Author: DW

Ahead of the Oscars night, the award ceremony’s host Conan O’Brien gave the impression he would be avoiding politics: “We’re celebrating movies and the amazing people behind them, but it has to be funny without tipping into anger or politics,” he’d said at a press conference. But then, at the beginning of the Sunday night ceremony, he warned that “things could get political,” adding: “So there’s an alternate Oscars hosted by Kid Rock at the Dave and Busters down the street,” referring to the conservative-leaning alternative “All-American Halftime Show” that had been produced during the Super Bowl in protest of Bad Bunny’s performance at the…

It was with obvious pride that Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk took to social media on February 6. Sharing a picture of an article in the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung titled “The Poles Are Coming,” he wrote, “See how this phrase has changed over the past 30 years. The German press reports that our companies are increasingly taking over established Western brands, not the other way around. Poland is coming to its senses.” The article he referenced was about an apparently growing trend: Polish companies acquiring and buying stakes in Western companies, including many in Germany. According to data compiled by…

Mexico City set a Guinness World Record Sunday for having held the largest soccer class, with about 9,500 people having taken part in a training session in a public sqaure in the city. Participants filled the central plaza, known as Zocalo, for a 40-minute open-air class, practicing drills under instructors as part of a campaign ahead of the FIFA World Cup in June. Among those participating were members of the Mexico team that won the unofficial 1971 Women’s World Cup. Guinness World Records judge Alfredo Arista confirmed the record during the event. Organizers said the turnout surpassed the previous record of 1,038 participants set in…

Protected landmarks and humanity’s cultural heritage are threatened by the US-Israel war with Iran. UNESCO-listed sites, including palaces and an ancient mosque in Iran, are among the historical landmarks that have been damaged by the US-Israeli strikes, which began on February 28. UNESCO, the UN’s cultural body, has expressed its concern about the cultural heritage sites, saying in a statement that it has “communicated to all parties concerned the geographical coordinates of sites on the World Heritage List as well as those of national significance, to avoid any potential damage.” “UNESCO continues to closely monitor the situation of cultural heritage in the…

The world is naturally fixated on the oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers missing from the Strait of Hormuz due to the Iran war. After all, the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman carries around a fifth of global crude and LNG exports from the Gulf to the rest of the world. The more fragile cargo, however, is the fertilizer that helps feed the world and the food imports that keep Arabian Gulf states like the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia alive.  Gulf nations account for 20% of global traded volumes of key fertilizers such as ammonia, phosphates and…

The closure of the US Embassy in Jordan has heightened the frustrations of Jordanian football fans hoping to see their team make their World Cup debut in three months’ time. While the US-Israeli and Iranian attacks that caused its shuttering on Friday dominate headlines and thoughts, fans looking forward to an escape are left in the dark. The US embassy site simply says that “all immigrant and nonimmigrant visa appointments are canceled until further notice”. Having spoken to a number of Jordanian fans, DW understands that many had already had visa applications rejected for the tournament, in which their national team…

Jürgen Habermas, world-renowned German philosopher and sociologist, has died in the town of Starnberg near Munich, where he has lived since 1971, the Suhrkamp publishing house said. One of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century, he remained active until his final years, and was one of the few public intellectuals in Germany to regularly take a stand on political issues. Having advocated for the right to asylum during the 2015 migrant crisis, and for a unified European Union in the face of right-wing populism and nationalism, Habermas remained actively committed to his cosmopolitan ideal of an open and rigorous…

The easing of sanctions on Russian oil by the United States is aimed at cooling global energy prices as the US-Israel war on Iran continues. It also provides a significant boost to the Kremlin at a time when Russia desperately needs it. The measure, announced by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on social media on Thursday, has been widely expected since the United States eased sanctions on Russian oil sales to India last week. The decision is a broadening of that original waiver, which focused on cargoes of Russian oil already at sea, to include countries other than India. Bessent said the…

You know that colleague you see Monday through Friday? The one who keeps telling you about their relationship drama, monopolizing lunch-break conversation and expecting sympathetic commentary about the same issues every single day? Or what about your dad, who calls with tech questions multiple times a week, then proceeds to criticize your lifestyle but still expects you to schedule his doctor’s visits?   A new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, confirms what many of us have long suspected: These people may make you age faster. While having healthy social relationships is actually good for you…

There is a phrase you often hear from the girls at the Impact Academy in Cairo. “I won’t stop until I’m a champion.” The girls in Cairo learning to box seem determined and confident. It could be an everyday scene, a training session like any other—but it’s not. Many of the girls in southern Cairo come from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. They often experience gender-based violence and are pressured to marry at a very young age—usually at the expense of their education and independence. Choosing boxing, a male-dominated sport in a traditional society, is tantamount to rebellion. The Impact Academy offers the girls much more…