Author: DW

Alexander Lukashenko came to power in the first elections in independent Belarus on July 20, 1994. There have not been any elections that opposition parties and western states have recognized as free and fair since. Experts believe the country has been on the path to totalitarianism for the past four years at least. “The last real opportunity to topple Lukashenko was in 1996,” said Ales Mikhalevich, a presidential candidate in the 2010 elections. That summer, there was a confrontation between the Supreme Council, the Belarusian parliament and Lukashenko, after dozens of lawmakers signed a petition to impeach him. The year before, riot police had beaten…

Airlines were gradually resuming services on Saturday, a day after a technology crash disrupted computer systems globally for several hours. Companies and other organizations have been dealing with a backlog of orders, canceled appointments and delayed travel plans due to the outage. Tens of millions of people from Brazil to Japan were hit by Friday’s massive outage affecting devices running Microsoft Windows, which caused thousands of flights to be canceled, bank services to go offline and several TV channels to fall silent.  CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity firm, blamed the roll-out of a software update for the outages. CEO George Kurtz told the US news channel CNBC he wanted to “personally apologize…

Bangladesh’s army on Saturday began enforcing a curfew meant to quell student-led protests, after at least 105 people have been killed this week in the unrest. The curfew will last until 10 a.m. local time (0400 UTC) on Sunday. The government said it will then assess the situation and decide the next course of action. The measure was temporarily eased for two hours from midday to allow people to shop for groceries and supplies.The curfew was partially lifted for two hours for people to buy groceries and other itemsImage: Munir Uz Zaman/AFP/Getty Images TV footage showed that people in the streets…

US Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, a progressive voice in the Democratic Party who was outspoken on Black people and women’s rights, has died of pancreatic cancer, her family said in a statement late on Friday. “Today, with incredible grief for our loss yet deep gratitude for the life she shared with us, we announce the passing of United States Representative Sheila Jackson Lee of the 18th Congressional District of Texas,” her family said in a statement posted on X. “A fierce champion of the people, she was affectionately and simply known as ‘Congresswoman’ by her constituents in recognition of her near-ubiquitous presence and service…

In Changchun, northeast China, sits an apartment complex owned by Evergrande Group. There are dozens of buildings and tens of thousands of flats. But it was eerily quiet when we visited.The compound was largely empty. One couple told us they can’t move into their flat because it isn’t finished and the developer has told them they have run out of money to work on it.They were nervous to speak to us and feared criticising the government.”I’m upset and disappointed, because we trusted this developer, Evergrande,” Sunny, not her real name, told us. “What’s happening now is really heartbreaking. I’m having…

At least 11 people died, and 30 people were missing after a bridge collapsed amid torrential rains in northwestern China, state media said on Saturday. “Nearly 20 vehicles and more than 30 people” are missing after the collapse of the highway bridge, local broadcaster CCTV said. The bridge in Zhashui County in Shangluo City, Shaanxi province, collapsed at 8:40 p.m. on Friday local time due to sudden downpours and flash floods, state news agency Xinhua reported, citing authorities. Rescue operations are ongoing, with five vehicles recovered from the water so far. All 11 confirmed deaths were bodies in the retrieved vehicles. Local media visuals…

At least 11 people have died and dozens more are missing after a highway bridge collapsed in northwest China, authorities have said.China’s President Xi Jinping urged all-out rescue efforts following the disaster in Shaanxi province, which comes after heavy storms and flooding. Xinhua News Agency said five vehicles that fell off the bridge have been recovered after the structure crumbled on Friday at around 8.40pm local time.It said rescue operations were still under way on Saturday in the province’s Zhashui county, with some 20 cars and 30 people still missing.This breaking news story is being updated and more details will…

At least 11 people died, and 30 people were missing after a bridge collapsed amid torrential rains in northwestern China, state media said on Saturday. The bridge in Zhashui County, in the Shaanxi province, collapsed at 8:40 p.m. on Friday local time due to sudden downpours and flash floods, state news agency Xinhua reported, citing authorities said. Rescue operations are ongoing, with five vehicles recovered from the water so far. More to follow… ss/fb (AFP, dpa) Source link

I’m pausing for the first moment after a few extraordinary weeks. Time to reflect on what has been, what could have been and what might be to come. The central punctuation point from the fortnight was the shooting. That moment just after 6pm last Saturday when phones would have pinged with push alerts worldwide: “Shots fired at Trump Rally”.I was at home in Washington DC (it immediately became one of those ‘where were you’ moments) and I happened to have the TV on.Within six hours, with my team from DC, I was next to a field in Butler, Pennsylvania, metres from…

Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy had a “very good phone call” on Friday, according to the former president, after he promised to end Russia’s war with Ukraine if he was re-elected.President Zelenskyy “congratulated me on a very successful Republican National Convention and becoming the Republican nominee for President of the United States”, he said in a post on the social media app Truth Social. The pair agreed to “discuss at a personal meeting what steps can make peace fair and truly lasting”, according to Mr Zelenskyy in a post on X.’The greatest salesman ever’Financial assistance to Ukraine…