World News
World news, global politics, business, technology, and culture—stay updated with breaking stories, international trends, and major events. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted source for global news.
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Sponsored See the best of Northern Thailand this winter on a budget
The Thaiger key takeaways Peak season brings higher prices, but smart planning and local know-how can help you experience Northern Thailand affordably. Chiang Mai, Pai, and Chiang Rai offer plenty of free or low-cost attractions, from temples and canyons to...
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Why Dubai plans to build infrastructure in Kashmir
The government of Dubai, one of the UAE’s seven emirates, recently inked an agreement with India to ramp up infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government said the deal will see Dubai building infrastructure in the troubled region including industrial parks, IT towers, multi-purpose towers, logistics centres, a medical college and a speciality hospital. “The world…
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Japan: Princess Mako set to marry commoner amid controversy
Hours before Japan’s Princess Mako is due to marry her commoner fiance, Kei Komuro, there is little indication of the public or the domestic press relenting their criticism of the first imperial family wedding in nearly 30 years. An unforgettable day of traditional pomp and finery will instead be reduced to the signing of paperwork and a press conference. The…
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Central African rebel commander faces war crimes charges
Mahamat Said is facing more than a dozen charges at the International Criminal Court (ICC), including torture, persecution, enforced disappearance, and cruel treatment, over his alleged role in war crimes during the Central African Republic’s civil war. Judges will make a decision within the coming weeks on whether or not to confirm the charges against the ex-rebel commander, potentially bringing…
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Ho Chi Minh launches 3-stage reopening plan, international on January 1
Shortly after announcing plans to restart tourism tentatively beginning with Phu Quoc Island, the Vietnamese government launched a road map to reopen Ho Chi Minh City to international travellers at the beginning of next year. The megacity and financial hub of Vietnam has a 3-stage plan for tourism recovery with strict Covid-19 safety measures in place. The plan is designed…
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Joe Biden’s Taiwan gaffes create concern in China and Asia
In August, ABC television asked US President Joe Biden what he thought of Chinese media’s claims that the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan without a fight had shown Taiwan that Washington could not be relied on to come to its defense. Biden replied that the US’s commitments to Taiwan, South Korea and NATO were fundamentally different situations than what had happened…
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Vietnam to test reopening starting with Phu Quoc Island
Vietnam was one of the earliest countries to lockdown due to Covid-19, a strategy that had done it well until a massive outbreak in April, just like Thailand. And now, also like Thailand, they are looking to relaunch their tourism industry after close to two years of closures. Vietnam is now looking to reopen in late November, starting with the…
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Chinese law to limit homework and tutoring pressure on kids
It’s been a common trope that Asian students keep their nose to the grindstone with long school hours, after school study, and mountains of homework. But China is taking action to address the stress of both homework and off-site tutoring in core subjects by passing a law requiring local governments to regulate these “twin pressures”. According to official Chinese news…
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Ethiopia: Renewed airstrikes pummel Tigray region
Ethiopian authorities have confirmed that its military launched airstrikes on Tigray’s regional capital Mekele on Friday. It is the fourth wave of airstrikes to hit Mekele since Monday as the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed seeks to regain control of the northern region from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). Getachew Reda, a TPLF spokesperson, told Reuters news agency…
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Turkey’s Osman Kavala case: A break with Europe?
Turkish philanthropist and activist Osman Kavala has never been convicted of a crime — yet he has been in prison for almost four years in Turkey, despite the ruling of a top European court. On September 17, the Council of Europe issued Turkey its final warning to release the 64-year-old entrepreneur, warning that infringement proceedings against Ankara would start at…
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Philippines: What happened to the victims of Marawi’s deadly siege?
The siege had been raging for two days before Gilda could contact her son Jessie. He worked in a bakery in Marawi, a city on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. Aged 17, he wanted to help his mother provide for his three sisters. “He said there was no electricity and they had nothing to eat. He said it was…
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Is India’s justice system failing low-caste Dalit women?
India’s 80 million Dalit women and girls at the bottom of the South Asian country’s caste hierarchy experience many forms of violence. But getting justice for such crimes could take years. SOURCE: DW News
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Niger’s Festival of Nomads
The Cure Salee, or Festival of Nomads, takes place at Ingal, northern Niger. Here, nomadic people of the Sahara celebrate their culture, music and animals. The camel race is just one of the event’s highlights. SOURCE: DW News
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1 dead, 1 injured in prop gun shooting on Alec Baldwin movie set
A prop gun malfunction on the set of a movie in Santa Fe, New Mexico in the US led to 1 death and 1 person in emergency care after being shot on set. The film “Rust”, a Western movie produced and starring Alec Baldwin and directed by Joel Souza was the site of the tragedy where what should have been…
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Biden reaffirms US would defend Taiwan against Chinese attack
US President Joe Biden said that the US would defend Taiwan in the case of a Chinese attack. He was asked about this hypothetical situation yesterday during a CNN town hall segment. His response is a departure from the typical US stance on the Taiwan issue, but follows the trend of increasingly firm policy approaches towards China. China, historically, considers…
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Vienna Tourist Board censored by Facebook, shares art on OnlyFans
OnlyFans has been in the news a lot, growing fame or infamy as a place for creators to share content, girls to sell explicit pictures and videos, and now, a place to see ancient works of art? After falling victim to Facebook and Instagram’s censorship algorithms, the Vienna Tourist Board has moved to OnlyFans to display great works of art.…
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Pinktober puts spotlight on breast cancer in Middle East
As cancer rates increase in Middle Eastern countries, various NGOs and charities have joined the annual Pinktober campaign to fight stigma, raise money and highlight the importance of breast cancer education and research. “Among Arabs, cancer is growing at an alarming pace,” according to a 2020 paper by the World Health Organization (WHO). “We estimate that the incidence numbers in…
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Indonesia to introduce strict air travel measures for end-of-year holiday period
Anticipating a jump in visitor numbers over the end-of-year holiday period, Indonesia is strengthening its air travel rules. According to a Bloomberg report, the country is anxious to avoid a spike in infections as a result of the increase in tourist numbers. A spokesman for the country’s Covid-19 task force says all airlines serving Indonesia must isolate passengers who develop…
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Indonesia cuts Covid-19 quarantine period to 5 days
The Indonesian government has cut the mandatory, Covid-19 quarantine from 8 to 5 days for those entering the country. The 5-day quarantine applies to international travellers, including Indonesian citizens and foreign nationals arriving in the country. The Indonesian National Armed Forces, Indonesian Police, relevant Ministries and Institutions, and volunteers under the Commander of the Regional Defense Command will supervise the…
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Texas’ controversial abortion law: what’s at stake?
The Republican lawmaker who sponsored Texas’s controversial legislation to ban most abortions in the state has told DW it is “not a partisan issue.” “Texas has been passing pro-life bills for the last 20 years under Republican and Democratic administrations,” Bryan Hughes said. “This is about human life.” Hughes, a senator in Texas’s state legislature, had been asked on DW’s…
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In Taiwan, tea harvest suffers as the climate changes
Drought and heavy rainfall: Chien Shun-yih’s tea plantation in Taiwan is severely affected by climate change, it seems. This year, almost half the harvest was lost. SOURCE: DW News
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South Korea space rocket test prompts fear of arms race with North
Shortly after 5 p.m. local time (0800 UTC) on Thursday, South Korea launched its first domestically produced rocket from the Naro Space Center in the northeastern county of Goheung. All three stages of the liquid-fueled Nuri rocket, which cost around 2 trillion won ($1.7 billion, €1.46 billion), worked but the rocket reportedly failed to complete the mission of delivering a…
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Vatican launches Click to Pray 2.0 app to encourage prayer
The Vatican is updating it tech in an attempt to modernise religion. But don’t expect Pope Francis to be dancing on TikTok anytime soon. The Click to Pray mobile app has a new update that just rolled out, hoping to help keep prayer in modern busy lifestyles. Click to Pray 2.0 is the first update to the Vatican’s prayer app…
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When Nazis killed 100 Serbs per dead German in Yugoslavia
Serbia does not play much of a role in Germany’s historical recollection of World War II. That is despite the fact that from April 6, 1941, when the Nazis invaded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, until their full retreat in 1945, hundreds of thousands of German soldiers were stationed in the Balkan country. The remains of more than 15,400 slain Germans…
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Global Covid-19 recovery efforts will have lasting impact on climate
A comprehensive environmental assessment has warned that the global Covid-19 recovery efforts will have a long lasting impact on the climate. The assessment highlighted countries’ heightened use of fossil fuels as a part of their recoveries, and explained the risk that this poses to the environment and human health. The Lancet Countdown is the largest annual assessment on what impacts…
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Queries over Google’s planned billion-dollar investment in Africa
Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai recently announced a $1billion (€858 million) investment in Africa. The massive investment will run for over five years and cover a range of initiatives. Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, and Ghana, will be the primary beneficiaries of the tech giant. It will prioritize improvement in connectivity and supporting innovative start-ups. The announcement comes when foreign direct investment (FDI)…
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IT dreams for Ugandan children
These children have not gone to school for almost two years due to Uganda’s COVID-19 measures. But neighbor Shamim Mwanaisha has introduced them to coding, vital tool in innovation and communication fields. She teaches from a porch with laptops and a bunch of fascinated kids. SOURCE: DW News
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World in Progress: Inside the US Opioid Crisis
More than half a million people have died from opioids in the past two decades in the USA. What started with doctors prescribing legal painkillers – such as Oxycontin – has now spiraled into much more dangerous substances. Hardly anyone knows what’s in them anymore. It’s had an impact on almost everyone from doctors to policemen and women to factory…
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Can India and Israel help drive cooperation in the Middle East?
Top diplomats from India, the US, Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) held a virtual ministerial meeting on Monday, which has been lauded as a first step towards expanding quadrilateral cooperation in the Middle East and Asia. India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Foreign Ministers Yair Lapid of Israel and Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed of the UAE were joined…
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Singapore Airlines launches 60 minute A380 flights
It’s designed to ferry lots of people long distances, in an ultra-quiet flying experience. So flyers would be used to flying the huge Airbus A380 from LA to London, Bahrain to Frankfurt, Melbourne to Hong Kong. The massive super jumbo airliner wasn’t designed for a short 1 hour hop. But that’s exactly what Singapore Airlines have planned now they’re getting…
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With dueling downgrades, NATO-Russia diplomacy is at a new low
Though high-level discussions between NATO and Russia have been few and far between in recent years, the Kremlin’s announcement that it would shutter its mission to the alliance, force NATO military officials to leave Moscow and close the NATO Information Office (NIO) there still sent a chill through the already-frosty channels. Robert Pszczel was the last diplomat NATO posted to…
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