Author: DW

It was a radio broadcast that marked media history, rocketing a 23-year-old Orson Welles to notoriety: his 1938 adaptation of H. G. Well’s novel “The War of the Worlds.”  That year, on the evening of Sunday, October 30, listeners who had tuned in to dance music on the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) radio network heard a news flash interrupt the “regular” program. A series of unusual explosions had been observed on the planet Mars, and a mass of hydrogen gas was moving towards Earth. The broadcast went back to dance music. Another news flash interrupted the orchestra, to inform listeners…

Never has state support been more critical to the survival of Germany’s auto industry . Thursday’s Autogipfel (“auto summit,” in English) — a high-stakes meeting in Berlin of political leaders, automotive executives and unions — comes at a moment of deep crisis as the sector faces stagnation, mass layoffs and a rocky transition to electric vehicles (EVs). Once dominant in engineering and brand prestige, the likes of Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz now lag behind Chinese rivals in software innovation and adopting EVs. China’s BYD, Nio and others are expanding aggressively into the European market, offering cheaper, tech-savvy EVs. US President Donald Trump’s protectionist policies have also dealt…

Immigration difficulties, mass deportation raids and climate issues have plagued the United States, the biggest of the three World Cup host countries, for most of 2025. With the first phase of ticket sales leaving fans astounded by the record-high prices, it raises the question: how much will fans really be able to enjoy the 2026 World Cup? Immigration struggles Since Donald Trump’s return to power, the US has made entering the country a nightmare for many. Unpredictable rejections and even detentions at the border made headlines early in the year, notably in March when German citizens were being detained by US immigration. The…

Gisele Pelicot appeared in court in Nimes in France on Wednesday, telling the one man who still contests his rape conviction that she “never” gave him her consent.  The 72-year-old’s former husband has admitted to drugging her with sedatives and inviting dozens of men to their home to rape and abuse her over the course of nearly a decade.  Dominique Pelicot, 72, received the maximum possible sentence of 20 years. He and 49 other men convicted in a case that shocked France and the wider world are not appealing.  But one 44-year-old man has maintained his innocence and appealed his…

Global internet monitor NetBlocks has reported that access to major social media platforms is currently restricted in Afghanistan. “Metrics show social media platforms Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat are now restricted on multiple providers in #Afghanistan,” it posted on X on Wednesday. The Taliban had already banned access to TikTok back in 2022. Social media users first started commenting on the restrictions late on Monday, local broadcaster Ariana News reported. Some users were reporting a complete cut in access in certain areas, Ariana News said, while others had slow internet connections or intermittent service. A resident of the capital Kabul and…

A grinning skull wearing a straw hat: Fans of the Japanese manga and anime “One Piece” instantly recognize this Jolly Roger flag as the banner of the Straw Hat Crew, an infamous group of pirates led by a young captain called Monkey D. Luffy. The flag was raised in front the Nepalese parliament when protesters stormed the building and set it on fire in early September, and it is now used in global youth-led movements known as the Gen Z protests. But how exactly did the fictional pirate crew become a rallying symbol of resistance, and what does the symbol represent?A…

Germany’s Federal Cartel Office on Wednesday announced an investigation into Chinese e-commerce giant Temu, saying it wanted to examine conditions for traders and the company’s treatment of the suppliers it relies upon to sell products.  “Each month more than 100 million users from European marketplaces visit temu.com,” Andreas Mundt, the president of the competition watchdog, said in a statement.  Why is the Cartel Office taking action? “For almost a year now the trading platform for German suppliers is also open. We are pursuing the suspicion that Temu could be setting unacceptable conditions for pricing for traders on the German marketplace,”…

Two-time Olympic champion Caster Semenya has played down reports that she is ending her legal challenge against sex eligibility rules in athletics. “We are forever fighting,” the South African told DW. In July, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) handed Semenya a partial victory in her yearslong legal battle, ruling that a Swiss appeals court hadn’t examined her case rigorously enough. That ruling leaves open the possibility of further legal action against World Athletics, the sport’s global governing body. Last week, The Associated Press quoted one of Semenya’s lawyers, Patrick Bracher, as saying her challenge would “not be taken…

Although there’s a temporary pause this week, the protests in Morocco will keep going until they achieve what they set out to do, one of the organizers of the youth-led movement behind the biggest anti-government protests the country has seen in years, told DW. They were marred by violence last week but the protests have been mostly peaceful and in a statement published early Tuesday morning, the movement — Gen Z 212 — called for the government’s resignation. Analysts have already suggested Morocco’s billionaire Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch may be forced to resign as a result of the Gen Z-led protests. Gen Z 212 has also demanded…

On Monday afternoon, when the European Parliament met for the second time after the summer break in Strasbourg, legislators got down to business right away. Jordan Bardella, the French chairman of the far-right group Patriots for Europe, accused European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen of a lack of transparency, a failed migration policy and a loss of competitiveness because of her climate policy. He also called the customs deal with the US a disaster. “You have effectively signed Europe’s surrender,” he said. The next to speak was the deputy chair of the left-wing group, French politician Manon Aubry. Her accusations were…