- World News
Ghana’s children scavenging on rubbish dumps
These children are eking out a living picking through rubbish. They are scavenging for plastic and metal. From tin containers to iron bars and zinc. Children are at the frontlines of the scrap business. Plastic is harder to sell than the scrap metal. They sell it to the dealers who roam the streets. Dealers melt down the tin and aluminum.…
- World News
Why COVID cases are rising again in some Indian states
After India’s deadly second wave in April and May, cases declined all over the country, even as restrictions eased. The past couple of months have seen a spike again in the western state of Maharashtra and the southern state of Kerala. Maharashtra on Wednesday reported 3,783 new coronavirus cases and 56 fatalities, taking the infection tally to 65,07,930 and the…
- World News
Afghanistan’s Hazara refugee women stitch future dreams
Some Afghan women refugees who fled to India a few years ago have found livelihood in a startup that aims at building sustainable communities of artisans. The women who work here have faced tremendous hardships in the past. Now they worry for their relatives back home under the Taliban rule. SOURCE: DW News
- World News
Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani: Principled, yet willing to take risks
Vjosa Osmani was born on May 17, 1982, in Mitrovica to Kosovo Albanian parents. At the time, the town on the Ibar was still part of Yugoslavia, as was the whole of Kosovo. Even before the breakup of the multiethnic state in 1991, Serbian nationalists led by Slobodan Milosevic had succeeded in subjecting Kosovo’s Albanian majority population to an oppressive…
- World News
Afghan journalists ‘have to get out of the country’
It was an almost clandestine press conference that the organization Reporters Without Borders (ROG) held this Wednesday at its headquarters in Berlin. Only 20 journalists were allowed in, and unlike the normal routine since the coronavirus pandemic began, there was no live video transmission on the internet. The reason: In the room, there were journalists from Afghanistan who fear for…
- World News
An end to neo-Islamism in the Middle East?
Last week, the party that previously held a majority in the Moroccan parliament suffered a crushing setback. In the country’s federal elections last Wednesday, the Justice and Development Party lost 113 of the 125 seats it had won in the last election. In previous ballots of 2016 and 2011, the party, commonly known as the PJD, ended up with a…
- World News
Tanzania: Unlocking Lake Tanganyika’s economy
The women fishers of Kigoma want to increase their income. Annually, fishers catch more than 53,000 tons of fish from Lake Tanganyika. The volume could be higher if proper equipment were available. Fish spoil due to lack of proper storage. Fishers need basic items and guidelines for the business. Hundreds work in seafood processing that lacks refrigerators, processing facilities, and…
- World News
Rwanda: The mysterious deaths of political opponents
The death of former Rwandan lieutenant Revocant Karemangingo, a critic of President Paul Kagame, is the latest addition to a list DW has compiled of Rwandan opposition voices that have died under suspicious circumstances. The regime of President Kagame, who has effectively ruled Rwanda since 1994, is accused of suppressing dissenting views. International rights groups claim opposition politicians, journalists, and…
- World News
German Africa Prize 2021 goes to Ethiopian rights activist
Daniel Bekele, currently Chief Commissioner of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC), will receive the German Africa Award for his fight for democracy and human rights. The prize is the highest award of its kind in Germany. It honors outstanding personalities from the African continent who are committed to peace, reconciliation, and social progress. “I am delighted that the independent…
- World News
Romania: The new mayor looking to clean up local politics
It’s a sunny Monday morning and the mayor, Zoltan Soos, is in a good mood as he walks into the conference room. A few members of the planning team are already there and the rest arrive in dribs and drabs until all 15 are present. The key officials from the municipal administration greet each other warmly. No one is subservient,…
- World News
Pakistan: How ‘blood money’ laws allow murderers to be pardoned
In January 2018, Asma Rani, a medical student in her third year, was on a semester break in her hometown of Kohat in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Asma and her sister-in-law were on their way back to their house when two men opened fire. Three bullets hit Asma. Before her death, she identified her attacker as Mujahidullah Afridi, a…
- World News
Will Malaysia’s ties with the EU improve under new government?
Changes of government are usually occasions for countries to reassess their foreign relations, but few analysts reckon Malaysia’s new government that came into office late last month will oversee any fundamental change in approach. That is a double-edged sword for the EU, which was beginning to build momentum with the previous government over a potential free-trade agreement between Malaysia and…
- World News
Germany and the Middle East: A tale of morals and markets
On its homepage, Germany’s foreign ministry lists, “peace and security, the promotion of democracy and human rights, and commitment to multilateralism,” as the guiding principles of German foreign policy. Just a few lines later, however, there is another commitment whereby Germany, as a trading nation, has a particular interest in an effective external economic policy, “that helps companies to tap…
- World News
The EU’s 4 persistent problems still dogging the bloc
The findings of a recent Eurobarometer survey, commissioned by the European Union itself, are clear: Citizens in the bloc believe that the main issues it should be addressing are climate change, the COVID pandemic, health care, the economic situation and social inequality. These are thus the themes that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will broach in her second…
- World News
Why Pakistan’s new school textbooks are sparking backlash over gender
Pakistan’s ruling party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) launched its revised Single National Curriculum (SNC) in August this year, deeming it “a milestone to end disparity in the education system.” Following the recent release of the curriculum’s accompanying new textbook, many have taken to social media to criticize what they view as patriarchal gender norms in the book. The outrage is similar…
- World News
South Africa eases lockdown restrictions despite low vaccination rates
The road to Thulamahashe is full of potholes. The town is located close to Kruger National Park in the province of Mpumalanga, one of the poorest in the country. But the roads remain quite busy — especially on social grant payday, as hundreds make their way from the villages to the nearest town over. Carlos Mavanga is one of them.…
- World News
Afghanistan: The Taliban are trying to silence the voices of journalists
Since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, claiming to have full control of the country, they’re trying to present themselves as more tolerant than 20 years ago. Some even speak of a Taliban 2.0. In their first press conference in late August, the militant Islamists said, journalists would be allowed to continue working in Afghanistan. Three weeks later, this statement…
- World News
Texas abortion ban has ‘vast psychological consequences’
When Sam realized she was pregnant, she knew exactly what she wanted to do. “I woke up with morning sickness a few weeks after a one-night-stand and immediately scheduled an appointment with Planned Parenthood,” said the financial advisor, who asked we use her nickname, in an interview with DW. The year was 1982 and Sam, who was 19 years old…
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The Thaiger Digital Summit – Seven Thai Tech Start-Ups Speak Out
Disrupt or Die. Tune in to a full-tilt, one-hour online event led by The Thaiger’s Co-Founder and leading digital entrepreneur Michael Kenner. On the virtual stage will be fast-paced conversations with seven amazing start-up disruptors who are set to change Thailand’s online space. From super apps, the sharing economy, big data, to taking business off the sois and onto digital…
- World News
German election: What’s at stake for India?
At the end of October 2019, German Chancellor Angela Merkel embarked on one of her last major international visits before the pandemic struck. Accompanied by a dozen key government officials, as well as a high-profile business delegation, Merkel traveled to India with the specific goal to “deepen and consolidate” a relationship that has undoubtedly grown in importance since she became…
- World News
Is Africa ready to produce a malaria vaccine?
There’s a ray of hope in the fight against tropical diseases: German pharmaceutical company BioNTech said it wants to develop vaccines against malaria and tuberculosis. Clinical trials are expected to start by the end of 2022. The vaccines will use use BioNTech’s messenger RNA technology that’s already proven effective against COVID-19. BioNTech also said it wants to produce the vaccines…
- World News
Angela Merkel in Poland: Bidding good-bye to a difficult partner
After Angela Merkel was elected chancellor of Germany in the fall of 2005, Warsaw was one of the first capitals she visited, along with Paris and Brussels. Poland had joined the European Union a year earlier. Germany was full of hope as it eyed its new partner on the right bank of the Oder River. Sixteen years later as Merkel…
- World News
9/11, the ‘war on terror’ and the consequences for the world
Twenty years have passed since the September 11 attacks. At Ground Zero in New York, the towers of a new World Trade Center rise above the skyline, and there is a memorial to the nearly 3,000 victims of the attacks. The city has bounced back and now has more residents than in 2001. Until the pandemic, the economy was booming. …
- World News
9/11 through African eyes
Kenya Zainab Aziz I knew about the attack immediately because I was a journalist, working for the national broadcaster in the capital, Nairobi. In my heart and mind I was thinking of the people inside those buildings. I was shocked, even before I knew the details. The attack gave me flashbacks to the US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania…
- World News
Japan: Does Suga’s demise mean a return to revolving door politics?
Yoshihide Suga’s failure to stay on as prime ministerof Japan much beyond a single year has triggered concern that the nation is edging back towards an era of political uncertainty and upheaval. Tokyo has been unsettled by the prospect of a revolving door of leaders, each with insufficient time to implement effective change. Suga took over from Shinzo Abe on…
- World News
COVID: How the delta variant has shattered Vietnam’s success
Through the first four months of this year, Diep Nguyen was enjoying Vietnam’s impressive containment of COVID-19. Her cafe in an upscale area of Ho Chi Minh City was becoming more popular, and she had begun experimenting with serving cocktails. On May 31, she stopped in-person service as several of her employees lived in neighborhoods that were turning into infection…
- World News
Young Slovenian Obama scholar spearheads the fight for water and equal rights
Sunday, July 11, was a typical summer’s day in Slovenia, with temperatures hovering just below 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit). In the evening, as a storm brewed over the capital, Ljubljana, Nika Kovac, the leader of the campaign against the Water Act, was listening to the first unofficial results of the referendum. “The most important thing we have done with…
- World News
Egypt: New ruling on hymen repair stirs up controversy
During a recent live Facebook broadcast in Arabic, Dr Ahmed Mamdouh, director of the Sharia Research Department of Egypt’s highest religious authority, the Dar al-Ifta, said that “in some cases, patching is required and legitimate for a girl who has been raped or deceived and wants to repent and turn a new page.” This new fatwa — the name given…
- World News
How much is gold worth to these young miners in Ghana?
Osino is a community rich in gold. Mining moves the economy for years here. But illegal mining in eastern Ghana causes concern.”Galamsey” is done on a small scale and without a license. Young men are arrested, and their tools are destroyed. Miners dump waste into the water sources. There is no recovery of the exploited land. Traditional leaders worry about…
- World News
The lone hero of Abidjan’s cleanup
Djo Drigbé is 37 years old and has one mission: to see the city of Abidjan clean. He removes trash from beaches, streets, and gutters. He is unemployed and doesn’t receive any salary for his work. Donations guarantee a meal for his family. Drigbé lives with his partner and son. His dedication has drawn admiration. Drigbé dreams of working for…
