Author: DW

French President Emmanuel Macron announced a major overhaul of the Louvre museum in Paris on Tuesday. The renovated museum would include a “grand new entrance” near the River Seine and a dedicated room for the Mona Lisa, Macron said. Meanwhile, visitors form outside of the European Union would pay a higher entry free. The Louvre’s latest big renovation in the 1980s was designed to receive 4 million annual visitors. But last year, the museum received 8.7 million visitors.The Louvre underwent its last major renovation in the 1980sImage: ROBIN UTRECHT/picture alliance Mona Lisa to get dedicated space Standing in front of…

The first day of the Chinese New Year falls on January 29 this year. Also known as the Spring Festival or Lunar New Year, the festival marking the advent of spring is widely celebrated in China and several East Asian countries. Families traditionally gather during this time to share sumptuous meals, while children are often given money in red packets known as “hong bao.” The start of the Lunar Year also sees the rotation of the Chinese zodiac that runs over a 12-year cycle, each represented by an animal. There are several stories explaining the zodiac: One legend goes that…

US President Donald Trump said Monday that Chinese AI startup DeepSeek’s dark-horse entry into the AI race should serve as a “wake-up call” for American companies developing artificial intelligence. “Hopefully, the release of DeepSeek AI from a Chinese company should be a wake-up call for our industries that we need to be laser-focused on competing to win,” Trump told a Republican congressional retreat in Florida. Trump’s comments came after the AI model powering DeepSeek’s chatbot began outperforming top US models, with the Chinese company saying they were made at a fraction of the cost. By Monday, DeepSeek’s chatbot was the number one…

Describing the International Kolkata Book Fair requires many superlatives. It is one of the largest book fairs in Asia and the most well-visited in the world, with a record 2.9 million literature fans attending it last year. This year’s fair, which takes place from January 28 to February 9, hopes to welcome even more visitors, who will attend the event to buy books, meet authors or attend outdoor book readings. Unlike its international equivalent in Germany, the Frankfurt Book Fair, which always has three days restricted to trade visitors, the Kolkata fair is a giant, public open-air bookstore with over 1,000 stands. …

The King delivered a speech to Holocaust survivors on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, and said “remembering the evils of the past remains vital”.”It is a moment when we recall the depths to which humanity can sink when evil is allowed to flourish, ignored for too long for the world,” he said on a visit to the Jewish Community Centre of Krakow, which he opened in 2008. Charles will join survivors and other dignitaries at the site, where a ceremony will be held at 3pm UK time.The King’s visit is first time that a serving British monarch…

Jannik Sinner of Italy defeated Alexander Zverev of Germany in three sets, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3, in the men’s final of the Australian Open on Sunday. The victory gave Sinner his second consecutive Australian Open title. He also became the first Italian to win three Grand Slams, surpassing Nicola Pietrangeli’s two.  “We worked a lot to be again in this position. It’s an amazing feeling to share this moment with all of you,” Sinner said, referring to his team of coaches. But he also had words of comfort for Zverev. “A tough day for you. You’re an amazing player,” Sinner said. “Keep working…

Tens of thousands of protesters in Greece on Sunday demanded justice for the 57 victims of the nation’s deadliest rail disaster in 2023. Demonstrations broke out in 97 cities in Greece and 13 locations abroad. Marches in the largest Greek cities of Athens and Thessaloniki had about 30,000 and 16,000 demonstrators respectively. “What is happening today is majestic,” Pavlos Aslanidis, the father of a victim, told the media in Thessaloniki. “This is now a global fight,” he added, referring to the protests abroad. “My son’s soul must be elated… I believe we will win. We have ranged the state against us, but we will…

About 60 men, women and children stand in front of the wide marble staircase in the art nouveau-styled Pera Palace Hotel in Istanbul, admiring the 130-year-old electric elevator as it transports guests up to their rooms. A bellhop asks the group if they’re waiting for a tour, and learns that some of the visitors have come all the way from Spain. “Of course, since the series was released, we’ve had visitors from across the globe,” he said. Many come to witness the magnificent filming location, he added, and delve into its rich history. The series he’s talking about is a Turkish time-travel show named…

South Africa, Malawi and Uruguay on Saturday announced that soldiers from their respective armies were killed as they battled to halt the advance of M23 rebel fighters in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The South African National Defense Force (SANDF) said that nine of its soldiers were killed during a pitched battle with M23 fighters as they attempted to advance on the city of Goma, the key city in the mineral-rich east.Congolese government troops deployed to help repel the M23 rebels who had been closing in on Goma, a key city in the mineral-rich east of the DRCImage:…

Among the most significant cultural casualties of the California wildfires devastating Los Angeles is Belmont Music Publishers, the exclusive publisher of the works of composer Arnold Schoenberg, whose archive was located in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood. “The entire inventory of sales and rental materials — comprising some manuscripts, original scores and printed works — has been lost in the flames. For a company that focused exclusively on the works of Schoenberg, this loss represents not just a physical destruction of property but a profound cultural blow,” said Larry Schoenberg, the son of the famed composer, in a press release.  The publisher’s catalog encompassed Schoenberg’s complete range of compositions, from his…