Author: DW

The destructive landslide in the Swiss village of Blatten is the latest natural disaster to hit valley communities in the Alpine nation. While Blatten was engulfed by a slick of icy sediment this week, early warnings of a potential landslide gave residents time to evacuate. Only one person — who chose to remain in his home — is currently unaccounted for. The search for him has been suspended. Switzerland is an early warning success story. Government agencies there use a broad range of technologies and methods to assess risks that could threaten lives and property. This includes terrain mapping and continuous monitoring of rainfall, permafrost melt,…

Last Friday, 18 people were injured in a knife attack at Hamburg’s main train station. Fifteen of them were stabbed, and three sustained other injuries. The German news agency dpa reported that four suffered life-threatening injuries, but were now all in stable condition. The suspect is a 39-year-old woman who Hamburg authorities believe had been “experiencing a psychological emergency.” The attack was followed by a major operation at Hamburg station, involving police, the fire service and emergency medical responders. Police later commended the “rapid intervention” of two passersby who managed to stop the woman, take the knife from her,and pin her down until authorities…

World Boxing on Friday announced the introduction of mandatory sex tests for both male and female fighters who want to compete in sponsored competitions. “The introduction of mandatory testing will be part of a new policy on ‘Sex, Age and Weight’ to ensure the safety of all participants and deliver a competitive level playing field for men and women,” World Boxing said in a statement. The federation said it made the decision in the aftermath of controversy centered around, among others, Algerian boxer Imane Khelif at last year’s Paris Olympics. During a knockout round, Khelif’s Italian opponent refused to fight her after…

For Enoch Aikins, a political economist who focuses on Africa, the topic of sending money home to relatives is personal. “I can use myself as an example, as somebody that comes from a typical village with a lot of people or [with] a family that depends on me,” he told DW. A researcher with the Institute of Security Studies now based in Pretoria, South Africa, Aikins grew up in the small town of Agona Kwanyako, about 70 kilometers (some 43 miles) from the Ghanaian capital, Accra. Enoch Randy Aikins has personal experience with the importance of remittancesImage: privat His job means he…

Is the push for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) coming to an end simply because Donald Trump wants it that way? Some major US corporations, including Facebook’s parent company Meta, Google’s Alphabet, carmaker Ford and coffee giant Starbucks, have already scaled back their diversity programs. Several European companies that do business with the United States have also been asked to confirm on questionnaires that they no longer support or engage in DEI programs. In Germany, the first companies are starting to fold, with carmaker Volkswagen (VW) and telecom giant Deutsche Telekom announcing plans to either scale back or end their diversity initiatives in the US.…

At least 10 people are dead and six others are missing after a quarry collapsed in Indonesia, officials have said. The natural stone quarry in the Cirebon district of the country’s West Java province collapsed on workers on Friday, leaving more than two dozen people trapped in the rubble, according to local police chief Sumarni, who, like many Indonesians, uses a single name. The bodies of 10 people have been retrieved, according to Abdul Muhari, spokesperson for Indonesia’s national disaster management agency.Rescuers have also pulled more than a dozen injured people from the debris, six of whom were taken to…

Berlin’s Museum Island uniquely encapsulates Germany’s modern history — from the ideas of the Enlightenment to the destruction of World War II, from the Cold War era to its current ultra-modern restoration that has turned the ensemble of museums into a tourist magnet. Standing as a testimony to Europe’s architectural and cultural developments, the historical complex of museum buildings was recognized by UNESCO in June 1999 as a World Heritage Site , and this year it is celebrating its 200th anniversary since the first building’s foundation stone was laid.#DailyDrone: The Museum Island BerlinTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to…

A new study by researchers at the Tokyo University of Agriculture in Japan has identified patterns of behavior shown by cats toward humans they know, such as their owners, and strangers. Previous research suggested that cats rely on their sensitive noses to identify other cats as friend or foe. But whether that same function applies to detecting humans was not fully understood. So, the researchers in Japan took 30 domestic cats and tested their responses to a range of special scents. The cats’ owners provided samples of their scents by swabbing their underarms, behind their ears and between their toes. These swabs were…

Warning: This article contains references to suicide, sexual assault and other details that readers may find disturbing Joel Le Scouarnec is not the name on everyone’s lips in the western French seaside town of Vannes, where this week the former surgeon was sentenced to 20 years in prison for raping and sexually abusing nearly 300 of his patients — most of them children — over more than three decades. His face was not on the front page of the local newspaper the morning after his conviction, and, as the weather oscillated between grey rainy skies and bright May sunshine, people mulling around…

An Argentine court on Thursday declared a mistrial in the homicide case against the medical team of the late football legend Diego Maradona. Thursday’s mistrial ruling came after one of the court’s judges recused herself over ethical conflicts posed by the fact that she had appeared in a television documentary about the case. Prosecutors argued that the situation created a conflict that tainted the trial. Judge Maximiliano Savarino said the conduct of his colleague Julieta Makintach had “caused prejudice” to the proceedings. A new trial will be held with a different panel of judges but Thursday’s statements did not specify when. Judge…