Ukraine updates: Third round of talks to begin in Istanbul – DW – 07/23/2025
Ukrainian and Russian delegations are set to meet in Istanbul for a fresh round of ceasefire talks on Wednesday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the meeting would focus on exchanging prisoners of war rather than ending the conflict.
Separately, Zelenskyy signed a new law restricting autonomy of Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies, sparking rare protests in Kyiv.
Stay tuned for the latest news and analysis from the ongoing war.
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5 minutes ago
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Afghans seeking German visas in Pakistan fear deportation – DW – 07/29/2025
Thousands of Afghans approved for resettlement in Germany remain stranded in Pakistan, leaving them in limbo. Some report being harassed by Pakistani authorities. In a small, rented room in Pakistan's capital Islamabad, ZK (not her real name), a 40-year-old Afghan woman, lives her days like a prisoner. She spends most of her time cooking, singing, dancing and watching the news. ZK, an Afghan journalist from Badakhshan province, was one of the first women to work as a news anchor in Afghanistan. In doing so, she broke barriers in the war-ravaged country's archconservative Islamic society. After the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021, they began rolling back progress achieved in the previous two decades when it came to women's rights. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video ZK fled to Pakistan in 2023 after she was accepted into a German humanitarian admission program designed for Afghans at risk under the Islamic fundamentalist group's regime. It was originally meant to be a short stay before she and her children were relocated to Germany, but has now stretched to over two years. This has left her uncertain about when they will be able to finally make the move to the European country. ZK said she had faced repeated harassment by Pakistani authorities, as well as detention and deportation back to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan in February. "I have been living in Pakistan for two years, waiting for my German visa, but delays in the process have hindered my journey. In February, I was arrested by Islamabad police and deported back to Afghanistan with my two sons," ZK told DW. "Thanks to my journalist friends, I managed to obtain a visa and return to Pakistan. At the time of my arrest, my daughter was hiding in fear of the police and was left alone in Pakistan," she added. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Following the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, the German government promised to make it possible for people whose safety was in danger to come to Germany with their families. These humanitarian admission programs primarily intended to help Afghans who had worked for the German military, as well as people actively involved in cultural, economic, scientific and academic fields, and those who had worked for the former Afghan government. According to figures from Germany's Foreign Ministry, some 36,300 Afghans have so far come to Germany under the relevant schemes, including almost 20,800 locally employed staff. But around 2,400 people approved for admission are still waiting in Islamabad in Pakistan, as there is no longer a German diplomatic mission in Afghanistan itself. In Pakistan, they are housed in guest apartments belonging to the German government while they undertake seemingly interminable visa applications and security checks. Even though many of them have received firm promises from German authorities that they can come to Germany, they now face an uncertain future as the current German government, under Chancellor Friedrich Merz, has pledged a tougher stance on asylum and irregular migration. As a part of that push, Berlin has vowed to halt refugee admission programs, and is reviewing whether existing commitments can be revoked. The situation has left the Afghans in Pakistan awaiting resettlement in Germany in limbo. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Meanwhile, Pakistan, which for decades had served as refuge for Afghans fleeing from wars or oppressive regimes, has mounted a series of expulsion and deportation drives targeting Afghans since late 2023. The deportation offensive has targeted not only undocumented Afghans but also those with valid papers or awaiting resettlement in third countries such as Germany and the US. Aziz Gull, a 25-year-old Afghan rights activist in Islamabad, expressed her despair to DW, saying, "Our hopes are shattered, and we are homeless. No country is accepting us. My file has been sent to the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but I have not received any confirmation yet. My case at the German Foreign Office is currently on hold, leaving my fate uncertain." Gull, originally from Maidan Wardak province in Afghanistan, arrived in Pakistan in July 2024 and applied for a humanitarian visa through a German NGO. She added, "We face the threat of police harassment, forced deportation from Pakistan, and the Taliban will kill me because of my activism in Afghanistan." Several Afghans DW spoke to said they had been harassed by Pakistani authorities, and expressed fears of being deported to Afghanistan as a result of delayed resettlement in Germany. But a Pakistani Foreign Ministry official, who asked not to be named, denied allegations of harassment. The official instead blamed Germany for "not acting quickly to address the situation" and process the visa applications of the stranded Afghans. "The pressure should be on Germany, not us," the official said, adding: "The police are currently checking the status of undocumented Afghans and deporting those without visas or lacking legal documents to remain in Pakistan." To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Umer Gilani, a lawyer in Islamabad providing legal services to Afghan refugees, described the situation of Afghans stranded in Pakistan as "dire." "They have been repeatedly harassed by the police and seeking constant extensions of their Pakistan visas which means living in extreme anxiety," he added. Even if you leave the costs aside, Gilani pointed out, "there is no shortage of people whose visas expired and got summarily deported back to Afghanistan, putting their lives and liberty at risk." Gull, the Afghan rights activist in Islamabad, said she was "deeply concerned about the possibility of being forcibly returned to Afghanistan." Over the past few years, the Taliban have banished women and girls from almost all areas of public life. Girls have been barred from attending school beyond sixth grade, and women have been prohibited from local jobs and nongovernmental organizations. The Taliban have ordered the closure of beauty salons and barred women from going to gyms and parks. Women also can't go out without a male guardian. Outside the home, women and girls are required to hide not only their faces and bodies but also their voices. "Going back would likely result in imprisonment or even execution for us," said Gull. ZK, the female journalist, shares a similar view. "Returning to Afghanistan means death. The Taliban had already killed my husband."
DW
35 minutes ago
- DW
India: Tiger numbers rise, but risks remain – DW – 07/29/2025
July 29 is International Tiger Day. India has made progress in growing and stabilizing its tiger population, but the big cats still face serious threats that jeopardize their future. India has the world's largest tiger population, home to over 3,600 wild tigers, which represent about 75% of the global wild tiger population, inhabiting an area of 138,200 square kilometers (53,360 square miles), according to the 2023 All-India Tiger Estimation Report, which contains figures from the country's most recent tiger census. Indian Prime Minister Narandra Modi at the time emphasized the "responsibility of doing even more to protect the tiger as well as other animals." But despite the healthy numbers, stabilizing and securing the future of tigers requires continued and complex efforts. Deforestation, expansion of agriculture, urbanization, and infrastructure projects have increasingly fragmented tiger habitats. As a result, continuous tiger habitats have been divided into smaller patches — affecting their movement, breeding, and the availability of prey. "Charismatic mammals are part of varied natural ecosystems and this unhealthy focus on the population size of large mammals has blinded us from the overall deterioration of functional natural ecosystems," wildlife conservationist Ravi Chellam told DW. Chellam pointed out that it is not merely the size of habitats, but their quality that constrains tiger survival and recovery. Therefore, ensuring prey-rich, well-managed and protected habitats is key. "Most ecosystems have been degraded by the phenomenal increase in the presence of invasive species, fragmented and even destroyed by numerous 'development' projects and with impacts of climate change being felt across the country," said Chellam. India has 58 tiger reserves spread across 18 states. Of late, the fragmentation of tiger habitats has become severe in areas where forests overlap with expanding human settlements, agriculture, and infrastructure corridors. For instance, the central Indian region is home to several major tiger reserves — including Kanha, Pench, Tadoba, Satpura and Bandhavgarh. However, roads, railways, mines, and agricultural expansion have fragmented the forests and isolated tiger populations. Prominent corridors — such as those connecting the tiger reserves in Kanha and Pench, as well as Tadoba and Indravati — are under significant pressure. Sariska Tiger Reserve in the western Rajasthan corridor faces grave ecological risks from the government's move to address concerns about mining operations near Sariska. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video This change is intended to facilitate the reopening of more than 50 marble, dolomite, limestone, and masonry stone mines that were previously shut down by a Supreme Court order due to their proximity to core tiger habitats. The proposed plan to redraw the boundaries of the Sariska Tiger Reserve shall remove over 4,800 hectares from the critical tiger habitat, according to a digital campaigning organization. "This reduction threatens vital wildlife corridors that are crucial for tiger movement, seasonal refuge, and territorial establishment," said the group. Similarly, the Sundarbans mangrove forest spreading across parts of Bangladesh and the eastern state of West Bengal is one of the largest reserves for the Bengal tiger. But rising sea levels and coastal erosion are destroying the tigers' natural habitat. Yadvendradev Jhala, a prominent wildlife scientist and former dean at the Wildlife Institute of India, said that India has monitored the distribution and profusion of tigers every four years since 2006. India has now adopted modern techniques such as camera trapping, genetic analysis, and the Monitoring System for Tigers: Intensive Protection and Ecological Status (M-STrIPES) to assist effective patrolling, assess ecological status and mitigate human-wildlife conflict in and around tiger reserves. "We found that tigers would persist in protected habitats with ample prey, while becoming extinct in areas of increased human and social disturbances," Jhala told DW. Tiger habitats in the states of Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and eastern Maharashtra have been affected by ongoing armed insurgencies. These conflict zones coincide with areas where tiger occupancy is low and the probability of local extinction is high, according to a study published in . "These are areas where with greater political stability, we might expect tiger recovery," he added. While surveying tiger habitats, Jhala and his team found that tigers shared space with people at high densities in some areas such as Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, and Karnataka. However, they became extinct or were absent from areas with a legacy of extensive bushmeat consumption or commercial poaching, even when human density was relatively low such as in the states of Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. "Thus, it is not simply the density of humans but rather their attitudes and lifestyles that determine stewardship for tiger recovery," said Jhala, emphasizing that adopting an inclusive and sustainable rural prosperity in place of an intensive land-use, change–driven economy can be conducive for tiger recovery. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Subbiah Nallamuthu, a leading wildlife filmmaker, who has made significant contributions to conservation efforts, particularly through his work documenting the lives of tigers, told DW that there is a hidden danger behind the rising tiger numbers. In a healthy tiger landscape, wildlife scientists say the ideal sex ratio should be one adult male for every two to three adult females (1:2 or 1:3). This is based on natural tiger behavior and territory needs. "In many tiger reserves, especially Ranthambhore, the male-to-female ratio is now close to 1:1 with equal numbers of adult males and females. In some areas, male numbers are even higher," said Nallamuthu. From his experience documenting tigers, Nallamuthu points out that this imbalance happens because of limited space, fragmented corridors, and tourism pressure. "Conservation is no longer just about saving a species. It is about saving its way of life. If we ignore sex ratios and territorial needs, we may have tigers in numbers, but not in balance," Nallamuthu said. "A forest full of conflict is not a healthy forest. On this International Tiger Day, we must shift focus from just celebrating numbers to understanding what tigers truly need to thrive."
DW
35 minutes ago
- DW
Historian Karl Schlögel wins German Peace Prize – DW – 07/29/2025
German author and essayist who has critiqued authoritarian regimes in East Europe from Stalin to Putin, has been honored for his commitment to peace in Europe. German historian Karl Schlögel, an expert on Russia and Ukraine, is the winner of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade for 2025. One of Germany's most prestigious literary prizes that is bestowed annually by the German Publishers and Booksellers Association at the Frankfurt Book Fair, this year's recipient has recently focused on the historical context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "His was one of the first voices to warn of Vladimir Putin's aggressive expansionist policies and authoritarian-nationalist claims to power," read the jury's statement. "Today, Schlögel continues to affirm Ukraine's place in Europe, calling for its defence as essential to our shared future." "His enduring message is both clear and urgent," the statement continued. "Without a free Ukraine, there can be no peace in Europe." To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Born in 1948 into a farming family in Bavaria, southern Germany, Karl Schlögel's fascination for Eastern Europe began when he travelled to the Soviet Union in 1966. Two years later he experienced the Prague Spring, whereby Soviet tanks brutally suppressed an uprising in the Czechoslovakia capital. By 1969, Schlögel was studying philosophy and East European History at the Free University of Berlin and went on to specialize in Stalinist Russia. The up and coming historian became an active member of the student movement and joined the Maoist Communist Party of Germany for a time before receiving his doctorate based on a study of conflicts in Soviet Union labor organizations. He continued to write extensively on Russian and East European history and culture in essays and history books for several decades. His writings soon included criticism of Russian leader, Vladimir Putin. "The only things that President Vladimir Putin has learned from the failings of the Russian Empire seem to be fear of change and a willingness to maintain order at any price," Schlögel wrote in an op-ed for DW in 2017, the 100th anniversary of the Russian revolution. When Putin's regime illegally annexed Crimea in 2014, then Ukrainian territory, the professor visited the country and refocused his research on Ukraine and cities like Kyiv, Odesa, Lviv and Kharkiv. In works such as "Terror and Dream" (2008) and "The Soviet Century" (2017), which revives the everyday life of a "lost world" behind the Iron Curtain, Schlögel has "set standards for vivid, lively historiography," said Karin Schmidt-Friderichs, Chairwoman of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association. "With his narrative style, which combines observation, feeling, and understanding, he corrects prejudices and arouses curiosity," said Schmidt-Friderichs. The Peace Prize is "a surprising and great honor," said Schlögel after his triumph was announced, adding the award also recognizes the importance of Eastern European history that centers his work. He also spoke of the need for Germany to defend Ukraine. "Russia is the enemy," he said in an interview with the German Press Agency (dpa). "Russia is a state that has started a war in Europe, and Germans must prepare themselves for that." Last year, the US historian Anne Applebaum also won Peace Prize of the German Book Trade based on her support for Ukraine in the face of hostile Russian aggression. "To prevent Russia from spreading its autocratic political system, we must help Ukraine to victory," said the Polish-American historian in 2024 in her acceptance speech at St. Paul's Church in Frankfurt. "At a time when democratic values and achievements are increasingly being caricatured and attacked, her work embodies an eminent and indispensable contribution to the preservation of democracy and peace," the award citation said of Applebaum. Karl Schlögel is the latest recipient of a prize that began in 1950 when the German Publishers and Booksellers Association first awarded the Peace Prize — now with prize money of 25,000 euros ($28,820) — to demonstrate its "commitment to serving international understanding between nations and cultures." The Peace Prize is presented annually at the end of the Frankfurt Book Fair and will be awarded this year on October 19. with dpaTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
