Author: DW

More than 9 million Rwandans were called to vote for a new president on Monday, and according to official results, more than 99% of them supported the incumbent Paul Kagame for a fourth term. Soon after polls closed on Monday evening, the election commission said that Kagame had won 99.15% of the votes.  It also put turnout at a staggeringly high 98%. By comparison, even in those few countries where citizens are legally obliged to vote or face a fine, such as Australia, turnout only ever tends to be between 90 and 95%.  Same opposition candidates, similarly poor performance The apparent…

One of the world’s rarest whales, about which scientists know “practically nothing”, may have washed up on a New Zealand beach.The dead mammal found at Otago, on the South Island, is thought to be a spade-toothed whale, which has never been seen alive in the wild. There is little information on how many of the creatures exist, what they eat, or even where they live in the vast expanse of the southern Pacific Ocean.New Zealand’s conservation agency said the animal was identified by its colour patterns and the shape of its skull, beak and teeth, after it washed ashore earlier…

Toyin Ogundeko, a resident of Lagos and a caterer by profession, lives with asthma. Her son has the condition, too.  But medicines have become so expensive in Nigeria that they can’t afford the inhalers they need. Amid a worsening economic crisis, Ogundeko isn’t sure how they will get by. “With the way the economy is going, things are really getting tough. You’re struggling to buy foodstuffs, and you’re also trying to stock up on your medication,” she told DW. “So, for me I can cut down on the inhaler for myself. I won’t cut it for my child,” she said. What’s causing the crisis? The worst economic crisis…

The 2024 US presidential election will take place on November 5. Here are all your questions about the US election process answered.  Who can run for presidential office? The US Constitution has three basic requirements for presidential candidates: Individuals must be natural-born citizens of the United States, at least 35 years old and resident within the country for 14 years. There are some exceptions to the 14-year requirement for members of the US armed forces.  What are the requirements for candidates? “Almost anybody who’s an adult citizen can run for president,” Wayne Steger, a professor of Political Science at DePaul University in the…

A man has confessed to killing 42 women in Kenya, as police have found nine dismembered bodies.The remains were discovered in a quarry in the Mukuru slums in Nairobi.The head of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, Mohamed Amin, said that Collins Jumaisi Khalusha, 33, had confessed to killing 42 women, including his wife, since 2022. Image: Bags with humans remains were removed from the quarry in Nairobi. Pic: AP They gave no evidence to support his claims, but Mr Amin added: “It is crystallising that we are dealing with a serial killer, a psychopathic serial killer who has no respect…

07/15/2024July 15, 2024Over 40% of Ukrainians support starting peace talks with Moscow — Ukrainian mediaA relative majority of Ukrainians are in favor of starting peace negotiations with Russia, according to a survey published by the Ukrainian weekly newspaper Dzerkalo Tyzhnia. Not included in the survey were people who reside on the Crimean Peninsula, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, or other areas of the east and south of the country under Russian control. The survey found that 43.9% of Ukrainians in Kyiv-controlled areas considered that “the time has come for the start of official peace talks between Ukraine and Russia,”…

Romania’s parliament on Monday approved the culling of almost 500 bears this year in a bid to avoid attacks on people. The measure was passed following the death of a 19-year-old hiker who was dragged away by a bear in the Carpathian mountains in central Romania last week. What do we know about the bear culling measure? Romania has annual kill quotas to control the size of the country’s bear population. In 2023, the country had a killing quota of 220. A measure was approved by Romanian lawmakers on Monday to increase that number to 481 in 2024. Romania has Europe’s largest…

Within minutes, what should have been a regular rally for Donald Trump quickly spiraled into a deadly assassination attempt in Pennsylvania.Using videos from the ground and aerial imagery, Sky News details what we know about the security efforts before and during the attack. Our analysis found police vehicles were parked as close as 20m/65ft away from the gunman and members of the crowd had spotted the shooter on the roof of a building two minutes before shots were fired at the former president.As questions remain for the Secret Service, former senior executive from FBI counterterrorism Christopher O’Leary said they were…

A US federal judge has dismissed a criminal case accusing Donald Trump of illegally holding onto classified documents after his time in office. The former US president had been indicted on charges that he retained highly classified national security documents at his Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida after he left office. Judge Aileen Cannon, who had been appointed by Trump, ruled on Monday that lead prosecutor Jack Smith had been unlawfully appointed to his role and did not have the authority to bring the case. Trump called Monday’s verdict a “first step” and said that all criminal cases against him should be dismissed. What…

A suspected member of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has been arrested in Germany, prosecutors said on Monday. He was accused of procuring components for drones believed to be used in attacks on Israel. What else do we know about the suspected Hezbollah member? Prosecutors said the Lebanese man, identified only as Fadel Z. in line with German privacy laws, was detained on Sunday in the town of Salzgitter in the northwestern state of Lower Saxony. He was “strongly suspected of membership of a foreign terrorist organization,” federal prosecutors said in a statement. The man was accused of procuring “components,…