Author: DW

Police in Tyrol, Austria said a father and son were killed by a sudden avalanche on Thursday around lunchtime.  A group of four — a father, his two sons and a friend of the family — had set out from Schwendberg near Hippach, bound for the Rosskopf mountain peak on backcountry skis.  Police said in a statement that just before noon the group were trying to descend a steep eastern peak in single file, part of practices aimed at reducing the risk of avalanches. During their descent, “a huge slab of snow broke loose and swept the 51-year-old father and his 22-year-old son about 300 meters…

Not even the cold temperatures in early December could deter the members of a padel club in Niederwalgern, just over 80 kilometers (about 50 miles) north of Frankfurt, from getting together for the last tournament of the season. “Padel has become a passion,” said Marco Otto, who took up the new sport, which is more about fun and community than competition, around two years ago. “It’s a fast, dynamic game.” Little effort for a lot of fun Padel is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world. The smaller courts are similar to tennis, with a net in the middle and…

The United Kingdom became the 12th member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP, as of Sunday.  The previous British government signed the accession treaty last year, with most members of the bloc having since ratified the UK’s entry. Officials hope membership could boost Britain’s struggling economy by as much as $2.5 billion (roughly €2.4 billion) per year.  The country is trying to strike new trade deals abroad in the aftermath of leaving the European Union following its 2016 referendum on Brexit, with EU member states still accounting for over 40% of UK exports and more than 50%…

A Syrian former equestrian champion has told how he was jailed and tortured for 21 years after he beat Bashar al Assad’s older brother in a competition. Adnan Kassar, once a celebrated figure in the country’s sports scene, spoke to Sky News about his ordeal for the first time following the fall of the Assad family regime’s more than 50-year rule. He won multiple gold medals and captained the national equestrian team in the late 1980s, with his career peaking in 1993 at the third International Equestrian Championship in Latakia, where his flawless performance secured victory for the team.Mr Kassar…

Why is Youssoufa Moukoko in the headlines? A recently-released documentary from German broadcaster ProSieben has made a series of claims about the Borussia Dortmund striker, who is currently on loan at French club Nice. ‘Tricks, Cheats, Deception – The Million Dollar Business with Football Talent’, states that the Germany international is 24, rather than his previously accepted age of 20. Among other claims, it also says that Youssoufa Moukoko is not his real name. The claims are made by a man named Joseph Moukoko, who previously claimed to be the footballer’s father and now says he helped muddy the waters in…

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser on Wednesday urged the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) not to exploit an attack on a Christmas market in the city of Magdeburg last week. Five people were killed and over 200 were injured when a car was driven through crowds at the Christmas market in the city in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. What did Faeser say? “To the AfD, I can only say: Any attempt to exploit such a terrible act and to abuse the suffering of the victims is despicable,” Faeser said in comments to the Funke Media Group, a major publisher of…

At least 14 people were killed in clashes in Syria’s western Tartus province on Wednesday as security forces of the new regime clashed with a group of supporters loyal to the ousted Bashar Assad regime, according to a local war monitor and the new interior ministry. What do we know so far? The unrest broke out as Islamist forces sought to arrest an officer of the Assad regime, who was among those “responsible for the crimes of the Saydnaya prison,” the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement, identifying him as Mohammed Kanjo Hassan. It said he…

The voice is a democratic instrument per se. Almost anyone without health impediments can use their voice and, unlike other instruments, it doesn’t cost anything. “You can be particularly creative with your voice,” says Christine Siegert, President of the State Music Councilsin Germany. The music councils annually choose an instrument of the year, and in 2025 it is the human voice. From singing and speaking to whispering or shouting, the voice can do a lot. “All these sounds can also be used musically, and you can also be creative with loud shouts or screams,” Siegert tells DW. In addition, the…

Multilateral organizations like the World Trade Organization (WTO) hold little significance for US President-elect Donald Trump, who views them as contrary to US interests. The former German ambassador to China, Michael Schaefer, even believes that Trump considers any prolonged search for compromises in those institutions “a waste of time.” Trump’s perception of the world, he told DW, is so fundamentally different from what proponents of a rules-based world order would support that his first term in office will likely be considered a “walk in the park” compared with what he’s planning to do now.Life won’t be easier for WTO chief Okonjo-Iweala…

Sir Keir Starmer has condemned Russia’s Christmas Day bombardment of Ukraine, saying the hail of missiles and drones was “bloody and brutal”.The prime minister lamented that there was “no respite even at Christmas” for Ukrainians, who spent the morning sheltering in metro stations as bombs rained down on their cities. Russia’s defence ministry said it carried out a “massive strike” on energy facilities that it claimed supported Kyiv’s military.Volodymyr Zelenskyy also condemned the attack, saying Russia was seeking to plunge his people into darkness.”Putin deliberately chose Christmas,” he said on Wednesday. “What could be more inhumane?” In the east, Kremlin…