VIENNA, March 4 (Xinhua) -- The reactor that has produced the bulk of the plutonium for the nuclear programs in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has seemed idle for a few months, Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Monday.

"The agency has not observed any indications of the operation of the 5MW(e) reactor since early December 2018," the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog told the IAEA policy-making Board of Governors meeting this week.

by Tang Peipei

BEIJING, March 5 (Xinhua) -- For many years, growth figure has been the most buzzed-about subject regarding the Chinese economy.

Probably because of the "miracle" the Asian giant made with an average gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 9.5 percent in the past 40 years, far exceeding the 2.9-percent global economic growth in the same period.

However, one should not make a fetish of the growth rate. Also, economic slowdown is not necessarily a siren, not to mention a drag on the global growth.

by Tania Krämer

Gaza has been effectively cut off from the outside world since Hamas took over more than 12 years ago. The situation is especially difficult for young people, as Tania Krämer reports from Gaza City.

For the past year, young people on crutches have become a common sight on the streets of Gaza City. And Mahmoud Abu Zer is one of them. He sits on his bed in a sparsely furnished room in the crowded neighborhood of Al Nafaq and can barely move. Metal plates and bandages are strapped around his calves.

28 Feb 2019; DW: India and Pakistan are once again on the verge of a full-scale war. It is an unimaginable scenario as the two South Asian neighbors possess high-tech nuclear arms. They have fought three wars over Kashmir, which they both claim in full, but rule in part. Any escalation of military conflict between the two countries has a dangerous risk of a nuclear confrontation.

by Frank Sieren

25 Feb 2019; DW: The 55th Munich Security Conference is over, but one message stood out this year: There is more fear about what is disappearing in the world than curiosity about what is coming.

by Shen Zhonghao, Zhu Sheng

FRANKFURT, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- As anxiety rises over potential tariffs from the United States, European Union (EU) trade ministers gathered Friday in the Romanian capital of Bucharest for an informal meeting.

A report from the U.S. Department of Commerce on the national security risks of auto imports, without its details disclosed, was recently submitted to U.S. President Donald Trump who has 90 days to decide whether to impose special tariffs on imported cars and car parts, including those from Europe.

By Zeliha Eliacik

21 Feb 2019; AA: Death threats received by Seda Basay-Yildiz, a German-Turkish lawyer involved in the National Socialist Underground (NSU) case, launched in regard to the killing of eight Turks in Germany, were a hot topic of discussion in Germany for a few weeks recently.

By Seán McLoughlin

More than 2m Muslims are currently gathering in Mecca ahead of the annual Hajj, which begins on August 19. As long as they are fit and financially able, the pilgrimage is an obligatory act of worship that followers of Islam owe to God once in their lifetime.

By Dr Hezri Adnan

The year 1979 was a tumultuous one in international affairs. In February, Ayatollah Khomeini seized power in Iran, replacing the 2,500 old Persian monarchy with an Islamic theocracy. The same year saw 66 Americans seized as hostage at the US Embassy in Tehran by a group of students. 

Many unsuccessful attempts were made to release the hostages, causing US President Jimmy Carter to fail his re-election campaign

BEIJING (AP) — The Chinese database Victor Gevers found online was not just a collection of old personal details.

It was a compilation of real-time data on more than 2.5 million people in western China, updated constantly with GPS coordinates of their precise whereabouts. Alongside their names, birthdates and places of employment, there were notes on the places that they had most recently visited — mosque, hotel, restaurant.

16 Feb 2019; DW: As Donald Trump leads the US's withdrawal from multilateralism, the Munich Security Conference is dominated by concerns the world is fragmenting. But, to some, insisting on this world order threatens Cold War conditions.

This year's Munich Security Conference is weighed down by a leaden fear: What will happen if the "liberal world order" fails? Though he is not here, the rambunctious specter of POTUS haunts the narrow gold-lit corridors of Munich's Bayerischer Hof hotel.

NEW YORK, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- In the 1980s, New York real estate developer Seymour Durst initiated the idea to install the U.S. national debt clock.

By highlighting the rising debt, he hoped the project would help the next generation avoid being crippled by this burden.

Durst's wish, however, seems still far from being accomplished.