News

Several hundred schools in France closed totally or partially on Monday amid security fears following a wave of nationwide student protests, the education minister has said. The protests by pupils complaining of poor conditions began at one Paris school on September 17 but last week mutated into sometimes violent demonstrations across the nation. A 15-year-old boy in the northern town of Lens sustained a severe injury to his hand amid one of the protests on Monday. French news agency AFP cited a police union source as saying he appeared to have picked up a sting ball grenade, another term for a type of tear gas grenade also often called a blast ball, and it exploded in his hand.  The demonstrations have started to dominate France's political debate just a few months before presidential ...

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron sent a joint appeal to the European Commission on Monday, calling for tougher EU measures against unfair trade practices by other states.  They said that the existing instruments at the EU's disposal were no longer sufficient.  The appeal did not name any specific country but it seemed most clearly tied to Chinese trade policy, the EU's vast deficit with China, and its dependence on certain key raw materials. The other apparent candidate would be the US, not least under the current unpredictable trade policy stewardship of tariff-loving President Donald Trump. It also came just a few days before the EU's trade commissioner, Maros Sefcovic, is set to visit Beijing.  How China is upping pressure on German businessesTo ...

Warning: This article contains references to death by suicide that some readers may find disturbing. As October 7's third anniversary approaches, Ronen Shalev's body tells him something's coming. "You start shivering," he tells DW. "It's not just one day and you move on. We have many graves to visit, many families to meet. It's a difficult time and you feel it in your body." Both of his children attended the Nova Party in Israel's south, where almost 400 people were killed in a terrorist attack carried out by Palestinian militant group Hamas and its affiliates in Gaza. In total, roughly 1,200 people were killed in the attack and around 250 were taken hostage. The attack triggered the war in Gaza, during which Israel has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and displaced much of the...

Government forces in Ethiopia said they have recaptured an airport in Tigray's capital that was seized by rebel groups last week, in the northern region's worst outbreak of violence since a bloody civil war ended in 2022. Several news agencies cited anonymous government sources on Saturday as saying Ethiopian federal forces now control Alula Aba Nega Airport in Mekelle. "The military is in full control of the airport. That much I can confirm," an Ethiopian general told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The AFP news agency, citing a "humanitarian source," reported rebel groups were leaving the city as Ethiopian government forces moved in. Neither side has issued an official statement on the status of who controls Mekelle, and reporting is complicated by communication black...

Several hundred schools in France will close totally or partially on Monday amid security fears following a wave of nationwide student protests, the education minister has said. The protests by pupils complaining of poor conditions began at one Paris school on September 17 but last week mutated into sometimes violent demonstrations across the nation.France students protest school conditionsTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Why are the schools staying closed? Education Minister Edouard Geffray said on Sunday that lessons would be totally or partly suspended" in some "400-500" high schools on Monday, as the security conditions "have not been fulfilled."  According to Geffray, the schools were being closed mainly...

Bosnian officials reported a record-low turnout following the Sunday election, with only 41.5% out of the country's 3.4 million voters eligible to take part in the general election. Polls closed in Bosnia-Herzegovina on Sunday evening, where around 3.4 million voters were eligible to take part in the Balkan country's general election. With more than 90% of votes tallied, the Central Election Commission (CIK) said turnout for Sunday's election was a record-low 41.5%, down from 51.5% in 2022. Nationalist parties dominated races as citizens chose officials across multiple tiers of government; including members of the country's multiethnic, tripartite presidency. With counting nearly concluded, Serb nationalist Zeljka ​Cvijanovic, Bosniak moderate leftist Denis Becirovic and Croat national...

Polls closed in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Sunday evening, with around 3.4 million voters eligible to take part in the Balkan country's general election. Citizens voted for officials across multiple tiers of government, including members of the multiethnic, tripartite presidency. With counting underway, Serb nationalist Zeljka ​Cvijanovic, Bosniak moderate leftist Denis Becirovic and Croat nationalist ‌Darijana ​Filipovic each took an early lead in for the presdential seats of their respective ethnicities. Cvijanovic had been backed by the Republika Srpska's former secessionist leader ​Milorad Dodik who is barred from holding public office for six years after being convicted of defying the top international envoy overseeing the 1995 peace process. Voters also chose lawmakers for the fed...

Voting began in Brazil's presidential election on Sunday, with leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva seeking a fourth non-consecutive term and Senator Flavio Bolsonaro seeking to continue the right-wing populist movement started by his father, Jair Bolsonaro. Polls have predicted a tight race between the two leading candidates, with neither likely to win more than 50% of the vote to avoid a runoff that would take place on October 25. Lula and Bolsonaro wrapped up their campaigns on Saturday in Brazil's economic powerhouse state of Sao Paulo. Lula vows to 'defeat the far-right' The 80-year-old Lula capped off his campaign with a tour through the city of Sao Paulo, vowing to "defeat the far right," and framing the election as choice between "democracy and sovereignty" and "barbaris...

Polling began in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Sunday, with around 3.4 million voters eligible to take part in the Balkan country's general election. Citizens are electing officials across multiple tiers of government, including members of the multiethnic, tripartite presidency. They will also choose lawmakers for the federal parliament and the heads of institutions for the country's two largely autonomous entities —  the Muslim-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Serb-run Republika Srpska. The election comes at a time when the country is struggling with a number of challenges. There's been an economic slowdown, sluggish progress toward EU membership, and a long-drawn-out political gridlock, with the ethnically based dominant parties from the two entities repeatedly stalling ...