Author: DW

Germany and Iran have been connected since long before either country looked like it does today. At first, their ties were mostly cultural; only later were official diplomatic relations established. Here is a brief look at that shared history. Goethe’s enthusiasm for Persian poetry In 1814, at age 65, German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe read a translation of the “Divan of Hafez”— a collection of poems by the Persian poet and mystic Hafez. He was captivated, writing: “And even if the whole world were to sink, Hafez, with you, with you alone do I wish to compete!” Born around 1315, Hafez’s…

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…

NASA will cancel plans to deploy a space station in lunar orbit, instead focusing on the construction of a roughly $20 billion (about €17.25 billion) base on the moon’s surface over the next seven years.  New NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who was sworn in at the US space agency in December, made the announcement at the opening of an all-day event at NASA’s Washington headquarters.  He outlined a raft of changes to the agency’s flagship Artemis II moon project, which has encountered a series of setbacks in recent months amid a 21st century race with Russia and China to return…

Soaring World Cup ticket prices have pushed European fans to file a complaint against FIFA. “The cheapest openly available final tickets now start at $4,185,” the Football Supporters Europe (FSE) group said. That’s around €3,400 — and “more than seven times the cost of the cheapest 2022 World Cup final ticket,” the group said in statement. FSE filed the complaint with the European Commission, accusing FIFA of “excessive ticket prices” and “unfair purchasing conditions” and calling it an “abuse of its monopoly position.” “They leave loyal fans with no other choice — pay up or lose out,” FSE’s executive director said. €163,000…

03/24/2026March 24, 2026Clothes discounter KiK plans wave of store closures after excessive expansionClothes discounter Kik is planning to reduce its total number of stores across Europe by around 225 all told, closing roughly 300 and opening 75Image: ABBfoto/picture allianceKiK’s Chief Financial Officer Christian Kümmel has told the dpa news agency that the German textile discounter plans to close around 300 stores across Europe this year. This follows an aggressive expansion strategy that Kümmel said had proven inefficient. “We are trimming our portfolio to improve profitability,” he said. “The formula of, ‘We’ll open five stores and have five times as many…

Australia and the European Union agreed on a new trade deal after eight years of negotiations. EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the agreement at a ceremony in the Australian capital, Canberra. It is the latest trade accord signed by the EU in a push to diversify trade as Europe faces challenges from the United States and China. Albanese and von der Leyen also agreed on a security and defense partnership. “The EU and Australia may be geographically far apart but we couldn’t ​closer in terms of how we see the world,” European…

It makes sense to squeeze every last drop of milk into our coffee and drizzle the remains of our expensive olive oil over our salad — so we stand in our kitchens, holding bottles or cartons at awkward angles, waiting and watching with varying degrees of patience. How long do we have to wait? That’s what two physicists at Brown University in Providence, in the US state of Rhode Island, wanted to find out. Their findings were published in the journal Physics of Fluids. Thomas Dutta, a PhD candidate, recalled how his grandmother struggled with getting the last few drops out. And his physics…

There is not much Alexandra Popp hasn’t achieved in her career. Three Champions League titles, one Olympic gold medal, seven Bundesliga titles, 13 German Cup titles and an incredible 145 caps for Germany makes for quite the resume. Now though, the 34-year-old will join the club her “heart beats for” after agreeing to leave Wolfsburg for Borussia Dortmund in the summer on a three-year deal. Popp grew up in the region, but for one of Germany’s most decorated footballers, this is more than a homecoming. Popp is once again playing her part in developing the game in Germany, moving to a lower-league club…

The current US-Israel war with Iran follows decades of political tensions that have shaped perceptions of the relationship between Israel and Iran. Despite the historical hostility, Berlin-based musicians from both countries are determined to demonstrate that cultural dialogue is still possible. The musical ensemble Sistanagila was initiated by Babak Shafieian, an Iranian who moved to Germany as a young adult to study. He began the project about 15 years ago when he decided to take a position against the antisemitic rhetoric promoted by Iran’s then-president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — who was making international headlines by denying the Holocaust and threatening the destruction of the state of Israel. “That didn’t reflect…

Stock markets dipped across the board early on Monday, with traders nervous after another weekend yielded no real signs of deescalation in Iran or the wider Gulf region or a reduction in the rising energy prices the conflict is causing. Several of the major Asian markets dipped by 3% or more, while Europe’s main indices all shed in the region of 2% in morning trading, government bond yields were up and even the traditional safe havens gold and silver shed more than 6% and 7% of their values. At its lowest ebb, Japan’s Nikkei was down nearly 5% in a single…