Author: DW

The German government will buy a 40% stake in European tankmaker KNDS from the families which own it, with a plan to bring its share to the same level as that held by the French government. It sets the stage for a long-awaited IPO (initial public offering) for KNDS on the stock exchange. Berlin had been keen to have an equal share to France before the listing. The stake is expected to be worth around €6 billion ($6.8 billion), depending on the valuation of the company. The plan still requires approval from the German Bundestag’s budget committee. France currently owns…

Los Angeles has been a swirling sea of green Mexico jerseys this World Cup: from the watch parties dotting the sprawling city, to bars, cafes and barber shops blaring matches, and thousands of fans streaming into Los Angeles Stadium. The fact that Mexico has not actually played a match in Los Angeles this tournament has done little to deter fans from proudly displaying their colors, regardless of who’s on the pitch. “After Mexico City, Los Angeles is the second largest Mexican city in the world,” Gary, who was born in Mexico and moved to Southern California as a child, told DW. “Soccer…

How do you put the unspeakable into words? Following the horrors of the Holocaust, this question haunted postwar German authors. They aimed to reject the heritage of the Nazi era while documenting the trauma of bombed-out cities and the country’s starving population. They explored the complexities of collective guilt and individual responsibility. But the German-language literary scene that took up these daunting issues was dominated by male authors. Women’s writing was frequently dismissed as trivial. The anti-fascist and feminist Austrian writer and poet, Ingeborg Bachmann, was one of the few women to assert their voice in the face of a deeply sexist literary industry. The literary icon remains…

Iran faces a long and bumpy road back from its nearly four-month war with the United States and Israel. Before the Iran conflict erupted, the country was already grappling with years of sanctions and international isolation tied to its nuclear program that had cut oil exports — its main income source — roughly in half. The Iranian economy was in dire straits, with inflation close to 50% and severe shortages of basic goods. The war caused a further 10% economic contraction, analysts say, including infrastructure damage and lost oil exports. The memorandum of understanding (MOU) agreed on June 17 offers immediate…

There’s a heat wave  sweeping across large parts of Europe and according to a recent report published in medical journal The Lancet, the number of heat-related deaths has risen across much of Europe. The number of heat warnings in Europe has also increased. The heat alone is enough to put an enormous strain on the body. Fancy a few cold beers to cool off? Better not. With temperatures hovering around 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), alcohol was banned in public spaces in France’s capital, Paris, during the “Fete de la Musique” festival last weekend.Due to the heat wave, Paris banned alcohol…

Few artists have turned personal suffering into visual language as powerfully as Frida Kahlo. More than 70 years after her death, the Mexican painter, who died in 1954, remains one of the most recognizable figures in art history. Her iconic unibrow and flower crowns have made her image instantly identifiable around the world, and her works have been sold for millions at auction. Her life and work are being celebrated at London’s Tate Modern with the exhibition, “Frida: The Making of an Icon,”which opens June 25 and runs until January 3, 2027. Born in 1907 in Coyoacan, now part of Mexico City, Frida Kahlo…

For decades after the end of the Cold War in 1989, defense was not a high priority for European leaders. Military spending was slashed, armed forces were downsized, and equipment stockpiles depleted, resulting in diminished combat readiness. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, however, served as a wake-up call and prompted European governments to reverse course and focus on defense. Growing uncertainty about US security commitments under President Donald Trump accelerated the trend. Germany even amended its constitution to remove borrowing limits for defense, giving Berlin free rein over military spending. Last year, the 29 European members of the North…

Fourteen years on from the moment Nadiem Amiri joined Hoffenheim’s youth teams and played for a young coach called Julian Nagelsmann, the pair are together in the USA, Canada and Mexico representing Germany at the World Cup. “If you have a youth coach and you know each other early and for a long time, then it’s always a special relationship,” said Amiri. “There were so many amazing moments together, and that shapes us. We have a good connection, and he was always in touch even when he wasn’t my coach. I have a lot of respect for Julian and am grateful…

Shortly after speaking with DW, Gesche Joost, who has served as president of the Goethe-Institut since 2024, traveled to Mexico alongside German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul. The Goethe-Institut in Mexico City is one of the largest in the world and, in Joost’s view, exemplifies the institution’s work. “Latin America is an incredibly important region for Germany and we maintain very strong partnerships there,” Joost explains. “Mexico is one of our key partners, particularly when it comes to attracting skilled workers.” The Goethe-Institut prepares young Mexicans interested in careers in fields such as nursing or engineering in Germany, not only through…

For many years, the global financial world hung on Alan Greenspan’s words, his facial expressions, and his every movement. Even the thickness of his briefcase was observed, evaluated and interpreted. For nearly 20 years, Alan Greenspan steered United States monetary policy — and with it, the economy — as Chairman of the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, or Fed for short. He was “Mr. Dollar,” the guru of the international financial world, the pacemaker of the global economy. George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and Britiain’s Queen Elizabeth II knighted him. He was regarded as upright, brilliant and witty. Greenspan himself liked to say…