- World News
AfricaLink on Air — 03 September 2021
The ban on open grazing in some parts of Nigeria continues to cause ripples, hindering its implementation+++ Gambia requests extra Senegalese troops ahead of elections +++ The futuristic city that singer Akon planned is still unbuilt +++ FIBA AfroBasket 2021 SOURCE: DW News
- World News
Moroccan elections will be about math, not change
The Moroccan elections take place next Wednesday and will be the first time that newly formulated electoral rules apply, including one particularly contentious one. In Morocco, rules on how elections are conducted are often amended before the event. Although the country’s King Mohammed VI holds the most power, Morocco has staged a national vote around every five years since 1993.…
- World News
Poland: ‘State of emergency’ worsens Afghan refugees’ plight
People look at the camera from afar, with heavily armed soldiers separating them and the photographer. Some of the people in the photos seem to be waving, but few are smiling. They do not look particularly serious, but they do seem desperate. These are rare pictures of the 32 Afghans who have been waiting at the border between Poland and…
- World News
Poland’s ‘state of emergency’ worsens Afghan refugees’ EU border plight
People look at the camera from afar, with heavily armed soldiers separating them and the photographer. Some of the people in the photos seem to be waving, but few are smiling. They don’t look particularly serious, but they do seem desperate. These are rare pictures of the 32 Afghans who have been waiting at the border between Poland and Belarus…
- World News
EU escalates row with Gambia over expelled migrants
According to initial plans, the first batch of the over 2,000 ‘failed Gambian asylum seekers’ was expected to arrive in Banjul on September 1. But an official from Gambia’s Foreign Ministry responsible for diaspora affairs told local media that Gambia’s new position is not to accept requests for deportations. The Gambia has cited security concerns and the inability to reintegrate…
- World News
India to allow women to join top defense institutions
The Indian Supreme Court ruled last month that female students will now be allowed to train at one of the country’s elite military training institutions, the National Defence Academy (NDA). In another move aimed at creating gender balance in the armed forces, the Sainik Schools (soldier schools) will be opened to female students. These schools, while also teaching a standard…
- World News
Belarusian Cyber Partisans want to overthrow the regime through hacking
In July and August, a group of hackers that go by the name of Belarus Cyber Partisans claimed responsibility for a number of cyberattacks on government and police databases in Belarus, including those of the Interior Ministry. It recently said that it now had access to the passport details of all Belarusians, as well as internal security plans, and also…
- Sponsored
A Guide to Visiting Austria in 2021
Sponsored Can Travellers Visit Vienna from Thailand? A Guide to Visiting Austria in 2021 If you’re wondering whether visiting Austria from Thailand is currently possible, keep reading… It’s safe to say global travel has been difficult over the past 18 months. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many destinations have closed their borders to many international tourists. Austria, like most other…
- World News
AfricaLink on Air — 02 September 2021
Anti-government sentiment in S.Sudan: Where does the youth stand? +++ Mozambique’s “tuna bonds” corruption trial +++ New coronavirus variant spreading in South Africa +++Do beauty standards reflect colonial attitudes +++ Controversy over TV rape demonstration in Ivory coast SOURCE: DW News
- World News
UAE’s new human rights institute: Real change or ‘image washing’?
The United Arab Emirates announced earlier this week that it would set up an independent national human rights organization. The new institution will open an office in Abu Dhabi and, according to the UAE’s state media, “aims to promote and protect human rights and freedoms” in accordance with the local and international laws and guidelines. The new organization — official…
- World News
Young Ugandans develop anti-rape bracelet
SafeBangle Technologies in Kampala, Uganda have developed a prototype bracelet to report sexual and gender-based violence. SOURCE: DW News
- World News
Afghanistan: Turkey moves into the spotlight
The United Nations’ statistics leave no room for doubt: The situation in Afghanistan is dire. UN experts estimate that more than 18 million people in Afghanistan need help: That’s more than half the entire population. Hamid Karzai International Airport in the capital, Kabul, is central to overcoming the country’s most urgent problems. At present, though, following the withdrawal of all…
- World News
Boxer Samuel Takyi becomes Ghanaian hero
20-year-old Samuel Takyi before ended Ghana’s 30-year wait for an Olympic medal. He’s called the “Golden Ring Warrior” and he trains in Accra. He was also rewarded by president Nana Akuffo-Addo. SOURCE: DW News
- World News
Thailand’s ‘spirit houses’ believed to bring fortune and protection
Eagle-eyed visitors to Thailand may have noticed these miniature shrines set up in cities across the country. It is a common sight to see locals pausing on a busy Bangkok street to give these doll-house -like structures a deferential “wai” (a traditional form of greeting in Thailand). Some leave offerings at these ornate structures, ranging from candles, incense, flowers, food…
- World News
India: Schools reopening signals return to normalcy after COVID catastrophe
Many schools across India are opening this week for the first time in 18 months, as the worst of the coronavirus pandemic in the country seems to have subsided. As part of nationwide lockdown measures, most schools were closed in March 2018, and classes went online. As doors are reopened, students will be required to follow strict COVID protocols. “It…
- World News
Afghanistan: How can we help journalists under attack
As the Taliban has asserted power over Afghanistan in recent weeks, media there face new and daunting challenges. On September 1, international media outlets worldwide unite as the One Free Press Coalition to publish this special edition of the global monthly “10 Most Urgent” list — with a focus on how governments, international groups, and individuals can help journalists under…
- World News
Germany’s Afghanistan veterans struggle with mission’s fate
Jenni Bruns found the images of the Taliban’s invasion of Kabul hard to bear. “I’m not doing well at all,” the former soldier says on the phone. In 2010 she was deployed to Afghanistan. In an outpost in the north of the country, she worked to manage the treatment of water. While there she witnessed attacks by the Taliban and…
- World News
Afghanistan pullout chills US-German relations
After the Taliban took Kabul and desperate Afghans flooded the airport trying to escape the country, outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her dismay: “The developments are bitter, dramatic and terrible,” she said at a press conference on August 16. “It seems right now like it was all in vain.” For Germany, whose military has spent nearly 20 years in…
- World News
Will post-Afghanistan US foreign policy shift focus to Southeast Asia?
The calamity of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan over the past two weeks has drawn scathing rebukes of US foreign policy, while raising serious questions over how the US intends to project power in the future. In Southeast Asia, the US has been working to shore up regional alliances vis a vis China. Last week, US Vice President Kamala Harris…
- World News
The aftermath of Hurricane Ida
Hurricane Ida caused massive destruction in the US state of Louisiana, killing at least two people. Almost 400,000 people are without electricity in New Orleans alone and it could take months to repair the damage. SOURCE: DW News
- World News
Domestic opinion divided on Albania’s decision to host Afghan refugees headed to US
The Albanian coastline is teeming with domestic and foreign tourists wrapping up their summer holidays. But the coastal town of Durres is not only a holiday resort. It’s also a temporary home for hundreds of Afghan refugees. Space has been made available for them in a number of hotels. We would like to talk to the refugees, but are sent…
- World News
Why Qatar fosters close contact with the Taliban
Just a few days ago, US President Joe Biden picked up the phone to thank the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, for the generous support in the ongoing evacuation from Afghanistan. Biden also thanked Qatar for facilitating intra-Afghan talks — even though they had failed even before the Taliban took power. Germany, meanwhile, criticized Qatar after the…
- Thailand News
Finding the best roasted coffee in Thailand with Coffee Culture
Sponsored Due to all of the changes happening in our daily routines, as coffee lovers, it has become vital to make sure that we have a coffee maker at both our home and our office. Plus, a few packs of delicious fresh roasted coffee to enjoy. Thailand’s demand for shopping for roasted coffee beans and ground coffee online has never…
- World News
Art expo preserves Tanzania’s indigenous legends
The contemporary art expo has brought the legends and beliefs of the indigenous people of the Southern Highlands to life in order to preserve this rich, but slowly fading heritage. SOURCE: DW News
- World News
African presidents wish Angela Merkel farewell
It was a moment of goodbye: At the conclusion of the Compact for Africa (CwA) conference on Friday, a good dozen African heads of state used the opportunity to wish German Chancellor Angela Merkel farewell before she leaves office after the Bundestag elections at the end of September. During her tenure, Merkel had been personally involved in economic and social…
- World News
Afghan refugees in Greece still stuck in limbo
Forty-three-year-old Nemat Tajik had just been transferred to the Alexandria Refugee camp near the port city of Thessaloniki in Greece, when he heard that the Taliban had regained power in Afghanistan. “I felt powerless. It was like watching my mother being killed in front of my eyes,” he said. Tajik who comes from Herat, a city in west Afghanistan, left…
- World News
Saudi Arabia and Taliban unlikely to revive old alliances
In the past, they worked together. But today, Saudi Arabia and the Taliban are separated by political and cultural differences, as well as some problematic history. The last time the Taliban ran Afghanistan, between 1996 and 2001, Saudi Arabia was one of only three countries in the world to officially recognize the Islamist group’s government. Neighboring Pakistan and the United…
- World News
The Taliban’s broken promise to protect journalists
After the Taliban ousted the Afghan government earlier this month, a spokesman for the militant group made a series of public pledges amid heightened scrutiny — and skepticism. The tone may have been conciliatory, but the West and international organizations, including the UN,eyed the statements warily. One such pledge outlined in the Taliban’s August 17 statement was that there would…
- World News
Humanitarian situation worsens in Ethiopia’s Tigray region
The United States had already warned that food aid would run out this week for millions of hungry people under a blockade imposed by Ethiopia’s government on the embattled Tigray region. Ethiopia has been embroiled in a conflictthat flared nearly ten months ago in Tigray and which has spilled to other regions. The government has also struggled to contain other…
- World News
South Korean journalists fear new laws will muzzle media
South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party is pushing ahead with controversial amendments to a law that critics charge are designed to muzzle the media and will give the government wide ranging powers to restrict freedom of the press. Domestic media outlets have been joined by international press organizations and legal experts to condemn the revisions. Opposition parties have vowed to do…
