Myanmar Pardons Over 4,000 Prisoners in Annual Amnesty

Myanmar's new president, Min Aung Hlaing, on Friday approved the release of 4,335 prisoners from the country's jails, reportedly including some 179 foreign nationals. Such mass amnesty schemes tend to be carried out to mark the nation's Independence Day in January and its New Year in April. What do we know about the latest release

Nueva Germania: Paraguay’s Failed Aryan Utopia

In the late 19th century, Berlin schoolteacher Bernhard Föster declared that German culture and virtues were under threat — and that the Jews were to blame. A fervent antisemite, he repeatedly faced trial in the German empire for racist incitement. He faced disciplinary proceedings at his school and was even placed on a wanted list.

AfD Leads CDU/CSU in New German Poll

Skip next section Woman leaves 20 tarantulas on German train April 17, 2026 Woman leaves 20 tarantulas on German train A woman has been reunited with 20 tarantulas that she left on a regional train in southern Germany. A train driver discovered a package labeled "Spiders and Scorpions" on a service from the town of Herrenberg

Nuba Mountains: Fragile Refuge on Sudan’s Front Line

Hassan Koko sits on top of a homemade wooden bed, overlooking the majestic hills of the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan, Sudan. Despite the spectacular view and a comforting late afternoon breeze, he looks uneasy. On November 29, the 50-year-old community health worker had finished a training course and was enjoying some sweet tea when

Gaza: Trapped Between War and Fragile Ceasefire

Efforts to broker a stable ceasefire in the Gaza Strip between Hamas and Israel have been underway for many months, with very little progress. Last Sunday, a Hamas delegation set off for Cairo to discuss the next steps in the ceasefire process with Egyptian mediators. The focus still remains on unresolved issues from the first phase of the

India Parliament Votes on Women’s Quota Amid Delimitation Dispute

India's parliament is set for a Friday vote on a crucial stack of three bills that could expand the size of the legislative body to increase the representation of women lawmakers. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday proposed the amendment bills in a special session of the Parliament, aimed at bringing forward

US-led effort in Libya: Unity, security and Russian pressure

Rain is drizzling as we gather on the runway at the Stuttgart army airfield in southern Germany. It's 2:30 a.m., time for takeoff. A Dash 8 airliner is ready for boarding. The military plane will take us to Sirte in Libya. In 2015, the extremist group known as the "Islamic State" turned the coastal city into its largest stronghold outside Iraq

Can Bulgaria’s Election Change Its Direction?

Whether it be at the airport in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, or along the roads connecting cities nationwide, the face of Bulgaria's former president is everywhere right now. Billboards and banners for Rumen Radev and his newly founded Progressive Bulgaria party dominate the visual landscape across the country. While other parties traditionally feature a larger

Ben Roberts-Smith Granted Bail After Afghan War Crime Charges

An Australian court ordered on Friday bail with travel restrictions for Ben Roberts-Smith, the country's most-decorated living war veteran. The decision comes 10 days after he was charged with war crimes in the killings of five people while deployed in Afghanistan. Roberts-Smith has denied the accusations. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. What did

IMF and World Bank Resume Ties with Venezuela

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank announced Thursday that they had resumed dealings with Venezuela after a seven-year pause over government recognition issues. The Latin American country's relations with the financial institutions collapsed in 2019 when the IMF recognized the opposition, which controlled the parliament, as the legitimate government. What did the
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