Author: DW

Allulose is a rarer form of sugar first identified in wheat leaves in the 1940s. However, it remained seldom used and under-researched. That was until the 1990s, when Ken Izumori, a professor in the Faculty of Agriculture at Kagawa University, Japan, came along. Izumori discovered a microorganism in soil near the university that converted fructose into allulose, with the help of an enzyme. It’s taken another 20-30 years of research, but allulose is now slowly gaining popularity as a sweetener, or alternative to sugar, in the US and South Korea, where it has been approved for commercial use. Allulose (also known…

Grocery shopping this Christmas season may bring some relief compared to recent years, as falling food inflation in many countries helps ease the strain on holiday budgets. Except, that is, for chocolate! As consumers in Germany rush to stock up for the holidays, local media reported this week that they are paying nearly 50% more for the Kinder Chocolate Santa Claus. Even before the Christmas shopping dash got underway, the UK’s consumer association Which? warned that prices for some bars and luxury chocolate gift boxes had almost doubled across Britain. One French chocolate producer, meanwhile, told regional daily Ouest France recently that they are…

Sir Keir Starmer is to head abroad over the New Year after spending Christmas Day at Chequers in Buckinghamshire.The prime minister is enjoying his first festive period in the role after winning the general election at the start of July. According to a Downing Street spokesperson, he will spend time with his family over the coming days.However, instead of doing so at Downing Street or their family home, the Starmers will head to the grace and favour country residence of Chequers in the Buckinghamshire countryside.After spending the 25 December there, the prime minister and his family are going to go…

Warning: This text contains descriptions of sexual violence: No one can deny that being raped is one of the most distressing, horrendous and demeaning experiences anyone could have. It almost always leaves the victim with feelings of self-loathing, self-blame and rage, and can cause post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). But have you ever wondered about rapists, like Dominique Pelicot who in December 2024 received a 20 year jail sentence for mass rape? Why do men rape? This is a complicated question with multiple answers, as several factors play roles in producing a rapist. A sexual assaulter can be any kind of person. This…

Tiger Woods’ son Charlie hit his first-ever hole-in-one on Sunday while the pair were playing together at the PNC Championship at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando. Despite losing the tournament to Bernhard Langer and his son Jsaon, it was a memorable day for the Woods family after Charlie hit the 176-yard, par-3 fourth directly into the hole. Waiting for TV confirmation it had dropped “That was the thrill of a lifetime to be able to have that moment with Charlie, make his first hole-in-one, [daughter] Sam on the bag, just our family and friends. That’s what this event is…

Seven million displaced people, half a million casualties of war, hunger and poverty — after 14 years of civil war, Syria is in ruins. The cost of rebuilding the country will be massive. DW has compiled some key data on the situation in Syria. With an area of about 185,000 square kilometers, Syria is roughly half the size of Germany. Around 24 million people live in the country, two-thirds of whom are dependent on humanitarian aid. Western Syria in particular is densely populated, but there are entire metropolitan areas around cities like Damascus, Aleppo, Hama, and Homs that are now…

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico made an unannounced visit to Moscow on Sunday for what he and the Kremlin called a “working meeting” with President Vladimir Putin.  Fico made the trip days after reaching a deadlock in a dispute with the government in Kyiv over the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine to Slovakia, with Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying he does not intend to extend existing contracts past the end of the year. The Slovak leader had tried to secure a change in this stance, without success, at the EU summit in Brussels earlier this week. Fico is only the third leader…

Construction workers in Rome have been working hard for weeks and bishops around the world have been motivating Catholics to visit the Holy City. On Christmas Eve, December 24, Pope Francis will open a “Holy Year.” First and foremost, it is a traditional religious event: a solemn pilgrimage to St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s basilicas and other churches in Rome. The very first Holy Year was officially held in 1300. It is not only a religious tradition — it is also an important source of revenue: Experts estimate that about 30 million additional visitors will come to Rome in 2025…

A few days after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen inked a long-pending trade agreement with four Latin American nations, French farmers were back on the streets dumping manure. This time they parked the tractors near the tunnel in Calais that goes through the English Channel. France’s minister for trade, Sophie Primas, said the deal with the Mercosur bloc — that includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay — “only commits the Commission, not the member states,” indicating that France will oppose ratification of the agreement.Negotiations came to an end on after 25 years, with the leaders of the partner states all smiles at…

The mother of a nine-year-old boy killed in the German Christmas market attack has paid tribute to “my little teddy bear”.Andre Gleissner was one of at least five people who died, while more than 200 others were injured when a car ploughed into crowds in Magdeburg on Friday evening.German Christmas market attack – latest updatesHis mother Desiree Gleissner said in a post on Facebook: “Let my little teddy bear fly around the world again… Andre didn’t do anything to anyone… He was only with us on earth for nine years… why you… why. I don’t understand.”Now you are with grandma…