Author: DW

The depth of the ties between Burkina Faso’s military junta and Russian President Vladimir Putin was all obvious when Moscow decided to help the Burkinabe junta out a few days ago, sending 100 military staff to Ouagadougou, even as the war in Ukraine continues unabetedly. According to a post on Telegram, these soldiers are supposed to help protect junta leader Ibrahim Traoré as well as the general public from terrorist attacks. But as members of the newly established Russian Africa Corps landed in the capital city, it was clear that they would de facto be taking over from the Wagner Group after its collapse — Russia’s infamous private…

Specialist investigators in Australia have joined the search for a mother-of-three who has been missing since she left her home to go for a run six days ago.Missing persons detectives are now spearheading the search for Samantha Murphy, who vanished without a trace on Sunday. She was last seen leaving her home in Eureka Street, Ballarat, at around 7am, Victoria Police said.”There are significant concerns given it has now been six days without her being sighted or any signs of her current whereabouts,” the force said.”Her disappearance is considered extremely out of character.” Local officers, rescue workers, mounted police and…

Mutant wolves roaming the deserted streets of Chernobyl appear to have developed resistance to cancer – raising hopes the findings can help scientists fight the disease in humans.A nuclear reactor exploded at the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine in 1986 – with more than 100,000 people evacuated from the city as the blast released cancer-causing radiation. The area has remained eerily abandoned ever since, with the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ) put in place to prevent people from entering a 1,000-square-mile area where the radiation still poses a cancer risk.Humans may not have returned, but wildlife such as wolves and horses…

Shortly before Christmas last year, the German government’s budget problems abruptly hit the country’s electric vehicle (EV) sector. As part of a wider belt-tightening, Berlin ended a seven-year subsidy scheme known as the Umweltbonus (‘environmental bonus’) which had seen consumers get purchase grants of several thousand euros when they bought electric cars. It compounded a challenging few months for the EV market in Germany. A few months earlier, the government had already ended the subsidy scheme for corporate fleet buyers, which account for around two-thirds of the German car market.  That goes some way to explaining why new EV registrations…

A man disposed of his five-year-old daughter’s body “like it was trash” after brutally beating her to death, a US court has heard.Harmony Montgomery was last seen in 2019 but New Hampshire Police did not learn she was missing until December 2021. Lawyers for Adam Montgomery, 34, say he did not harm his daughter, whose body has never been found, and the last person to see Harmony alive – his estranged wife – will not say what happened.Police said Harmony was killed on 7 December 2019, having decided on the date of her death following interviews with Montgomery’s wife, Kayla.Adam…

The first day of the Chinese New Year falls on February 10 this year. Also known as the Spring Festival or Lunar New Year, the festival marking the advent of spring is widely celebrated in China and several East Asian countries. Families traditionally gather during this time to share sumptuous meals, while children are often given money in red packets known as “hong bao.” The start of the Lunar Year also sees the rotation of the Chinese zodiac that runs over a 12-year cycle, each represented by an animal. There are several stories explaining the zodiac: One legend goes that…

Southeast Asia has published its long-awaited artificial intelligence (AI) governance and ethics guidelines that map out a voluntary and light-touch vision of how national governments can constrain the worst aspects of this new technology yet profit economically from its advance. The ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed to the guidelines, which were first drafted last year, at the 4th ASEAN Digital Ministers’ Meeting in Singapore earlier this month. Southeast Asia’s more business-friendly approach to AI regulation could cause some upset within the European Union (EU). The bloc has been lobbying for other parts of the world…

Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s party is slightly ahead in early election results, after vote counts were hit by delays following a mobile phone shutdown.Early on Friday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had announced 47 results for the 265 contested seats in the National Assembly. Mr Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML) has secured 17 and supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan 14. Image: Pic: AP Twelve seats were taken by the Pakistan Peoples Party of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of assassinated premier Benazir Bhutto, it said.The rest were won by small parties or non-aligned independents.…

An enormous fiery flow of lava is engulfing a road in Iceland, after the third volcanic eruption in the same area in recent months.Iceland’s Meteorological Office has said the Sylingarfell volcano, near Grindavik, is erupting again.The spread of the hot smoking flow was captured in extraordinary live footage from the scene.At one point on Thursday morning, a work crew – in what appeared to be a digger – moved along a road towards the mass of lava as it edged towards them.Footage also showed a car on the road in the path of the lava. Please use Chrome browser for…

Hiding behind the picture of a handsome American soldier stolen from a real Instagram account, Chris Maxwell would try to make women fall in love with him online.The 25-year-old Nigerian says he conned up to 30 victims out of more than $70,000 (£56,000) over five years, enjoying “lavish” spending on nights out in clubs and designer clothes. “When I was doing this, I used to think about people – I used to feel guilty,” he tells Sky News.”I used to feel bad but as time goes on and I started making good money – big money – I stopped feeling…