Author: DW

Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter gave the Oktoberfest in the Bavarian capital its traditional launch on Saturday, opening a barrel of beer and marking it with the time-honored phrase “O’zapft is!” (Bavarian for “It is tapped”). Reiter then handed the first mug to Bavarian Premier Markus Söder with a wish for a peaceful festival, with the day’s sunny, late summer weather auguring well for its success. Ahead of the tapping, Söder described the Oktoberfest as chance to get some relief in a period of multiple crises and a place where “pure high spirits” prevail. Germany’s biggest tourist event The event held on the Theresienwiese fairground…

Brrrrr! Autumn’s chill is creeping in across much of Europe, hinting at the deep freeze to come this winter. Fortunately, Gas Infrastructure Europe, the gas operators’ association, reports that European Union gas reserves are at just over 80% [September 15, 2025] — lower than the 90% cushions of the last few years but stronger than 2021. So will this winter glow with warmth or flicker with uncertainty? Having diversified energy supplies from Russia following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, EU countries pivoted to liquified natural gas (LNG) from Norway, the United States and Qatar, while continuing to boost the rollout of renewable energies, including…

Russia is holding the final of its Intervision song contest on Saturday evening, a competition from Soviet times that has been relaunched by President Vladimir Putin as a conservative answer to the West’s glitzy, liberal and queer-friendly Eurovision Song Contest .  Russian artists have been banned from participating in Eurovision since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.The Kremlin-friendly singer Shaman will be representing RussiaImage: Mikhail Tereshchenko/TASS/ZUMA/picture alliance What is Intervision about? Moscow says that the competition aims to foster “national identity” and “traditional values.” There will be no “perversions and mockery of human nature,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in a remark…

“I’m in tears with joy. We’ve built a team that can compete with APOEL. This is just the beginning,” says Yevgeny Savin. On an August evening, the president of the Krasava ENY Ypsonas football club sits in one of the upper tiers of the Ammochostos Stadium in Larnaca, looking out at the empty pitch. The football club, which he had originally founded in Russia four years ago and re-registered in Cyprus after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, has just made its debut in the country’s topflight. Although Krasava lost the match 2-1, the fact that it came…

Britain pulled out all the stops for US President Donald Trump. A second state visit, something no other US president has ever received, came with an “extra-large” guard of honor, a royal banquet in Windsor Castle, and plenty of flattering words from UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Outside the pageantry, thousands of protesters filled London’s streets. Waving Palestinian flags, denouncing Trump’s climate policies, and demanding solidarity with migrants, they voiced a starkly different message: Britain should keep its distance from the US president. But the government’s goal was clear: avoid disaster, extract some pledges from Trump and show that the “special relationship”…

The 190th outing of the Oktoberfest is being held on Munich’s Theresienwiese from September 20 to October 5, 2025. Set-up has been underway since the end of June, and now — just days before the world’s largest folk festival kicks off — preparations are complete. To get the festival started, the Mayor of Munich traditionally taps the first barrel with a cry of “O’zapft is!.” Over the next two-and-a-half weeks, it’s estimated that six to seven million visitors will attend the Oktoberfest. The majority of them come Germany, especially Bavaria. International guests, too, with the largest crowds coming from the USA, Italy, UK, Austria,…

Secondhand is winning two-to-one on my clothing rack. It makes sense. I grew up thrifting. I’ll never forget the thrill of digging up the navy-blue plush hoodie of my dreams at one of the countless flea markets I visited with my mom as a kid. But today, I’m on a smaller mission for a basic black t-shirt because I’m over the ones I have. Since I found that hoodie, secondhand has had a serious glow up. Small, chaotic charity shops like Goodwill or Oxfam have given way to minimalistic vintage boutiques where a used shirt can cost more than a new…

It is 9:00 in the morning. Buses and cars are passing slowly through the Shehyni checkpoint in the region of Lviv, a city close to Ukraine’s border with Poland. There is no line for pedestrians, most of whom are elderly people, women and children. There are also several men of all ages. At the end of August, the Ukrainian government allowed men aged 18 to 22 to leave the country, where martial law has been imposed since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the decision would keep more young men in Ukraine by giving them…

After Germany beat Turkey to win the Eurobasket crown on Sunday, there can be no doubt that the country is enjoying its greatest-ever era of basketball. Just two years after winning the World Championship and one year on from Germany’s women winning gold in the 3×3 at the Paris Olympics, the glory days continued as NBA stars Franz Wagner and Dennis Schröder helped Germany take the EuroBasket. The success was Germany’s second-ever EuroBasket title, and Schröder was named the tournament MVP for his efforts. While eight of the 12 players in Germany’s title squad play for professional teams abroad, including three in the NBA, domestic basketball in Germany has gone…

From stormed palaces to fleeing heads of state, a number of Asian countries are witnessing political transformations led by a generation born into the digital age. This digitally savvy Gen Z, a term referring to people born roughly between 1997 and 2012, has emerged as a formidable force, challenging authoritarianism, corruption and economic inequality with street-level activism. In Nepal, youth protests against a social media ban and corruption toppled Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli’s government last week. Indonesia witnessed large-scale protests recently, triggered by lavish perks for lawmakers, among other grievances. President Prabowo Subianto’s administration barely managed to hold on, scrambling…