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Farmers race to keep up with global ‘ube’ craze

11Jun

By Europe WorldNo Comments

Life Style, World

Farmers race to keep up with global ‘ube’ craze

On a recent road trip home to Germany, cafe owner April Schoengen spotted a purple pastry at a gas station bakery. "It was ube, just as I suspected," she said, surprised at finding a Filipino-flavored dessert at a European gas station. Schoengen sells ube-flavored cakes and drinks at her Filipino-themed cafe, "Ube de Oro" in Bonn. When she opened two years ago, the cafe catered to a mostly Filipino clientele. Now, she's seeing more and more people from different backgrounds come in, intrigued by the lilac-colored treats. What is ube? When unfamiliar diners inquire about ube, she shows them a poster summarizing the crop's origins and cultural significance. Ube (pronounced oo-beh), also called the purple yam, is a naturally vibrant purple root crop from the Philippines. Subtly sweet ...

Rising cyberscam losses expose gaps in EU response

11Jun

By Europe WorldNo Comments

World

Rising cyberscam losses expose gaps in EU response

A landmark study on cyberscams in Europe released this week has found that 75% of adults encountered a scam in the past year. While 71% of respondents said they were confident in recognizing scams, 8% of those exposed went on to interact with scammers. Some 16% of parents said their children had been approached by a scammer. Across the European countries surveyed, around €50 billion ($57.7 billion) has been lost to scams in the last 12 months, according to the study by the Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA), a nonprofit organization that polled around 22,200 people across 15 European countries. Of those who interacted with a scam, 22% suffered a financial or data loss, yet only 39% reported the incident to authorities. The average financial loss was $2,735 (€2,369), with the highest avera...

Why is Hezbollah still important for Iran?

11Jun

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World

Why is Hezbollah still important for Iran?

The situation in the Middle East remains tense, with a fragile ceasefire in the Iran war looking more and more tenuous as all sides exchange threats and fire. On Monday (June 8), the US blamed the crash of an attack helicopter off Oman on Iran and carried out strikes on Iranian sites. Strikes have continued into Tuesday. Iran has responded with attacks of its own on US sites in Bahrain and Kuwait. But the conflict is not limited to the US and Iran. Despite an ostensible ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah militia, the Israeli army struck targets in the suburbs of Beirut over the weekend following new Hezbollah rocket attacks. Shortly thereafter, Tehran responded with missile strikes on Israeli territory. Israel, in turn, responded with attacks on targets in Iran. The cont...

Will Israel’s troops take over more of southern Lebanon?

10Jun

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World

Will Israel’s troops take over more of southern Lebanon?

The Israeli army has now told residents of Tyre several times that they should evacuate the southern Lebanese city, previously home to more than 100,000 people as well as around 10,000 displaced from surrounding areas. But her father and other members of her family are staying, says Lily, a community worker from Tyre. Lily, who didn't want to give her full name for security reasons, is now living with friends in the Lebanese capital, Beirut. But when she can, the 29-year-old returns to Tyre to deliver medicine and food. "Tyre is a ghost town," she tells DW. Since early March, ongoing Israeli aerial attacks have seen successive waves of locals leave. Drone and artillery attacks on Tyre are continuing this week, with Israel saying it is targeting the Lebanese militant group despite the new...

Police urge calm after ‘sickening’ Belfast stabbing

10Jun

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News, World

Police urge calm after ‘sickening’ Belfast stabbing

Police in Northern Ireland said they had arrested a Sudanese national over a knife attack that left one person with serious wounds and is currently being treated as attempted murder but not a suspected act of terrorism. They also called for calm from the public amid calls from far-right figures for anti-migration protests, a year after a week of rioting shook Northern Ireland following the alleged attempted rape of a schoolgirl. Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said he shared 'the public’s revulsion over the brutal nature of this attack'Image: Liam McBurney/PA Images/picture alliance What did police say about the crime? Northern Ireland's Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson declared Monday night's crime a "critical incident" but said investigators had found no indications...

Zelenskyy angers Poland with WWII-era name for army unit

9Jun

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World

Zelenskyy angers Poland with WWII-era name for army unit

On May 26, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a decree that a special forces unit of the Ukrainian army was being given the honorary name Heroes of the UPA, explaining that it was "to restore the historical traditions of the national army." However, the decree has created serious tensions with Poland, one of Ukraine's most important allies in the war with Russia. After Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union in 1941, the partisan Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) was formed to fight for an independent Ukrainian state — which at first it did as Germany's ally. In order to drive the Polish population out of regions it claimed for Ukraine, the UPA committed war crimes against ethnic Polish civilians, including the massacres of Poles in Volhynia and eastern Galicia, a region now divi...

Can Xi bring North Korea closer into Beijing’s orbit?

9Jun

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World

Can Xi bring North Korea closer into Beijing’s orbit?

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Pyongyang on Monday for his first visit to North Korea since 2019, at a time when an emboldened Kim Jong Un has expanded his regime's trade and military relationship with Russia. In a letter published in North Korea's state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper ahead of his visit, Xi wrote, "no matter how times change or how the international situation evolves, the traditional friendship between China and North Korea remains unbreakable, enduring, and constantly radiates vitality." Since the North Korean dictatorship emerged out of the ashes of the Korean War, China has been Pyongyang's primary geopolitical and financial benefactor. However, as North Korea provides military support to Russia's war in Ukraine, Xi will be motivated to "consolidate and reconfi...

WHO’s Tedros visits Uganda, bordering DRC epicenter

9Jun

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World

WHO’s Tedros visits Uganda, bordering DRC epicenter

On Monday, the director-general of the UN's World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, visited Uganda, which borders the epicenter of the latest Ebola outbreak in Ituri province, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The WHO has declared a public health emergency over the current outbreak, which was announced on May 15 in the northeastern DRC. Tedros was in the DRC last week, in the gold mining hub of Ituri province that has been at the center of the latest outbreak, involving more than 500 confirmed cases. What did Tedros say during his visit to Uganda? Tedros praised local authorities and their success in largely containing the handful of cases that have come across the border. "I am in Uganda, where the government has mounted a prompt and capable r...

8Jun

By Europe WorldNo Comments

World

Has Zelenskyy forfeited an honor — and Poland’s sympathy?

On May 26, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a decree that a special forces unit of the Ukrainian army was being given the honorary name Heroes of the UPA, explaining that it was "to restore the historical traditions of the national army." However, the decree has created serious tensions with Poland, one of Ukraine's most important allies in the war with Russia. After Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union in 1941, the partisan Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) was formed to fight for an independent Ukrainian state — which at first it did as Germany's ally. In order to drive the Polish population out of regions it claimed for Ukraine, the UPA committed war crimes against ethnic Polish civilians, including the massacres of Poles in Volhynia and eastern Galicia, a region now divi...

With peace elusive, nuclear weapons make a comeback

8Jun

By Europe WorldNo Comments

World

With peace elusive, nuclear weapons make a comeback

Many countries are ramping up their military capabilities — and nuclear weapons are back on the agenda. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), all nine nuclear-armed countries modernized and expanded their arsenals in 2025. In addition to new nuclear weapons, additional delivery systems have been introduced that can be equipped with both conventional and nuclear warheads. These include missiles or cruise missiles. For the 2026 annual report, the SIPRI researchers identified a general trend: More governments are once again banking on nuclear weapons for national defense. Tytti Erasto, a scientist with SIPRI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction program, told DW that Finland and Sweden are examples of countries where nuclear policy has changed drastically since ...