World News
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Sponsored Do foreigners get free healthcare in Thailand?
Thailand’s healthcare system is well-regarded across Southeast Asia, with options ranging from public hospitals to world-class private facilities. But when it comes to foreign residents or tourists, healthcare access isn’t as straightforward. So, do foreigners get free healthcare in Thailand?...
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Vaccines are latest regional power play in the Middle East
Last week, Egypt announced that it had successfully manufactured its first million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. It’s an important step for Egypt’s 104 million people, of whom only about 1% are fully vaccinated. But it could also be seen as progress toward the country’s foreign policy goals, as vaccine diplomacy gathers pace in the Middle East. Vaccine diplomacy refers…
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Indonesia surpasses India as Asia’s Covid-19 hotspot, with over 54,000 new cases
New daily infections in Indonesia have surpassed India’s recent daily numbers, giving the country the dubious honour of being Asia’s new Covid-19 hotspot. The highly-contagious Delta variant is wreaking havoc in Indonesia, with health officials concerned that it is spreading rapidly across Java and Bali, which have been plunged into partial lockdowns. However, according to a Thai PBS World report,…
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EU proposes sweeping ‘Fit for 55’ emissions reduction plan
The European Commission has proposed a plan to reduce the EU’s carbon emissions by 55% compared with 1990 levels by 2030. The “Fit for 55” package comprises 12 legislative proposals aimed at hitting the target. The overarching goal is to make the EU carbon neutral by 2050 as part of the European Green Deal. “We already have the goals,” European…
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Why is India deploying female soldiers to Kashmir?
India deployed female soldiers to the restive Indian-administered Kashmir for the first time, in a bid to improve local relations and promote gender equality within the ranks of its paramilitary. However, the efforts have drawn widespread criticism and questions over how effective the move is, both in strengthening ties with local women and improving gender equality within the armed forces.…
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India: COVID dashes career hopes for young graduates
Simran Tandon, a top graduate of a commerce degree program, was preparing to join an investment banking firm before the coronavirus pandemic hit India in March of last year. The firm then revoked the offer, and the economic havoc caused by COVID-19 led to rejections from several other firms. Tandon is just one of millions of young people who have…
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George W. Bush on Angela Merkel: ‘A woman who is not afraid to lead’
The Bush estate is located directly on the Atlantic Ocean near Kennebunkport, a car trip of just less than two hours from Boston, Massachusetts. While our camera team prepares the brightly lit living room with screens of blackout fabric, George W. Bush suddenly appears, an hour ahead of our scheduled interview time. He is wearing shorts and a bright green…
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Russia: Summer means cold showers
“Modernization has reached new heights in Russia: You can now access the schedule for your building’s hot-water shutdown online!” joke Muscovites. Meanwhile, they’re busy putting pots on the stove and preparing to heat their water. It’s a stroke of luck that, with the Russian capital currently sweltering in a heat wave, people are happy to take cold showers. It makes…
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Vietnam considers strict regulations for social media live streaming
Regulations on social media live streaming could soon be tightening in Vietnam and affect so-called “influencers” who make money off of marketing. In an effort to crack down on “fake news” and offensive content, the country’s Ministry of Information and Communications is proposing regulations on the live videos streamed through Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. Under the proposed measures, reported by…
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Africalink On Air 13.07.2021
News+++Ramaphosa addresses nation amid rampant looting+++Guinea and Senegal border dispute+++Kenya’s maternal health care under strain+++Benin’s warrior women+++Focus on Europe: Poland plans to limit Holocaust victims’ restitution claims+++ SOURCE: DW News
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Kashmir: Protracted conflict pushes youth to heroin addiction
Jibran Ahmad, 17, from Indian-administered Kashmir, led a normal life until two years ago, when his friends first offered him heroin. Ahmad (name changed), had been a promising student before developing the addiction, which destroyed his and his family’s lives. Ahmad, whose family is from southern Kashmir’s Damhalhanjipora village in the district of Kulgam, was in the ninth grade when…
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Bali to deport 4 tourists for not wearing masks, breaking disease control orders
Four tourists in Bali are being deported after they apparently did not follow local disease control measures during their stay on the resort island in Indonesia. Some didn’t wear face masks while the other, who was infected with Covid-19, apparently left a quarantine hotel during her mandatory isolation period. Covid-19 has been on the rise in the Southeast Asian country,…
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Afghanistan: Can Pakistan ‘manage’ the Taliban?
The security situation in Afghanistan is rapidly deteriorating amid the withdrawal of NATO troops from the country. The Afghan Taliban have intensified their attacks on government forces and have captured vast swathes of territories in the past few months. A political settlement in Afghanistan seems unlikely at this point, with both the Taliban and President Ashraf Ghani’s government blaming each…
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Euro 2020: Racism rears its ugly head — again
One of the lasting and most compelling images of the Euro 2020 was that of England players taking the knee before their games to highlight racial inequality and discrimination. Those efforts were undone in the early hours of Monday morning. As if losing the Euro 2020 final to Italy wasn’t bad enough for most English fans, the country woke up…
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Afghanistan: Can Turkey tame the Taliban?
Now that almost all Western troops have withdrawn from Afghanistan, the central government in Kabul is largely on its own to fight the radical Islamist Taliban. But Afghanistan might now receive military help from Turkey. During talks on the sidelines of last month’s NATO summit in Brussels, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke with his US counterpart Joe Biden about…
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Dilip Kumar: Bollywood legend who narrowed India-Pakistan divide
Indian movie stars, particularly from Bollywood, remain immensely popular in Pakistan despite the bitter political rivalry between the two nations. But Dilip Kumar wasn’t just any film star — his appeal transcended borders, generations — and the silver screen. Over the past week, the actor was remembered for the roles he played in movies, and the ones he played in…
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Malaysian government urges media to double its efforts against fake news
The Malaysian government is calling on the media to double its efforts to fight fake news and inaccuracies across all platforms. Asia News Today reports that Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, the country’s Communications and Multimedia minister is calling on all media outlets to cooperate in the fight against fake news, whether that’s on television, radio, in print, or online. The minister…
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Burmese junta election commission claims 11 million fraud cases
After the election in Myanmar last November, the military was unhappy with the results, claimed mass fraud, and overthrew the government, seizing power in a coup in February. Independent observers and analysts have yet to find any probable voter fraud in the election. But perhaps they weren’t looking in the right place because the military junta’s election commission just turned…
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Kyiv hopes for more as Zelenskyy meets Merkel
Angela Merkel is preparing for a special farewell. The outgoing German chancellor receives the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in Berlin on Monday for what will likely be their last meeting in person. On several occasions, Zelenskyy has invited Merkel to Kyiv at the end of August to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Ukrainian independence. He is also keen for the…
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Indonesia’s Sri Mulyani: A reformer working for women’s rights
She expected the path to power to be difficult. More difficult than for men. “The world is not fair for women,” Sri Mulyani said. And yet she has come a long way: In 2005 she was appointed Indonesia’s first female finance minister – a pioneer in the conservative, Muslim-majority country and since then a role model for countless women. DW…
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Niger’s Bazoum: We need technological assistance
Mohamed Bazoum was sworn in as president in April in Niger’s first democratic transfer of power. He now leads the country ranked as the world’s poorest on the UN’s 2020 Human Development Index. Niger also is being ravaged by violence from Islamic extremists and armed groups active in the border regions with Mali and Burkina Faso. While in Germany to…
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Is Afghanistan heading toward a civil war?
The Taliban are reportedly sweeping across Afghanistan’s rural areas, bringing more territories under their control. Afghan government forces are finding it increasingly difficult to repel Islamist militants without NATO’s crucial air power. The insurgents now control two-thirds of the Afghan-Tajik border, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday, adding that they were also able to capture key economic centers on…
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Vietnam to gain as EU-China investment pact stalls
In geopolitics as in business, one person’s loss is another’s gain. As such, Vietnam could be set to benefit from an increase of investment from EU states after European leaders intimated in early June that their investment pact with China is now off the table. However, recent data suggests that this remains more of an aspiration than reality right now,…
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Pakistan: PM Khan is the ‘first helper of the military to harass journalists’
Daniel Bastard, the Asia-Pacific director of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), told DW why the organization labeled Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan as a “press freedom predator.” SOURCE: DW News
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Bangladesh factory fire takes 52 lives
Today, a cataclysmic fire ravaged a factory in Rupgang, Bangladesh. 52 people have been confirmed dead, trapped by searing walls of fire that made some workers jump from upper floors in an effort to escape, says Bangladeshi police. At least 30 people have been injured and hundreds of family members, workers wait with extreme apprehension as the fire kept blazing.…
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Vietnam issues final extension of stay for stranded travellers
Foreign nationals who’ve been stranded in Vietnam can now avail of an automatic final extension of stay issued by the country’s Immigration Department. The automatic extension allows foreigners who arrived on visa waivers, e-visas, and tourist visas from March 1, 2020, to remain in Vietnam until July 31 and to depart the country without applying for an extension of stay.…
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JP Morgan includes Thailand in 5 economies most at risk from Delta variant
The investment banking firm JP Morgan says there are 5 emerging economies that are most vulnerable to the Delta variant – and Thailand is one of them. According to a Reuters report, the others are South Africa, Colombia, the Philippines, and Peru. The primary reason given for these findings is the low rate of vaccination, with analysts comparing the pace…
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Haiti: Violence and politics culminate in presidential assassination
Haiti has become “a country in a state of shock” following the murder of President Jovenel Moise, Radio Metropole broadcaster Richard Widmaier told listeners as they tuned in to his news program from the capital, Port-au-Prince. The newscaster and station director later told DW that following the killing: “it’s like the streets of the capital have been swept clean.” Wednesday’s…
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Africalink 08.07.21 – 16 UTC – MP3-Stereo
South Africa’s ex-president Zuma starts serving jail term for contempt+++Nigerian kidnappings becoming the norm?+++Tales of returning migrants in the Gambia SOURCE: DW News
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COVID: Public frustration grows as cases surge in Thailand
Public trust in Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha’s government has reached new lows as the number of daily coronavirus infections spikes and the death toll rises. Confidence in Prayut’s regime was again undermined last week, following a leaked Health Ministry document that included a recommendation against giving health care workers an additional shot of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine. Administering the vaccine,…
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Taliban advances in Afghanistan give Kashmir militants a boost
As the NATO mission in Afghanistan approaches its end after a two-decade-long war, the uncertain prospects for the war-ravaged nation are raising security concerns in India. Policymakers in New Delhi are mulling over the implications for the disputed territory of Kashmir and calibrating ways to ensure that a Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan wouldn’t embolden militancy in the region. Multiple reports…
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