The Austrian city of Linz has announced plans to rename a street honouring Ferdinand Porsche, founder of luxury carmaker Porsche, after a 2019 commission tasked with investigating controversial street names in the country determined that names relating to the country’s Nazi past were “deeply problematic.” The street in question, Porscheweg,
Turkey’s flawed democracy stands on an ever more fragile precipice. When opposition politician Ekrem İmamoğlu, a proud representative of the Republican People’s Party, was popularly elected mayor of Istanbul back in March 2019, president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was immediately worried. The current Turkish president has enjoyed close relations with İmamoğlu
Mere weeks after Indonesia had strengthened its international reputation by successfully hosting a G20 summit in Bali, a suicide bomber tempered that optimism, acting as a reminder of the south-east Asian nation’s fractious political nature. The attack on Java killed one person while injuring dozens more, with the country’s controversial
At the Polish border the past seems inescapable. A discernible weight of history settles all around you, with each historical epoch that lay before us leaving its indelible mark on a nation that has stood the test of time. Hitler’s brutal German troops from the West, the Soviet Red Army
Under the blanket of the hushed Ethiopian night, one of the world’s most pressing conflicts has miraculously come to an unanticipated standstill. Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict, which has blighted the East African nation for the last two years, appears to have attested its ultimate denouement after both sides of the quarrel
Neither Italy’s establishment politicians or their European counterparts are sitting entirely comfortably today, on the date of the nation’s general election. Pre-election polls placed the recently formed right-wing alliance between the post-fascist Brothers of Italy, Matteo Salvini’s anti-immigration League, and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia at more than 46% of the
Switzerland has announced plans to construct a nuclear waste storage facility near the nation’s north-eastern border with Germany. The thought of Swiss nuclear waste sitting next to homes has worried local communities, especially those just across the German border, and raised potential security implications for the area’s water supply: the
As the devastating war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) rumbles on, pressure continues to mount on the nation’s leaders to bring about a rapid denouement of a seemingly never-ending affair. East African countries have persistently worried about political insecurity in the region, and have viewed the DRC as
An undeviating split among Germany’s far-right organizations has risen to the fore in recent months over how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should be responded to and dealt with. Whilst some groups have sided with Russian President Vladmir Putin, his authoritarian rule and imperialist desires, others have elucidated their preference to
Following the interruption of gas supplies to Germany from Russia, fears linger over the speculation that a difficult winter lies ahead. A state of existential angst has mired the German capital in recent times, with many now making practical preparations for a troubling winter. Russian President Vladimir Putin has long
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed met last month with Sudanese military leader, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi in an attempt to reconcile an ongoing border dispute between the two countries. Violent clashes have taken place in recent weeks over such quarrelling, with alarming claims having
At least 21 civilians and 8 police officers tragically lost their lives in an eruption of violence last week on the streets of Freetown, Sierra Leone, in what are believed to be anti-government protests aimed at overthrowing President Julius Maada Bio, though the full details are not yet known. Police
National elections in Senegal on July 31st have yielded intense controversy. Both the incumbent government and the opposition claimed victory in a closely fraught political battle, though pressure lies heavy on the shoulders of current president Macky Sall, who remains intent on running for a third term in office despite
Seething tensions between Greece and Turkey once again came to a boil last week over the contentious territorial disputes of the eastern Aegean islands. Germany’s foreign minister Analena Baerbock controversially stated that the “islands are Greek territory”, fuelling an impassioned rebuke from those on the Turkish side. The two sovereign
Uzbekistani President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced on Saturday that his government will be dropping plans to curb the autonomy of the nation’s Karakalpakstan province – the country’s western-most region nestled between the borders of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. Violent clashes took place on the streets on Friday night, after protestors decided to
