Author: DW

In the days after the riots following the soccer match between Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv, international media coverage of the event has been heavily criticized. A video published by a Dutch photographer on the X platform was rebroadcast by many media outlets — and misrepresented in the process. On the night from Thursday to Friday in Amsterdam, Israeli fans clashed with locals and pro-Palestinian supporters during the Europa League match between Dutch first-division team Ajax Amsterdam and Maccabi Tel Aviv. According to police, riots broke out in several places in the city center, 62 people were arrested and five people were taken…

Hong Kong’s High Court on Tuesday sentenced 45 pro-democracy activists to jail terms of up to 10 years in a landmark national security trial that has drawn international condemnation. Legal scholar Benny Tai. considered the mastermind behind the plan, was given the longest sentence. This was Hong Kong’s biggest national security case under a sweeping law imposed by China that crushed a once-thriving pro-democracy movement. The activists were prosecuted in 2021 for their roles in an unofficial primary election under the 2020 national security law.  They were accused of attempting to paralyze Hong Kong’s government and force the city’s leader to resign.…

The Kremlin’s reaction to reports that Washington has lifted restrictions on how Ukraine uses its weapons was nothing we haven’t heard before.It follows a well-worn theme of anger, warnings and accusations. If confirmed, the decision will spark a “new round of tension”, we were told. The Biden administration wants to “throw oil on the fire”. They are the ones guilty of escalation, not Russia.There was no mention of the thousands of North Korean troops Moscow has reportedly deployed to the frontline in Russia’s Kursk region to repel the Ukrainian incursion. But that’s to be expected.Follow latest: Moscow warns US over…

Tyler Bosselman is wearing the dark blue vest and the red tie of a Deutsche Bahntrain driver. As he sits comfortably in the operator’s seat of his regional DB train, the landscapes of southern Germany rush by outside, reflected in the sunglasses he’s wearing. Construction is underway on one of the routes that the 24-year-old Bosselman drives. It’s the busy Riedbahn route between Frankfurt and Mannheim in Germany, which is getting new switches and signals to make rail traffic run more smoothly. The goal is to finish the overhaul by the end of December, and Bosselman hopes that the upgrade will make Deutsche Bahn “more reliable overall.”Bosselman refuses…

A lawn can feel like a little oasis, our very own patch of nature. But throughout history, lawns have been powerful symbols of orderliness — and wealth.  When France’s King Louis XIV — also known as the Sun King — moved to Versailles in 1661, he commissioned a famous French landscape architect, Andre Le Notre, to design the gardens at Versailles palace. Le Notre understood that the gardens, which included meticulous lawns, were political: They were a way for the king to communicate that all was in order and under control. The planner notably created a “tapis vert,” literally a “green carpet”…

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called on his country’s military for a “limitless” expansion of its nuclear program to counter US-led threats, in comments reported on Monday. Kim gave a speech to battalion commanders and political instructors on Friday, state media KCNA reported, adding that he urged the military to focus efforts on completing war preparations. “He ardently called upon all the participants to go all out for bringing about substantial and fundamental improvement in improving their capabilities for fighting an actual war,” KCNA said. Kim criticized the United States for its updated nuclear strategies with South Korea and…

Amidst a conversation about packed playing schedules, a country coming to terms with the prospect of a snap election and the unappealing nature of dark mid-November evenings in central Europe, the return of international football feels untimely in Germany. Yet, for the sold-out crowd in Freiburg who watched Germany hammer Bosnia and Herzegovina 7-0, Julian Nagelsmann’s team remains a draw. This team is exciting to watch. Maybe it’s because they scored seven goals (their highest win under Nagelsmann). Maybe it’s because half of the team gave their jackets to the kids shivering in front of them during the national anthem. Maybe it’s…

US president-elect Donald Trump on Sunday nominated Brendan Carr to lead the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) media regulator. In his statement on the nomination, Trump described Car as a “warrior for free speech.” It comes days after Trump nominated Robert F Kennedy Jr. to be the head of the US’ federal health agency. What else did Trump say about Carr? Carr has “fought against the regulatory Lawfare that has stifled Americans’ Freedoms” and will “end the regulatory onslaught that has been crippling America’s Job Creators and Innovators, and ensure that the FCC delivers for rural America,” Trump said. Carr said in…

Dozens of people are said to have been killed in an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza, while in Beirut, another Israeli strike has reportedly killed Hezbollah’s head of media relations.Residents and medics said a multi-storey residential building housing at least six families had been targeted in the Gazan town of Beit Lahiya. About 70 people were living in the property, the Palestinian Civil Emergency said, while the Gaza government media office said 72 people had been killed.Video footage of the site of the strike, obtained by the Reuters news agency, showed bodies being pulled from a large pile of rubble,…

Anyone who attends a tech summit in 2024 can expect to be confronted with artificial intelligence (AI) every which way they turn. In that sense Web Summit, Europe’s largest tech conference annually held in Lisbon, Portugal was no different. But for the 70,000 plus crowd of visitors, startups, investors and executives passing through the halls in Lisbon’s International Fair, another topic was floating through the air — what exactly will Donald Trump’s second term mean for the tech industry, particularly in Europe? A couple of panels tackled the geopolitical question head on, with titles such as “A new Trump era”…