Author: DW

What you need to know The US was the biggest funder of global HIV initiatives until the start of Donald Trump’s second term as President Experts told DW cuts to domestic health institutions and foreign aid are likely to jeopardize efforts to stop an increase in HIV infections They said the risk was real despite Lencapavir, a highly promising, preventative drug that’s now approved in the US for HIV prevention The battle against HIV has been dealt repeated blows in 2025 with cuts to funding for major global aid programs by the United States. There have also been budget cuts…

It came as no surprise who was the center of attention on media day at the Germany women’s training camp in the small southern town of Herzogenaurach. With Alexandra Popp having called time on her international career it is Bayern Munich’s Giulia Gwinn who has been tasked with leading Germany into next month’s Euros in Switzerland. “I feel a great honor and a great deal of pride,” Gwinn told DW, five months after her appointment as Germany’s new captain.  “I feel a different (level of) responsibility, but think I have adjusted to it well,” she said. “I try to listen to what’s going on…

A civil court in Nantes ruled Tuesday that the French government bore partial responsibility for the 2016 death of Jean-Rene Auffray, a 50-year-old jogger who suffered rapid pulmonary oedema, which sees the lungs fill with liquid, after he inhaled high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide on a beach in western Brittany. In a statement, the court said that it “holds the state liable for negligence due to its failure to implement European and national regulations designed to protect waters from agricultural pollution,” which is “the main cause of the proliferation of green algae in Brittany.” “For the first time, a French…

On June 21, former presidential candidate and popular blogger Siarhei Tsikhanouski and 13 other Belarusian political prisoners were released following US mediation. The day after his release, he spoke about his political convictions at a press conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, with his wife, Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Tsikhanouski told journalists that he can hardly believe he is free and he may not have survived if he’d had to spend 20 years in prison. In 2021, the entrepreneur and blogger was sentenced to 18 years in a penal colony during a court trial held behind closed doors. Investigators accused the activist of organizing street…

China’s choke hold on rare earths — the minerals essential for electronics, automotive and defense systems — gave it significant leverage over the United States during recent tariff talks in London. Controlling about 60% of global rare earth production and nearly 90% of refining, China tightened its grip in April by imposing export controls on seven rare earth elements and permanent magnets. The curbs, partly in response to sky-high tariffs on Chinese exports imposed by US President Donald Trump, exposed US vulnerabilities, as the country lacks domestic refining capacity. “The whole world economy relies on these magnets from China,” Jost Wübbeke, managing partner at the Berlin-based Sinolytics research house specializing in…

A double bass almost four meters tall in the orchestra; a Lithuanian accordionist who likes to play at lofty heights; a South African cellist who makes the audience sing: The Rheingau Music Festival presents special people in special places and has become one of the largest festivals in Europe, hosting classical but also jazz, pop and world music. “The spaces are an integral part of us,” said festival managing director Marsilius von Ingelheim of the setting. “We bring unique concert experiences to historical and modern locations in the region.” The wine-growing Rheingau region in the central German state of Hessen features…

Uranium was discovered in 1789 by Martin Klaproth, a German chemist. It is a radioactive element found naturally in the environment in very small amounts — scientists call these trace amounts — in rock, soil, water systems, such as streams, on plants and as dust in the air. What does uranium look like? Uranium has the same silver-white-gray finish as other heavy metals, such as lead, cadmium or tungsten. And it, too, is very dense. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) calculates that a 10-centimeter (3.93 inch) cube of uranium weighs about 20 kilograms (44 pounds).  What is uranium used for?…

Kirsty Coventry made sporting history by being elected president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at its General Assembly on March 20, 2025. On Monday (June 23, 2025) she officially took over from outgoing IOC President Thomas Bach.  “In this spirit of gratitude, confidence and joy, I hand over the keys of Olympic House to Mrs Kirsty Coventry, the 10th president of the International Olympic Committee,” Bach said as he handed over a key to the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland to Coventry. The Zimbabwean thus became the first woman and the first person from Africa to hold the top job at the…

Greenpeace on Monday became the latest group to protest the lavish wedding Amazon owner Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez have planned in Venice. Members of the environmental organization and British group “Everyone Hates Elon” unfolded a giant banner in central St Mark’s Square with a picture of Bezos laughing and a sign reading: “If you can rent Venice for your wedding, you can pay more tax.” It is the latest protest against this week’s multi-day event, expected to attract some 200 guests, including US President Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, and son-in-law Jared Kushner, as well as celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Kylie Jenner,…

Early into the second week of the war between Israel and Iran, accessing information about the conflict has become more difficult in several ways. Last week, Iran first throttled internet speed and eventually shut down its internet. Iran’s government claimed Israeli drones were operating via SIM card internet connections and that the internet shutdown was necessary to limit Israel’s ability to wage cyber warfare. Consequently, websites, mobile apps and online messengers are inaccessible in Iran. That means news Iranians receive on the war, the death toll, destruction or this past weekend’s US strikes comes solely from Iran’s government and its state-led media. Iranian authorities…