Author: DW

Bulgaria won the Eurovision Song Contest final in Austria’s capital, Vienna, on Saturday night with the song “Bangaranga” amid a boycott by five countries over Israel’s participation. The song’s infectious beats and tightly choreographed dance routine proved a hit with both national juries and viewers, whose votes together decide the winner. Dara beat 24 other competitors during Saturday’s grand final in Vienna.  The Eurovision Song Contest described Dara as “one of the most well-known pop musicians in her country, shaping the image of contemporary Bulgarian pop with her unique voice, commanding stage presence and unrestrained genre-blending.” It’s the first time…

On Wednesday, German Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder arrived at Toyota’s fuel cell factory in a German BMW iX5 Hydrogen, only to later depart in a Japanese Toyota Crown FCEV. The choice of cars was, of course, no coincidence, with both vehicles generating electricity from hydrogen in a fuel cell. Car makers BMW and Toyota are currently jointly developing the third generation of this drive technology. Three BMW employees have specifically moved to Japan to participate in the undertaking. Both companies are contributing components to help develop a more compact and efficient fuel cell. Once this stage is complete, BMW will manufacture this…

The Eurovision Song Contest final began in Austria’s capital Vienna on Saturday night amid a boycott by five countries over Israel’s participation. Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Iceland and Slovenia have pulled out of the world’s biggest live music contest, now in its 70th year, in protest at Israel’s involvement. “We will not be in Vienna, ​but we will do so with the conviction that we are on the right side of history,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on X on ​Friday. Dispute over Israel’s Gaza campaign casts shadow over Eurovision final The contest, normally a glitzy affair typically featuring…

Picture the scene: An asteroid is hurtling towards Earth. It’s the size of the Eiffel Tower, shaped like a peanut and potentially hazardous — sounds scary, right? Take asteroid 2026 JH2. It was first detected on May 10, 2026. And was due to fly by Earth eight days later — at a distance of less than a quarter of the distance between Earth and our moon. It’s still very unlikely to hit Earth. But media coverage was everywhere. Such scare stories crop up all the time. In 2024, it was because of Asteroid 2024 ON — it didn’t miss us, because it was never going…

Just weeks from the start of the 2026 World Cup, India is without a broadcasting deal. Talks are reportedly ongoing, with time zones and cost expectations clear stumbling blocks, but there is also a feeling that FIFA has misunderstood its two biggest markets. “The Indian market is a sort of a brute force market,” Nandan Kamath, one of India’s leading sports lawyers and a key figure in the country’s sports policy, told DW. “It’s the numbers rather than the willingness.” Broadcasters in India rely far more on advertising revenue than subscriptions. Viewing numbers for the tournament in Qatar were good, but they did not lead to…

Udo Lindenberg comes from Gronau, a small town near the Dutch border. His hometown is so proud of its most famous son that it dedicated both a public square and a larger-than-life statue to him. At its unveiling in 2015, Lindenberg himself described the monument as the “Statue of Liberty of Gronau.” Years later, the statue collapsed and had to be restored, but this did little to diminish its symbolic value. Leaving the countryside behind Lindenberg always had a strong urge to leave his rural surroundings behind. He grew up with three siblings in modest conditions; his father drank heavily,…

Japan’s second largest carmaker Honda on Thursday confirmed its first operating loss since 1957, before it started selling mass-produced cars in the early 60s.  The company has embarked on a major overhaul of its electic vehicle (EV) strategy, particularly in its core market in the US, after previously betting on more rapid electrification of the industry.  Honda had already warned of a sizeable financial hit as a result of this shift in March, meaning that investors were largely unperturbed by Thursday’s financial data. Indeed, Honda’s stock rose sharply as the company also predicted a return to profitability in 2026.  What were Honda’s losses…

The Andes hantavirus outbreak shows how easily disease labels are misunderstood — and why they describe patterns of spread, not how dangerous a virus is.

The July 19 World Cup final in New Jersey will be the first to include a Superbowl-inspired “Halftime Show,” with performances from American veteran Madonna, the Colombian voice of the 2010 and now 2026 World Cup Shakira, and South Korean boy band BTS.  The curator is Coldplay front man Chris Martin, who announced the lineup in a promotional video featuring characters from Sesame Street and the Muppets on Thursday. At 67, Madonna still gets headline billing — and like Shakira she is touring the Americas at presentImage: Pilar Olivares/REUTERS What did FIFA say about the event?  FIFA has said the event aims…

In early April, the Artis Zoo Museum in Amsterdam unveiled a handbag alongside a massive dinosaur skeleton — one made of “lab-grown T. rex leather.” Polish fashion label Enfin Leve designed the bag as part of its line of experimental clothing. But it was the material, not the design, that drew the most attention. “It has a character unlike anything we’ve handled. Dense, primal, operating on its own logic,” the label wrote on social media. The company plans to auction the handbag on June 11 in Paris. But what exactly do they mean by “T. rex leather”? Dinosaurs died out about…