Author: DW

The European Union’s first-ever summit with the five resource-rich states of Central Asia, will focus on critical minerals needed for a growing defense industry and the bloc’s green transformation. The EU is taking a keen interest in Central Asia that comprises Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan, as realization seeped in that Europe was far too dependent on China for critical minerals. As EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa meet Central Asian leaders in the Uzbek city of Samarkand, sustainable development and Russia’s attempts to evade sanctions, among other issues, will be on the table.  But most attention will…

Lise Klaveness senses the urgency of the moment in world football, and is calling on other leaders to seize it. The former Norway international player will, on Thursday, become the second woman on UEFA’s Executive Committee (ExCo), after the organization doubled their reserved places for female members to two. Klaveness, who has been pushing for change in the global game since she became president of her country’s football federation NFF in 2022, wants leadership to be more alert and protect the fundamental values of the European sports model.  “We should be knowledge-based, dialogue-based, but really aware that we’re in a critical time, where fundamental values are in…

Even before his re-election as US president, Donald Trump would occassionally float the idea of remaining in office beyond the two terms permitted by the US Constitution. There are some indications that he is serious. Just recently, he told journalists at the White House that “people” were asking him to run again. When asked whether he wanted to, he said: “I don’t know, I never looked into it. They do say there is a way you can do it.” And in a phone call with US broadcaster NBC News, he did not rule out the possibility of seeking a third term.…

US President Donald Trump claims tariffs is his “favorite word.” Across the Atlantic, meanwhile, the European Commission has described Trump’s trade policy as “an act of economic self-harm,” and is preparing its reponse. In the emerging trade war with the US, Brussels is treading a delicate balance of trying to look strong, while also keeping its traditional ally on side. The EU’s top trade official, Maros Sefcovic, believes Trump could impose a sweeping 20% tariff on all EU goods imported into the US by early April, significantly increasing the cost of European products. It still remains unclear whether the US will target individual countries or…

British tennis player Fran Jones was forced to withdraw from a tournament in Colombia after collapsing during a match against Argentina’s Julia Riera.The 24-year-old staggered to the ground in the third set of the Colsanitas Cup in Bogota and was unable to continue playing. She had to be helped from the court in a wheelchair.”Due to a physical issue, Francesca Jones has withdrawn from her match against Julia Riera at 6-2 5-7 5-3 in favour of the Argentinian,” the Colsanitas Cup’s official X account said.”We wish the British tennis player a speedy recovery.” During the match, she had appeared to be…

Val Kilmer, who starred in films including “Top Gun,” “The Doors,” and “Batman Forever” passed away at the age of 65, his family said to The New York Times. According to his daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, the cause of death was pneumonia. The man Hollywood loved to hate Born in Los Angeles on Dec. 31, 1959, Kilmer, at age 17, became the youngest student accepted into the drama division of the famed Juilliard School in New York. He made his film debut in the spy spoof “Top Secret!” (1984), and found fame as Iceman in “Top Gun” (1986) before portraying Jim Morrison in…

Mass layoffs, frozen or cut research funds, political directives — US President Donald Trump’s massive attack on science is not only affecting areas he dislikes, such as climate, energy, social, or gender studies. Other fields like AI or mRNA vaccine technologies  are impacted, too. Critics view Trump’s assault on research freedom as a politically-motivated attack on the pluralistic system and the liberal democratic order. Trump, critics say, is taking aim at the scientific method of refuting claims and myths with facts and analyses. The uncertainty created by Trump’s actions is so great that many researchers want to leave the US for…

Former Costa Rican President and Nobel Prize winner Oscar Arias said Tuesday that the United States had revoked his visa to enter the country, just weeks after he criticized President Donald Trump on social media. “I received an email from the US government informing me that they have suspended the visa I have in my passport. The communication was very terse, it does not give reasons. One could have conjectures,” Arias told reporters. Calling Trump ‘a Roman emperor’ In a social media post on Facebook in February, the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize winner said Trump was behaving like “a Roman emperor.” “It has…

German third-division football team Arminia Bielefeld have reached the final of the German Cup for the first ever time after sensationally beating reigning Bundesliga champions and cup holders Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday. After Leverkusen took the lead through German international Jonathan Tah, Bielefeld came back and turned the game around with goals from Marius Wörl and Maximilian Grosser. Bielefeld, from the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, are only the fourth ever club to reach the final of the German Cup while playing in the third tier, a division in which they currently sit fourth. The feat was previously accomplished by Union…

The United States said China’s military activities around Taiwan only serve to "exacerbate tensions" and "put the region’s security at risk."