Author: DW

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas on Monday submitted her resignation ahead of becoming the European Union’s new foreign policy chief. Kallas, who has led the small Baltic republic since 2021, handed her resignation to President Alar Karis but will remain prime minister in a caretaker capacity until early August. The 47-year-old, who will also step down as leader of the liberal Reform Party, was the first female prime minister in Estonia’s history. She was chosen by EU leaders to replace Josep Borrell as the bloc’s top diplomat after the recent EU elections. Kallas has always been a hawkish critic of what she…

Toyin Ogundeko, a resident of Lagos and a caterer by profession, lives with asthma. Her son has the condition too.  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 foodstuff 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.” What’s causing the crisis? The worst economic crisis in Nigeria in decades…

A body believed to be that of British teenager Jay Slater has been found a month after his disappearance in Tenerife.The local civil guard said on Monday they had found a “lifeless body of a young man after 29 days of constant search”. “All indications are that it could be the young British man who has been missing since 17 June, in the absence of full identification,” their statement said.The 19-year-old’s disappearance sparked a huge search effort – with the emergency services, local volunteers, and Mr Slater’s family combing a large mountainous area of the island in search of clues.Here…

Ramses II was supposed to have been quite vain. But you can afford to be vain when you’re a pharaoh, the ruler and protector of Egypt, the intermediary between man and the gods. After he died, he was embalmed and preserved for eternity — but that’s not the only reason his legacy was seared into the memory of future generations. “Ramses was a great king who was a warrior. He made many battles and was the first one to have a peace treaty,” explains Zahi Hawass, a renowned archaeologist and former antiquities minister of Egypt. “And he’s a builder —…

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock was in West Africa on Monday as instability in the Sahel threatens to spread to other regions. “If more countries in West Africa descend into instability, that will not only have dramatic consequences for the local population but also a direct impact on our security in Europe,” Baerbock said ahead of her two-day visit, which includes stops in Senegal and Ivory Coast. The two countries are some of West Africa’s last remaining democracies amid coups and outbreaks of violence that have seen many countries in the area turn their back on the West and instead seek support from Russia…

Pakistan’s Information Ministry on Monday said the government would move to ban the political party of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan. “The government has decided to move a case to ban the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, (PTI). We will consult the Cabinet and the Supreme Court if required in this case,” Atta Tarar, the information minister, told DW.  “We believe that there is credible evidence that PTI should be banned,” Tarar told reporters in Islamabad, citing allegations against Khan including leaking state secrets and inciting riots. Zulfikar Bukhari, an advisor of Imran Khan, told DW that “the government is shooting their own foot” with…

A bear that was rescued from the war in Ukraine and rehomed in a Scottish zoo has died following an anaesthetic procedure.Staff at Five Sisters Zoo in West Calder, West Lothian, are said to be “utterly devastated” over the death of Yampil at the weekend. The 12-year-old Asiatic black bear arrived at the visitor attraction in January after being rescued from the village of Yampil in Donetsk. Image: Pic: PA Ukrainian soldiers had discovered an abandoned zoo in the village when they arrived there in July 2022, five months after the Russian invasion.Out of nearly 200 animals at the zoo,…

Much of Germany’s Euro 2024 was about generating the same thrill and excitement around the country as the 2006 World Cup did or about giving the most decorated German footballer ever, Toni Kroos, a fitting farewell. But beyond collective unity, the end of this tournament marks not only the end of Kroos’s career but also the end of an era that peaked a decade ago. After many years of coming close to moving on from the golden generation of 2014, the departure of Kroos (34) and now Thomas Müller (34) signal that it is now starting to happen. There has also been speculation…

Senior Chinese Communist Party officials gathered in Beijing on Monday for a key meeting to discuss the future direction of the world’s second-largest economy. The agenda-setting “Third Plenum,” which brings together the ruling party’s 205-member Central Committee led by President Xi Jinping for four days of discussions, begins as China announced lower-than-expected second-quarter growth. Official statistics showed the economy grew by only 4.7% between April and June, significantly less than the 5.1% expected by analysts polled by Bloomberg. It is the slowest expansion rate since the first quarter of 2023 when the country was still emerging from its growth-crippling zero-Covid policy.…

Polls opened on Monday in government-held parts of Syria for a legislative election that was likely to yield no surprises.  The election is the fourth to take place in Syria amid an ongoing war, which started in 2011 following mass anti-government protests and a brutal clampdown on demonstrations by security forces.  Candidates’ campaigns largely revolved around general slogans, such as national unity and prosperity, in a country ravaged by a conflict involving foreign armies and jihadists.  Many people called for an election boycott in the southern province of Sweida, where anti-government protesters have regularly rallied over the past year. Online footage showed…