Author: DW

Alexei Navalny lived and died fighting against Vladimir Putin’s regime and the corruption at its heart.Barred in 2018 from running in elections, he remained Mr Putin’s most powerful political opponent. He was the one man capable of bringing tens of thousands on to the streets calling for a Russia without Mr Putin – and the one man Russia’s president famously refused to mention by name.Follow live: Putin critic ‘felt unwell after walk’He was stubborn, sarcastic and exceptionally charismatic – a born populist with a sense of humour which appealed especially to the young. His YouTube investigations into Mr Putin’s cronies,…

Should cannabis be legal? Several governments, such as those of Canada and South Africa and several US state governments, have greenlighted recreational use of the substance in recent years. Now, Germany’s Bundestag is set to vote on a new cannabis law. If it passes, which is almost assured considering that the representatives of all three government parties are in favor of it, the growth and consumption of limited amounts of the drug will become legal for adults as of April 1.  Still, in many parts of the world, the possession and consumption of cannabis is prohibited and often severely punished. For years,…

Prabowo Subianto, a former-general-turned-defense minister, is set to become Indonesia’s next president after taking a huge lead in unofficial results and declaring victory in Wednesday’s general election. This is the third attempt for 72-year-old Subianto at the presidency, having lost to current President Joko Widodo twice, in 2014 and 2019. Widodo, popularly known as “Jokowi,” is leaving office as a hugely popular leader with an 80% approval rating after serving the maximum two terms. Subianto joined Jokowi’s government as defense minister in 2019 and has since tried to emphasize that any bitter rivalry with the president is a thing of the past. He…

The two traditionally dominant players of Pakistani civilian politics declared this week that they planned to form a coalition government, ending the deadlock that followed last week’s parliamentary election, where no party won a clear majority.   The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) of former three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said it was joining forces with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) as well as other smaller parties.  Together, the parties would have enough seats to command a majority in the 265-member parliament. The PML-N has nominated former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Nawaz Sharif’s younger brother, to lead the new government. The newly declared coalition echoes…

Greece has legalised same-sex marriage – becoming the first Orthodox Christian-majority country to do so.The landmark bill, drafted by prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ centre-right government, passed on Thursday night with a cross-party majority of 176–76 votes. It also allows same-sex couples to legally adopt children, but will not allow gay men to acquire biological children through surrogate mothers in Greece.Mr Mitsotakis described the passing of the bill as a “milestone for human rights” – one which showed Greece as a “progressive and democratic country, passionately committed to European values”.”People who have been invisible will finally be made visible around us.…

The case of Kilimanjaro The Chagga people have lived on the slopes Africa’s most famous mountain for centuries. They call the summit Kibo. But for much of modern history, Tanzanian children were taught that Kilimanjaro was discovered in 1848 by a German missionary, Johannes Rebmann. In fact, German geographer Hans Meyer renamed Kibo Kaiser Wilhelm Peak when he reached the summit in 1889. The cultural importance of Kilimanjaro to the local Chagga was completely ignored. Yet the European explorers were very aware of the symbolism attached to renaming landmarks: That they were the new masters of Africa, and they were…

The mass shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory rally was the result of a personal dispute and not linked to terrorism, police said on Thursday. “There was no nexus to terrorism or homegrown violent extremism. This appeared to be a dispute between several people that ended in gunfire,” Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves told reporters. A mother of two was killed in the shooting, while 22 other people aged between 8 and 47 were also injured. Half of the victims were children. Three suspects detained, firearms recovered Police detained three suspects on Wednesday — two juveniles and an…

The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann will appear in court in Germany today accused of unrelated sex offences.Christian B, whose last name is withheld due to privacy laws, will stand trial over two counts of rape and three counts of sexual abuse. The prosecution claims the offences took place in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.A pensioner and a 10-year-old were among the alleged victims. None of the charges relate to Madeleine McCann.The 47-year-old is currently in prison after being convicted of raping a 72-year-old in an apartment in Praia da Luz in 2005. Two years later, Madeleine…

Senegal’s Constitutional Council on Thursday overturned the postponement of this month’s presidential election. The delay caused widespread protests and sparked the worst chaos Senegal has seen in years. The Senegal election postponement Parliament had voted earlier this month to delay elections until December. That came after President Macky Sall announced his decision to postpone the ballot that was slated for February 25. Senegal’s top election authority canceled Sall’s decree in a judgement that was approved by seven members of the Constitutional  Council. The National Assembly’s move on February 5 to reschedule the vote for December 14 was “contrary to the constitution,” the judgement said. Senegal: Anger…

The Greek parliament on Thursday voted in favor of a bill to allow same-sex couples to marry. It makes Greece the first Orthodox Christian country to legalize same-sex civil marriage. The bill was approved by a cross-party majority of 176 lawmakers in the 300-seat parliament. “This is a historic moment,” Stella Belia, the head of same-sex parents group Rainbow Families, told Reuters. “This is a day of joy.” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called the outcome “a milestone for human rights” and noted that Greece was the 16th country in the European Union to legislate marriage equality. Parental rights extended to same-sex…