Author: DW

Imagine rockets being launched from the Azores, an archipelago out in the Atlantic Ocean, carrying Portuguese-built satellites into space — and then picture reusable space capsules returning to base. While this may sound like a rather futuristic scenario, elements of it could soon become reality. Portugal, after all, is working hard to become a spacefaring nation, with the help of its many highly skilled engineers and EU cooperation. “Portugal has modernized considerably over the past 20 years,” Portuguese Space Agency President Ricardo Conde tells DW. “Our universities produce outstanding engineers. We have created human capital that we can build on.” Conde, whose agency…

Day or night, rain or shine, wherever they’re released, trained pigeons can find their way home over distances as high as almost 1,000 kilometers (around 600 miles). It’s a skill humans have made use of since time immemorial. And for around a century, scientists have known that magnetoreception plays a part in the birds’ navigational cocktail.  A research team from the University of Bonn and the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior wrote in the journal Science this week that a core part of the secret to homing using magnetic fields may lie in the birds’ livers. India: Meet the woman passionate about pigeon…

As Paris Saint-Germain tightened the screws on Arsenal over two absorbing hours, the drums in the crowd behind the goal matched their relentless intensity. It was enough to push PSG past Arsenal 4-3 on penalties after the Champions League final in Budapest ended 1-1 after extra time on Saturday.  Players, crowd and coach — PSG are a club united. “Today, we can say we are the best in Europe. We take pleasure in playing with this group. We’re all humble, and that makes you want to give more. But we just want to celebrate with the people of Paris,” said…

“With today’s cabinet resolution, we are ensuring that the German film industry will become a global player in film production,” Germany’s Culture and Media Minister Wolfram Weimer said on Wednesday. He described the coalition government’s draft bill, which still needs to be voted on by parliament, as a “film booster.” According to Weimer, never before has so much money been allocated to the domestic film industry. In fact, it will be almost double anything previously allocated, totaling €250 million ($291 million). Along with other funding programs, the government is reportedly committing more than €300 million to film productions. Additional funding from Germany’s…

Germany’s coalition government of Christian Democrats (CDU) and Social Democrats (SPD) is seeking to overturn the central provision of the heating law introduced by the previous administration. The original law stipulated that all heating systems installed in the coming years must run on at least 65% renewable energy. Under the new proposals, however, oil and gas heating systems with significantly lower shares of climate-friendly gases would still be allowed in existing buildings for a longer period. The cabinet approved the plan based on a draft bill submitted by Building Minister Verena Hubertz (SPD) and Economy Minister Katherina Reiche (CDU). Under the…

The Ebola epidemic  continues to grow in the provinces of Ituri and North Kivu in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with more than 900 suspected cases and 220 deaths so far. The World Health Organization (WHO) fears that the virus will keep continue to spread in DRC. “We are facing an extremely serious and difficult outbreak. It will get worse before it gets better,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said earlier this week. The global health body wants to provide help on the ground as quickly as possible by sending equipment and medical experts. The WHO’s funds, however, are limited,…

Harry Kane scored a hat trick as Bayern Munich defeated defending champions VfB Stuttgart 3-0 to win the German Cup (DFB Pokal) for the 21st time on Saturday. The England captain’s three goals completed a domestic double for the Bundesliga champions. The win ended a six-year drought in the competition for the Bavarian giants and brought Kane’s seasonal total to 61 goals across all competitions. It also marked the Reds’ 14th league-and-cup double. No other German club has achieved the double more than once. Kane elated after third goal seals victory “Going into this final, I felt like it was my responsibility,”…

The Dutch government on Friday gave a green light for controversial US musician Kanye West to perform in the country, breaking rank with several other EU nations who sought to keep West out due to his history of antisemitic rants. Even in the Netherlands, the parliament overwhelmingly voted to ban the rapper. But the country’s migration minister said this was not enough to deny West entry. “You need clear reasons to bar people from your country. We did not find those in the analyses that were conducted,” Minister for Asylum and Migration Bart van den Brink said on Friday. The…

The Iranian regime has been accused of extortion and threats to global energy security after reports emerged that Tehran has begun charging up to $2 million (€1.7 million) per vessel for “safe passage” through the Strait of Hormuz. The strait is the world’s most indispensable energy corridor, squeezed between Iran and Oman. Before the Iran war, it carried one-fifth of all the oil and gas consumed worldwide. Iran’s government has justified the fees as war reparations for damage suffered caused during US-Israeli attacks on the country, as well as payment for “navigational services,” environmental protection and enhanced security.  The government announced that it was drafting a joint protocol…

At 26 years old, Kai Havertz has more experience than most. The former Leverkusen man has a history of game-winning goals. His most famous is perhaps his Champions League-winning goal for Chelsea against Manchester City in 2021. It was a goal that denied Pep Guardiola and gave Thomas Tuchel glory. For Havertz, it wasn’t the only one though. A year later, he scored an extra-time penalty to win the Club World Cup for Chelsea. This season, Havertz scored the injury-time winner for Arsenal in the League Cup semifinal against his former team. His injury-time winner against Sporting in the Champions…