Author: DW

Trade between China and Africa has seen consistent growth for the past two decades. This is even despite a slowdown few years ago due to a weakening Chinese economy and rising African concerns over debt-related problems.   Nevertheless, African exports and imports from China have steadily grown since 2021, a trend Beijing likes to highlight. Trade and loans on the rise At the opening of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum this week, China’s Ministry of Commerce announced that trade volume between the two sides climbed 5.5% in the first seven months of this year to 1.19 trillion yuan ($170 billion), marking a new record. On…

Polls have opened in regional elections in Russia, which opposition activists say are a farce, after hundreds of anti-war candidates were barred from running.Ballots are being held in almost every part of the country at various different levels, from local councils to regional governors. But only a handful of races will feature a candidate from Yabloko, the only political party in Russia that opposes the war in Ukraine. Image: Graffiti reading ‘no to war’ in Moscow The party says it put forward around 350 candidates in total but that only 65 were allowed on the ballot after authorities found irregularities…

The Goethe Medal for 2024 is going to three women, honoring their strength and endurance, as well as their faith in the ability of the arts to change society. The winners are theater powerhouse Carmen Romero Quero from Chile, literary translator Claudia Cabrera from Mexico, and cultural manager Iska Geshoka from North Macedonia. They’re three women who “are not discouraged by opposition and obstacles,” said Carola Lentz, president of the Goethe-Institut, told DW. The most important prize for Germany’s foreign cultural policy was awarded at a ceremony on August 28 in Weimar, the city of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. A lonely battle…

A fire erupted in a school dormitory in central Kenya, killing 17 students and injuring some 14 others, police said Friday. Rescue teams were en route to the Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri, spokeswoman Resila Onyango said. “We have lost 17 pupils in the fire incident while 14 are injured,” Onyango told the Reuters news agency by telephone. “Our team is at the scene at the moment.” There were fears the death toll could rise. “The bodies recovered at the scene were burnt beyond recognition,” Onyango said. “More bodies are likely to be recovered once [the] scene is fully processed.” School fires…

“Of course it is a different feeling,” Marc-André ter Stegen told reporters at the Germany camp in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria on Thursday. He was referring to the fact that this is the first international break he’s gone into as the Nationalmannschaft’s clear No. 1, as confirmed by coach Julian Nagelsmann. “Marc-André ter Stegen deserves to be the new first-choice goalkeeper,” Nagelsmann told reporters in Herzogenaurach on Monday. “He has delivered outstanding performances at Barcelona over a number of years and simply has earned that right.” Ter Stegen described the impact of the coach’s words on him in a very German way,…

Heavy rainfall and powerful winds from Super Typhoon Yagi slammed southern China on Friday, even as the strongest storm to hit the region in a decade was yet to make landfall. Packing maximum sustained winds of 245 kilometers per hour (152 miles per hour) near its eye, Yagi is the world’s second-most powerful tropical cyclone in 2024 so far. The most powerful was the Category 5 Atlantic hurricane Beryl which swept through the Carribean islands, Mexico, parts of US and eastern Canada. Yagi gains strength Yagi’s strength has more than doubled since it devastated the Philippines last week with landslides and…

Billions of dollars are being invested in artificial intelligence, but the revolutionary applications widely associated with AI are still lacking. So, will putting money into the technology ever pay off?

Downing Street has dismissed a French minister’s accusation migrants were crossing the Channel because they are “rarely expelled” from the UK.France’s interior minister Gerald Darmanin accused the British government of making the UK attractive to illegal immigrants after 12 died trying to cross from France on Tuesday. “Often, you can work without having papers…[and] as there is no common immigration policy with the EU … people try a lot to go to Great Britain because they know that they are probably not deportable from British territory,” Mr Darmanin said, according to French media.He added people want to reach Britain to…

You might have heard speculation that electromagnetic radiation from mobile phones and wireless technologies is dangerous. The radio waves wireless technologies transmit are very weak. They do not have enough energy to damage DNA and are very unlikely to cause cancer. Nevertheless, researchers are continuing to monitor whether there are any potential long-term health risks of phone use. A new study provides comprehensive evidence that mobile phone use is not linked to cancer. The study is the largest review on the topic to date and is one in a long line of research showing that wireless technologies do not harm the human body.…

Sweden’s Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom unexpectedly announced Wednesday that he will resign from the Swedish government next week. Billstrom has been in office for nearly two years, during which time his country, traditionally a non-aligned nation, has become a NATO member. “It is with a mixture of sadness and pride that I have today informed the prime minister that I will leave the post of foreign minister at the opening of parliament next week,” Billstrom said in a post on X. Billstrom to leave politics The 50-year-old politician, who has been foreign minister since October 2022, said he would leave…