Author: DW

Thailand’s Move Forward Party (MFP), which won the most seats in parliament during last year’s general election, is facing the threat of being disbanded, according to many analysts and political commentators. The Southeast Asian nation’s Constitutional Court ruled last week that the progressive party must abandon its pledge to amend the law on royal defamation. The court’s nine judges deemed it unconstitutional to advocate a change in Article 112 in the country’s criminal code — also known as the lese-majeste law. The law protects the monarchy in Thailand from criticism by imposing severe penalties on those found to violate it, including…

A Kenyan doomsday cult leader and 29 associates have been charged with the murder of 191 children.Paul Mackenzie and his fellow defendants all denied the charges at a court in the coastal town of Malindi. One suspect was found mentally unfit to stand trial. Image: Paul Mackenzie smiled in court when he appeared in January. Pic: Reuters Prosecutors argue Mackenzie ordered his followers to starve themselves and their children to death so they could go to heaven before the world ended.The children were among more than 429 bodies found over the course of months of exhumations across tens of thousands…

Let’s say you’ve got a four-year-old standing in front of you. And you ask that kid if it’s okay to stomp hard on another kid’s foot. The answer will probably be “no.” Then you say: “What if God said that the opposite is right? God says you should do it.” Researchers Madeline Reinecke (Oxford University) and Larisa Solomon (Columbia University) were looking to investigate whether widely shared moral rules can be changed by religion in their study involving some 130 children in the US. Conor Dillon and Gabriel Borrud, of the DW-podcast Science unscripted, spoke with Madeline Reinecke about the results of the study.…

Voting in Indonesia’s presidential election starts on February 14, and while the main issues are the economy, living standards and moving the capital from Jakarta to the island of Borneo, none of the three candidates can ignore the country’s national sport. Anies Baswedan, Prabowo Subianto and Ganjar Pranowo know that when every vote counts, it’s wise to stay onside with football fans. With 52% of the country’s population of 270 million between the ages of 18 and 39,  the sport is seen as an effective way to communicate with a huge part of the electorate. “Football is an easy way for politicians to connect with…

Skip next section Kyiv says two-month old killed in Russian attack on Kharkiv02/06/2024February 6, 2024Kyiv says two-month old killed in Russian attack on KharkivA Russian missile attack hit a three-storey hotel in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region overnight, killing a two-month-old baby and injuring his mother, the Ukrainian regional governor said on Tuesday. Two other women were injured and were taken to a hospital with shrapnel wounds, Governor Oleh Synehubov said. The attack damaged over 30 buildings, including private houses, a cafe, shops and private cars, the National Police said. https://p.dw.com/p/4c5tbSkip next section UN nuclear watchdog chief to visit Zaporizhzhia plant02/06/2024February 6,…

In most of Sierra Leone, it is common for girls to go through initiation rituals known as Bondo. These are considered an important traditional practice and a rite of passage for young girls. Secret Bondo rituals often occur in isolated forested areas referred to as a Bondo bush. There, the young girls are taught ritual dances and chants and how to confront spirits. They also learn how to do domestic chores and be prepared for a husband with the traditional role of a wife and mother being conferred on the young women during the ritual. Controversially, these rites of passage also include female…

Hurricanes becoming significantly more intense due to climate change requires a new category six classification, a new study has warned.Currently, the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale measures a hurricane’s maximum sustained wind speed. Introduced in the 1970s by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in the US, it ranges from one to five, the lowest number covering 74-95mph winds and warning of some damage and the highest number predicting “catastrophic” damage with winds measuring 157mph or higher. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 0:40 October 2023: Hurricane Otis hits Mexico’s east coast But a new study published in…

Voting for Indonesia’s presidential election starts on February 14, and while the main issues are the economy, living standards, and moving the capital from Jakarta to the island of Borneo, none of the three candidates can ignore the national sport. Anies Baswedan, Prabowo Subianto and Ganjar Pranowo know that when every vote counts, it is wise to stay onside with football fans. With 52 percent of the country’s population of 270 million consisting of people between 18 and 39,  the sport is seen as an effective way to communicate with a huge part of the electorate. “Football is an easy way…

The European Commission is ready to recommend a 90% net greenhouse gas emissions cut by 2040 on Tuesday, in a session due to kick off the political debate on the target. The 2040 target should be on track with the bloc’s plans to have net zero emissions by 2050. However, the session comes at a time when the bloc is faced with angry farmers staging disruptive protests that criticize, among other things, what they say are overly ambitious EU climate goals. It also comes as the bloc braces for elections over the summer, where the far-right, which has been capitalizing on…

A British-owned cargo ship suffered minor damage in a drone attack off Yemen in the Red Sea, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) and security firm Ambrey on Tuesday. The attack occurred 57 nautical miles west of Hodeida, Yemen, with the Barbados-flagged ship incurring slight damage to the bridge windows from a projectile, the UKMTO said, adding that there had been no injuries reported. A small vessel had been near the ship before the attack, the UKMTO said. Despite the incident, the ship managed evasive maneuvers and continued its journey. Houthi rebels claim attack Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels issued a statement…