Author: DW

Barely six weeks after taking office for a second term, the Trump administration’s cost-cutting in science and technology may result in a positive outcome for research in Europe. The journal Nature has called the moves an “assault on science” in the US — but they may have worldwide ramifications.  What is Trump’s ‘assault on science’? President Donald Trump and his team have laid off thousands of employees at US science agencies: These include senior positions at NASA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which is considered one of the world’s most important…

What exactly happened? One of the biggest scandals in winter sports to date. It was triggered by a video shot anonymously in Trondheim, Norway, last Friday (March 7, 2025), the day before large hill event at the Nordic world championships ski jumping event, and leaked to the media. It shows a hotel room from the outside, the windows of which are covered with black fabric. Through a slit, however, you can see ski jumping suits being worked on with a sewing machine in the presence of Norwegian head coach Magnus Brevik. After Saturday’s competition, the skiing’s world governing body FIS disqualified…

Skip next section Finland will ‘definitely’ be part of ‘coalition of the willing’ for Ukraine security03/12/2025March 12, 2025Finland will ‘definitely’ be part of ‘coalition of the willing’ for Ukraine securityFinland will “definitely” be a part of a peacekeeping coalition to deter Russian aggression and uphold Ukrainian security, Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen told the UK’s Times Radio. “We are definitely part of the coalition of the willing, and we are looking at the package of capabilities which we have to put to the table in order to help Ukraine in securing itself,” she said. “We will, of course, have to secure the rest of Europe, too,” she added.…

Argentine pensioners and soccer fans clashed with police on Wednesday as a protest unfolded in front of Congress, with citizens rallying against the economic policies brought in by the government of President Javier Milei. It was an unlikely mix with retirees gathered in Buenos Aires flanked by soccer fans from teams normally at odds with one another. What started as a peaceful event escalated into violent clashes as police fired water cannons, tear gas and pellets while protesters threw stones. The crowd yelled “Milei, garbage, you are the dictatorship!” — a comparison of his rule with the military junta that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983.  What are the protests about? For…

The US has ramped up pressure on Russia to accept a 30-day ceasefire proposal to end “all hostilities” with Ukraine.Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to the truce “so people will stop dying, so bullets will stop flying”. Speaking during a news conference in Ireland following talks between US and Ukrainian officials on Tuesday, he said there was “no military solution to the conflict” and warned: “If [Russia] says no, it will tell us a lot about what their goals are and what their mindset is.”Mr Rubio also revealed there had been…

For years, the topic of European defense spending barely registered in most EU capitals. Now it is a primary concern. From the EU’s announcement of €150 billion ($163.5 billion) worth of loans to spend on weapons, to Germany’s likely next leader, Friedrich Merz, channelling his inner Mario Draghi and vowing to do “whatever it takes” to bolster Europe’s defense, there has been a dramatic sea change of late, however. The shift comes amid renewed fears over Russian aggression in Eastern Europe and doubts over US commitments to NATO and the transatlantic alliance. Yet data released this week by the Stockholm International Peace…

“Wokeness is trouble. Wokeness is bad,” US President Donald Trump recently ranted in his State of the Union address to Congress. Wokeness, defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as “a state of being aware, especially of social problems such as racism and inequality,” is a trigger word for Trump. His government wants all terms perceived as part of this culture of wokeness, such as “sexuality,” “transsexual,” “non-binary,” “climate crisis” and “racism” to disappear from US federal documents. During his election campaign, Trump already made it very clear: Under his watch, there will only be two genders, male and female. Anything beyond that is superfluous nonsense to him, and sexual…

NASA on Tuesday launched its newest space telescope, SPHEREx, designed to map the entire sky in unprecedented color. It rocketed toward orbit on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The US space agency said the telescope will help explain how galaxies formed and evolved over billions of years and how the universe expanded so fast in its first moments. “SPHEREx is really trying to get at the origins of the universe – what happened in those very few first instants after the Big Bang,” SPHEREx instrument scientist Phil Korngut of Caltech said. Tagging along…

After the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest chipmaker, announced a $100 billion (€92 billion) expansion plan to build factories in the United States, concerns are mounting that offshoring production could weaken the self-ruled island’s leverage in securing protection against China. TSMC is the primary producer of many advanced semiconductors used in everything from smartphones to fighter jets. However, as China has vowed to “reunite” Taiwan with the mainland, by using force if necessary, the vulnerability of global semiconductor supply is a key strategic factor. With this in mind, President Donald Trump, and former President Joe Biden before him, have…

In normal times, this election probably wouldn’t be of too much interest to the rest of the world. Around 40,000 voters choose just 31 parliamentarians, and it’s all taking place on an island that isn’t even fully autonomous. But these are not normal times and this election is in Greenland on March 11, which means it could prove a starting point for further geopolitical upheaval in the Northern Hemisphere. Firstly, because supporters of independence for Greenland hope the ballot may result in a strong mandate for Greenland’s complete separation from Denmark. Currently Greenland, a former Danish colony, is a self-governing territory of…