Author: DW

Not invited to American talks with Russia on the future of Ukraine, European leaders are holding a hastily convened meeting of their own on Monday.After years of exasperation from the US over Europe’s more relaxed attitude to defence spending – nothing quite makes the point about military irrelevance than being left out of the room where the future of Ukraine is likely to be decided. President Macron’s scrambled plan to get European leaders to drop everything and come to Paris for talks demonstrates the high level of alarm at the new world order.As well as the UK, Paris has confirmed…

“The beginning of making America rich again.”  That’s how US President Donald Trump described his decision to levy 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the United States. Trump signed proclamations at the White House on Monday that will take effect in March and will apply without exception to steel and aluminum arriving from all countries. The measures are the latest in a long line of tariff threats made by the president since he returned to office last month. Many economists, however, disagree that Trump’s tariffs mark the beginning of a new “Golden Age” for the United States and reject his assertion, while…

The most famous gay couple of antiquity… … were possibly really just close platonic friends. Whether Alexander the Great and his close advisor and bodyguard Hephaestion did indeed share a bed is a matter that divides opinion among historians to this day.  What is undisputed is that during Alexander’s lifetime — in the 4th century BC — same-sex relationships were nothing unusual. There is also historical evidence that Alexander and Hephaestion fought together on the Macedonian king’s great campaigns.Alexander the Great (left) and Hephaestion (right) lived in the 4th century BCImage: Heritage Images/picture alliance Writings by ancient historians claim that…

Germany’s shift to the right has left its mark on the country’s national game, causing all kinds of ructions. Many German football clubs and fan groups have held demonstrations against the far right over the past year, both in the stadiums on match days and in the streets of their cities. Several major clubs from Germany’s top two leagues, including Werder Bremen, VfL Bochum, FSV Mainz 05, 1. FC Köln, and Hannover 96, have called on their supporters to oppose right-wing extremism. The sustained success of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) appears to have sharpened attention leading up to the federal…

First came the sound of a police siren, then a megaphone announcement: “Dear lecturers, we hereby inform you that the blockade of the Faculty of Philosophy is about to begin.” This is how the wave of student blockades at the University of Novi Sad in Serbia began on November 2. Olga Pantic, a first-year communications student, was on shift at the university cafeteria at the time. She left work and joined her fellow students when she heard the announcement. Since then, the faculty has become her home: she eats, sleeps and lives there. “I’ve got so used to it that…

Argentina’s President Javier Milei faced criticism and threats of impeachment on Saturday after he made a post on social media promoting a cryptocurrency that quickly tanked in value. Milei promoted a new cryptocurrency on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) which increased in value to $5 (€4.75) before quickly tanking to below $1. Argentina’s fintech chamber acknowledged that the case could potentially be a “rug pull” — a scheme where a cryptocurrency’s creators quickly generate real investment to pump up the value before dumping their own stake. “This scandal, which embarrasses us on an international scale, requires us…

It is time for an armed forces of Europe.This was the key message from Ukraine’s president at a major security conference in Munich that has brutally exposed European irrelevance when the US is not onside. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said such a force would not replace the transatlantic NATO alliance, but it would instead ensure that Europe is as strong as Washington – and taken seriously by friends and foes once again.”We must build the armed forces of Europe so that Europe’s future depends only on Europeans and decisions about Europe are made in Europe,” he said, speaking on the main stage…

Germany’s Commerzbank on Thursday said it was preparing staff cuts in its efforts to fend off tie-up advances by Italian banking group, UniCredit. Commerzbank has been advocating its case to stand alone as an independent company, with the bank warning that a merger could lead to significant job losses.  What are the plans? The financial institution said the cuts would be implemented by 2028, with a reduction of about 10% of its workforce — some 3,900 — by that time. The new strategy was announced on Thursday after a meeting of the bank’s supervisory board. Commerzbank said the cuts, which would mainly affect sites in Germany,…

The case is due to be heard in court on March 1, according to a recent post by the filmmakers on Instagram: the Iranian judiciary is accusing them of violating “morality and ethics” through their film “Keyke mahboobe man” (or “My Favorite Cake”). They had also failed to obtain a screening permit and distribution license. Behtash Sanaeeha and Maryam Moghaddam also published a letter from the Tehran public prosecutor’s office, which had questioned the director duo several times. As Deutsche Welle has learned, the film’s lead actress, Lily Farhadpour, has now also been summoned to appear before the Revolutionary Court.…

What you need to know. Tectonic changes are forcing the Zagros Mountains region in Iraq to sink.  These processes take tens of millions of years to occur.  Studies into the transformation of the region could help predict future earthquakes.   Iraq is sinking. Or to be exact, the region surrounding the Zagros Mountains in the country’s north is. A team of researchers has found a sinking oceanic “slab” below the Earth’s surface is pulling the northern region of Iraq down with it. But we are not talking about a sinkhole where you can watch hills, trees and entire sections of land disappear before your eyes: The…