Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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Obesity, smoking and diabetes driving global rise in early deaths

The number of people in poor health worldwide has climbed by almost 50 percent since the turn of the millennium, with many at risk of dying prematurely due to being overweight with high blood pressure and blood sugar.

People face "increasing exposure to risk factors," including "low physical activity, and diet high in sugar-sweetened beverages," said Greg Roth of the Seattle-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).

Fears grow of expansion of Israeli military operation in Rafah

The Israeli army has called on people in Rafah to leave further areas of the city, increasing concerns about an expansion of its military operation in the southernmost city of the Gaza Strip.

Families are packing their belongings all over the city, a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) employee wrote on X: "The streets are much emptier."

At the beginning of the week, Israel launched a deployment of ground troops in the eastern outskirts of Rafah in order to expand the fight against the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement.

Al Jazeera outraged after Israel moves to shut channel's offices

Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera on Sunday decried a decision by the Israeli government to close its offices in the country, saying it would pursue "all avenues" available to protect its rights and employees. It comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday his Cabinet had unanimously decided to close Al Jazeera's operations in Israel. Israel accuses the Doha-based broadcaster of biased reporting on the ongoing war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. On Sunday, Al Jazeera categorically denied the accusation. "The Netanyahu government has decided in a highly misl...

Israeli Cabinet votes to close Al Jazeera's operations in the country

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his Cabinet has unanimously voted to close broadcaster Al Jazeera's operations in Israel. The move came after Israeli lawmakers recently approved a new media law - widely referred to as the "Al Jazeera law" - that gives the government powers to ban foreign broadcasters if they are deemed a risk to state security. Netanyahu announced the Cabinet decision in a post on X, formerly Twitter, in which he called Al Jazeera "the hate channel." Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said on Sunday that he had signed the closure order and that it would be imp...

Ukraine's government allocates money for 300,000 drones

The Ukrainian government is increasing its spending on drones by an additional 15.5 billion hryvnia ($392 million), Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Tuesday, as the unmanned surveillance and combat aircraft become increasingly important assets for Kiev in its fight against Russia.

"With the funds allocated today, 300,000 drones will be delivered to our security and defense forces," he said at a Cabinet meeting in Kiev.

According to Shmyhal, Ukraine had previously budgeted 43.3 billion hryvnia for the purchase of drones this year.

Elon Musk holds talks with China's Li in Beijing

Billionaire businessman Elon Musk, head of Tesla, held talks with Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang in Beijing on Sunday after arriving unexpectedly aboard a private flight.

During the talks, Li described Tesla's presence in China as "a successful example of Chinese-American economic and trade cooperation."

Musk praised the "hard work" of his Chinese team in Shanghai, which had made the Tesla plant there the best performing in the company.

Musk added that he was looking to enhance cooperation with China.

Media reports indicated that the surprise visit had to do with data transfer issues.

President Duda says Poland ready to host nuclear weapons

Poland is open to hosting nuclear weapons from NATO allies, President Andrzej Duda said on Monday. Duda made the comments in an interview published Monday in the Polish tabloid Fakt.

"If there were a decision by our allies to deploy nuclear weapons within the nuclear sharing also on our territory in order to strengthen the security of NATO's eastern flank, we are ready," Duda said.

However, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has called for further details from Duda. "This idea is absolutely massive, I would say, and very serious."

Egypt expresses 'extreme concern' over Iran attack on Israel

Egypt has expressed "extreme concern" about the attack against its neighbour Israel and called for restraint. The attack announced by Iran was a sign of a "dangerous escalation" between the two countries, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said. Egypt had previously warned of an escalation of the conflict as a result of "Israel's war in the Gaza Strip." The government in Cairo is in constant contact with all parties involved in order to stop the escalation, the ministry said. Egypt was the first Arab country to make peace with Israel in 1979.

Eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv orders evacuation of children

The eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv, which has been particularly hard hit by Russian shelling, has ordered the forced evacuation of families with children from 47 villages near the border.

These are communities in the three districts of Bohodukhiv, Izyum and Kharkiv, the military governor of the region, Oleh Syniehubov, announced on Thursday via Telegram.

However, the regional capital was not affected, he added. The reason for the evacuation was the almost daily shelling of the towns by the Russian army.

Venice opens large Marco Polo show marking 700 years since his death

Venice is commemorating its most famous citizen Marco Polo with a major exhibition to mark the 700th anniversary of his death. The show, which opened in early April, features excavated finds, maps and books and can be seen in the Doge's Palace until September 29. It also includes loans from many countries that the merchant from the Italian lagoon city travelled to, from Armenia to Mongolia and China. The exhibition "I Mondi di Marco Polo" ("The Worlds of Marco Polo") is one of the highlights of a year of Marco Polo events in Venice. The city, which now has fewer than 50,000 permanent residents...

Far-right partners pressure Netanyahu not to end Gaza war

Right-wing extremist factions of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government are ramping up pressure to keep up the Gaza war, after Israeli troops withdrew from the southern city of Khan Younis at the weekend. "If the prime minister decides to end the war without a broad assault on Rafah to decisively defeat Hamas, he will have no mandate to continue as prime minister," National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir wrote on social media platform X on Monday. Despite fierce international opposition, Israel has maintained for weeks that it is planning a ground incursion into th...

Authorities issue alert as early forest fires rage in Greece

Fires raging across central Greece and the island of Crete have been brought under control as the country battles the fallout from more than a month without rain, the fire brigade said on Sunday.

A man was seriously injured when trying to protect his house near the small port of Ierapetra in Crete against the flames, broadcaster ERT reported.

After five dry weeks, Greece has seen countless early forests fires over the weekend.

On Saturday alone, 72 fires were recorded on agricultural land by the fire brigade, most of them on Crete as well as on the central mainland.

Pellegrini wins Slovakia presidential election

Social democratic parliamentary speaker Peter Pellegrini has won the decisive second round of the presidential election in Slovakia.

With 99.8% of constituencies counted, Pellegrini was clearly ahead of liberal former foreign minister Ivan Korčok, who received just under 47% of the vote, the electoral commission has reported.

Polls and initial partial results had suggested a closer result. The official final result should be available by midday (1000 GMT) on Sunday at the latest.

Korčok conceded defeat to journalists in Bratislava and congratulated Pellegrini on his victory.

Tens of thousands demonstrate against Netanyahu's government

Tens of thousands of people again took to the street of Israeli cities on Saturday evening to protest against the right-wing religious government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

They called for a more serious effort to negotiate the release of hostages held by the militant group Hamas.

This Sunday will be exactly six months since terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing almost 1,200 people and kidnapping another 250 as hostages in the Gaza Strip.

1,357 arrests made in drug raids in France

Investigators have arrested 1,357 suspected dealers and criminals within a few days during extensive drug raids in numerous French cities.

As Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said in the eastern city of Dijon on Thursday, 751 of the suspects were already wanted by the judiciary.

According to the information provided, many of them are now in custody.

"We are taking dealers out of circulation in the long term," the minister said, countering the accusation that the police actions had no long-term impact in neighborhoods plagued by drug dealing.