Author: DW

Mohammed is 27 years old and gay. However, he is yet to come out with his sexuality. Like many other LGBTQ+ Ghanaians, he fears that going public after Ghana’s lawmakers passed a bill in February to restrict gay, lesbian and trans voices could have serious consequences for him.   “Life has actually changed for the worse for me personally. … The level of fear has increased, the level of isolation has increased,” Mohammed told DW. Bad timing for bill Ghana’s “Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill” proposes a maximum five-year jail term for those who form or fund LGBTQ+ groups. There is also a proposed jail term of…

A koala sanctuary in Australia where high-profile guests from Taylor Swift to Vladimir Putin have cuddled koalas has banned hugs with the animals. Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane, Queensland, said it will instead focus on “immersive and educational experiences” with the koalas. The decision was made “in response to increasingly strong visitor feedback” from people wanting to spend longer with the animals without holding them, it said.General manager Lyndon Discombe said there had been a shift towards people wanting to “experience Australian wildlife up close, but not necessarily personal”.The new “koala close-up” visits will let people observe the animals eating,…

This ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and throughout the region has intensified – leading to widespread displacement and raising serious concerns about the humanitarian situation in North Kivu Province in particular. On June 28 and 29, M23 rebels in the Eastern DRC captured the towns of Kanyabayonga and Kirumba, respectively. Kirumba residents like Tsongo Augustin say more and more people have been forced out of the area, which had become home to many who already had been displaced by the conflict. “Kirumba is gradually being deserted by the population, and therefore the humanitarian situation is very complicated. This area has welcomed many…

A German city has shaken off its name and dubbed itself “Swiftkirchen” as it prepares for the arrival of Taylor Swift and many thousands of her adoring fans.The world’s biggest music star is due to play three dates at Gelsenkirchen, near the Dutch border in western Germany, later this month and ahead of her arrival, the Swifties have taken over. With tens of thousands of fans expected to descend on the city for her shows on 17, 18 and 19 July, the new name has been coined and adopted as a welcoming gesture. X This content is provided by X,…

The United States, United Kingdom and Germany are seeing small surges in COVID-19 cases this summer, with rates of hospitalizations gently on the rise. The latest figures from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show emergency room visits increased more than 23% from June 16 to June 22. Deaths due to COVID were also up 14.3% in recent weeks. However, the percent of all US deaths from COVID remains low, at 0.8%, and all indicators remain far below past surges. Media outlets in the UK also reported COVID hospitalizations in England rose by around 20% in June. Are we seeing…

When psychologist Paula David started her new job as a social worker in the Baycrest Centre, a Jewish home for assisted living for seniors in Toronto, Canada in the early 1990s, she had no idea what she was in for. Although she had been trained in group trauma therapy, the field of study was not as developed as it is today. Meanwhile, the 14 elderly women who met her regularly for group therapy were all survivors of the Holocaust from Eastern Europe. The women did not initially want to speak about their childhood and youth. “In the beginning, they told me very clearly that they cannot…

On Sunday, France will once again head to the polls to choose the makeup of its lower house. Last Sunday’s early election round saw the far-right National Rally (RN) net 33%. It was a jolt for a country that was last under far-right administration when occupied by Nazi German during World War II. By current projections, the anti-immigration and Euroskeptic RN could win a parliamentary majority, possibly making the 28-year-old party president Jordan Bardella France’s youngest-ever prime minister.  Should the RN emerge as most powerful party in France’s parliament, Bardella would have a strong case for building a government in an awkward power-sharing deal known as…

In the first round of the presidential elections in Iran, held on June 28, no candidate was able to win over 50% of the vote, the threshold for securing victory, necessitating a run-off vote, which is scheduled for Friday, July 5.   The two leading contestants in the first round will be on the ballot: Masoud Pezeshkian, who secured 42.5% of the vote in the first round, and Saeed Jalili, who received 38.7%. Pezeshkian is considered the relatively moderate candidate among the six contestants approved by the Islamic Republic’s Guardian Council, a panel of Islamic clerics and jurists, to run for…

The early bird gets the Egg McMuffin, as the saying goes – with McDonald’s across Australia now finishing breakfast 90 minutes earlier.Breakfast will temporarily be served until 10.30am rather than midday as the company reckons with an egg shortage caused by bird flu. “Like many retailers, we are carefully managing supply of eggs due to current industry challenges,” McDonald’s said on its Australia Facebook page, adding the company is “working hard with our Aussie farmers and suppliers to return this back to normal as soon as possible”.Bird flu outbreaks on 11 poultry farms have led to the slaughter of about…

India took a lot of flak in the West for increasing imports of Russian fossil fuels in the face of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The world’s third-largest oil importer saw deliveries from Russia jump tenfold in 2022 and double again last year, thanks to heavy price discounts. India’s coal imports from Russia rose threefold over the same two-year period. Despite accusations of funding Putin’s war machine, New Delhi has justified the increase by citing India’s traditional “stable and friendly” ties with Moscow and its heavy reliance on imported oil.  As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi prepares to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow next…