medyka border crossing over Christmas breakPolish farmers will suspend a protest at the border crossing with Ukraine at Medyka from Sunday morning until January 2 or 3, PAP news agency reported. The truckers will continue blockades at three other crossings over Christmas allowing even fewer trucks to pass than earlier.. Truckers have been demanding that an agreement last year between the EU and Ukraine on relaxing rules on moving goods by trucks be scrapped. They want the older system…