World

Mitigation hearings for Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon, Jimmy Lai, concluded on Tuesday, in the final step before the court hands down a sentence in the landmark national security case. In December, the 78-year-old was convicted of two counts of conspiracy to commit collusion with foreign forces and one count of conspiracy to distribute seditious publications. Lai, who had pleaded not guilty to all charges, faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. The sentencing date has not been scheduled.  Lai's conviction of collusion and sedition offenses marks the highest-profile example of the clampdown on media freedoms in Hong Kong, once known as a haven for free press in Asia, since Beijing imposed the national security law in 2020. The prosecution of Lai, a prominent critic of the Chi...

"You can cope with anything, just not being separated from your children. I'm carrying on for them," says Yulia Dvornichenko. She was arrested in 2021 and held in Russia, before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. For a long time, she was unable to speak of her ordeal but now she has broken her silence. Dvornichenko, who hails from Ukraine's Donetsk region, spent a year and a half in prisons operated by the so-called "People's Republic of Donetsk," This part of Donetsk came under the control of Russian separatists in 2014 and the whole Donetsk region was  claimed as Russian by the Kremlin in September 2022. During her time in prison, Dvornichenko was not once allowed to see her sons Danylo and Mark. She says many of the women being held in Donetsk's prisons have young chi...

South Korea's former President Yoon Suk Yeol's week went from bad to worse on Friday afternoon after a Seoul court sentenced him to five years in prison. Yoon was found guilty of obstructing justice, falsifying documents and abuse of power in relation to his failed declaration of martial law in December 2024. In addition to corruption charges and of interfering in an investigation into the 2023 death of a soldier, Yoon is being tried in several cases linked to his short-lived attempt to use martial law powers to take control of the South Korean government. The five-year prison term for the impeached former leader comes just days after prosecutors requested the death penalty in a parallel case against him. This case focuses on charges of Yoon leading an insurrection when he declared mart...

Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled Uganda since seizing power in 1986, is seeking a decisive victory in Thursday's election to extend his 40-year rule amid ongoing debate about his eventual succession.  After casting his vote at a polling station in Rwakitura, Museveni said he was confident of securing "80% of the vote, if there is no cheating." According to partial results from Uganda's electoral commission based on tallies from nearly half of the polling stations, Museveni is leading with over 75% of the vote. His leading challenger, Bobi Wine follows with about 21%, while the remainder is split among six other candidates.Doubt, unrest overshadow Uganda vote countingTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Police deny B...

Ship positions, weather data and emergency messages flash across monitors at the Cyprus Joint Rescue Coordination Center in the port town of Larnaca in southeastern Cyprus. This is where Cyprus coordinates search and rescue operations in the eastern Mediterranean. It is also where the logistics of running a maritime corridor to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza are organized. Some 32,000 tons of humanitarian relief supplies aid from the European Union have been inspected in Cyprus' ports and shipped on to Gaza. Cyprus lies between Europe, the Middle East and North Africa — at the intersection of three continents, in the midst of a region currently rife with crises and conflicts. "The flight from here to Lebanon takes 18 minutes, to Tel Aviv 30 minutes, to Jordan 75 minutes, to Damascus 20...

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a series of flight advisories on Friday, warning airlines to exercise caution in the airspace over Mexico, Central America and parts of South America due to potential "military activities." "The FAA issued flight advisory notices to Airmen for specified areas of Mexico, Central America, Panama, Bogota, Guayaquil and Mazatlan Oceanic Flight Regions, and in airspace within the eastern Pacific Ocean," an FAA spokesperson said, adding that the advisory is effective for 60 days beginning on Friday. The warnings cite possible interference with global navigation satellite systems that could cause a "potentially hazardous situation." Trump suggests possible military strikes in Mexico The development comes amid heightened regional tensions fol...

The field in front of Tehran's Kahrizak Forensic Institute seems to be loaded with dead bodies. Amid widespread protests and a communications blackout, images of the site are only available in videos physically smuggled out of Iran or uploaded to the Internet via Starlink satellites. "I would guess there are thousands dead, at any case," an eyewitness who recently visited Iran told DW. The man described going to Kahrizak with a friend to identify and retrieve his friend's wife's body. "On the previous evening, you could hear automatic gunfire in the part of the city I was visiting. My friend and his wife were at a protest. The wife was shot," he told DW. It is impossible to know how many people have been killed in the Iranian protests, which started over two weeks ago. The internet has...

Kruger National Park, South Africa's most famous wildlife reserve, temporarily shut its gates to visitors Thursday after weeks of torrential rainfall triggered deadly flooding in the country's Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces. Park officials said the closure was a precautionary measure until conditions improve, as forecasters predict heavy rainfall over the next 48 hours. Earlier in the day, staff members and guests were rescued by helicopter after one of the campsites flooded. South Africa weather service issues highest warning level for heavy rainfall The South African Weather Service issued its highest warning level for parts of the northern region, with 100 to 200 millimeters (about 4 to 8 inches) of rain expected over the next two days. The warning "is quite unprecedented," it sa...

"If we have a referendum I would vote for the unification with Romania. Look at what's happening around Moldova today. Look at what's happening in the world," Moldovan President Maia Sandu said in an interview with British podcast, The Rest is Politics, on January 11. "It is getting more and more difficult for a small country like Moldova to survive as a democracy, as a sovereign country, and of course to resist Russia," she added. Though the podcast was over an hour long, it was this statement that really caused a stir. During the same podcast, Sandu admitted that she was aware that a majority of Moldovans do not support unification with Romania according to polls and that this was why the most realistic alternative was Moldova's accession to the European Union. This is supported by vot...

"If we have a referendum I would vote for the unification with Romania. Look at what's happening around Moldova today. Look at what's happening in the world," Moldovan President Maia Sandu said in an interview with British podcast, The Rest is Politics, on January 11. "It is getting more and more difficult for a small country like Moldova to survive as a democracy, as a sovereign country, and of course to resist Russia," she added. Though the podcast was over an hour long, it was this statement that really caused a stir. During the same podcast, Sandu admitted that she was aware that a majority of Moldovans do not support unification with Romania according to polls and that this was why the most realistic alternative was Moldova's accession to the European Union. This is supported by vot...