Author: DW

Hungary, Slovakia and Ukraine are in the midst of an spat over a key pipeline that supplies Russian crude to Central Europe.    Shipments through the Druzhba pipeline have stalled since the end of January. While Ukraine blames a Russian drone strike for the disruption, Hungary and Slovakia slam Kyiv for the prolonged outage. What to know about the pipeline? The Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline carries Russian crude through Belarus and Ukraine and into Central Europe. Opened in 1964, it is one of the largest oil pipelines in the world, connecting West Siberian oil fields to major refineries in Europe. The pipeline…

NASA is moving a rocket set to send four astronauts into a flyby of the moon off the launchpad. Postponed by NASA several times since it was rolled into launch position in late January 2026, new issues have left the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket unable to take off again. The original launch window opened on February 6, 2026. The launch was first moved by a few days and then a month, into March. Now, Artemis II will not launch before April.  Hydrogen and helium issues Problems began almost immediately in February, with freezing cold weather delaying an essential “wet” rehearsal of the…

Who were the big winners and losers? Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo of Norway is the undisputed king of the Milan Cortina Olympic Games. With six gold medals, the 29-year-old cross-country skier equaled the record of US speed skater Eric Heiden at the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid. With a total of 11 gold medals in his career, Klaebo is the most successful Winter Olympian in history. His fellow Norwegian, Jens Luraas Oftebro, celebrated three Olympic victories in the Nordic combined. With three gold medals, Franjo van Allmen of Switzerland was the outstanding alpine skier. Among the women, Federica Brignone sparked euphoria…

This year’s Berlin International Film Festival prize winners, and their acceptance speeches, make clear the difficult tightrope along which the festival has to walk. Closing a 10-day festival that had been marked by a social media storm surrounding jury president Wim Wenders’ comment that filmmakers should “stay out of politics,” the films that were selected to win the top awards, Ilker Catak’s “Yellow Letters” and Emin Alper’s “Salvation,” demonstrated that the Berlinale remains the most political of Europe’s three big film festivals, next to Cannes and Venice. Despite an open letter’s accusations of “censorship” of the artists speaking out on Gaza, various…

Even by Donald Trump’s standards, 2026 has been unusually frenetic. From the ousting of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro, to his threats to annex Greenland, to his repeated vows to use military action against Iran, a lot has been happening. Yet amid all these geopolitical upheavals, one key tool has pretty much defined both of Trump’s presidencies: tariffs. Trump’s obsession with tariffs goes back a long way. Those who have observed the US president over the decades say it is tied to his view of the booming Japanese economy of the 1980s. Trump formed the view that Japan’s economic success was based on what he felt were…

Researchers are beginning to understand the long-term impact of wildfire smoke exposure on human health. And it’s not good. “Your whole body is affected,” said Yang Liu, Professor of Environmental Health at Emory University in Atlanta. “Wildfire smoke causes oxidative stress to your system and exacerbates or accelerates the development of diseases.” In a study published in January 2026, Yang Liu and other researchers found that repeated exposure to even moderate amounts of smoke increases the risk of stroke among older adults. A month later, another study found that long-term exposure to wildfire smoke had contributed to an average of…

Skip next section Ceremony done and dusted02/22/2026February 22, 2026Ceremony done and dustedA few more musical acts wrap up a ceremony that’s had opera, dance, DJs, flag waving, medals and some IOC speeches. The ceremony was certainly authentically Italian and the Verona Arena played its part, an evocative venue for the occasion. After 17 days, 2900 athletes, 116 gold medals and 150 minutes of closing ceremony, the flame is extinguished and the Winter Olympics moves on to the French Alps for 2030. That’s it for us, too. Thanks for reading. https://p.dw.com/p/59DpdSkip next section 2026 Olympics officially closed02/22/2026February 22, 20262026 Olympics officially…

The Golden Bear, the Berlin International Film Festival’s top prize, was awarded on Saturday to the political drama “Yellow Letters,” by German director Ilker Catak. His previous film, “The Teachers’ Lounge” (2023) was nominated for an Oscar. Starring Tansu Bicer in the role of a playwright and Ozgu Namal as a famous actress, “Yellow Letters” follows the married artists whose relationship is tested as they get caught in the state’s crosshairs. The allegory on authoritarian oppression is set in contemporary Turkey, but was shot in Germany, with Berlin and Hamburg taking on the roles of Ankara and Istanbul.  “Yellow Letters” was decidedly the most political of all 22 works in the main competition, an apt…

In a political setback for President Donald Trump, the US Supreme Court has struck down most of his tariffs put in place over the last 13 months, ruling that they are unconstitutional. Specifically, the court decided in a 6-3 vote that the president exceeded his authority by using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977 to implement many of his tariffs on US trading partners. What is the Trump administration likely to do next? In anticipation of the ruling, the US administration had made it clear it had been doing its homework for months and that it was prepared to quickly implement new tariffs under…

Nearly 150 years after giant tortoises vanished from Floreana Island in Ecuador’s Galapagos archipelago, the species has made a long‑anticipated return. Ecuadorian authorities this week released 158 juvenile tortoises, each between 8 and 13 years old. The release is the first phase of a larger plan to reintroduce 700 animals to the island. “For the first time in over a century, Floreana is once again home to giant tortoises, a species that plays a strategic role as ecosystem engineers: seed dispersers, vegetation regulators, and promoters of natural habitat regeneration,” the environment ministry said Friday.The newcomers have begun exploring the habitat…