Author: DW

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…

The first thing I noticed after arriving in Vidnoye, a suburb 15 miles south of the Kremlin and Moscow’s centre, was the debris on the ground – smashed glass, clumps of what looked like loft insulation and piles of crumpled metal railings.The next thing was all the cracked and shattered windscreens, which people were patching up with bubble-pack, bin liners and tape. And finally, I saw the cause of it all.Ukraine war latest: Peace talks begin in Saudi Arabia At the top of the apartment block I was standing beneath were massive black scorch marks, spread across the outside of…

Holding back economic advance of China has been one of the White House’s major policy goals since the first term of US President Donald Trump . But a proposal to counter Chinese dominance in shipbuilding, backed by huge state subsidies, isn’t a Trump idea. It was petitioned for by five United States labor unions under the Joe Biden administration. In February, the United States Trade Representative (USTR), which was tasked with investigating the issue, proposed a $1.5 million (€1.42 million) fee for any Chinese-made ship docking at a US port. The fee is justified, USTR said, to counteract what it sees as unfair advantages gained by China in…

High tourist taxes did not stop 39-year-old Susanne Meier from visiting the Himalayan country of Bhutan twice. In fact, Bhutan boasts the world’s highest tourist tax, known as the “Sustainable Development Fee.” Tourists are charged $100 (€95) per person per day to visit — a steep price tag for most travelers. The tourism tax comes in addition to additional required travel costs, such as a driver and guide, which are services usually arranged by tour companies for an extra price. “The people there want slow tourism, not cheap tourism,” says Meier, who works for the travel company Bhutan Travel based in…

The president of Germany’s Foreign Intelligence Service (BND) told DW that he is confident that intelligence sharing with the United States will continue, despite a change of foreign policy course in Washington. In his first public statement since President Donald Trump took office, Bruno Kahl said protecting Ukraine from Russia was something that the West “must achieve together.” “We very much hope that the Americans will soon be at our side again to help protect Ukraine from the aggression coming from the east,” he said. US freezes all military aid to UkraineTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to…

A cargo ship hit a tanker carrying jet fuel for the US government off the eastern coast of the United Kingdom on Monday, causing a large fire on both vessels and triggering a rescue operation. The incident occurred in the North Sea near the city of Hull, and the alarm was first raised at 9:48 a.m. (UTC/GMT). Local lawmaker Graham Stuart said 37 crew members aboard the two ships had been brought to shore and assessed by ambulances. According to the owner of the cargo ship, one of its crew is missing. The office of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said details surrounding the…