Author: DW

The commercial real estate sector has been reshaped in multiple ways in recent years, from the boom in e-commerce to the rise in remote working. Now a new force is making arguably the biggest impact of all — artificial intelligence. AI’s impact is being felt in multiple sectors, but commercial real estate might not immediately come to mind as an industry primed for disruption. After all, what’s more “real” than the bricks and mortar of real estate. Yet increasingly, commercial real estate services firms face a battle in convincing their clients they need as many humans to do the work…

The UK has denied US entertainer Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, entry into the country over his repeated antisemitic antics. The disgraced rapper had been scheduled to perform at the “Wireless Festival” in July. “As a result of the Home Office banning Ye from entering the United Kingdom, Wireless Festival has been forced to cancel,” the event’s organizers announced Tuesday on Instagram. Organizers said refunds would be sent to ticket holders for what was to be a three-day, open-air event in London’s Finsbury Park. The BBC on Tuesday quoted the UK Home Office as saying that the US performer’s presence…

Energy security has once again taken on urgent priority in the European Union, as the Iran war reveals how exposed many member states still are to abrupt oil and gas supply shocks — despite the lessons of Russia’s full‑scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago.   The crisis has prompted member states to reexamine their efforts to diversify and cut their reliance on external energy sources. It has also sparked a fresh push for nuclear power. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said last month that Europe’s turn away from nuclear energy had been a “strategic mistake.” Brussels is now…

First it was cars and electronics, then pop music and films, and now the beauty industry: skincare and cosmetics “made in Korea” are in demand all over the world. More and more Westerners are raving about South Korean beauty products. This success is no coincidence, nor is it a purely aesthetic phenomenon. The East Asian country has made its cultural exports an important source of soft power. What’s known as “K-beauty” relies on a combination of cultural dynamics, economic strategy and geopolitical positioning.  “Soft power means using attractiveness, not force, to influence others,” said Hannes Mosler, a political scientist and Korea expert at the University of Duisburg-Essen. This…

Gold, cocoa and oil are goods that are sought-after globally. And they can all be found in abundance in Ghana. This explains why the West African country earns more from exports than it has to pay for imports. To receive beneficial export conditions, Ghana granted market access to trading partners for suboptimal returns. Here’s an example that shows how complex the effects of such trade agreements can be — and why export surpluses can belie a situation where some people will lose out. For example, 80% of chickens in Ghana do not come from local producers but are instead flown in frozen from Europe,…

In Erlangen, a city of 119,000 residents in northern Bavaria, a great deal is happening at once. Preparations are underway for a new synagogue for which the state of Bavaria has provided a plot of land near the university. The city’s two major mosques are planning expansions. And in one of the city’s suburbs, an association has purchased land to build a Shiva‑Vishnu temple for the Hindu community. Silvia Klein, who heads Erlangen’s Department of Integration and Diversity, highlights the city’s rich mix of cultures, languages — and religions. When it comes to the temple project, she points to the association “Hindu Tempel…

Less than 12 hours before a deadline set by US President Donald Trump for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz was due to expire, the Republican announced he would postpone planned strikes on the Islamic Republic’s power plants. Trump on Monday claimed “very good and productive” talks with Tehran had resulted in the five-day delay, although Iranian news agencies disputed his comments, reporting that there had been “no contact” between the two sides. Washington is trying to force Iran to end its effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway linking the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean through which a fifth of the world’s oil and…

Like so many Brazilians, Thiago Pessao was captured by the World Cup as a child. By the time the tournament came to his homeland in 2014, it was a full-blown obsession. He attended 23 games in that tournament and 17 in Russia four years later. Only Brazil’s early exit and an agreement with his wife to leave on their departure stopped him from racking up even bigger numbers in Qatar 2022. In short, Pessao is committed to the World Cup — Brazil and beyond. But even he is struggling to justify the cost and hassle of the largely US-hosted expanded tournament this…

Germany’s federal commissioner for culture and media, Wolfram Weimer, was heavily criticized recently when he rejected the expansion of the German National Library in favor of digital archiving. Although the former journalist has since indicated that the expansion might proceed, his initial decision has sparked debate about the role of books in a digital world. Today, we are bombarded with text and information. Podcasts, social media posts, comments, emails, the latest online news — everything is immediately available, any time and anywhere. Yet something important is lost amid the digital clutter: the act of deeply engaging with a thought. Unlike the distractions of…

Stock markets dipped across the board early on Monday, with traders nervous after another weekend yielded no real signs of deescalation in Iran or the wider Gulf region or a reduction in the rising energy prices the conflict is causing. Several of the major Asian markets dipped by 3% or more, while Europe’s main indices all shed in the region of 2% in morning trading. Government bond yields were up and even the traditional safe havens gold and silver shed more than 6% and 7% of their values.  However, an apparent change in tone from US President Donald Trump as he…