Author: DW

Russian opposition members called on eligible voters to join the “Noon against Putin” protest at polling stations across the country on Sunday, the final day of voting in Russia’s three-day presidential election. Voters were asked to crowd polling stations at exactly noon in Russia’s 11 time zones to protest without endangering themselves by violating Moscow’s strict anti-protest law. Many protests have erupted since Russia’s presidential election started on Friday, where President Vladimir Putin is all but certain to win. Several arrests have been made, including against Russians accused of pouring dye into ballot boxes and arson attacks.Russia holds second day of…

Niger’s ruling junta broke off its military cooperation agreement with the United States “with immediate effect” on Saturday. Junta spokesperson Colonel Amadou Abdramane said the deal had allowed US military personnel and civilian staff stay on Nigerien soil. Niger has forged closer ties with Russia since a July 2023 military coup, while cutting ties with the West which led to the withdrawal of French troops that had been present for decades.ECOWAS: What next after Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso quit?To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video What’s behind the…

Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald says the Middle East is at “a tipping point” and “words are not enough” from the United States.Speaking ahead of the annual White House reception marking St Patrick’s Day, she told Sky News that America had got it “dangerously wrong” on the Israel-Hamas conflict.Referring to the “ongoing, vicious, criminal bombardment of Gaza”, she urged US President Joe Biden to “take a firm position” with Israel and demand an immediate ceasefire.Analysis: US-Irish relations are creaking under the weight of the elephant in the roomShe said: “The world watches in absolute horror, we’re at a tipping…

The cast of “The Color Purple” movie took home the 55th annual National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) award for outstanding motion picture on Saturday. “If nobody gonna see us, I’m glad that our people see us,” said actor Danielle Brooks from the cast. The NAACP awards are considered as top honors for Black artists in the US entertainment industry. Who won the NAACP Image Awards? Fantasia Barrino, who starred as Celie in the film, won the outstanding actress award. “Rustin” actor Colman Domingo won the outstanding actor award. Damson Idris won best actor in a drama…

The toilet cubicles measure just 1 square meter (about 11 square feet), sealed with plastic sheeting attached to simple wooden slats. They provide a tiny amount of privacy in the former village of Al-Mawasi, a place where thousands of displaced people have now crowded together. Though Israeli army may refer to it as a “safe zone,” the site lacks the corresponding infrastructure. The Clean Shelter project has provided toilet cubicles like these in the Al-Mawasi refugee camp in GazaImage: Clean Shelter “My family, my parents are in Al-Mawasi. I asked them: What do people need most? And they said: toilets, showers, tents. So when…

In the village of Wale, Thailand and Myanmar are connected by a small wooden bridge. The narrow river that flows beneath it constitutes the border. The villages on the two banks share the same name, and their lives are closely entwined. Locals carry rice and vegetables back and forth across the little footbridge; children splash and play in the water below. The Thai border guard in the observation post is paying far more attention to his cellphone than to the flow of commuters. The majority of people who cross here are from the local villages. In recent weeks, however, an…

Grant Shapps was forced to abandon a visit to a port city in Ukraine after British intelligence warned of a credible missile threat from Russia.Officials told the defence secretary Russia had become aware of his travel plans to Odesa, where a convoy carrying Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Greece’s prime minister had narrowly avoided an airstrike. That news raised the threat level to Mr Shapps’s safety from substantial to critical, according to The Sunday Times, which had access to the delegation and was the first to report the abandoned plans.Mr Shapps, travelling with chief of the defence staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin…

“I am working nonstop, because this is a final for me. Under the mandate given by the law this is my last election.” These words, spoken by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of the upcoming local elections, caused a stir in the West. News agencies reported that the leader was saying his “farewell” and announcing his “withdrawal” from politics. In Turkey, on the other hand, Erdogan’s words drew ridicule. On social networks, commenters debated how many times he had already announced his departure — two, three or even four times already? Hakki Tas, a political scientist with the German Institute for Global and Area…

It’s now almost impossible to imagine the Saudi economy without the thriving startup scene and its female entrepreneurs. Less than a decade ago, the situation was largely different. “There was literally no ecosystem for startup companies,” Maha Shirah, one of the first female Saudi entrepreneurs in Riyadh, told DW. For women, starting a business was particularly tough. In 2014, when Shirah opened the country’s first workspace for women, laws still restricted the participation of women in many industries. Ten years on, the Saudi Ministry of Commerce haspublished a comprehensive list of workspaces for women, and the local startup landscape is not…

A volcano in Iceland erupted on Saturday for the fourth time since December after previous eruptions destroyed roads and forced a town to evacuate.Livestreams from the area showed fountains of molten rock soaring from fissures in the ground. Authorities had warned for weeks that an eruption was imminent on the Reykjanes peninsula, just south of Iceland’s capital Reykjavik.The Icelandic Meteorological Office confirmed a volcanic eruption started between Stora Skogfell and Hagafell on Saturday.In nearby Grindavik, where some of the town’s 4,000 residents had returned following earlier outbreaks, evacuations were again taking place, public broadcaster RUV reported. The popular Blue Lagoon…