Author: DW

It welcomes over 500,000 visitors every year and is reputedly the most famous residence in the US after the White House. This is Graceland, the former home of the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley. The entertainment complex in Memphis, Tennessee, where Presley is buried, is a major enterprise. It regularly hosts certified auctions, fan club events, and, of course, birthday celebrations for the deceased star. This year is no exception. Presley, who passed away in 1977, would have turned 90 on January 8, and this will be marked by four days of events and concerts at Graceland. Also opening to the public is a new exhibition “90 for…

Norway has become the poster child for the transition to electric vehicles (EVs). Last year, official government statistics showed that almost nine out of every 10 cars sold were electric.  In 2023 — the most recent year that data is available — the global EV adoption rate was just 18%, according to the International Energy Agency. The Nordic country has made a remarkable commitment to combating climate change, driven by strong government policies, robust infrastructure, and a supportive public. Norway aims for all passenger cars sold to be zero-emission vehicles by the end of this year, a decade ahead of the European…

The family of a motorcyclist who died in a crash in Thailand say they have “suffered immeasurable loss”.Corey Beavis, 28, from Barry in South Wales, died after a collision on Saturday morning, his family have confirmed. They have set up a JustGiving page to raise money to return his body to the UK as he did not have life or travel insurance in place.They said the costs were “unimaginable” but they have so far received more than £40k in donations.In a statement on the fundraising page, his family said Mr Beavis “lit up any room he walked into” and had…

What you need to know A Louisiana person has died from H5N1 bird flu, though they were in an at-risk age group and had underlying health conditions. 66 people in the US have contracted the strain of bird flu from exposure to animals. No human-to-human transmission has been detected, US health officials say disease “remains a low risk” to the public. A Louisiana patient hospitalized with H5N1 bird flu has died, marking the first human fatality in the United States linked to the disease. However, health officials have stressed the risk to the wider US population remains low. The Louisiana…

Much remains unclear days after the Ukrainian army’s latest  surprise offensive in the Russian region of Kursk. Kyiv has so far remained silent, as it did at the beginning of August 2024 when Ukraine advanced into the Russian region for the first time. Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Defense said on Monday that an “attempted advance” by Ukrainian forces towards the area of Bolshesoldatsky, some 80 kilometers (about 50 miles) southwest of the regional capital Kursk, had been reported. According to Moscow, four tanks, two infantry combat tanks, 16 armored combat vehicles and a mine clearance vehicle were destroyed. It is not possible…

Panama reiterated on Tuesday that the sovereignty of its eponymous ship canal was not up for discussion after US President-elect Donald Trump refused to rule out military action to regain control. “The sovereignty of our canal is not negotiable and is part of our history of struggle,” Foreign Minister Javier Martinez-Acha said, adding that President Jose Raul Mulino had made his stance clear. Trump made the remarks during a rambling news conference held at his home in southern Florida, which was supposed to be about Emirati investment in US technology. But the president-elect went off-track, repeating unsubstantiated claims that the Panama Canal…

French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo is marking 10 years since the terror attacks on its Paris office by running a cartoon contest asking for God-mocking submissions.

Despite TikTok’s looming ban in the United States, demand for the Chinese social video app remains strong, says Sven Oechler. The 25-year-old leads Pro & Me, a Berlin-based agency developing strategies for major companies on the platform. “I believe serious concerns will arise only after a final decision is made and implemented in the US,” Oechler told DW By January 19, TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance must sell its American TikTok subsidiary, or the app will be banned from US app stores. This was decided by the US Congress in April 2024 on grounds that ByteDance is allegedly under the influence of…

Jean-Marie Le Pen was variously loved and loathed – but he changed the shape of modern French politics.His youth was shaped by war and he then lived a life of constant battles. Le Pen’s political career, which was a very long one, was all about belligerence, anger, regret and scapegoats. In his world, everything that had gone wrong could be blamed on someone else.French far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen has diedMostly, his targets were either migrants or Muslims, or ideally migrants who were also Muslims. But he also berated bureaucrats, gay people and the Arab world in general. He was…

Reports of an outbreak of human metapneumovirus (HMPV) in parts of China are drawing international attention. HMPV was identified by a research group in the Netherlands in 2001, and had likely spread among humans for many years prior to that. News of the current outbreak followed an announcement by China’s National Administration of Disease Control and Prevention that it was testing a new reporting protocol in response to pneumonia cases. At a news conference reported by the state broadcaster CCTV, health officials noted that several common infections were circulating within China during the cold months and issued warnings about relying on…