Author: DW

Troops loyal to Myanmar’s military junta have pulled out from the town of Myawaddy at the Thai border after a dayslong assault by an ethnic armed group, a rebel spokesman said on Thursday. The fighting has caused large numbers of people to try to flee to neighboring Thailand from the border town, which is a major trading hub. Myanmar’s military junta, which took power in a 2021 coup, has suffered a number of recent defeats at the hands of ethnic rebel groups and a civilian militia movement, with some saying it could soon be toppled. What do we know so far?…

The US is “considering” Australia’s request to drop its persecution push against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, said President Joe Biden on Wednesday.  Assange is wanted in the US on criminal charges over the release of confidential US military and diplomatic records in 2010. He has been indicted on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse. The 52-year-old is currently in Britain awaiting extradition to the US. It has been five years since he was incarcerated in the Belmarsh prison. If convicted, he could face up to 175 years in prison.  He was supposed to be extradited in March, but it…

Commuters at a train station in Australia were left doing a doubletake as an escaped racehorse joined them to wait for a passenger service.The rogue animal turned up at Warwick Farm station, New South Wales, and trotted down the platform before pausing ahead of the train’s arrival – when it even stood behind the yellow line. Footage shared by Transport for NSW shows shocked commuters stepping back as the horse made its way past just before midnight on 5 April.The transport authority saw the funny side as they shared an update about the incident on Facebook.In a post about a…

South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and senior presidential advisers submitted their resignations to President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday following the ruling party’s crushing defeat in the parliamentary elections, according to the Yonhap news agency. In a separate press conference, the leader of the ruling People’s Power Party, Han Dong-hoon, said he would also step down to take responsibility for the election defeat. The results of Wednesday’s election posed a huge political blow to President Yoon Suk Yeol, setting back his domestic agenda and leaving him facing an intensifying political offensive by his liberal opponents during his remaining three years…

Low demand is not a problem the smuggler says he has to worry about. This individual, who takes young men across the Ukraine’s western border into Europe, says he is only able to assist a tiny fraction of those who make enquiries. Motivation is not an issue for ‘Stas’ either – the smuggler claims his purpose is all about saving young people’s lives.Russia-Ukraine war latest: Zelenskyy responds to Trump’s ‘peace plan'”They simply aren’t ready to die, young people aren’t ready to bury themselves alive,” he says. “So they turn to us for help. A significant number of people are turning…

Mali’s junta has issued a decree suspending the activities of political parties, government spokesman Abdoulaye Maiga said in a statement read on state television Wednesday night. “Until further notice, for reasons of public order, the activities of political parties and the activities of a political character of associations are suspended across the whole country,” Maiga said, citing a decree by junta leader Colonel Assimi Goita. Maiga justified suspending party activities by the “sterile discussions” during an attempt at national dialogue earlier this year. Opposition voices have been largely stifled under the junta’s rule. Opposition demands elections Goita’s decree came after…

German airline Lufthansa said on Wednesday that it had suspended flights to and from Iran’s capital, Tehran, probably until Thursday, “due to the current situation in the Middle East.” Meanwhile, an Iranian news agency Mehr briefly stoked tensions when it published a report on social media platform X, formerly Twitter,  saying that all airspace over Tehran had been closed for military exercises. The agency subsequently removed the report and denied that it had issued such a message. Tensions between Iran and Israel Countries in the region and the United States have been on high alert and preparing for a possible attack by…

An Israeli airstrike has killed three sons of Hamas’s top political leader in an attack on high-profile targets in Gaza.Hamas said four of Ismail Haniyeh’s grandchildren were also killed in the strike. The Israeli military said two of his sons, Mohammed and Hazem, were Hamas military operatives, while the third, Amir, was a cell commander.They are among the highest-profile targets to be killed in the war so far.Middle East latest: Netanyahu’s approach in Gaza ‘a mistake’, Biden says Image: Ismail Haniyeh. File pic: AP The killings threaten to undermine internationally mediated ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas.Haniyeh accused Israel of…

Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s five-year term as Ukraine’s president formally ends on May 20. An election would have been held in late March, but the parliament postponed the vote as the country is still at war and under martial law. A major questions for Ukrainians is who might succeed Zelenskyy once he leaves office. In early 2024, few politicians and commentators openly pondered who could or should follow Zelenskyy. At the end of February, when Zelenskyy looked back on the past two years of fighting off Russia, the president dismissed any talk questioning his legitimacy as a “hostile narrative.” Speaking to journalists, Zelenskyy…

The European Parliament has approved a controversial shake-up of the bloc’s migration system which advocates claim will better “protect” its borders.After eight years of wrangling between the 27 member states, the compromise proposals aim to cut the time for asylum procedures and reduce immigration from the Middle East and Africa. The new system would mean the wider bloc would be obligated to take in migrants who arrive in mainly “frontline” countries like Greece and Italy – or be required to provide extra funds or resources instead.EU member states must now endorse the reform package, possibly in a vote in late…