World News
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Sponsored 9 most common health issues covered by insurance for expats in Thailand
Thailand is a popular destination for expats due to its affordable lifestyle and excellent healthcare system. However, settling in a new country often brings health concerns. To ensure you’re covered for the most common medical needs, understanding what expat health...
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COVID: Why India’s economy cannot afford another lockdown
As a delayed monsoon finally reaches New Delhi, shopkeepers at a local market duck under covers and frantically attempt to keep their merchandise from getting wet. They say they cannot afford any further blow to their small business following more than a year of erratic income due to the coronavirus pandemic. Now there is fear of another crippling COVID-induced lockdown.…
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India seeks to reform its military amid new security threats
The top brass of the Indian military met last week to discuss massive reforms, which are aimed at integrating the capabilities of the army, the navy and the air force. In a plan backed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, the current 17 single-service units will come under five “theater commands” in a bid to establish a unified approach to…
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Kashmir lockdowns put houseboats’ survival at risk
Traditional houseboats on Dal Lake in Srinagar draw tourists from around the world. But environmental degradation and the pandemic are keeping this heritage from staying afloat. SOURCE: DW News
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Empowerment through livestock breeding
Breeding livestock is an ancestral practice for women in the Zinder region of southeast Niger. It’s an important source of income for the women. Livestock breeding is the second most important economic activity in Niger after agriculture. The women either inherit their cows from their parents or buy them through anti-poverty programs. They check on their animals daily, feeding and…
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Ghana: Anti-gay bill seeks long jail terms for LGBTQ people
Ghana’s laws already criminalize gay sex by forbidding “unnatural carnal knowledge”. Now West African country wants to go a step further in its efforts to outlaw the LGBTQ community. If the bill is passed, people of the same sex who engage in sexual activity could be fined or jailed for between three to five years. The law would also make…
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Africa’s shea trees are under threat
As the number of shea trees in West and East Africa rapidly declines, one group is trying to preserve shea parklands for generations to come. SOURCE: DW News
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Thailand: Is royal reform a far-fetched dream?
The youth-led, pro-democracy movement in Thailand began coalescing in mid-2020 and at its peak saw hundreds of thousands of protesters calling for the government’s resignation and a more transparent and accountable monarchy. The demonstrators — who in recent months have focused their complaints on Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha’s handling of the pandemic as Thailand struggles with surging COVID-19 cases —…
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Coronavirus lambda variant spreads across Latin America
Classified as a “variant of interest” by the World Health Organization (WHO) on June 17, the lambda, or C.37, variant of the coronavirus has already been detected in some US states and at least 29 nations — many of them in Latin America. In Peru, where it was identified in August 2020, the lambda variant accounted for more than 80%…
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Tunisia: A political crisis fueled by economic woes
Tunisian President Kais Saied had barely announced his decision to dismiss Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and freeze parliament for 30 days when he began justifying it on Sunday evening, arguing that he had acted in accordance with the constitution. The president, a lawyer, said he based his decision on Article 80 of the Tunisian constitution, which grants the president the…
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Afghanistan: What does NATO withdrawal mean for India?
The final stages of the withdrawal of US-led foreign forces from Afghanistan, coupled with the Taliban’s sweeping offensive, have forced regional stakeholders to recalibrate their position in the war-torn country. One of those stakeholders is India — the largest regional donor to Afghanistan. India has long supported the civilian government in Kabul, heavily investing in the country over the past…
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Iran: Drought, water shortages spark protests
People in Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province are desperate. Suffering from drought and water shortages since March, they’ve taken to the streets in the last couple of weeks to express their anger with the government and its poor management of water resources. According to official sources, at least four men, including one policeman, have died in the protests. Authorities claim they…
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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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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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The ‘infodemic’ – interview with Helen Petousis-Harris about Covid misinformation
Helen Petousis-Harris is a NZ vaccinologist and associate professor in the Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care at the University of Auckland. She’s been at the forefront of the dis-information ‘infodemic’ since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic last year and a voice of reason in Ted Talks, worldwide interviews and lectures. Today she speaks to Tim Newton…
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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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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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The Netherlands gears for future with flood-control project
“We were really lucky,” says Jan Heymans from the Dutch village of Neer on the Maas river. “The new flood wall was completed just a few months ago. Without it, everything here would have been flooded.” With massive steel gates and 10-cm-thick (4-inch-thick) glass panels at the top, the wall was able to resist the heavy rainfall from Germany and…
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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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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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The EU and North Macedonia: More ‘trauma’ before membership?
North Macedonia was officially included in the agenda for EU enlargement in 2005; the promissory note that Brussels offered Skopje on the conditions of good behavior and reforms is now older than the country’s new name. Yet with a track record of steady reforms, Skopje has seen the process slowed down to a virtual halt, which has not only raised…
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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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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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Egypt: ‘Facebook Girl’ may be free, but oppression remains rife
This week’s Muslim holiday, Eid al-Adha, brought great news to around 40 detainees in Cairo’s prisons: that they were free to go. Among them were three popular journalists and three human rights activists. However, these releases don’t yet mean they have been acquitted: All 40 still have to appear in court at trials slated for at some time later this…
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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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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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