France labour dispute: Hollande digs in as rail strike looms
President Francois Hollande of France has insisted that a controversial labour reform will not be withdrawn as strike action looms on the railways.
"The bill will not be withdrawn," he told a newspaper. "The text assures the best performance for businesses and offers new rights to employees."
Protesters clashed with police last week during marches against the bill, which makes hiring and firing easier.
France will host the Euro 2016 football championships next week.
Tourism chiefs in Paris have warned that the unrest is putting off visitors to one of the world's top destinations.
"The scenes of guerrilla-type action in the middle of Paris, beamed around the world, reinforce the feeling of fear and misunderstanding," the tourist board said.
The capital's reputation as a safe destination was already dented by November's deadly attack by militants from the self-styled Islamic State (IS) group, who killed 130 people in gun and bomb attacks.
Isis digs in against attack on Iraq's second city while brutally punishing those who rebel against them
In the first of a four-part series on the war against Isis, Patrick Cockburn reports that while the jihadists face battles on multiple fronts, civilians who have fled from Mosul speak of a ruthless group who will defend the city at all costs
In the last few days somebody has been painting the initial letter of the Arabic word for “resistance” – muqawama – on walls in Mosul. Some fifteen Isis members have been assassinated by a group calling itself Ketaib Mosul that is evidently well informed about whom it targets.
There are repeated airstrikes by the US-led Coalition on Isis personnel and facilities and there has long been an expectation among the estimated 1.5 million people still in Mosul that there would be an assault on the city by the Iraqi army, Kurdish Peshmerga and Sunni tribal militias backed by the massive firepower of Coalition aircraft and drones.
Exclusive: Boko Haram victim tells DW of captivity near Chibok girls
Christina Ijabla was held kidnapped by Boko Haram for two years. She's told DW about life in an Islamist militant prison camp and how she had seen the elusive Chibok girls, whose seizure sparked international outrage.
DW: Christina Ijabla - you were kidnapped around two years ago when Madagali, your home town in northeastern Nigeria, was overrun by Boko Haram fighters. What can you remember about the day you were abducted?
Christina Ijabla: I remember hearing gunfire and everybody started to run away. It was chaos, everybody was left to fend for themselves. Suddenly five men appeared, blocking our way. They asked why we were running away. We told them that we were trying to get away from the fighting. Then they said simply: you are not going anywhere. We pleaded with them to let us go, but they showed no mercy. They then took us to a house in Madagali where we were held as prisoners.
China's propaganda arms push soft power in Australian media deals
May 31, 2016 - 5:40PMPhilip Wen
China correspondent for Fairfax Media
Even in the context of China's tightly-controlled media, the adulatory tone and blanket coverage afforded to President Xi Jinping's February tour of the headquarters of the three main state-run news organisations was unusual.
The highly stage-managed visits hammered home Mr Xi's demands. The media must pledge fealty to the Communist Party, and it exists, first and foremost, as a propaganda tool for the state. So too, must Chinese media find ways to more effectively to broadcast the party's voice to the world, or in his words: "properly tell the China story".
"[We] must strengthen the building of our international communication capacity, increasing our international discourse power and focussing the proper telling of China's story … working to build flagship external propaganda media that have rather strong reputations internationally," he said.
Trapped between debt and humiliation: The story of a Pakistani migrant
TAIMUR ALI AHMAD
“When I spoke with my parents, tears rolled down my face. I was wondering what to tell them…”
These are the words of a migrant worker who, like thousands of others, has to leave his home in Pakistan and seek work elsewhere, carrying the weight of the expectations of his family and community.
He finds himself trapped between the reality of being a migrant worker, and the life of debt and humiliation that awaits him if he returns, unsuccessful in his endeavours.
Recent figures have suggested that agriculture production in Pakistan actually decreased by 0.9 per cent, while cotton output plummeted by 27 per cent. Behind these macro figures are the stories of the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Pakistani peasants.
Kenya covers up military massacre
Updated 0409 GMT (1209 HKT) May 31, 2016
On January 15, a massive blast shattered the dawn calm at El Adde military base. A suicide bomber had detonated a truck loaded with explosives, the cue for hundreds of fighters clad in camouflage gear to attack.
The raid lasted the entire day; thousands upon thousands of bullets fired by some 300 Al-Shabaab militants in a brutal assault on Kenyan soldiers stationed in Somalia to fight the terrorist group.
By the time the sun set, as many as 141 Kenyan soldiers were dead -- some shot at point-blank range. That figure would make what happened at El Adde Kenya's largest military defeat since its independence in 1963.
But in the months since, there has been no national day of mourning, no roll call of honor, and no explanation.
The only clues to what happened are contained in a propaganda video made by Al-Shabaab itself.
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