Author: DW

Residential tower blocks made of prefabricated concrete slabs were built in many parts of the world during the second half of the 20th century, but this type of building was particularly popular in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), where it became known as the “Plattenbau.”  The cultural implications of the Plattenbau are so specifically German that the name for the prefab buildings is kept untranslated in the English title of the exhibition “Wohnkomplex: Art and Life in Plattenbau,” on show at the museum Das Minsk in Potsdam until February 8, 2026. The exhibition explores the cultural legacy of the prefabricated…

You’ve probably never heard of KfW. It’s a national development bank — the world’s largest — backed by the German state and established to funds projects around the world, ranging from roads in Africa to water systems in Asia. But what happens when projects backed by the lender displace a village, pollute a river, or silence dissent? A new report on KfW Bank’s human rights record says these aren’t just hypotheticals; they’re real risks and they’re not being handled well enough. Known by the slogan “Responsible Banking,” KfW is backed by billions in public money. So those failures aren’t seen as just tragic; they’re paid for by German taxpayers.Kofler: German aid can’t…

Of all the threats in space, it’s what the UN calls “a blurring of the line between civilian and military uses” that fires the imagination most. But there are other concerns: collisions between satellites, flight congestion, space debris hitting other spacecraft or falling to Earth, asteroids…  Viewed as a mass of problems, it may seem as though we’re “staring at a perceived wild tiger,” says Helen Tung, a space lawyer and lecturer based at the University of Huddersfield, UK. “It automatically engages our fear mechanisms,” she told DW. But you get what you want, Tung added: If you want war, you do…

09/10/2025September 10, 2025What do we know so far about the drones violating Poland’s airspace?Poland’s armed forces said that during Russia strikes on Ukraine, its “airspace was repeatedly violated by drone-type objects.” “An operation is underway aimed at identifying and neutralizing the objects,” the military’s RSZ operational command said in a post on X shortly before 4 a.m. local time (0200 GMT) on Wednesday.  Earlier it had posted that Polish and NATO allied aircraft were operating in Polish airspace.  What regions in Poland are affected? As of 0120 GMT, most of Ukraine, including western regions of Volyn and Lviv, which border…

Iran and the United Nations nuclear watchdog have signed an agreement to pave the way for resuming cooperation, including on ways of relaunching inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities. The announcement followed a meeting in Cairo between Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi. The meeting was mediated by Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty. What do we know about the agreement? Grossi called the deal “a step in the right direction,” at a joint news conference after the signing. He said the deal was technical in nature and highlighted the “indispensable” inspection work that needs…

Relations between the US and Europe are currently under considerable strain. In response to this, the Goethe-Institut USA is launching a campaign called “Among Friends — Unter Freunden,” which aims to encourage German-American dialog. The program kicks off with a reading tour by two young authors who’ll be traveling across the US for four weeks, from New York to Texas, sometimes venturing beyond the Goethe-Institut’s offices to more quirky locations. In Washington, for example, Sonali Beher and Iven Yorick Fenker will be appearing in a pizzeria, while in West Chester, Pennsylvania, they’ll be reading in a huge antique bookshop in a former barn. Beher,…

In a tech-world irony, artificial intelligence (AI) seems to have come to the rescue of Silicon Valley old-guard firm Google and its Chrome web browser. About a year ago, the future of Google looked shaky. In the biggest antitrust challenge it ever faced, a US court in Washington, DC, found that it illegally monopolized the search market with huge payments to other companies to ensure its search engine was the default option, which effectively blocked other competitors. With this ruling, the US Department of Justice wanted to force Google to sell its lucrative Chrome browser or Android operating system. Many commentators foresaw the end…

Thailand’s top court ruled on Tuesday that ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra did not serve his 2023 jail term properly, ordering him to serve one year in prison. “Sending him to hospital was not legal, the defendant knows his sickness was not an urgent matter, and staying in hospital cannot count as a prison term,” said the ruling read out by a judge. In its ruling, the court has issued a warrant to take Thaksin to Bangkok Remand Prison to begin serving a one-year term. The court was probing whether officials had mishandled his return to Thailand in 2023 and served time for a corruption conviction. Thaksin…

How many people died building Ethiopia’s dam? An Ethiopian magazine caused a stir after it reported that at least 15,000 people may have diedduring the construction of the nearly $5 billion (€4.2 billion) Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) over 14 years. In an interview with DW, Ethiopian Water and Energy Minister Habtamu Itefa would neither confirm nor deny the claims. “On the point about the numbers that are being quoted, the question is wrong, and the answer is also wrong. For information on this, you have to go to relevant institutions,” Itefa told DW.  Reported deaths include engineers and workers, security forces, drivers and…

Relations between the US and Europe are currently under considerable strain. In response to this, the Goethe-Institut USA is launching a campaign called “Among Friends — Unter Freunden,” which aims to encourage German-American dialog. The program kicks off with a reading tour by two young authors who’ll be traveling across the US for four weeks, from New York to Texas, sometimes venturing beyond the Goethe-Institut’s offices to more quirky locations. In Washington, for example, Sonali Beher and Iven Yorick Fenker will be appearing in a pizzeria, while in West Chester, Pennsylvania, they’ll be reading in a huge antique bookshop in a former barn. Beher,…