Author: DW

Val Kilmer, who starred in films including “Top Gun,” “The Doors,” and “Batman Forever” passed away at the age of 65, his family said to The New York Times. According to his daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, the cause of death was pneumonia. The man Hollywood loved to hate Born in Los Angeles on Dec. 31, 1959, Kilmer, at age 17, became the youngest student accepted into the drama division of the famed Juilliard School in New York. He made his film debut in the spy spoof “Top Secret!” (1984), and found fame as Iceman in “Top Gun” (1986) before portraying Jim Morrison in…

Mass layoffs, frozen or cut research funds, political directives — US President Donald Trump’s massive attack on science is not only affecting areas he dislikes, such as climate, energy, social, or gender studies. Other fields like AI or mRNA vaccine technologies  are impacted, too. Critics view Trump’s assault on research freedom as a politically-motivated attack on the pluralistic system and the liberal democratic order. Trump, critics say, is taking aim at the scientific method of refuting claims and myths with facts and analyses. The uncertainty created by Trump’s actions is so great that many researchers want to leave the US for…

Former Costa Rican President and Nobel Prize winner Oscar Arias said Tuesday that the United States had revoked his visa to enter the country, just weeks after he criticized President Donald Trump on social media. “I received an email from the US government informing me that they have suspended the visa I have in my passport. The communication was very terse, it does not give reasons. One could have conjectures,” Arias told reporters. Calling Trump ‘a Roman emperor’ In a social media post on Facebook in February, the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize winner said Trump was behaving like “a Roman emperor.” “It has…

German third-division football team Arminia Bielefeld have reached the final of the German Cup for the first ever time after sensationally beating reigning Bundesliga champions and cup holders Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday. After Leverkusen took the lead through German international Jonathan Tah, Bielefeld came back and turned the game around with goals from Marius Wörl and Maximilian Grosser. Bielefeld, from the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, are only the fourth ever club to reach the final of the German Cup while playing in the third tier, a division in which they currently sit fourth. The feat was previously accomplished by Union…

The United States said China’s military activities around Taiwan only serve to "exacerbate tensions" and "put the region’s security at risk."

US President Donald Trump ordered his officials earlier this year to develop reciprocal tariffs on imports to the United States, keeping to an “eye for an eye” campaign promise on matters of world trade. “I have decided for purposes of fairness, that I will charge a reciprocal tariff, meaning whatever countries charge the United States of America, we will charge them. No more, no less,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. Trump’s return to the White House has been marked by several tariff announcements — and numerous backtracking — including an additional 20% levy on imports from China that took effect in March, along with 25%…

A British tourist who was seriously injured after a suspected gas explosion destroyed a three-storey B&B in Rome has died.Grant Paterson, 54, from East Kilbride in South Lanarkshire, was left severely burned following the blast in the Monteverde area of the Italian city on 23 March. Mr Paterson, an employee with Scottish ferry operator CalMac, was pulled out of the ruins by firefighters and was taken to Sant’Eugenio Hospital for treatment.Hospital officials told Sky News that Mr Paterson died on Tuesday morning. Image: The B&B was destroyed in the explosion Diane Burke, CalMac’s chief operating officer, said: “Everyone at CalMac…

Frustrated by the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union, John Francis no longer wanted his British passport after Brexit officially took place on February 1, 2020. Instead, he applied for German citizenship and was thus able to continue traveling as an EU citizen. Now, he lives in the small German town of Obertshausen, where he runs his own company, Britain.de, which arranges vacation homes for tourists in England, Scotland and Wales. “At times, there was a lot of uncertainty among my customers,” he said. “They had many questions, such as: ‘What will be required to enter the country in future? Is…

Privacy experts are concerned about the risk of “genetic discrimination” after 23andMe, which offered a direct-to-consumer genetic testing service, filed for bankruptcy this week. 23andMe stores and analyzes its customers’ genetic material from saliva samples to provide insight into ancestral heritage and potential health risks. More than fifteen million 23andMe customers have spat into a vial and sent their DNA material for genetic analysis since it was founded in 2006. 23andMe said the bankruptcy process will not affect how it stores, manages or protects customer data. But privacy experts say this is precisely the problem — 23andMe’s privacy policy allows…

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen was banned from running for public office with immediate effect on Monday after a court found her guilty of misappropriating European Union funds. The court ruled that Le Pen and her National Rally party (RN) misused €3 million ($3.25 million) in European Parliament funds meant for parliamentary assistants. What did Le Pen say about the ruling? “Let’s be clear, I am eliminated but in reality its millions of French people whose voices have been eliminated,” Le Pen told broadcaster TF1, adding she had no confidence in an appeal being heard before the 2027 French…