World News
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Sponsored Why retirees in Thailand are choosing long-term health insurance over quick fixes
Retirees in Thailand are increasingly seeing the importance of health insurance in protecting their well-being during retirement. With insurance requirements for retirement visas and rising healthcare costs, many are moving away from short-term plans and choosing long-term coverage. Long-term health...
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High hopes for Zambia’s new president ‘HH’
Hakainde Hichilema ran for president five times before winning this year. Popularly known as “HH” or “Bally”, a slang term for for ‘father,’ Hichilema won the Zambian election by almost a million votes. But the work ahead was not lost on him during his victory speech: “We have an enormous task ahead to revive our economy and deliver on your…
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A kayak tour of Argentina for environmental protection
Juan Camelia is not really much of a sportsman. He got his kayak just six years ago, to paddle about on the Parana River and go camping in the great outdoors. Now, he is one of more than 40 kayakers who have caused a considerable stir in Argentina with their spectacular environmental campaign to get the Congress to pass a…
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Are India’s emergency visas for Afghans issued based on religion?
Days after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan, the Indian government introduced a new category of visa to fast-track the applications of Afghans who want to come to India and flee what has become a growing humanitarian crisis. It was announced that all Afghans, irrespective of their religion, could apply for the so-called e-Emergency X-Misc Visa online. However, the announcement…
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Could Afghanistan under Taliban rule become a haven for Islamist militants?
As the US withdraws its military from Afghanistan, it is clear that Washington’s goal in the country has always been to guarantee American security. President Joe Biden left little doubt to this effect during a speech last week. “Our single most vital interest in Afghanistan remains what it always was, to prevent a terrorist attack on our country.” Biden’s assertion…
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Indonesia’s former social affairs minister sentenced to 12 years in prison
Indonesia’s former social affairs minister has been handed a 12 year prison term due to a multi-million dollar Covid graft scandal. The Jakarta Corruption Court made its ruling today. An unnamed judge says the former minister, Juliari Batubara, was “convincingly guilty of corruption” following Juliari’s acceptance of 32.4 billion rupiahs in payoffs related to the obtainment of goods meant for…
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All Ho Chi Minh City residents to be tested for Covid; military sent in to help distribute food, enforce restrictions
The Prime Minister of Vietnam, Pham Minh ChÃnh, has ordered that all Ho Chi Minh City residents get tested for Covid following the decision to have the military sent in to distribute food and enforce Covid restrictions. Confusion swirled in the city as officials released conflicting information about food buying restrictions. Vietnamese media showed swarms of residents flocking to markets…
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All remaining Thai nationals now evacuated from Afghanistan
When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan nearly a week ago on Monday, thousands of foreign nationals raced to the airport in hopes of assistance in fleeing the country while it was still possible. Now Thailand’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson has confirmed that all Thai nationals have left Afghanistan. The Foreign Ministry believes that there were 4 remaining Thai people in…
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Czech Republic: Health care professions become fashionable
In the Czech Republic, the devastation of the coronavirus pandemic reached its peak in late 2020 and early 2021: The country of 10.5 million led the world in per-capita infections and deaths. In all, some 1.7 million Czechs became ill and to date more than 25,000 people in the EU state have died as a result of COVID-19. The only…
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Hungary vs EU: Is Orban striving for Huxit?
Hungary’s unofficial government newspaper Magyar Nemzet (Hungarian Nation) often floats issues that Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his government would like to gauge public opinion on without addressing those issues themselves. Last weekend, it happened again. On Sunday (August 15), the paper opened debate on an issue that had previously been deemed off-limits even in Hungarian government circles: Hungary’s exit…
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China eyes booster shots to hit herd immunity by year’s end
If they can achieve over 80% vaccination rate, China may reach herd immunity by the end of the year, according to the country’s top respiratory disease expert. He believed that booster shots would make up for the loss of efficacy after 6 months of vaccines from China and others used in the country. Officials in China believe that they will…
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Africa: Vaccination rollout hindered by hesitancy, low supply
A new wave of COVID-19 infections across Africa, and the inequitable distribution of vaccines, has further highlighted the multifaceted inequalities both within the continent and across the globe. While in some parts of the world, the challenge is overcoming vaccine hesitancy. In others, the problem is getting the vaccines to the needy — explains Nicholas Crips, South Africa’s Deputy Director…
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Friends, enemies, neighbors? The Taliban and the Middle East
A recent editorial in Al-Alam, an Iranian-owned Arabic-language publication, warned people not to trust the Americans the way the Afghan people did. The people of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Libya “link the fate of their countries and their people with America and believe this will open a new door, through which they will enter into a bright and brilliant…
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Austrian firm rolls the dice on Japan’s first casino project
An Austrian gaming company has made what analysts describe as a “significant breakthrough” in the campaign to open the first casino in Japan, although there is still deep concern in society about the introduction of a new form of gambling. The prefectural government of Nagasaki, in the far southwest of Japan, has awarded priority negotiation rights to the Japan unit…
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Afghanistan: Local journalists as cornerstones of reporting
“In front of me, the American military is firing warning shots in the air. Behind me, the Taliban are storming the airport compound.” This was Natalie Amiri on German television, quoting a telephone conversation she had with an Afghan colleague who called her from Kabul airport on Wednesday. As the presenter of Weltspiegel, a foreign affairs magazine program on German…
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Alexi Navalny poisoning marked ‘point of no return’ for Kremlin critics
“I have just flown home. I’m going to passport control. All day I’ve only been thinking about how they will search me in particular because I am a foreign agent,” journalist Olga Churakova tells her podcast listeners in an emotional recording from a Moscow airport. She describes a sense that she is not safe in her home country. Churakova tries…
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Last surviving Khmer Rouge leader denies role in Cambodia genocide
The last former leader of the radical communist Khmer Rouge regime is denying charges of genocide. The Khmer Rouge brutally ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 and led to the death of around 2 million people. Some were killed in mass executions by the Khmer Rouge and some were tortured to death. Others died while they were forced to work…
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Relative of DW journalist killed by the Taliban
Taliban fighters hunting a DW journalist have shot dead one member of his family and seriously injured another. The Taliban were conducting a house-to-house search in western Afghanistan to try and find the journalist, who now works in Germany. Other relatives were able to escape at the last moment and are now on the run. DW’s director general, Peter Limbourg,…
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Essay: Authors of the ‘War on Terror’ in denial to the bitter end in Afghanistan
“It will probably be like last time. When they took Kabul overnight,” Kabul resident Ahmad Jawed, 30, told me last Saturday. When the militant Islamist TalibanTaliban first captured the Afghan capital 25 years ago, Jawed was a young child. But he remembers that morning well. Suddenly the fighters were there, while the members of the mujahedeen government, who had been…
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AfricaLink on Air – 19 August 2021
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan backs a peaceful resolution for the Tigray conflict in Ethiopia++Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari holds separate meetings with security chiefs and elders++Today is World Humanitarian Day SOURCE: DW News
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Afghanistan: What Taliban takeover means for the region
The Chinese government has so far appeared to be at ease with the collapse of the Afghan government and the Taliban’s takeover of the country. “The Chinese embassy in Afghanistan is continuing to operate as normal, and its ambassador and embassy staff will remain in their posts,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Monday. Most Chinese citizens in Afghanistan…
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British man convicted of refusing to wear a mask, harassing police, to be deported from Singapore
A British man has been sentenced to 6 weeks in a Singaporean jail following his appearance on a train without a mask, and his harassment of police. Singaporean officials confirmed the man’s jail term today. As the man already served time in jail for the offence, he will be deported from the city-state instead of serving more jail time. 40…
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Cambodian union leader given 2 year prison sentence following comments that “incited unrest”
An influential Cambodian labour union leader has been handed a 2 year prison sentence yesterday over comments that the government says were insensitive and incited social unrest. His comments pertained to the country’s border. Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions, has been in police custody for over a year following the government’s claims that Rong disseminated false…
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Biden stands by decision to withdraw troops, says no leaving without ‘chaos ensuing’
Following Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan’s capital Kabul with thousands now trying to evacuate the country, US President Joe Biden sat down with an ABC News reporter for a one-on-one interview, standing by the decision to withdraw US troops after occupying the area for two decades. While acknowledging that he was stunned by the swift takeover of the US-backed Afghan government,…
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Meet the Middle Eastern migrants trapped in Lithuania
The trip from the center of the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, to the refugee reception center in Rudninkai takes about 40 minutes. It’s not that easy to get there. We have to stop and ask for directions several times. But eventually we park our car at the edge of a forest and then follow a well-trodden path through the undergrowth toward…
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Airlifted Afghans to receive temporary shelter in Albania
Yuri Kim, ambassador of the United States to Albania, has revealed that a contingent of Afghans will be arriving in the Balkan country, without giving a precise figure. “We do not yet have the exact number of the Afghans who will be temporarily sheltered here,” she said in a brief statement for the media on August 17. Unofficial sources told…
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Indonesia converting motorbikes to electric, aims for all e-vehicles
A new program is launching today in Indonesia to convert normal petrol-fueled motorbikes into electric vehicles to try to make Indonesian transportation more eco-friendly. Indonesia’s Energy Ministry announced the plan to make a more environmentally friendly mode of transportation and they have already converted 10 motorbikes. The plan intends to convert 90 more motorbikes by November for a total of…
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Indonesia: Will the army’s ban on ‘virginity tests’ last?
The chief of staff of the Indonesian army, General Andika Perkasa, recently announced that the army will no longer conduct virginity tests on women applying to join the forces. He was referring to the invasive two-finger examination that was conducted to determine whether female applicants’ hymens were intact. The practice, used in the past by the military to determine recruits’…
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Afghanistan: Pakistan rejoices at Taliban victory as West flounders
Afghanistan has a familiar power back in place. Kabul has fallen. The Taliban have won. And Pakistanis are euphoric. To many a foe, but to others a friend, the cloistered group of extremists has long-held cordial ties with Islamabad, and the Taliban’s recent rise from the flames has left many Pakistanis in raptures. Khan: Removal of the ‘shackles of slavery’…
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Taliban vows no revenge, fewer restrictions on women this time
In the wake of seizing control of Afghanistan, the Taliban have pledged a kinder, gentler rule than that of 20 years ago before the United States 2001 invasion. They vow to not exact revenge on their opponents and to respect the rights of women, taking a more conciliatory tone. As the Taliban stormed the capital and assumed control, tens of…
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In Kabul, terrified Afghans wait for the call to safety
In a crowded Kabul cellar earlier this week, seven men acted out a desperate, terrifying scenario: One of them pretended to be a Taliban militant, the others had to convince them that they were students — not men who had spent years working for the German army. “We practiced our role: We are studying this, we are studying here,” one…
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