Author: DW

North Korea’s Naegohyang Women’s FC is due to play a South Korean women’s team in Suwon on May 20, the first time Pyongyang has permitted its athletes to travel to the South in more than seven years. For some, it is an indication that the North is deploying “sports diplomacy” to ease strained bilateral ties. The rare visit comes as North Korea has framed the South as its “primary foe and invariable principal enemy” in a recently rewritten constitution that removes notions of reunifying the peninsula, which has been divided since the 1950-1953 Korean War.  Victor Cha, Korea chair at the…

Around 530 BC, the world’s first public museum opened its doors in the Mesopotamian state of Ur, in modern-day Iraq. The curator was a priestess princess, and the museum was part of the palace complex, displaying artifacts from the region with informational labels in multiple languages. Fast forward some 2,500 years, and museums no longer only offer stationary exhibits accompanied by written information. From digitized collections to social media accounts to virtual reality, recent technology allows viewers to interact with collections in new ways. But recently, an even more profound shift has been taking place, one that goes to the very heart…

Germany’s chemical sector stands as a core pillar of the nation’s economy, ranking third after automotive and mechanical engineering. It generates hundreds of billions in annual revenue and directly employs about half a million people.   The industry, however, has been beset by crisis in recent years, weighed down by high energy costs, growing regulatory burdens, a persistently weak economy, and intense competition from abroad. Chemical production requires large amounts of energy, not just electricity but also heat, steam and pressure. So, when energy prices rise, it erodes firms’ global competitiveness and profitability. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February…

Ebola is highly contagious and deadly. It spreads internationally, such as in the May 2026 outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. But that doesn’t automatically make it a pandemic.

Bulgaria won the Eurovision Song Contest final in Austria’s capital, Vienna, on Saturday night with the song “Bangaranga” amid a boycott by five countries over Israel’s participation. The song’s infectious beats and tightly choreographed dance routine proved a hit with both national juries and viewers, whose votes together decide the winner. Dara beat 24 other competitors during Saturday’s grand final in Vienna.  The Eurovision Song Contest described Dara as “one of the most well-known pop musicians in her country, shaping the image of contemporary Bulgarian pop with her unique voice, commanding stage presence and unrestrained genre-blending.” It’s the first time…

On Wednesday, German Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder arrived at Toyota’s fuel cell factory in a German BMW iX5 Hydrogen, only to later depart in a Japanese Toyota Crown FCEV. The choice of cars was, of course, no coincidence, with both vehicles generating electricity from hydrogen in a fuel cell. Car makers BMW and Toyota are currently jointly developing the third generation of this drive technology. Three BMW employees have specifically moved to Japan to participate in the undertaking. Both companies are contributing components to help develop a more compact and efficient fuel cell. Once this stage is complete, BMW will manufacture this…

The Eurovision Song Contest final began in Austria’s capital Vienna on Saturday night amid a boycott by five countries over Israel’s participation. Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Iceland and Slovenia have pulled out of the world’s biggest live music contest, now in its 70th year, in protest at Israel’s involvement. “We will not be in Vienna, ​but we will do so with the conviction that we are on the right side of history,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on X on ​Friday. Dispute over Israel’s Gaza campaign casts shadow over Eurovision final The contest, normally a glitzy affair typically featuring…

Picture the scene: An asteroid is hurtling towards Earth. It’s the size of the Eiffel Tower, shaped like a peanut and potentially hazardous — sounds scary, right? Take asteroid 2026 JH2. It was first detected on May 10, 2026. And was due to fly by Earth eight days later — at a distance of less than a quarter of the distance between Earth and our moon. It’s still very unlikely to hit Earth. But media coverage was everywhere. Such scare stories crop up all the time. In 2024, it was because of Asteroid 2024 ON — it didn’t miss us, because it was never going…

Just weeks from the start of the 2026 World Cup, India is without a broadcasting deal. Talks are reportedly ongoing, with time zones and cost expectations clear stumbling blocks, but there is also a feeling that FIFA has misunderstood its two biggest markets. “The Indian market is a sort of a brute force market,” Nandan Kamath, one of India’s leading sports lawyers and a key figure in the country’s sports policy, told DW. “It’s the numbers rather than the willingness.” Broadcasters in India rely far more on advertising revenue than subscriptions. Viewing numbers for the tournament in Qatar were good, but they did not lead to…

Udo Lindenberg comes from Gronau, a small town near the Dutch border. His hometown is so proud of its most famous son that it dedicated both a public square and a larger-than-life statue to him. At its unveiling in 2015, Lindenberg himself described the monument as the “Statue of Liberty of Gronau.” Years later, the statue collapsed and had to be restored, but this did little to diminish its symbolic value. Leaving the countryside behind Lindenberg always had a strong urge to leave his rural surroundings behind. He grew up with three siblings in modest conditions; his father drank heavily,…