UN official: Winter will make situation in Gaza much worse

 “We are witnessing a humanitarian tragedy in Gaza,” Juliette Touma of the UN agency, UNRWA told DW. More than 800,000 people have fled to United Nations emergency shelters in central and southern Gaza fleeing the fighting between Israeli defense forces and Hamas and other Islamist militants in ther north of the Gaza Strip, Touma said

How Bellingcat documents Russian war crimes in Ukraine | Conflict Zone

If you really want to know about war, who’s murdering and torturing, who’s giving the orders and which weapons are being used, much of it is out there on the internet. There is still cause for hope, at least that's what Eliot Higgins the founder of the open-cource research orgnization, Bellingcat, believes.

War in Ukraine: Veteran Russian diplomat reveals Kremlin's plan | Conflict Zone

Boris Bondarev was until May of 2022 a Russian diplomat working in the foreign ministry and posted to Moscow’s mission to the United Nations activities in Geneva.

Russia has no 'ready answer' to Ukraine gains

On Kyiv’s military gains, Kolesnikov said it was possible that the Kremlin’s response could be escalation – a “natural answer … given their thinking is very militarized and very aggressive.” “[But] at the same time, they must find words for different groups of the population, because there are a lot of hopes among people who are supporting Putin, supporting the war.”

Does Putin want to "crush" NATO? | Conflict Zone

 

As the NATO summit gets underway in Madrid, former Russian member of Parliament Ilya Ponomarev told DW’s Conflict Zone Vladimir Putin's war aims go way beyond Ukraine. He argues it is NATO that's firmly in Putin’s sights. “He wants to crush NATO, that's his strategic goal,” said Ponomarev.

Can the West still tip the balance in Ukraine's favor? | Conflict Zone

Russia and Ukraine are taking heavy casualties in the Donbas. But has Ukraine already lost the East?

Our guest this week believes that is likely the case. Ian Bremmer is a political scientist and founder of the Eurasia Group.  

How will the West respond to Russian war crimes?

 

The world has been confronted with horrific images of atrocities against civilians allegedly committed by Russian forces in Ukraine. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis says it’s clear Russian is carrying out crimes in Ukraine by deliberately attacking civilians and it should be called genocide.

How long can the war in Ukraine continue? | Conflict Zone

 

As Russian strikes continue on Ukraine‘s cities and causalities mount, is Putin’s war in Ukraine now a stalemate? Day after day, the Ukrainian port of Mariupol has withstood Russia’s attacks –and it has refused to surrender. But the city is all but destroyed. Meanwhile, fighting has intensified around Kyiv –and the war continues to displace millions. There are food and water shortages, people are sleeping in basements or dying on the streets.

Hodges: Ukraine needs to get as much military assistance from the West as possible

 

Former US Army Europe Commander Lt. General Ben Hodges says he thinks Vladimir Putin has badly miscalculated and will no longer be able to attack in Ukraine. 

Ukraine-Russia crisis: Does Kyiv anticipate a broader Russian invasion?

 Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered troops into the Ukrainian separatist regions Donesk and Luhansk after recognizing them as independent.

Texas's abortion ban 'not a partisan issue,' says Republican state senator

 

In a sign of growing impatience, the administration of Joe Biden in the United States has stepped up its objections to a new abortion law in Texas and asked the Supreme Court to block it. The Texas law is controversial. It bans termination after a fetal heartbeat is detected and when many women may not even realize they are pregnant.

Has India’s democracy suffered long-term damage in the pandemic?

 

India’s official death toll from the coronavirus pandemic is nearly half a million, second only to the United States. Many fear the actual figure is much higher. At the beginning of the year the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed it had defeated the virus.

Can Americans trust their electoral system? | Conflict Zone

 

A deeply divided United States is heading towards its election between President Donald Trump and his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, with polls showing many people are afraid of violence after their ballots are cast.

Why is China picking so many fights - and where are they leading?

The West is pushing back against Beijing over a growing list of human rights concerns, including its security law in Hong Kong and efforts to extinguish dissent on the semi-autonomous territory.
 

US Coronavirus response: “President Trump has made bold, early decisions" | Conflict Zone

This week Conflict Zone returns with an altered format and an interview with a top official from Donald Trump’s Republican Party.

"No, I've always viewed it as very serious," Mr. Trump said on March 16. "There was no difference yesterday from days before. I feel the tone is similar, but some people said it wasn't."

But not so long ago, as the virus ravaged China and Europe and touched the U.S., the president compared the number of deaths from COVID-19 to deaths from the flu.

In February, when the federal government had confirmed just 15 cases of the virus, Mr. Trump predicted the number would soon be near "zero." Now, the White House is preparing the nation for the sobering possibility of 100,000 deaths, or maybe more.  

Malaria drugs

Trump on Tuesday again touted anti-malaria drugs as a potentially effective treatment for coronavirus, and extolled their safety, despite the lack of scientific studies on the matter.

"It's been out there for a long time," Trump said of the drug chloroquine and a related drug, hydroxychloroquine. "Very powerful drug. But it's been out there, so it's tested in the sense that you know it doesn't kill you."

Facts First: Trump is right that the drugs have been available for a while, but he's wrong to imply that they've been proven safe for Covid-19 patients. Public health officials have said testing is still needed, and trials are underway.

Brexit Freedom Or Folly? Conflict Zone

More than three-and-a-half years after its divisive referendum on EU membership, the UK has finally left the bloc. But has it "taken back control," as euroskeptics claim? Or will it struggle to make new alliances after vowing to go it alone? In this highlights edition of Conflict Zone, we round up key moments from our interviews with players from all sides of the Brexit debate.