Author: DW

Could mountaineer Laura Dahlmeier still be alive if it weren’t for climate change? Of course, any answer to this is speculative. But it cannot be denied that ever-increasing temperatures have also taken their toll on the mountain in Pakistan where the former German biathlon star had her fatal accident. Falling rocks, such as those that caused Dahlmeier’s death, are becoming increasingly common on the mountains in the region. The 6,096 meter (20,000 feet) high Laila Peak in the Karakoram is an eye-catcher. Its shape is reminiscent of a shark’s tooth jutting into the sky. The mountain is steep on all sides…

A jury in Miami on Friday said Tesla was liable in a 2019 fatal crash in the Florida Keys, and ordered the electric vehicle firm to pay $243 million (€209 million) to the family of a deceased victim and her injured boyfriend.  Why did the jury find Tesla responsible for the deadly crash?   In 2019, a driver in a Tesla Model S went through an intersection and drove into a couple who were standing next to their parked Chevrolet Tahoe. Naibel Benavides Leon, who was 22 years old, was killed in the crash, with her boyfriend Dillion Angulo heavily injured in the collision.  …

Son Heung-min, the 33-year-old South Korean captain of Tottenham Hotspur, will end his 10-year spell with the Premier League soccer club this summer, he said on Saturday. Son did not disclose his destination but local British media speculate he will move to Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC. In May this year, Son led the team to their first trophy in 17 years, winning the Europe League final over Manchester United. However, the captain himself suffered a series of leg injuries and recorded a poor season when compared to his previous performance.  Son (center) joined the Premier League club…

In November 2022, as Europe grappled with an escalating energy crisis, Germany sealed a deal with Qatar to import up to 2 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) annually from the Gulf state. The agreement, due to start in 2026, was part of Europe’s broader strategy to reduce reliance on Russian gas following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Nearly three years later, Qatar has threatened to halt LNG deliveries to Europe in a row over a European Union directive aimed at improving ethical standards in global trade. German newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported last weekend (July 26/27) that Qatari authorities have written to several EU governments urging…

“Comrades, we must know everything!” Erich Mielke’s message was clear. As director of East Germany’s Ministry for State Security (commonly known as the Stasi) from 1957 to 1989, he oversaw the systematic surveillance of its citizens. Stasi informants could potentially be found anywhere, even among colleagues or friends. Their task was to detect people labeled as “harmful” to society. In the eyes of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) regime, this included anyone who criticized the system and cooperated with the so-called “class enemy.” This reasoning legitimized the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, which the GDR called the “anti-fascist…

Amid rising demand for popular medications, experts and industry groups are concerned regulators may not be able to keep pace with the speed of counterfeiters. “A doctor simply writes down the prescription. They don’t care where the patient buys the drug,” said Saifuddin Ahmed, a public health practitioner and epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University in the US.  “It is critically important that a health care provider should be engaged. The [regulators are] not enough,” Ahmed told DW. Nowhere else is the challenge more obvious than with the huge demand for products like Wegovy and Zepbound. They contain active compounds called semaglutide…

What are the details of the Luis Diaz transfer? It had been rumored for some time, but the Colombian winger completed his transfer to the Bundesliga champions on Wednesday. The transfer fee is thought to be €75 million ($86.5 million), making Diaz the third-most expensive player in the history of both Bayern Munich and the Bundesliga. Diaz, 28, has signed a contract, reportedly worth €275,000 a week, until 2029. “I’m very happy, it means a lot to me to be part of FC Bayern,” said Diaz. “They’re one of the biggest clubs in the world. I want to help my new team…

The administration of US President Donald Trump is forging ahead with a plan to revoke a scientific finding that’s long been the cornerstone of US climate action. Lee Zeldin, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) who along with Trump has called for the “death of the Green New Scam,” unveiled the move at a car dealership in the US state of Indiana on Tuesday, hailing it as “the largest deregulatory action in the history of the United States.” At the heart of the rollback is the Obama-era 2009 endangerment finding, grounded in the landmark Supreme Court case Massachusetts v. EPA. That ruling established the EPA has authority…

The new direction for the UK’s foreign policy regarding the Middle East came shortly after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with US President Donald Trump in Scotland. Just a day later, on July 29, Starmer interrupted his cabinet ministers’ summer break for an emergency meeting, after which the policy turnaround was presented in London. In a statement, Starmer, the leader of the center-left Labour Party, said the UK could recognize Palestine as a state as soon as September unless Israel’s government moved toward meeting certain conditions, including a ceasefire, not annexing the occupied West Bank and committing to a long-term peace…

In his election campaign, Donald Trump once said that “tariff is the most beautiful word in the dictionary.” Now, after six months in office, the US president is eager to turn his very specific vison of global trade into reality. With a move that shocked both politics and business across the world, Donald Trump announced on April 2 this year that he would impose a “baseline tariff” of 10% on all goods imported to the United States. In addition, goods from about 60 other trade partners would face so-called reciprocal tariffs that were even higher and meant as payback for…