Author: DW

South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) emerged from the country’s May 29 election with just 40.2% of the vote — down from 57.5% five years ago. The ANC, who liberated South Africa from apartheid in 1994, scored the largest share of any party, but without the comfortable majority it has enjoyed for the last 30 years. It now needs to choose a partner with whom to govern, plunging South Africa into unknown political waters. As political party leaders embark on coaliation talks, ordinary South Africans are debating the best potential partners for the ANC, with the center-right Democratic Alliance (DA), former ANC president Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the…

After China’s Defense Minister Dong Jun met his US counterpart Lloyd Austin on the sidelines of the Shangri-La security summit in Singapore, the Pentagon welcomed plans for a US-China “crisis communication group,” while Beijing called the talks “positive, practical and constructive.” The Shangri-La Dialogue, organized by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), has become a barometer for US-China tensions in recent years. The hour-long sitdown on Friday was the first high-level US-China military meeting after US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to reopen military-to-military contacts in November 2023. China had severed contact after then-US House…

Stormy Daniels has urged Melania Trump to leave her husband because he is now a convicted criminal.Trump became the first former US president to be criminally convicted after he was found unanimously guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up “hush money” payments to porn star Ms Daniels on Thursday. Ms Daniels, with whom Trump allegedly cheated on his wife, has now urged the former first lady to leave him.”I don’t know what their agreement may or may not be, but Melania needs to leave him,” she said in an interview with The Daily Mirror. “Not because…

The US Treasury’s regulatory amendment to the so-called Cuban Assets Control Regulations, announced on May 28, has caused quite a stir in Washington and beyond. For the first time since the revolution in the 1950s, Cuban entrepreneurs can open a bank account in the United States and access it from Cuba. The changes are intended “to promote internet freedom in Cuba, support independent Cuban entrepreneurs in the private sector, and expand access to certain financial services for the Cuban population,” the Treasury Department said in a statement. Cuba’s private sector has grown significantly since the government in Havana established a legal…

A Pakistani high court on Monday overturned a conviction of treason against jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, his lawyer and party said.  The former leader and his former foreign secretary, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, were convicted in 2022 of making public a classified cable sent to Islamabad by Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington. “This is the first big case which was part of the political victimization against Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi which has been dashed to the ground,” Salman Safdar, a lawyer for Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, told the AFP news agency outside of court. Khan blames US Khan had alleged…

A man who was presumed to have been taken hostage during the 7 October attack by Hamas has been found dead, the Israeli military has said.The body of Dolev Yehud, a 35-year-old volunteer medic, was found in the border village where he lived.After what it described as lengthy forensics, Israel’s military confirmed the remains belonged to Mr Yehud, whose name has also been spelt Yehoud.It said he was among dozens of residents of the Nir Oz kibbutz who were killed.Mr Yehud’s wife Sigal, who was nine months pregnant on 7 October, gave birth to their fourth child nine days after…

Mexicans have voted for a new president in an election that marks a major milestone. For the first time in the country’s history, the race came down to two female candidates: Claudia Sheinbaum (above), of the ruling Morena party, and Xochitl Galvez, of the opposition alliance.Xochitl Galvez is currently polling second though her campaign rallies, like the above, draw many fansImage: Carlo Echegoyen/AFP/Getty Images Clear win for Claudia Sheinbaum Official results showed Claudia Sheinbaum, candidate of the left-wing populist Morena party winning a landslide victory at about 58-60%. The granddaughter of Jewish immigrants from Lithuania, Sheinbaum is an experienced politician, having served as mayor of…

A man who was presumed to have been taken hostage during the 7 October attack by Hamas has been found dead, the Israeli military has said.The body of Dolev Yehud, a 35-year-old volunteer medic, was found in the border village where he lived.After what it described as lengthy forensics, Israel’s military confirmed the remains belonged to Mr Yehud, whose name has also been spelt Yehoud.It said he was among dozens of residents of the Nir Oz kibbutz who were killed.Mr Yehud’s wife Sigal, who was nine months pregnant on 7 October, gave birth to their fourth child nine days after…

06/03/2024June 3, 2024Thousands mourn death of Ukrainian journalist and combat medicNearly 1,000 people came together in central Kyiv on Sunday for the memorial service of a young Ukrainian journalist and volunteer combat medic who was killed in action last week. Iryna Tsybukh, 25, was killed while serving in the Kharkiv area, where Russia started its offensive almost a month ago. Her funeral service, held at Saint Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery on Sunday, saw hundreds of people wearing colorful Ukrainian vyshyvankas — embroidered national shirts — and carrying Ukrainian flags and flowers. Tsybukh’s coffin was draped in the yellow-and-blue Ukrainian flag. She was a…

Burkina Faso topped a list of the world’s most neglected crises for a second year in a row, according to a report released Monday by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). The humanitarian organization said there were currently around 2 million internally displaced people in the West African country, most of them cut off from aid. Junta-ruled Burkina Faso has been grappling with a jihadi insurgency for years. In 2023, more than 8,000 people were killed in the violence.  What is the list of neglected crises? To arrive at its 2023 ranking, the NRC looked at which countries were worst affected by three metrics:…