- World News
How Nigeria arrested secessionist leader Nnamdi Kanu
Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of a group that has called for the independence of Biafra from Nigeria, was presented before a federal high court in Abuja on Tuesday, days after his arrest at an undisclosed location. “Nnamdi Kanu has been intercepted. … He has been brought back to Nigeria in order to continue facing trial after disappearing,” said Justice Minister…
- World News
COVID: Kashmir’s transgender community left to fend for themselves
A series of lockdowns have barred transgender people from working in the wedding industry. Ostracized from society and without access to government aid, many are on the verge of starvation. SOURCE: DW News
- World News
China’s Communist Party after 100 years now at the ‘forefront’ of global politics
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is preparing to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its 1921 founding on Thursday with nationwide festivities and fanfare. Banners and billboards touting the leadership’s success have been set up in the weeks leading up to July 1, and the CCP staged an extravagant performance on Monday at the National Stadium in Beijing. The CCP is…
- World News
World in Progress: Brazil’s controversial land bill to spell disaster for the indigenous
Indigenous people in Brazil have come under threat as miners and loggers continue to invade their lands. A bill limiting indigenous land rights is threatening their livelihoods even further. It’s backed by the country’s powerful farm lobby and President Jair Bolsonaro. Critics say it would be the biggest set-back for the indigenous since their rights were enshrined in the 1988…
- World News
Hong Kong national security law: Can civil liberties survive another year?
One year ago, a national security law took effect in Hong Kong, handed down by Communist Party authorities in Beijing in response to a massive pro-democracy movement in the semi-autonomous city. The law criminalizes so-called acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign powers. Since the law came into effect on June 30,2020, authorities have removed all opposition lawmakers…
- World News
Ethiopia: Uncertainty in Tigray after rebels take control of restive north
The former ruling party in Tigray said it took back control of the regional capital Mekele on Monday after Ethiopia’s federal government troops controlled the city for eight months. The Tigray Defense Forces (TDF) is “in control of Mekele and people are now dancing in the streets,” said Million Haileselassie, a DW correspondent based in the city. The TDF is…
- World News
US and NATO withdraw from an Afghanistan still at war: What you need to know
On April 14, United States President Joe Biden told Americans when their country’s longest war would finally end: “I’m now the fourth US president to preside over American troop presence in Afghanistan: two Republicans, two Democrats. I will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth.” Biden delivered his address in the White House Treaty Room. It was in this…
- World News
US and NATO withdraw from an Afghanistan still at war
On April 14, United States President Joe Biden told Americans when their country’s longest war would finally end: “I’m now the fourth US president to preside over American troop presence in Afghanistan: two Republicans, two Democrats. I will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth.” Biden delivered his address in the White House Treaty Room. It was in this…
- World News
Sea Breeze: Ukraine, US Black Sea drills raise tensions
A military incident off the coast of the Crimean Peninsula caused quite a stir last week. The British warship HMS Defender was en route from the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odessa to Georgia when it encountered Russian forces, who issued warning shots. The incident sparked tensions between Moscow and London and came just days ahead of multinational naval maneuvers…
- World News
Afghanistan: Why Germany needs to simplify asylum process for local staff
The German parliament last week discussed the future of the German military’s (Bundeswehr) local staff in Afghanistan amid an increasing threat to their lives from the Taliban. After the US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and dismantled the Taliban regime, foreign forces relied heavily on domestic help. They needed translators, interpreters, cooks, cleaners, as well security experts who could help them…
- World News
France’s regional vote recasts 2022 election battle
The elections in France’s 18 administrative regions, five of which are overseas territories, were supposed to be a boost for far-right candidate Marine Le Pen’s campaign in the 2022 presidential election. Polls ahead of the first round of voting on June 20 were showing Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) party ahead in the first ballot in six regions, and with…
- World News
India looks to revamp Ladakh with infrastructure overhaul
As China-India relations remain tense over border disagreements, New Delhi is increasingly focusing on developing the Ladakh frontier region that has been neglected for years. SOURCE: DW News
- World News
Idlib braces as a crossing to Syria prepares to close
The Syrian city of Idlib is separated from the Bab al-Hawa crossing at the Turkish border by about 40 kilometers (25 miles). Huda Khayti, director of the Women Support and Empowerment Center Idlib, travels there several times each week to check on people in refugee camps along the border and bring them aid. Millions of internally displaced Syrians have been…
- World News
Saudi Arabia reforms: Royal power play or meaningful change?
Over the past month, Saudi Arabia has been announcing new social reforms almost every week. Earlier this month, Saudi Arabian authorities slightly amended a law to allow adult women to live independently, without first having to get permission from their father or other male kin. A few days after that, other officials declared that women could register to go on…
- World News
LGBTQ troops and vets go to war with homophobia in Ukraine
The silence inside a makeshift cinema in the heart of Kyiv was shattered with the crash of a windowpane. Fireworks flashed. Homophobic attackers were attempting to besiege the screening of a film about the lives of LGBTQ people. The assailants threw tear gas and pyrotechnics. A member of the audience jumped up onto the windowsill and began throwing the projectiles…
- World News
Cuba’s COVID vaccine rivals BioNTech-Pfizer, Moderna
In a measure of its ambitious efforts to be vaccine self-reliant, Cuba has named one of its homegrown jabs Abdala, after a famous dramatic verse by independence hero and national icon Jose Marti. In the verse, the young hero, Abdala, heads to war to defend his fatherland, full of patriotic fervor no matter how strong and powerful the enemy. From…
- World News
Tech-savvy Egypt targets TikTokers and digital dissidents
In recent years, Egypt has become a thriving place for digital technology — as well as the Middle East’s No. 1 internet censor. “Communications and technology are the fastest-growing sectors of the Egyptian economy, with recent growth averaging about 16%,” David Butter, analyst at the London-based think tank Chatham House, told DW. However, he said, there is an obvious contradiction…
- World News
India: Do calls for reforms to respect LGBTQ rights go far enough?
Manoj (name changed) from the southern Indian state of Karnataka was forced to undergo the “gay conversion therapy” as a teenager. Now an adult, he lives and works in Delhi, and hasn’t spoken to his family in years. “I was made to believe there was something wrong with me. I was given shock treatment among other methods. I escaped home…
- World News
Ethiopia: Deadly Tigray airstrike further alienates western allies
Eyewitnesses are adding more details to what started as a rumor about one or more explosions with dozens of civilian casualties in the village of Togoga in Ethiopia’s restive Tigray region. “When the military jets bombed our area, many of us fell to the ground,” Negasi Berha, a Tigray resident who was being treated at Ayder Hospital, told DW. “We…
- World News
Why is it so difficult to live with HIV in Uganda?
We will call this young man Patrick. The 26-year-old lives on the outskirts of Kampala. His daily life is filled with discrimination. Patrick was born with HIV. The virus created barriers to living in his community. Thousands of HIV-positive people suffer the same stigma. There are about 1.3 million people living with HIV here. UNAIDS reports progress in fighting HIV…
- World News
Slovenia: Trapped in the spirit of the past after 30 years of independence?
“Dreams are allowed today, tomorrow is a new day” are words etched into the historical memory of Slovenians, also known as Slovenes. On 25 June 1991, they were uttered by Milan Kucan, then president of the Yugoslav Socialistic Republic of Slovenia and subsequently twice president of independent Slovenia. On that day, Slovenia declared its independence and officially separated from Yugoslavia.…
- World News
EU condemns Ethiopia’s deadly Tigray airstrike
Eyewitnesses are adding more details to what started as a rumor about one or more explosions with dozens of civilian casualties in the village of Togoga in Ethiopia’s restive Tigray region. According to health workers, who spoke to international media outlets mostly on the condition of anonymity, an airstrike hit the village market on Tuesday afternoon, killing at least 50…
- World News
Biden-Ghani meeting: Afghan president makes last-ditch effort to stop Taliban gains
US President Joe Biden will host his Afghan counterpart, Ashraf Ghani, and other high-ranking Afghan officials, at the White House on Friday. The meeting is taking place at a crucial time for Afghanistan. NATO forces have already started pulling out from Afghanistan after their two-decade presence in the war-ravaged country. The withdrawal of all foreign troops is expected to be…
- World News
Tokyo Olympics: A month to go, protesters intent on postponing games
Atsuko Nagayama is so angry that she is physically shaking. Standing with around 250 protesters in front of the headquarters of the Tokyo metropolitan government, she is holding a simple homemade placard with the words: “Cancel the Olympics.” “It is much too dangerous to go ahead with the gamesbecause we know that there are many variants of the coronavirus already…
- World News
Hungary anti-LGBT+ law dispute overshadows EU summit
Tensions between Hungary and the European Commission over the country’s controversial anti-LGBT+ law intensified ahead of Thursday’s EU summit. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said “the Hungarian bill is a shame.” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban immediately refuted the criticism. Von der Leyen sent a letter to Orban, protesting against what she said was a bill that “clearly discriminates…
- World News
India-China tensions drive Ladakh infrastructure overhaul
As the stalemate between India and China along the fiercely contested Line of Actual Control, the de facto border between the two countries, drags on, the mountainous region of Ladakh is seeing a major infrastructural overhaul, triggering both hope and fear among the local people. New tunnels and roads are being carved out in the toughest terrains of the Himalayan…
- World News
Pakistan picks up its COVID vaccination drive just in time
Laiba Zainab, a 25-year-old journalist in Pakistan’s central city of Multan, was eager to receive a shot of China’s Sinopharm COVID vaccine on June 10, after spending five months waiting for her age group to be called. Pakistan’s vaccination drive got off to a bumpy startearlier this year, beset by lack of supply and vaccine hesitancy. In February, only senior…
- World News
What’s the secret of Niger’s women’s markets?
These events are organized by few people. But they’ve proliferated in the Nigerien capital. The fairs take place after female entrepreneurs are trained. More than 50 women exhibited some 300 items. Handicraft and agricultural products are exhibited for three days. The turnover is up to €15,000. The fairs attract many customers, including foreigners. Whether they are Nigeriens or foreigners, everyone…
- World News
EU sanctions on Belarus go ‘beyond symbolic’
EU figures admire Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn for his directness. And he didn’t hold back after Monday’s decision to target key sectors of the Belarus economy with fresh sanctions. “We are clearly showing that Stalinism and state terror no longer have a place in the 21st century,” said Asselborn, referring to Minsk’s forced diversion of a Ryanair passenger plane…
- World News
Carlos Ghosn, ex-Nissan chief, walks out of DW’s Conflict Zone interview
Ghosn, who was one of the most powerful men in the global car industry, abruptly cut short an interview with DW’s Conflict Zone host Tim Sebastian when he disliked the host’s line of questioning. The former car industry executive, who headed an automotive alliance including Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi, said Sebastian was speaking in “bad faith” after he pointed out…
