World News
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Sponsored Is private health insurance in Thailand worth it? Real costs vs risks explained
Thailand has a strong healthcare system with both public and private options. Public hospitals offer affordable care, but many people, including expats, choose private health insurance for faster service, modern facilities, and more treatment choices. To decide if private health...
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What’s that wind smell like to you? Myanmar authorities blaze drugs valued at $670 mil US dollars
Yesterday, Myanmar authorities set an assortment of drugs on fire throughout the country. The drugs were valued, collectively, at $670 million US dollars, or about 20,100,000,000 baht. The Myanmar authorities blazed opium, heroin, and methamphetamine. Their narcotics suppression experts say drug syndicates have used ingenuity to get around Covid-19 travel restrictions and are still very much open for business. There…
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Laos gets in on high speed rail project
Laos is entering a monthly meeting that was previously just Thailand and China. They will go over progress updates on plans to join Thailand to China with a high speed rail system in Thailand with Vientiane. The agreement was decided at no later than the 29th meeting of the joint committee last Friday. A proposal was suggested by the Thai…
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Britain’s health minister resigns after affair breaks Covid guidance
The last thing I would want is for my private life to distract attention from the single-minded focus that is leading us out of this crisis Yesterday, Britain health minister, Matt Hancock resigned after admitting he broke Covid-19 guidance after kissing and “embracing” his non-wife/aide in his office. The move did not sit well with colleagues amidst the lockdown. Matt…
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Tanzania: President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s 100 days in office
On the streets of Tanzania’s commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, the hustle of life goes on. Many, it appears, are oblivious that it has been 100 days since Samia Suluhu Hassan made history when she was sworn in as the first female president of Tanzania. Those who spoke to DW had differing opinions on Suluhu Hassan’s performance so far. “We…
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Tech-savvy Egypt targets TikTokers and digital dissidents
In recent years, Egypt has become a thriving place for digital technology — as well as the Middle East’s No. 1 internet censor. “Communications and technology are the fastest-growing sectors of the Egyptian economy, with recent growth averaging about 16%,” David Butter, analyst at the London-based think tank Chatham House, told DW. However, he said, there is an obvious contradiction…
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India: Do calls for reforms to respect LGBTQ rights go far enough?
Manoj (name changed) from the southern Indian state of Karnataka was forced to undergo the “gay conversion therapy” as a teenager. Now an adult, he lives and works in Delhi, and hasn’t spoken to his family in years. “I was made to believe there was something wrong with me. I was given shock treatment among other methods. I escaped home…
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Rare, giant barking deer makes appearance in Cambodia
A rare deer, known as a “giant barking deer” was seen in Cambodia, says Cambodian officials today. The muntjac (AKA barking deer), an endangered species, was seen, and photographed via hidden Camera in Cambodia’s Virachey National Park in the Ratanakiri province, in northeast Cambodia says environmental spokesperson Neth Pheaktra. The barking deer mainly live in the hill ranges of Lao…
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Ethiopia: Deadly Tigray airstrike further alienates western allies
Eyewitnesses are adding more details to what started as a rumor about one or more explosions with dozens of civilian casualties in the village of Togoga in Ethiopia’s restive Tigray region. “When the military jets bombed our area, many of us fell to the ground,” Negasi Berha, a Tigray resident who was being treated at Ayder Hospital, told DW. “We…
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Why is it so difficult to live with HIV in Uganda?
We will call this young man Patrick. The 26-year-old lives on the outskirts of Kampala. His daily life is filled with discrimination. Patrick was born with HIV. The virus created barriers to living in his community. Thousands of HIV-positive people suffer the same stigma. There are about 1.3 million people living with HIV here. UNAIDS reports progress in fighting HIV…
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1 dead 99 unaccounted for in Florida building collapse
What that tells you is…. nothing like this was foreseeable Last night, a building collapsed in Miami, Florida. 1 person is reported dead, dozens are missing, and 99 people are unaccounted for. 102 people have been located, so far. It is unknown how many people were in the building when it went down. A search and rescue effort is currently…
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Airlines participate in trials of IATA Travel Pass app
A number of airlines worldwide are participating in trials of a Travel Pass app from the International Air Transport Association. TTR Weekly reports that at Montréal-Trudeau airport in Canada, Air France is trialling the app for outbound flights until July 15, just one of a number of airlines testing it globally. The app is designed to ease passengers’ concerns about…
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A bed in the sky: Shanghai opens world’s highest luxury hotel
China’s largest city has just opened the world’s highest luxury hotel – and it doesn’t come cheap. The J Hotel in Shanghai has a restaurant 120 floors up and wealthy travellers (who don’t suffer from vertigo) can enjoy personal butler service 24 hours a day. The hotel is located on the top floors of the Shanghai Tower, in the financial…
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EU condemns Ethiopia’s deadly Tigray airstrike
Eyewitnesses are adding more details to what started as a rumor about one or more explosions with dozens of civilian casualties in the village of Togoga in Ethiopia’s restive Tigray region. According to health workers, who spoke to international media outlets mostly on the condition of anonymity, an airstrike hit the village market on Tuesday afternoon, killing at least 50…
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Biden-Ghani meeting: Afghan president makes last-ditch effort to stop Taliban gains
US President Joe Biden will host his Afghan counterpart, Ashraf Ghani, and other high-ranking Afghan officials, at the White House on Friday. The meeting is taking place at a crucial time for Afghanistan. NATO forces have already started pulling out from Afghanistan after their two-decade presence in the war-ravaged country. The withdrawal of all foreign troops is expected to be…
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Tokyo Olympics: A month to go, protesters intent on postponing games
Atsuko Nagayama is so angry that she is physically shaking. Standing with around 250 protesters in front of the headquarters of the Tokyo metropolitan government, she is holding a simple homemade placard with the words: “Cancel the Olympics.” “It is much too dangerous to go ahead with the gamesbecause we know that there are many variants of the coronavirus already…
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Apple Daily journalists say ‘press freedom is dead’ in Hong Kong
Hours before Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy newspaper, Apple Daily, announced Wednesday it would cease operations once and for all, dozens of its journalists arrived at the printing plant early Thursday morning to observe the last edition roll off the press. Emily, who joined the paper in 2019, said she had been on the front lines of the 2019 pro-democracy protests…
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Covid-19 round-up for expats 2: Will your country give a vaccine?
With so much information swirling around the reopening of Thailand and the international tourism and vaccine distribution for foreigners, we thought we’d round up some updates for our readers about what your home country says about if you should travel to Thailand and how they are helping with a vaccine and the Covid-19 situation inside the Kingdom. The information in…
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Covid-19 round-up for expats 1: Should you travel to Thailand?
With so much information swirling around the reopening of Thailand and the international tourism and vaccine distribution for foreigners, we thought we’d round up some updates for our readers about what your home country says about if you should travel to Thailand and how they are helping with a vaccine and the Covid-19 situation inside the Kingdom. The information in…
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Antivirus legend John McAfee apparent suicide in Spanish prison
Software pioneer and wanted fugitive John McAfee died by suicide in a Spanish prison cell on Wednesday after the country’s High Court authorised his extradition to the United States on charges of tax evasion and fraud. McAfee’s lawyer said the antivirus titan died by hanging and could not stand any more time in jail in the Brian 2 penitentiary outside…
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Hungary anti-LGBT+ law dispute overshadows EU summit
Tensions between Hungary and the European Commission over the country’s controversial anti-LGBT+ law intensified ahead of Thursday’s EU summit. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said “the Hungarian bill is a shame.” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban immediately refuted the criticism. Von der Leyen sent a letter to Orban, protesting against what she said was a bill that “clearly discriminates…
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Pakistan picks up its COVID vaccination drive just in time
Laiba Zainab, a 25-year-old journalist in Pakistan’s central city of Multan, was eager to receive a shot of China’s Sinopharm COVID vaccine on June 10, after spending five months waiting for her age group to be called. Pakistan’s vaccination drive got off to a bumpy startearlier this year, beset by lack of supply and vaccine hesitancy. In February, only senior…
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What’s the secret of Niger’s women’s markets?
These events are organized by few people. But they’ve proliferated in the Nigerien capital. The fairs take place after female entrepreneurs are trained. More than 50 women exhibited some 300 items. Handicraft and agricultural products are exhibited for three days. The turnover is up to €15,000. The fairs attract many customers, including foreigners. Whether they are Nigeriens or foreigners, everyone…
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Indonesia: COVID cases surge as ‘pandemic fatigue’ sets in
Over the past few days, Hendra has been hearing ambulance sirens more often from the window of his home in Depok city, in Indonesia’s West Java Province. “The sound of an ambulance siren can be heard continuously every day,” the 38-year-old journalist told DW, pointing out that it’s due to the alarming rise in COVID cases in the region. Hendra…
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US Warns its citizens against traveling to Thailand
While Thailand is pushing full steam ahead to reopen to international tourism, the United States government issued a statement warning Americans not to travel to Thailand citing Covid-19 risks and civil unrest in the south. The US Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs regularly updates travel information for US citizens wishing to go abroad, issuing a Travel Advisory Level…
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EU sanctions on Belarus go ‘beyond symbolic’
EU figures admire Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn for his directness. And he didn’t hold back after Monday’s decision to target key sectors of the Belarus economy with fresh sanctions. “We are clearly showing that Stalinism and state terror no longer have a place in the 21st century,” said Asselborn, referring to Minsk’s forced diversion of a Ryanair passenger plane…
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Carlos Ghosn, ex-Nissan chief, walks out of DW’s Conflict Zone interview
Ghosn, who was one of the most powerful men in the global car industry, abruptly cut short an interview with DW’s Conflict Zone host Tim Sebastian when he disliked the host’s line of questioning. The former car industry executive, who headed an automotive alliance including Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi, said Sebastian was speaking in “bad faith” after he pointed out…
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COVID: India sees a surge in underage marriages
Neelam, a 15-year-old girl in Murshidabad, got married in May just days before Cyclone Yaas hit the West Bengal state in eastern India. Already under pressure because of the pandemic, her family decided to marry her off knowing that the cyclone would further damage their livelihood. West Bengal is one of the five states in India that have a high…
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Thailand: Hazing rituals in universities foster authoritarianism
Thai universities’ infamous orientation activities have again come under the spotlight following the tragic death of a 22-year-old student Veeraphan Tamklang in the capital, Bangkok, this month. He was kicked to death by a group of 12 senior students as punishment for not pitching any ideas for hazing activities. These sorts of stories still regularly make headlines in Thailand, in…
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3 Cambodian activists arrested for plotting against the government/insulting the king after documenting waste run-off
Documenting pollution is a public service, not terrorism. We urge authorities to be responsive to its citizens, not to silence them 3 members of an environmental activist group called “Mother Nature” have been arrested after they documented waste runoff that fed into Phnom Penh’s Tonle Sap river. They have been charged with plotting against the government and insulting the king.…
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6 arrested in Cambodia for allegedly trafficking people into Thailand
6 young men and teenagers were arrested for allegedly trafficking people from Cambodia across the border into Thailand for work. The men and teenagers are facing human trafficking charges in Cambodia’s Banteay Meanchey Provincial Court. The suspects allegedly acted helped smuggle 12 people into Thailand to work, a police inspector told Khmer Times. 3 of the suspects were identified as labour…
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