A fire and explosions at a substation in southern Iraq led to major power cuts in the country. It comes amid peak electricity demand in midsummer heat, with temperatures near 50 degrees Celsius in Baghdad.

Sub-Saharan Africa trails the world when it comes to access to electricity. It needs to fix more than its power supply issues to get the continent electrified.

While others play at the World Cup, the Afghanistan national team are making their way in Australia's regional leagues. Two years after they fled their country, the past still hurts while the future is uncertain.

Authorities started evacuating people from several Catalan villages as the forest fire spreads near the French border. Strong winds have fanned the flames while preventing water-bombing planes from taking off.

In August 2021, the Taliban conquered Kabul. Local Afghan employees who had assisted German forces hastily fled their homeland. Many are still waiting for help.

As global interest in the war-torn country diminishes, many Afghans feel abandoned. In the two years since the Taliban retook control they have imposed draconian restrictions on society, especially women and girls.

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers took over the capital Kabul on August 15, 2021. A Taliban spokesperson denied the group was anti-woman in comments to DW, while the UN has accused it of gender apartheid.

Africa is in dire need of electricity — and hydro power is expected to play a crucial role in its delivery. The potential is huge, but every project bears challenges which must be overcome.

A group of senior Gabonese military officers appeared on national television in the early hours of Wednesday and said they had taken power, minutes after the state election body announced President Ali Bongo had won a third term.

Afghanistan's hard-line Taliban rulers have prevented women scholarship recipients from flying to the United Arab Emirates to continue their studies. Their sponsor, a businessman from Dubai, is not giving up.

The regional bloc CCAS, and the country's opposition coalition, have urged international partners to push for a rapid return to civilian rule. Also in this edition: In Democratic Republic of Congo, at least 48 protesters are reported to have been killed in the eastern city of Goma. And finally: In South Africa, the death toll rises to 76 after the devastating Johannesburg fire at an abandoned apartment block that housed dozens of homeless people and squatters.

Fatal skirmishes last week near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border between troops and militants has resulted in a renewed crackdown on Afghan refugees.