Author: DW

“It is still unclear whether we are safe or not. We have no peace because there are still drones … We live in fear, one day at a time,” Marina told DW. She is a refugee from Russia’sKursk region and doesn’t want to disclose her current location.  She and her family fled their village after Ukrainian troops crossed the border into Russia in August 2024 and launched a surprise incursion into the region which is to the north-east of Ukraine, north of the Donbass region, which is illegally occupied by Russia.  Like Marina, thousands of locals left their homes, finding refuge further away from the frontline in nearby…

The grid operators needed more than a day to fully restore the power supply in Spain and Portugal. One of the circulating theories is that excessive solar power caused the blackout. Is that true? As soon as the lights went out in Spain and Portugal, the speculating about the cause of the blackout began. Was it a cyberattack? Atmospheric interference? Aliens?Though the Spanish government is looking into the possibility of a cyberattack on the Spanish electricity grid, the head of the Spanish electricity transmission system operator Red Electrica (REE) , Eduardo Prieto, has ruled this out already.Extreme frequency fluctuationAccording to…

In an effort to raise awareness of autism and the challenges faced by autistic people, a 15-year-old Nigerian boy has made global headlines after he set a Guinness World Record for the world’s largest art canvas. Kanyeyachukwu Tagbo-Okeke, who is autistic, created a work of art with a multicolored ribbon — a symbol of autism — surrounded by “emojis” on a canvas measuring 12,304 square meters, much larger than the size of a typical football field, which is 7,140 square meters. The artwork was created in November 2024. It was unveiled and officially recognized by Guinness World Records organizers in…

Rising seas threatenSouth Africa’s coastlines, battering cities with floods and erosion. Yet in a surprising twist of climate science, the ground beneath parts of the country seems to be rising. Researchers from Germany believe drought and resulting water loss due to global warming may be causing parts of South Africa to lift out of the ocean by two millimeters each year.  South Africa’s coastal cities like Cape Town, Durban, and Port Elizabeth experience eroding shorelines,frequent flooding, and the loss of critical infrastructure and natural habitats. The country also experienced a series of extreme weather events in 2017: massive waves, storm surges, heavy…

It’s not official yet, but there seems to be little doubt that Xabi Alonso will leave Bayer Leverkusen for Real Madrid at the end of this season. After Real were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Champions League by Arsenal and lost in the Copa del Rey final to arch-rivals Barcelona, ​​who are also on course to win the Spanish title, Carlo Ancelotti’s days in Madrid appear to be numbered. Alonso is thought to be Madrid President Florentino Perez’ preferred replacement. Although his contract at Leverkusen runs until the end of next season, Alonso has an escape clause that would allow him…

Vietnam is undergoing what officials call an administrative “revolution,” part of a broader campaign to modernize the state, jumpstart economic growth, and consolidate political power in the hands of the Communist Party’s upper ranks. To Lam, the country’s new party chief, is spearheading the reforms. He took the helm following the death of his predecessor Nguyen Phu Trong last year. Of the reforms, Lam said: “If we want to have a healthy body, sometimes we must take bitter medicine and endure pain to remove tumors.” At the heart of this transformation is a sweeping plan to trim bureaucracy and reorganize the state.…

A car drove into a crowd of people in the southwestern German city of Stuttgart, killing one person and leaving several others injured, police said. After a preliminary investigation, Stuttgart Police said they believe it was a tragic traffic accident. The incident comes after a number of deadly car-ramming attacks in recent months have put the country on high alert. What we know about what happened People were waiting at a metro stop when a Mercedes G-Class luxury SUV came around the corner and drove into the crowd. Eight people were injured in the accident, three of whom were seriously injured. One…

Three children kept locked inside their home since 2021 have been rescued by Spanish police, according to local reports.Officers said they arrested a 53-year-old German man and a 48-year-old American woman in Oviedo, northeast Spain, on Monday. The three children – two eight-year-old twins and a 10-year-old – have been taken for medical evaluation and are now in government custody at a juvenile centre, according to Spanish outlet El Comercio.Another Spanish outlet, ABC, reported that the parents had been charged with domestic violence, habitual psychological abuse, and child abandonment.It added that the parents were being held in pretrial detention without…

Since Donald Trump has returned to power, Europe has been concerned about its reliance on the United States, and how it could potentially threaten European security. One such area under scrutiny is digital payments. The president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, has said she is alarmed.ECB chief Christine Lagarde pushes for greater European independence from US payments companiesImage: Hannelore Förster/IMAGO Lagarde told independent Irish radio broadcaster, NewsTalk, recently that Europe would need to “reduce vulnerabilities that arise from the current payment platform’s infrastructure being foreign-owned” and make sure there is a “European offer available — just in case.” For her, it…

Every first Monday of May, the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York city transform into fashion’s most extravagant — sometimes eyebrow-raising — runway. Officially known as the Costume Institute Benefit, the Met Gala isn’t just a parade of jaw-dropping outfits — it raises funds for the institute, which is the museum’s only curatorial department that must fund itself. The gala coincides with the opening of the institute’s annual fashion exhibition.  What began in 1948 as a modest midnight supper for New York’s elite, “fashion’s biggest night out,” has since evolved into a highly anticipated annual event with US Vogue’s Anna…