World News
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Sponsored Why long-term expats in Thailand say insurance is worth every baht
Thailand’s warm weather, low cost of living, and good healthcare attract many long-term expats, including retirees and remote workers. Life here feels easy and affordable, but medical costs can be high if something goes wrong. Private hospitals are popular because...
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Ivory Coast heavyweights meet in bid for reconciliation
Tuesday’s meeting between Ivory Coast’s current president, Alassane Ouattara, and his rival, the recently returned Laurent Gbagbo after he was acquitted of committing war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC), has raised tensions in the Ivorian capital Abidjan. But amid the uneasiness, there seems to be a sense of optimism among many citizens. “President Gbagbo and President Alassane, they…
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Myanmar’s economy to shrink by 18% due to military coup and Covid-19
The civil unrest following the February military coup, paired with the a spike in Covid-19 infections, is expected to cause Myanmar’s economy to contract by 18% this year, according to the World Bank. Since the military takeover, ousting the country’s elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi of the National League for Democracy, it’s estimated that more than 900 people have been killed…
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Noor Mukadam and the brutalization of women in Pakistan
Noor Mukadam, a 27-year-old woman and daughter of Pakistan’s former ambassador to South Korea, was killed in Islamabad on July 20 in a brutal manner. The alleged killer, Zahir Zamir Jaffer, was reportedly her acquaintance, and according to police reports, beheaded Mukadam after shooting her. Violence against women is widespread in Pakistan, but the recent spate of women killings has…
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Singapore plans to vaccinate 80%, reopen with quarantine-free travel by September
Singapore plans to fully vaccinate 80% of the population and reopen with quarantine-free travel in September. As the Southeast Asian country accelerates its vaccination campaign to hit its target within the next month, officials are preparing to reopen the country and are working to establish travel corridors with countries that have low Covid-19 infection rates. Finance Minister Lawrence Wong told…
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Indian landslide kills 9, injures 3
Yesterday, 9 people died and 3 were injured after their car was struck by falling boulders in Himachal Pradesh, a northern Indian state. The landslide also sent rocks crashing down on a bridge that crossed the Bapsa river Jairam Thakur, the chief minister of Himachal Pradesh characterised the incident as “heart wrenching”. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi offers his “heartfelt…
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Indonesia extends Covid-19 disease control measures for another week
Covid-19 restrictions in Indonesia are being extended to August 2 as the highly transmissible Delta variant continues to rapidly spread. Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced the extension yesterday, adding that the government will gradually adjust restrictions. Since the start of the pandemic last year, Indonesia has reported 3.1 million Covid-19 cases and 83,279 coronavirus-related deaths. With a recent spike in…
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The 77 Percent — Who is to blame for the rising insecurity in Northern Nigeria?
Host: Zaharadeen Umar SOURCE: DW News
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Man with Covid-19 disguised as his wife to board flight
Stories have been going viral about how after lockdowns and travel restrictions, airlines are struggling with defiant and badly behaved passengers. But an Indonesian man who is infected with Covid-19 went to extreme measures to sneak aboard a flight this week disguised by dressing up as his Covid-19 negative wife. The man who had tested positive for Covid-19 swapped identities…
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Opinion: The Cuban authorities are afraid of us
No one in the queue speaks. A woman looks down at her shoes, while a young man drums his fingers on the wall. Some time has passed since Cubans took to the streets in a protest unprecedented in the last 62 years, and the outrage is still very palpable. As images of police brutality, more testimonies from mothers whose children…
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West Africa’s liver cancer cases linked to hepatitis
The World Cancer Research Fund collects data on the prevalence of cancer types across the globe. When it comes to liver cancer, 8 West African nations are in the top 25 countries with highest prevalence of liver cancer. These include Liberia, Guinea, Ghana Burkina Faso and Senagal. In fact, liver cancer is the most common cancer in the Gambia, with…
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DR Congo faces major challenges in COVID-19 vaccine rollout
Almost every day, there are huge traffic jams in front of the district hospital in Goma, a major city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Cars, motorcycle cabs and pedestrians clog the road as friends and relatives come to pick up the deceased to bury them. For several weeks, an increasing number of COVID-19 patients have been among the dead…
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Nord Stream 2 deal stokes fears of Russian aggression in eastern Europe
For most countries in central and eastern Europe, the German-Russian Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline is not simply a controversial project. Rather, they see it as a measure of the credibility of German policy in the region. And, right now, that credibility is in tatters. This week’s US-German agreement in the Nord Stream 2 dispute, which would allow the…
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Swedish prison hostage situation resolved with pizza
Have you ever just had a really strong food craving? In a Swedish prison this week, 2 inmates were able to take 2 guards hostage and refused to release them until their demand was met: pizza. The pair of inmates incarcerated in Hallby high-security prison outside of Eskilstuna on murder charges were able to force their way into a secure area…
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Pegasus spyware: Mexico one of the biggest targets
It was Saturday afternoon when Marcela Turati discovered that she was one of the 25 journalists in Mexico who had been allegedly targeted by Pegasus spyware technology, just hours before an international network of researchers released information about the surveillance project that sent shockwaves around the world. At first, Turati was stunned and couldn’t believe it — but it soon…
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Tokyo Olympic Games: 41 Thai athletes compete for gold
The pandemic-delayed 2020 Olympics are finally set to get underway in Tokyo on July 23, under heavy Covid-19 restrictions as Japan still battles the virus. But as the Olympic Games are gearing up to begin, Thailand has sent 41 hopeful athletes to compete for the gold medal in Tokyo. Thailand will be competing in 15 events in the Tokyo Olympics:…
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COVID, scandals and controversies taint Tokyo Olympics
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games stumbled into a new scandal on Thursday, just hours before the official opening event at the new National Stadium, with a senior organizer of the event dismissed for jokes he made in the past about the Holocaust. Kentaro Kobayashi, a comedian and one of the creative directors of Friday evening’s opening ceremony, was fired after…
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Thailand: Critics fear crackdown under COVID emergency powers
Repeated extensions of Thailand’s emergency legislation have granted Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha sweeping powers to curb the spread of COVID-19, but critics have warned that these present a risk to civil liberties. “The emergency decree… has granted the prime minister broad powers… and has threatened the right to freedom of expression and access to information which is an integral component…
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Poland and Hungary lash back against EU rule of law report
Bad faith, blackmail, political attack, double standards: Such were the terms used in reactions from government politicians in Poland and Hungary after the European Union presented its second report on the state of the rule of law in EU member states in Brussels on Tuesday, July 20. The report describes the situation in Poland and Hungary in particular as highly…
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Nestle’s “Negrita” cookie to get new, non race based name
The multinational food and drink giant Nestle announced yesterday it plans to change the name of a high-selling cookie in Chile, the country on South America’s western edge. The cookie formerly known as “Negrita” will henceforth be called “Chokita”. Negrita translates to “little black person” in Spanish. The packaging also used to include the image of a black woman. It…
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The EU declares war on money laundering
“The rules we have in place to prevent money laundering are among the toughest in the world,” said the vice president of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, “but they must also now be systematically applied.” There hasn’t been enough of this in recent years. In practice, many EU member states don’t actually implement the rules or are simply too lax…
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AfricaLink On Air – 21 July 2021
News+++Tanzania arrests opposition leader+++Fighting domestic violence in Niger+++Kidnapped Nigerians freed+++Slow Niger Delta clean up angers locals+++Sexual harassment on Rwanda’s mines+++Veritcal farming grows in Kenya SOURCE: DW News
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Nigeria cracks down on separatists as security issues mount in the north
Activist Sunday Adeyemo, known popularly in Nigeria as Sunday Igboho, was arrested in neighboring Benin on Monday evening, according to media reports. He was about to take a flight to Germany at the time. A senior Benin police official confirmed the arrest, saying Igboho “will be extradited to Nigeria as soon as the two countries have agreed on conditions.” It…
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Tokyo Olympics unable to heal Japan-South Korea rift
Hopes that Japan and South Korea might finally be able to build new bridges through a summit of their leaders on the sidelines of the Tokyo Olympic Games have been dashed after Seoul announced that President Moon Jae-in would not be going to the opening ceremony on Friday. The northeast Asian neighbors have long been at loggerheads over differing interpretations…
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Russian arms trader working closely supplying Burmese military
The head of a Russian state arms trader was attributed as saying that Russia is working closely with the Burmese military junta to supply military equipment. According to the Interfax news agency, the head of Rosoboronexport, the arms trader in question, spoke of the partnership between the military coup that overthrew the government in Myanmar on February 1 and the…
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Teenager arrested after student allegedly killed with an axe at Singapore school
High school students in Singapore have been left reeling after the murder of a 13 year old boy on campus. A 16 year student is in custody, charged with murder, after the horrifying event at River Valley High School. Coconuts reports that the unnamed student, who appeared in court via video link, has been sent for a psychiatric assessment. Singapore’s…
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Ethiopia: Fear Tigray conflict could trigger all-out war
Special forces and militias from a number of Ethiopia’s regions are mobilizing to back the federal government’s military operations in Tigray, signaling a widening of the conflict. Regular forces from Amhara — a large region abutting the south of Tigray — have been fighting alongside federal troops ever since Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched the military offensive in Tigray…
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President Pedro Castillo has radical plans for Peru
Only one road leads to Puna. The village in Tacabamba District consists of two dozen houses scattered around a few fields and paths — and a school where Jose Pedro Castillo Terrones taught until 2017. From here it takes a whole day to travel to the regional capital, Cajamarca, about 200 kilometers (120 miles) away. Born in Tacabamba in 1969,…
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Peru: Pedro Castillo declared president
Former school teacher Pedro Castillo has won the disputed election in Peru and will become the country’s next president, election officials said on Monday. The presidential vote, which had taken place on June 6, had been held up by claims of election fraud by his right-wing rival Keiko Fujimori. Why were the results held up? Castillo had led unofficially by…
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Philippines coast guard says they chased off Chinese warship
The Philippines Coast Guard says they chased off a Chinese warship in the South China Sea. The square off is yet another aggressive encounter between the two nations in what is considered disputed waters. In an official statement today, relating to a July 13 report, the Philippines Coast Guard says they had sent a verbal challenge to the Chinese warship…
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8 women arrested in Tak for Myanmar river crossing
8 women were arrested for allegedly crossing the Moei River in Myanmar into northern Thailand’s Tak province, early this morning. The women carried “personal baggage” and were apprehended in a corn plantation by a 4th Infantry Regiment patrol. Local villagers had alerted officials to the crossing which led to the arrests. The women’s ages ranged from 22 to 32. They…
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