Author: DW

Does the death of Alexei Navalny reveal weakness within Putin’s regime as it tries to project confidence about the direction of its war in Ukraine?Many in the West will assume Vladimir Putin ordered the assassination of Navalny, given his track record of killing so many others. His agents tried to poison him with Novichok four years ago, after all. But Navalny was in jail out of the way and unable to pose much of a threat. Why kill him now?Follow live – Russia-Ukraine: Putin blamed for Navalny’s death Image: Alexei Navalny behind a glass panel in court in 2021. Pic:…

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) eastern city of Goma is struggling to deal with an influx of internally displaced people (IDPs) from the territories of Masisi, Rutshuru and Nyiragongo in North Kivu province, where M23 rebels control swathes of land. Clashes between the M23 rebels and government forces has been intensifying in Sake, which is a strategic town on the road to Goma and a flashpoint in the latest fighting. Tensions flared in March 2022 when the rebels, after a decade of relative calm, attacked Congolese army positions near the border between Uganda and Rwanda, causing locals to flee for their safety.  But M23 has…

February 2024  — Navalny dies in Arctic penal colony, authorities say The Kremlin’s most prominent critic, Alexei Navalny, died on February 16 in an Arctic prison, according to the Russian Penitentiary Service. His death comes a month before an election poised to extend Vladimir Putin’s hold on power. Navalny, 47, led campaigns against corruption in Russia and staged massive anti-Kremlin protests. He was serving a 19-year prison sentence on extremism charges in a remote penal colony. According to the Russian Penitentiary Service, he felt unwell after a walk, lost consciousness and efforts to revive him were unsuccessful. Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila…

Ukraine’s military has said outnumbered troops have been withdrawn from part of the eastern city of Avdiivka.The decision comes as battles escalate in the region, but Ukraine insists the withdrawal from the southeastern part of the city provides no strategic advantage for Russia. Speaking on Telegram, the commander of Ukraine’s southeastern sector Oleksandr Tarnavskyi said units were removed with minor losses.”In a difficult battlefield situation, when only ruins and a pile of broken bricks remain from the fortification, our priority is to save the soldiers’ lives,” he said.Follow live: Putin blamed for death of Navalny One of Ukraine’s most prominent…

Skip next section Biden says ‘Putin is responsible’ for Navalny’s death02/16/2024February 16, 2024Biden says ‘Putin is responsible’ for Navalny’s deathUS President Joe Biden said he was “outraged” at Navalny’s reported death. “Like millions of people around the world … I am not surprised and outraged at the news,” he said, adding that Navalny had stood against the “corruption” and “violence” committed by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government. He said that Putin was “responsible” for Navalny’s death. “What has happened to Navalny is yet more proof of Putin’s brutality,” he said. The US president said that Washington did not know “exactly…

Senegal’s Constitutional Council on Thursday overturned the postponement of this month’s presidential election, creating a sense of uncertainty across the West African nation. Senegalese President Macky Sall had announced the delay on February 3, just one day before the election campaign was scheduled to get underway. But the council invalidated Sall’s decree to postpone the vote from February 25 to December 15. It acknowledged that it was “impossible to organize the presidential election on the initially scheduled date” but invited “the competent authorities to hold it as soon as possible.”Protesters took to the streets in response to Sall’s decision to delay the elections.…

Alexei Navalny’s wife has said she does not know whether to believe he is dead – but that President Putin and his regime must be held accountable if it is true.Yulia Navalnaya was speaking at the Munich Security Conference hours after Russian authorities said the 47-year-old had died in prison. She said she did not know whether to still speak or fly to her children, but that she asked herself what her husband would have done.Russia-Ukraine latest: Putin blamed for Navalny’s death”I’m confident he would be here on this stage,” she told the audience. Mrs Navalnaya said she was unsure…

The record-breaker was vintage Caitlin Clark: a 3-point shot from such a long-distance that it’s known as a “logo shot” because she is beyond even the extended mid-court logo of the arena at the University of Iowa. The shot was slightly off-balance, but swished through and sent all of those recording the moment on their mobile phones into a state of delirium. “I don’t know if you could script it any better,” Clark said. “Just to do it in this fashion, I’m very grateful and thankful to be surrounded by so many people who have been my foundation in everything I’ve done…

Since the beginning of February, the people of Kosovo are no longer supposed to use the Serbian dinar to make payments. Instead, the government wants all citizens — including those in predominantly Serb communities — to use the euro. Kosovo, which has been an independent state since declaring its independence from Serbia in 2008, adopted the euro as its currency in 2002. In the north of the country, where 95% of the population belongs to the Serb minority and Serbian flags are everywhere, all transactions are conducted in Serbian dinars.Milos Vucinic, a Kosovo Serb who lives in the village of…

On Sunday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is launching a two-day meeting in Doha bringing together special envoys from UN member states and Afghan civil society representatives in an attempt to chart a course forward for international engagement with Afghanistan. Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, the regime has cracked down violently on civil society, dissent to their rule, and women’s rights. International donors have also pulled crucial funding used for development projects compounding an ongoing economic crisis. In November 2023, UN Special Coordinator for Afghanistan Feridun Sinirlioglu submitted a report to the UN Security Council after engaging…