World News
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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
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Suvarnabhumi’s ranking plummets in World’s Best Airports index
The results of this year’s World’s Best Airports awards are in, and in the last 10 years, Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi has taken a nosedive from number 13 to 66. The awards, voted for by passengers, are run annually by UK consultancy, Skytrax. This year’s results were decided by an online survey that ran for a 12-month period between August 2020 and…
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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…
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Mozambique: ‘Hidden debt’ trial exposes depth of corruption
Between 2013 and 2014, three Mozambican state-owned companies, ProIndicus, Ematum and Mam, took out €1.76 billion ($2.08 billion) in loans. The colossal amount of money came from Credit Suisse and the Russian bank VTB, among others. These funds were allegedly meant to finance maritime surveillance, fishing, and shipyard projects. No projects materialized, and the operation is believed to have covered…
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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
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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…
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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…
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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…
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National Vaccine Institute defends opting out of COVAX
The chief of the National Vaccine Institute spoke out defending Thailand’s decision to forego the COVAX vaccine programme as the government comes under renewed fire as part of the ongoing censure debate. He maintains that Thailand is better off without the program. PM Prayut Chan-o-cha and the members of the ruling party in the cabinet are currently facing a vote…
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Mu variant as a Covid-19 “variant of interest” by WHO
By now, news of the Delta variant, a much more contagious strain of Covid-19 that has spread around the world, is well understood. Now, ‘Mu’, a new Covid-19 variant that may be resistant to vaccines, is making headlines as a new “variant of interest” according to the World Health Organisation. The Mu variant was first identified in Colombia 8 months…
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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…
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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…
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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
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Worldwide calls grow for mediation in Ethiopia’s conflict
Hoping to increase pressure on the warring parties to end the conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, dozens of African scholars and activists around the world took the unusual step of publishing an open letter calling for a negotiated peace. “Ethiopia is on the precipice,” the letter reads, after condemning “the fact that the conflict is affecting ever-increasing numbers of civilians,”…
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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…
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Kanchanaburi’s Phu Nam Rom border with Myanmar to reopen tomorrow for cargo
The Phu Nam Rom border crossing in western Thailand’s Kanchanaburi province will reopen tomorrow for the transportation of cargo between Thailand and Myanmar. Governor Jirakiat Phumsawat, who is also the chairman of the provincial communicable disease committee, issued the order today to reopen the Phu Nam Ron checkpoint, which sits opposite Myanmar’s Tiki checkpoint. Jirakiat says the Covid situation on…
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Last US troops leave Afghanistan, ending 20-year war
Ending the 20-year war, the longest in American history, the United States completed its withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan yesterday, leaving the country in hands of the Taliban. The Islamic militant group swiftly took over the country’s capital, Kabul, earlier this month. Gunshots were fired in celebration after the last US soldiers left Afghanistan. In an Al Jazeera TV yesterday, Taliban…
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UN agency says North Korea appears to have re-started nuclear reactor
A UN atomic agency has described as “deeply troubling” the news that North Korea seems to have re-started its plutonium-producing reactor. The International Atomic Energy Agency says the re-starting of the nuclear reactor at the Yongbyon complex could mean the regime is expanding its arsenal of banned weapons. “Since early July, there have been indications, including the discharge of cooling…
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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
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More than 600 mine explosions have taken place in Myanmar since February
Myanmar officials have arrested over 300 suspects connected to over 600 mine explosions that have taken place in Yangon since February, says a spokesperson for the State Administration Council. 59 other suspects have been arrested for violent acts which resulted in the deaths of 84 civilians in Yangon from February 1 to August 26, the head of the council’s Information Team,…
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Ho Chi Minh lockdown impacts global coffee supplies
Vietnam’s lockdown of its largest city and exporting hub, Ho Chi Minh, has resulted in global concerns about coffee supplies as the country is a major producer of robusta, a bean known for its bitter taste which is often used in instant coffee. The southern city under strict travel restrictions following an uptick of cases involving the highly transmissible Delta…
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“Circumcision season” kicks off in the Philippines after a year off due to Covid
“Circumcision season” is heating up again in the Philippines after Covid delayed the annual tradition by a year. One boy, 12 year old Caspien Gruta has endured a year of teasing due to his upcoming snipping. The procedure had been postponed because of a volcanic eruption and then the Covid situation. Caspien says he worries if he doesn’t get circumcised…
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Bloomberg Covid-19 Resilience list has Thailand 5th to last
At one point, Covid-19 seemed like it may be under control and on its way out. But then the Delta variant emerged, throwing once-stable countries into infection chaos. Bloomberg compiles a monthly Covid-19 Resilience Ranking that tracks a number of metrics to rank what countries are the best to be in to weather the pandemic, and Thailand has fallen on…
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Cambodia upset over Thai temple’s resemblance to Angkor Wat
Temples are generally known to inspire peace and tranquillity, but a new 100 million baht temple complex in Northeastern Thailand has launched a feud with Cambodia which claims the temple is copying Angkor Wat, the largest temple complex in the world and the pride of Cambodian history and culture. The cultural official in Buriram, the site of the new temple,…
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U.S. man awarded USD $30,000 dollars from parents following destruction of porn collection
A judge from Michigan, a mid-western state in the United States, has ordered a Michigan couple to pay over USD $30,000 dollars, or over 900 thousand baht to their son for tossing out his treasured porn collection. U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney’s decision earlier this week comes 8 months after 43 year old David Werking won a lawsuit against his…
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Thailand to get Covid-19 foreign aid from China and Korea
While a government spokesperson announced that Thailand expects to have 140 million Covid-19 vaccines received in the country by the end of the year, many wondered with the slow rollout so far exactly where all these vaccines are coming from. Today we received a hint as foreign aid was offer by both China and South Korea who announced donations of…
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Slovenian Press Agency: Enough money for one more paycheck
Slovenian Press Agency journalist Gregor Mlakar reported from an event attended by Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa and his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban on October 14, 2020. The resulting text on the start of work on the power line that will connect Slovenia, Hungary and Croatia heralded the beginning of the difficulties for the Slovenian Press Agency STA, which has…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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