Author: DW

When Russia illegally annexed the Ukrainian region of Crimea in 2014, tens of thousands of people fled the southern peninsula. Some of these exiles joined Ukraine’s armed forces in the fight against Russia, including Isa Akayev and Iryna Holosna.  Akayev, whose real name is Nariman Bilyalov, is the commander of Ukraine’s Crimea battalion, which he founded together with other Crimeans. The small unit is dominated by Crimean Tatars, the Muslim Turkic group indigenous to the region. Today, the battalion forms a special unit within Ukraine’s military intelligence service. Akayev sees parallels between Russia’s 2014 occupation of Crimea and the time when Soviet…

India is to elect a new parliament in what is the largest democratic exercise with 970 million registered voters.The Indian Election Commission said on Saturday that the elections will take place in seven phases from 19 April to 1 June, stretched over 44 days. The gigantic exercise will be conducted by a 15 million-strong army of polling officials and security personnel.They will aim to oversee a free and fair election at over a million polling stations with the help of 5.5 million electronic voting machines.Electoral rules say there must be a polling station within two kilometres (1.2 miles) of every…

Sixteen soldiers were killed during a mission to halt clashes between two communities in Nigeria’s southern state of Delta, an army spokesman said Saturday. The attack in the oil-rich region happened in the Bomadi council area Thursday when the soldiers, deployed to keep the peace, “were surrounded by some community youths and killed,” Defense Headquarters spokesman Brigadier General Tukur Gusau said in a statement. Among the dead were a commanding officer, two majors, one captain and 12 soldiers, Gusau added. He said the soldiers, from the 181 Amphibious Battalion, had “responded to a distress call” following trouble between the Okuama and Okoloba communities.School abductions spotlight Nigeria’s kidnapping…

An Indian navy warship on Saturday captured a bulk carrier off the coast of Somalia, rescuing the crew and ending a three-month hijacking. The Maltese-flagged MV Ruen was hijacked by Somali pirates in December near the Yemeni island of Socotra, around 240 kilometers (150 miles) off Somalia.  Announcing the capture, the Indian navy posted on X, formerly Twitter, that one of its warships had “in the last 40 hours, through concerted actions successfully cornered and coerced all 35 Pirates to surrender & ensured safe evacuation of 17 crew members … from the pirate vessel without any injury.” On Friday, the pirates had opened fire…

Ireland are celebrating another Six Nations title win with a 17-13 victory over Scotland in Dublin.It is their fifth title in 11 years, having endured a drought of more than two decades between 1985 and 2009. Dan Sheehan and Andrew Porter scored tries for the hosts in Dublin, who have now won back-to-back championships.Player of the Match, Ireland’s Jamison Gibson-Park, called the win “incredible”.”We had to stay in the fight. It was two good teams going at it and we were going for a championship. “Our backs were against the wall a little bit [after last week’s defeat to England]…

When Vladimir Putin is — likely —reelected as Russian president this weekend, many people will be asking themselves what to expect from his next term in office. What will Putin do this time? How far will he distance Russia from the European Union and US in the coming six years in power? And how was it possible that hopes for Russian-European rapprochement have been dashed? How could Putin — a leader to which many had pinned great hopes when he rose to power — become so staunchly anti-Western 24 years later? Vitaly Mansky and Alexander Stefanov, two Russians with two very different backgrounds and a significant…

At least seven soldiers have been killed in Pakistan after militants attacked a military post in North Waziristan, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan. “The terrorists rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the post, followed by multiple suicide bombing attacks, which led to [the] collapse of [a] portion of a building,” Pakistan’s military said. Five soldiers were killed in the initial blast and another two in the ensuing gun battle. The military said six attackers, some wearing bomb vests, were also killed in the firefight.Afghan Taliban accused of destabilizing neighboring statesTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and…

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Two former Brazilian military commanders said former President Jair Bolsonaro discussed a possible coup d’etat to remain in power after losing the 2022 election, according to judicial documents released Friday. The testimonies place Bolsonaro at the center of a plot to declare martial law and stop leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office. The alleged plot did not eventuate. Bolsonaro left the country to avoid handing the presidential sash to Lula but days later, his supporters stormed government buildings and shut down highways in an attempt to overturn the result on January 8, 2023. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de…

Some 5 million people in Sudan could face “catastrophic food insecurity” in the coming months as fighting continues between rival generals, according to UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths. The conflict between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces militia has had a severe impact on agricultural production, disrupted trade, caused price increases and impeded the flow of humanitarian aid, he said. “Without urgent humanitarian assistance and access to basic commodities … almost 5 million people could slip into catastrophic food insecurity in some parts of the country in the coming months,” Griffiths wrote in a note to the UN Security…