Author: DW

Florindo Chivucute, chairman of the NGO Friends of Angola, which aims to raise global awareness about the challenges facing the country, directed a public appeal to President Joao Lourenco. “Mr. President, if you really want a democratic and livable country for all Angolans, you cannot continue as before! Turn around, you are on the wrong path!” said the activist and blogger who studied conflict analysis and resolution in Washington, DC. Chivucute expressed his concerns to DW about the state of democracy in Angola and called on Lourenco for an “immediate departure from the policy of suppressing democratic fundamental rights.” “As a first step, I suggest…

The European Union on Monday accused Facebook owner Meta of noncompliance with the bloc’s digital rules by introducing a paid ad-free option. The system means that users have to pay to avoid data collection, or consent to their data being harvested by Facebook and Instagram in order to continue gratis use of the platforms. If found in breach of the EU’s Digital Markets Act  (DMA), the US tech giant could potentially face fines to the tune of billions of euros if it fails to change the model in accordance with the DMA rules. Lack of true choice Since November, Meta has been giving…

Ahead of the UK general election, polls point to one, clear outcome: near wipe-out for the ruling Conservative Party. After 14 years in opposition, the Labour Party looks set to return to government with a huge majority. Polling data suggests frustration with the state of the economy is a major reason. According to the Pew Research Center, just 22% of potential voters think the UK economy is in good shape. Even confirmed supporters of the Conservative Party agree. As recently as 2017, around 75% of the party’s supporters were positive about the economy. That figure now stands at 27%. That…

“A New Discovery Could Offer Some Clues About Jesus’ Childhood.” “Secret Bible text changes everything.” “A mislabeled fragment of Egyptian papyrus tucked away in a German library has blown apart thousand-year-old perceptions about the Bible, and Jesus himself.” These were just some of the headlines covering the recent discovery of a 1,600-year-old manuscript featuring a story from Jesus’ childhood. The two papyrologists who made the find, Lajos Berkes and Gabriel Nocchi Macedo, were however a bit overwhelmed by this type of reporting. “This is not a new story, and it’s not an authentic story about Jesus,” Berkes told DW about the…

A 17-year-old Chinese badminton player died after collapsing on court during a tournament in Indonesia’s Yogyakarta province on the island of Java, officials said on Monday. Zhang Zhijie was playing against Kazuma Kawano of Japan at the Badminton Asia Junior Championships on Sunday when he collapsed and had seizures. What else do we know about Zhang’s death? The Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI) said medical teams treated Zhang on court, after which he was taken to hospital. Badminton players and officials in Yogyakarta held a minute of silence on the court Monday morning before the quarterfinals. “The world of badminton…

A far-right bloc consisting of the National Rally (RN) party and its allies took  33% of the vote in the first round of French parliamentary elections, according to figures released by the Interior Ministry on Monday. The leftist New Popular Front bloc came in second with 28%, while the centrist bloc Ensemble (Together), led by President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party, gained 20%. The results are in line both with preelection surveys and exit poll results issued on Sunday evening following the vote. The RN’s success in the first round already triggered protests in the capital, Paris, and other cities on Sunday by people…

A volunteer who flew out to Tenerife to help try to find missing Jay Slater has dismissed the final police search for the British teenager as a “massive PR thing”.Paul Arnott, who has been sharing clips of his own search effort on TikTok, told Sky News last week that he flew out to Tenerife when he heard the 19-year-old’s family “needed help”.Mr Slater was last seen on Monday 17 June after he told a friend he planned to walk from the northwestern village of Masca to his holiday accommodation in Los Cristianos in the south – a journey that would…

Who says no man is a prophet in his own land? Just a few weeks ago, the senate of the German state of Hamburg decided to rename a section of a street Karl Lagerfeld Promenade. Although it’s only 150 meters (490 feet) long, it is very central and even close to Felix Jud, Lagerfeld’s favorite bookshop. The Hamburg native was known to be a book lover. Meanwhile, the French, who are usually skeptical of German fashion, have dedicated a glossy streaming series to the designer called “Becoming Karl Lagerfeld.”  Behind the project is the venerable French film group Gaumont, which was founded in 1895…

Basking in the glory of a 33.5% projected victory in the first round of French parliamentary elections on Sunday evening, youthful National Rally (RN) President Jordan Bardella used his first post-exit poll address to pitch himself as a serious statesperson who was more than just the poster boy for France’s far-right campaign. “Next Sunday, if the French people award us an absolute majority to put the country back on its feet, I intend to be the prime minister of all the French people, listening to each and every one of them, respecting the opposition and mindful of national unity,” the…

A far-right bloc consisting of the National Rally (RN) party and its allies took  33% of the vote in the first round of French parliamentary elections, according to figures released by the Interior Ministry on Monday. The leftist New Popular Front bloc came in second with 28%, while the centrist bloc Ensemble (Together), led by President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party, gained 20%. The results are in line both with preelection surveys and exit poll results issued on Sunday evening following the vote. The RN’s success in the first round already triggered protests in the capital, Paris, and other cities on Sunday by people…