Author: DW

There is a new prime minister of Syria.The rebel groups, led by Abu Mohammed al Jolani’s Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), have installed a transition government to run the country and navigate the turbulent first months of what some are hailing as “Free Syria”. This interim government – which says it will be in place until March to sort out “constitutional issues” – is led by new Prime Minister Mohammed al Bashir.Who is Mohammed al Bashir?Born in 1983 in the Idlib region of northwestern Syria, Mr Bashir graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Aleppo in…

“It breaks my heart! You can’t treat people this way. We’ve worked so hard for Thyssenkrupp,” said Helmut Renk, the 62-year-old works council chairman of the steelmaker’s facility in Kreuztal-Eichen, Germany.  Venting his anger and frustration about the plant’s likely closure, he adds that he’s been working there for 40 years — just like his father before and his son now. Renk’s hard feelings are currently shared by many employees of the German steel giant, argues trade union official Ulrike Hölter. Representing the central Ruhr Valley branch of the IG Metall metalworkers’ union, Hölter says the steelworkers are especially angry with…

The landscape is shaped by vast fields with grain silos and long clotheslines strung in front of farmhouses. Combined with the many horse-drawn carriages on the roads, it feels like being transported back to a bygone era. The Amish strive for humility and community. As members of the Anabaptist faith, they follow a strict interpretation of the Bible. In the Amish world, modern innovations like cars or the internet are mostly off-limits. This also rules out dating apps, which otherwise dominate the dating scene across the United States. So how do members of this Christian faith community find a prospective…

American scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun are the latest in a long line of scientists to be honored with the Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology by the Swedish organization. The pair were announced as recipients for the prize in October for their shared discovery of microRNA and the role it plays in post-transcriptional gene regulation, though as is tradition, only receive their medals at the annual presentation in December. When announced, Nobel Committee vice-chair Professor Olle Kämpe described the discovery of microRNA as “a tiny molecule that has opened a new field in gene regulation.” Though the pair worked in separate…

Russian billionaire oligarch Alisher Usmanov was reelected as president of the International Fencing Federation (FIE) at the organization’s congress in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, on Saturday despite being sanctioned in nearly 40 countries.  Usmanov, who was born in Uzbekistan, was voted into the role for the fifth time, winning 120 votes, compared to 26 for his challenger, Otto Drakenberg of Sweden. It was the first time Usmanov had been challenged for the presidency, although Drakenberg’s presence in the election did little to sway support for the oligarch, whose financial contributions over the years have considerably boosted the sport’s coffers. Prior to the…

A German-Russian citizen has been arrested in Russia for allegedly preparing to sabotage a rail line on the orders of Ukraine’s SBU security service, Russian media cited Russia’s own FSB security services as saying on Tuesday. The man, born in 2003, has been accused by the FSB of having “prepared the sabotage of a section of railway line in the city of Nizhny Novgorod with an explosive device” in return for payment by the SBU, a statement said. Nizhny Novgorod is situated some 250 miles (402 kilometers) east of the Russian capital, Moscow. Alleged plan to derail freight train The FSB said authorities had found an improvised…

The Defense Ministry in Taiwan on Wednesday said that it had detected 53 Chinese aircraft and 19 ships near the island over a 24-hour period. The latest movement of Chinese aircraft and vessels around the island comes as Beijing conducts its largest military drills in years. Chinese planes and vessels ‘operating around Taiwan’ “53 PLA aircraft, 11 PLAN vessels and 8 official ships operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today,” Taiwan’s defense ministry said in a post on social media platform X.  “23 of the aircraft crossed the median line and entered Taiwan’s northern, southwestern and eastern…

A renewed international appeal has been launched to identify the body of a man found in woodland 45 years ago.Skeletal remains, referred to as Glamorgan Man, were found in the remote Rheola Forest near Resolven in Neath Port Talbot, south Wales, on 9 December 1979. Locate International, a charity which investigates cold cases of missing or unidentified people, says the man was a possible visitor from South Africa and is believed to have died between nine and 18 months before he was found.Investigators found in his possession a Salvation Testament bible that bore the name D MALAN and a partial…

How was Syria’s economy ravaged by the civil war? Syria’s economy was worth $67.5 billion (€63.9 billion) in 2011 — the same year that large-scale protests broke out against President Bashar Assad’s regime, which sparked a rebel insurgency that escalated into a full-blown civil war. The country was placed 68th among 196 countries in global GDP rankings, comparable to Paraguay and Slovenia. By last year, the economy had fallen to 129 in the league table, having shrunk by 85% to just $9 billion, according to World Bank estimates. That put the country on par with the likes of Chad and the Palestinian Territories. Almost 14 years…

Alongside the laureates for the Nobel Prize in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine and Economic Sciences, South Korean author Han Kang is receiving her award at a ceremony held at the Stockholm Concert Hall in Sweden, on December 10 — the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death. She delivered her Nobel Prize lecture ahead of the ceremony, on December 7. In her lecture titled “Light and Thread,” the author revisits the impulses that have guided her literary journey. Going back to a poem book she wrote at the age of 8, she sees a strong continuity between her early passion for words and her present work: “Where is love? It is inside my thump-thumping beating chest. What is love? It is the gold…