Author: DW

When Lady Gaga entered the scene in the late 2000s, she sent shockwaves through the world of pop music. Provocation often seemed to be her main aim. Looking back, however, it was clearly all part of her strategy. Pop music and videos would never be the same. From NYC fixture to global superstar Born on March 28, 1986 in New York City as Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, she grew up comfortably in Manhattan. She played piano and was already writing her own songs as a teenager. She loved the theater and musicals and making an impression through her extravagance. She…

Volkswagen (VW) is in talks with the Israeli defense firm Rafael Advanced Defense Systems over a possible collaboration which would see production switch from cars to defense equipment at a key VW plant, according to a report in the Financial Times. The exclusive report in the newspaper, quoting people familiar with the plan, says the companies plan to convert Volkswagen’s struggling Osnabrück plant into a facility which makes components for the Israeli state-owned company’s Iron Dome air defense system. In response to queries from DW, a spokesperson for Volkswagen said “the production of weapons by Volkswagen AG remains ruled out…

Seven goals, 14 substitutions, no cards — there were a lot of storylines in Germany’s draw in Basel. With two and a half months left to the World Cup though, most of the focus is on who will make the squad. One man who doesn’t need to worry is Florian Wirtz. The 22-year-old is one of the first names on the teamsheet let alone in the squad, and against Switzerland he delivered just the latest masterclass in his young career. Wirtz emerges as leader by example Jonathan Tah’s first-ever Germany goal came from a Wirtz cross. It was Wirtz who…

Skip next section Germany’s coal-fired plants could run longer due to Iran war03/27/2026March 27, 2026Germany’s coal-fired plants could run longer due to Iran warMerz said he wouldn’t gamble energy security ‘because we agreed on some deadlines years ago’Image: Christoph Hardt/Panama Pictures/IMAGOAmid the ongoing energy crisis sparked by the war in the Middle East, Chancellor Friedrich Merz questioned Germany’s plans to abandon coal as a source of power. “We may need to keep our coal plants online for longer,” he said at an event organized by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in Frankfurt. Germany has used coal as its primary energy source…

Since the Iran war began, the surge in oil prices has stirred memories of the dramatic oil shocks of 1973 and 1979.    In 1973, oil-producing Arab countries imposed an embargo against Western nations to punish them for supporting Israel during the Yom Kippur War. Oil prices skyrocketed, forcing many Western governments to implement energy-saving measures such as gasoline rationing. Germany, for instance, declared several car-free days, banning private vehicles from the streets on four consecutive Sundays. Is the world once again on the brink of a similar crisis? Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), gave a stark warning on Monday,…

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Thursday that it would reintroduce genetic gender testing to determine eligibility for female events at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. “Eligibility for any female category event at the Olympic Games or any other IOC event, including individual and team sports, is now limited to biological females, determined on the basis of a one time gene screening,” the committee said following an 18-month consultation. “Based on scientific evidence, the IOC considers that the presence ​of the SRY gene is fixed throughout life and represents highly accurate evidence that an athlete has experienced male sex development,”…

Young men who identify with the “manosphere” — an online movement promoting toxic masculinity and misogyny — are being promised a better life and a higher “sexual market value” by becoming more attractive through “looksmaxxing.” The online trend comes with its own lingo, significant costs — and a good dose of pain. Lookmaxxing influencers are promising isolated young incels, or involuntary celibates, that they can get better jobs and attract more sexual partners though a rigorous diet (“starvemaxxing”), plenty of steroids and weights, plastic surgery and a jawline made more angular with a hammer to the face (“bonesmashing”).Looksmaxxing content on social media promotes questionable…

In the hours after the US and Israel began conducting joint strikes on Iran on February 28, air traffic along the normally busy east-west routes was forced into a narrow airspace corridor over the South Caucasus. What is a new development in the skies has been building on the ground for some time. In recent years, the region has gained attention as a key link in the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route. Also known as the Middle Corridor, it serves to connect Europe and China whilst bypassing Iran and Russia via Central Asia and the South Caucasus. Now, the Iran war has cast…

“People believe all sorts of things about how the world’s going to end,” said Matthew Billet, social psychologist at University of California, Irvine, US, in conversation with Science unscripted hosts, Conor Dillon and Gabriel Borrud. “Some people mean human extinction,” Billet said. “Some people mean the collapse of civilization or some sort of transformation of civilization as we know it, sometimes leading to a utopia, or a revitalization of humanity. And some people mean the complete destruction of Earth [by] a comet or a solar flare or something.” Most of us have had such thoughts about the end of the…

An under-19 football coach at German Bundesliga club FC St. Pauli publicly came out as gay this week and used the opportunity to criticize attitudes towards homosexuality in the game. Christian Dobrick, 29, told German broadcaster RTL and news magazine Stern on Tuesday that gay men are “still treated like extraterrestrials” in professional men’s football. He said he suspected that, while he’s certain he’s not the only one, there are probably fewer gay men in the professional game than in the general population. “The pressure to lead a hetero-normative life is so big that fewer gay footballers make it to the…