Author: DW

Thailand’s Constitutional Court ruled on Wednesday that former prime ministerial candidate Pita Limjaroenrat had not broken election rules and lifted his suspension from the country’s parliament. Under reformist candidate Pita, the progressive Move Forward Party (MFP) won the most votes in last year’s general election, promising to reform Thailand’s strict royal insult laws, reduce the power of the military and break up business monopolies. But the 43-year-old was blocked from becoming prime minister and suspended as a member of parliament over claims that he had violated election law by owning shares in a media company while the MFP was excluded from…

The European Union on Wednesday will announce a number of measures it hopes will help keep sensitive technology and key infrastructure out of the hands of global rivals, notably China.   The proposed rules would require more rigorous screening of investments from abroad, tighter controls on exports and more restrictions on who can participate in researching key technologies. Although the plan does not mention any specific country, the initiatives come as the EU focuses on “de-risking” its economic relations with China, the bloc’s most important trading partner. According to a draft text seen by the AFP news agency, the plan will address “risks to EU economic security while ensuring that…

A Russian military plane has crashed on the Ukraine-Russia border, with Moscow saying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war were onboard.Its defence ministry confirmed the Ilyushin Il-76 transporter crashed in the Russian city of Belgorod on Wednesday morning.”They [the prisoners of war] were being transported to the Belgorod region for exchange,” it added.Another six crew members and three other people were also on board.Retired general Andrei Kartapolov, a member of the Russian parliament, said the missiles were types that had been supplied to Ukraine by the West, the news agency Reuters reported.Mr Kartapolov did not state the source of his information,…

On paper, India has much to celebrate. Around 248 million people living in the country escaped multidimensional poverty in the past nine years, according to a report by NITI Aayog, a government think tank. The report suggests an 18% decline in multidimensional poverty over the last nine years, with the share of people living in this condition declining from 29% to 11%. The numbers would appear to show strong progress towards the government’s goal of reducing multidimensional poverty to below 1%, but some economists have raised some serious doubts over the use of the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) to make these claims, pointing out that the report does…

China and Nauru have resumed their diplomatic relations after the tiny Pacific island nation severed ties with its now-former ally, Taiwan. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Nauru counterpart Lionel Aingimea met on Wednesday in Beijing and signed an agreement to restore bilateral relations. “Although China and Nauru are geographically far apart and separated by vast oceans, the friendship between the two peoples has a long history,” Wang said. The resumption of ties “once again demonstrates to the world that adherence to the one-China principle is an irresistible historical trend,” he added. China-Taiwan conflict: How it could ruin the…

An estimated 1.4 million people in Germany demonstrated against the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD) from Friday to Sunday, according to the organizers of the events. From Friday through the weekend, demonstrations were called in about 100 locations across Germany. On Sunday, rallies were held in major cities such as Cologne, Munich and Berlin. Several other German cities, including Cottbus, Dresden and Chemnitz in the east, also planned to hold demonstrations. In Berlin, around 100,000 gathered outside the Bundestag, or the lower house of parliament, according to police figures. Berlin’s protest focused aroud the Reichstag building on Sunday Image:…

Train drivers in Germany on Wednesday began their longest strike yet in an ongoing labor dispute with Deutsche Bahn that is going to impact thousands of passengers and could dent the economy with a loss of up to €1 billion ($1.1 billion). On Monday, the German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) had called for a six-day strike. The planned industrial action will run from 2:00 a.m. local time (0100 GMT) Wednesday until 6 p.m. on Monday for passenger traffic. The strike for freight trains began a day earlier. This is the fourth rail strike since November. It marks an escalation of the dispute…

According to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), women’s rights in the country have been restricted still more by the Taliban. In its December 2023 quarterly report, published on Monday, UNAMA noted that the Taliban has implemented draconian measures against women who are unmarried or unaccompanied by a male guardian. It has become even more challenging for women in Afghanistan to access work, travel, and healthcare. The UNAMA report states that, in one instance, a woman was advised by the “Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue” to get married to keep her job at a healthcare facility. The ministry…

It’s not surprising the British and Americans have had another go at striking the Houthis in Yemen – but it’s just not necessarily all that clever.Allied naval vessels have been threatened, the argument goes in London and Washington, the commercial shipping of other countries hit or hijacked.It is essential something is done about it, say the politicians and military planners.Middle East latest: Houthis warn UK and US to ‘expect response’But how far have they thought it through? The operations risk a lot, will almost certainly not achieve their goals and are already strengthening the enemy.The Houthis and their Iranian patrons…

Artillery fire has killed at least 27 people, according to local authorities in the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk. Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelenskyy voiced hope in more future arms deliveries. DW has more. Source link