06 Feb 2019; DW: Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, promising jobs and development to Indian youth. Five years later, unemployment is the worst in decades and Modi's attempts to silence critics aren't working.

The National Statistical Commission's (NSC), a government-funded advisory body that checks the quality of India's official data, recently reported that the country's unemployment rate was at a 45-year high of 6.1 percent during 2017-18.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Italy on Monday blocked a joint European Union position to recognize Venezuela’s National Assembly head Juan Guaido as interim president, diplomatic sources said.

EU states have been debating for days how to address the Venezuela crisis, with ten countries recognizing the opposition leader after the expiry of a deadline for President Nicolas Maduro to call a new election.

Some EU members are nervous about setting a precedent of recognizing a self-proclaimed leader.

07 Feb 2019; DW: British Prime Minister Theresa May will attempt to negotiate the Irish backstop with EU representatives in Brussels. It comes after Donald Tusk said there was a 'special place in hell' for those that promoted Brexit.

British Prime Minister Theresa May was to return to Brussels on Thursday in an attempt to reopen talks on the Brexit divorce agreement with the European Union.

NEW DELHI (AP) — Hundreds of jobless young people marched Thursday through the streets of the Indian capital demanding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government tackle what they called a rising unemployment crisis.

The protesters disputed the government’s claim that it has created millions of jobs since it came to power in 2014 with the economy growing around 7 percent annually. They marched from the 17th century Red Fort to a park near India’s Parliament building.

07 Feb 2019; DW: Jens Stoltenberg has said countries such as China and India could be brought on board to save the key nuclear pact. The INF treaty is headed for a collapse after the US and Russia said they would walk out of the deal.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said he was open to an expanded Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with more members in order to save the key armaments pact.

06 Feb 2019; DW: The Taliban on Wednesday hailed unprecedented talks with Afghan politicians as "very successful", despite disagreements over women's rights and the group's demand for an Islamic constitution in the war-torn country.

The extraordinary two-day gathering in Moscow saw Taliban leaders stand shoulder-to-shoulder with former president Hamid Karzai, who called the insurgents his "brothers" as both sides agreed to seek lasting peace.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran appears to have attempted a second satellite launch despite U.S. criticism that its space program helps the country develop ballistic missiles, satellite images released Thursday suggest. Iran did not immediately acknowledge conducting such a launch.

Images released by the Colorado-based company DigitalGlobe show a rocket at the Imam Khomeini Space Center in Iran’s Semnan province on Tuesday. Images from Wednesday show the rocket was gone with what appears to be burn marks on its launch pad.

06 Feb 2019; DW: German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen and French Defense Minister Florence Parly announced plans to produce a new joint fighter jet on Wednesday.

The two spoke at Gennevilliers near Paris at a facility operated by Safran Aircraft Engines, which will produce the jet's new engine in collaboration with Germany's MTU Aero Engines.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sentenced to nearly 13 more years in prison on Wednesday on corruption and money laundering charges, judicial sources said.

Lula, who served as Brazil's president from 2003 to 2010, is currently serving a sentence of 12 years and one month on charges of accepting a luxury beachfront apartment from a construction firm in exchange for government building contracts.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A 17-year police veteran was shot and killed as he served a warrant on Milwaukee’s south side Wednesday, becoming the city’s third officer to be killed in the line of duty in eight months, authorities said.

Officer Matthew Rittner was a tenured member of the Milwaukee Police Department’s Tactical Enforcement Unit, which was conducting a search warrant on someone wanted for illegally selling firearms and drugs, Sgt. Sheronda Grant said in a news release Wednesday night. She said officers announced themselves as police and that the suspect fired several rounds.

CHICAGO, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- General Motors (GM) sold 3.65 million vehicles last year in China, which retained the title of the biggest market for the leading U.S. auto maker.

GM released its 2018 year-end report on Wednesday, saying that in the midst of a softening auto market in China, it delivered 3,645,044 vehicles there, down 9.8 percent year on year.

Still, it sold more units in China in 2018 than its home market, where GM delivered nearly 3 million vehicles.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he has chosen David Malpass, undersecretary for international affairs at the U.S. Treasury Department, as the U.S. candidate for the next president of the World Bank.

Calling Malpass a "very extraordinary man," Trump said in a statement at the White House that he launched a "broad search for replacement" for Jim Yong Kim, the former World Bank chief who abruptly resigned in early January and stepped down Friday.