Author: DW

China’s Shenzhou-21 spaceship launched Friday, carrying its youngest astronaut and small mammals to the country’s orbiting space station. The Tiangong space station, crewed by rotating teams of three astronauts, is the centerpiece of China’s multibillion-dollar space program. Beijing aims to send astronauts to the moon by the decade’s end and eventually build a lunar base, in a bid to rival the US and Russian space programs. Mice and men, to space The latest crew to Tiangong consists of first-time astronauts Zhang Hongzhang and Wu Fei, who, at 32, is China’s youngest astronaut to be sent to space. They are led…

Turkish football has been in a state of shock since Monday, when the president of the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) confirmed that 152 of the 571 active referees are suspected of involvement in illegal betting activities. Particularly alarming is the fact that seven referees and 15 assistant referees who work in the Super Lig are among the suspects. “One referee alone placed 18,227 bets,” TFF President Ibrahim Hacıosmanoglu told a press conference. “We are determined to rid football of any trace of corruption. We will make no exceptions.” The scale of the scandal suggests systematic, organized structures. The revelations also suggest…

The 2025 summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum adopted a joint leaders’ declaration as it concluded in South Korea on Saturday. Leaders assembled in Gyeongju also agreed on an Artificial Intelligence Initiative and the APEC Framework for Cooperation on Population Structure Changes. China to host next APEC summit Speaking at the summit’s closing ceremony, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that China will host the annual APEC summit at the tech hub of Shenzhen next year in November. It will be the third time China has hosted the meeting. Xi said Shenzhen, often described as China’s Silicon Valley, is “a…

Two federal judges in separate decisions ruled on Friday that the administration of President Donald Trump must continue to fund the nation’s biggest food aid program, known as SNAP. The Department of Agriculture, which administers the program, had planned to suspend payments on November 1. It said it could no longer keep funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which costs around $8.6 billion (€7.45 billion) a month, due to the federal government shutdown. The Trump adminstration had argued it was legally unable to use emergency funds to cover these benefits. “The well has run dry,” the department posted on its website last…

Gen Z remixes him. Millennials grew up with him. Boomers watched him rise. For millions within and outside India, Shah Rukh Khan (aka SRK) remains one of the Hindi film industry’s most recognizable and resonant icons. This year alone, the actor, who turns 60 on November 2, notched several viral moments: In May he became the first Indian male actor to walk the Met Gala red carpet , in June he did a cameo in Ed Sheeran’s “Sapphire” video, and in October he went viral for a selfie taken in Riyadh with South Korean “Squid Game” star Lee Jung-jae, an image that some fans called the…

Bogdan Leonov, a Russian national, is building a chain of power-bank rental stations in Cyprus and Greece, and setting up a franchise in Portugal.   His WE53 startup, launched in 2023, has already seen annual revenues rise to about €600,000 ($693,000)and it now employs dozens of people. The network currently boasts almost 3,000 stations. His previous brainchild provided the same service in Russia.Between Russia and Germany — Arts.UnveiledTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video But setting up a business abroad was particularly challenging as he had to learn all operational…

Cologne must have believed they had a chance of becoming the first team to defeat Bayern Munich this season, when Ragnar Ache’s 31st minute header powered the host ahead in the DFB Pokal match. However, a brace from Harry Kane — who struck either side of half time — eased Bayern to a 4-1 win, their 14th consecutive victory in all competitions as they set a new European record. For Kane, the brace was just the latest reminder of his astonishing consistency. Just over two years since arriving in Munich, the 32-year-old is maintaining some of the best form of…

The Latvian Parliament on Thursday voted to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention, an international treaty aimed at supporting women who are victims of violence. The tally from the ballot was 56 to withdraw from the treaty, 32 to remain, and two abstentions. Is the vote set in stone? The vote, which came after a 13-hour session of intense debate, would make Latvia the first European Union member state to quit the Istanbul Convention, which the very same parliament ratified in November 2024. The motion must now be signed by Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics, who has indicated he is not in favor. He has, however, also hinted that he might not subvert a parliamentary…

Chinese President Xi Jinping will take center stage at the annual summit of Pacific Rim leaders in South Korea on Friday, as he is expected to hold talks with his Canadian, Japanese and Thai counterparts after securing a fragile trade truce with US President Donald Trump. That agreement — struck just before Trump left South Korea, skipping the main two-day Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit — will halt further curbs on China’s exports of rare earths that threatened to jam up global supply chains. Supporting supply chains is a significant focus of this year’s APEC summit, hosted in the historic South Korean city of Gyeongju. The 21-member economic club aims to encourage cooperation and…

She sits on stage dressed in black, smoking an e-cigarette, her blond, curly hair flowing down from her thick knit cap. The unrelenting Maria Alyokhina, a 37-year-old activist and performance artist best-known as a member of Pussy Riot, is presenting her new book “Political Girl: Life and Fate in Russia” in Cologne as part of the literary festival lit.COLOGNE. Maria Alyokhina is one of several women who staged a protest the evening before Vladimir Putin was reelected president of Russia — a position he continues to hold to this day. That night, the group donned colorful clothes and masks and…