Author: DW

In the Afigya Kwabre district of Ghana’s Ashanti region, people like Kingsley Owusu are known for growing Ghana’s leading cash crop. Owusu and his comminity have been growing cocoa beans for over 30 years. For many years, the cocoa harvest had enabled him to take care of his children, who by now have all grown to adulthood. But now, at the age of 60, Owusu is worried about his own livelihood. “My production levels have gone down because of climate change and diseases. And illegal mining activities are also contributing to this,” Owusu told DW, adding that he barely makes enough to get by. Owusu used to…

Donald Trump tried to illegally influence the 2016 US presidential election by paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels, prosecutors alleged on Monday. The former US president faced court in Manhattan on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records over payments he made to his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, that prosecutors say were reimbursements for money paid to Daniels in order to bury her claims of a sexual encounter. “This was a planned, long-running conspiracy to influence the 2016 election, to help Donald Trump get elected through illegal expenditures to silence people who had something bad to say about his…

Rishi Sunak is to announce a £500m military aid package to Ukraine in its war against Russia alongside the UK’s largest provision of munitions so far.Some 400 vehicles, 60 boats, 1,600 strike and air defence missiles, and four million rounds of ammunition are included in the package. The announcement comes during a downswing for Ukraine as Russian forces have been gaining the upper hand in recent weeks.Read the latest updates on Ukraine-Russia warMoscow took the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka on 17 February and has been progressing ever since, occupying other villages. Last month, Russia launched an airstrike into Ukraine’s…

The late German football legend Franz Beckenbauer will be honored with a statue in front of Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena, a club supporters foundation announced Sunday. The player and coach, also known as “der Kaiser” (the Emperor), is to be cast in bronze in an elegant pose as the game’s conductor. The Kurt Landauer Foundation said he will stand on a pedestal in the shape of the Bavarian flag’s rhombus. Beckenbauer, widely considered one of the best players of all time, passed away in January in Salzburg, Austria, and was buried in a cemetery south of Munich, near where he grew up.German…

The European Commission on Monday gave TikTok a 24-hour deadline to submit an assessment of potential health risks related to its new app TikTok Lite or face daily fines. It comes after TikTok “failed to provide” information earlier this month. TikTok Lite, a slimmed down version of TikTok, launched in France and Spain in March. It is optimized for slower internet connections and uses less memory. It enables users over the age of 18 to earn points that can be redeemed for vouchers or gift cards. The Commission says it wants the Chinese-owned company to show how it assessed the addictiveness and mental…

In the Afigya Kwabre district of Ghana’s Ashanti region, people like Kingsley Owusu are known for growing Ghana’s leading cash crop. Owusu and his comminity have been growing cocoa beans for 30 years or longer. For all these years, the cocoa harvest has enabled him to take care of his children, who all are now adults. But aged 60, Owusu now has to worry about his own livelihood. “My production levels have gone down because of climate change and diseases. And illegal mining activities are also contributing to this,” Owusu told DW, stresing that he barely makes enough to get by. Owusu used to produce about…

Dutch cities are divided on whether sex workers should be allowed to work from home. While sex work has been legal in the Netherlands since 2000, a limited number of regions have allowed sex workers to operate independently from home. Proposed legislation could change that, with the government looking to regulate the sector to reflect the increase in home-based and online work.That would mean sex workers would need to meet strict conditions to get a permit from their local authority.But a number of regions are not happy with the prospect of working from home in the industry. Nos, the Netherlands’ largest…

World Athletics seems to have poked a hornet’s nest, with the federation’s recent decision to pay athletes bonuses for Olympic medals sparking global debate.  Last week, the governing body of athletics announced that it would pay $50,000 (€46,800) for victories in each of the 48 athletics disciplines at the upcoming Summer Olympics in Paris (July 26 to August 11). The organization said there will also be bonuses for silver and bronze at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. This is the first time in the 128-year history of the modern Olympic Games that a world federation of a single sport has…

Russia’s Ministry of Defense on Monday said forces had captured the eastern village of Novomykhailivka in Russian-annexed Donetsk. Russia’s defense ministry said in a post on Telegram that troops had “liberated” the village and “improved the tactical situation along the front line.” Ukraine’s military leadership on Monday morning said that Russian forces had made 23 attempts to break through defensive lines in areas around Georgiyivka, Novomykhailivka, Vodyane and Urozhayne but had been contained. Ukraine is battling with dwindling resources and manpower in its defensive effort against Russia’s continued invasion. Over the weekend, US lawmakers approved  $61 billion (€57 billion) in military and financial aid for…

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Monday that flights deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda would start in the next months, just hours before Parliament was set to vote on the controversial bill. “We are ready, plans are in place and these flights will go, come what may,” Sunak told a news conference. Lawmakers in the House of Commons, dominated by Sunak’s Conservatives, are expected to reject amendments suggested by the unelected House of Lords. What is the legislation that is being voted on? Monday’s bill is a response by Sunak’s government to a ruling by the UK’s Supreme Court that…