Author: DW

The 16th edition of Manifesta — the European traveling biennial for contemporary art and urban development — is taking place in the western German Ruhr region this year. Under the title “This is not a church,” the main program sees international artists designing commissioned works of art for 12 churches that have fallen out of use in Bochum, Duisburg, Essen and Gelsenkirchen. They include German artist Emil Walde’s large-scale installation made of old, damaged wired-glass windows from Duisburg Central Station — which are being put on display within the church’s confessional booths. And St. Anna Church in Gelsenkirchen is showing an…

Dr. Suzanne Huurman is the only female chief doctor at the 2026 World Cup. The 36-year-old from the Netherlands is working for Curacao, the smallest nation to ever qualify for a World Cup and Germany’s opponents in the first round of games. Other than Dr. Silja Schwarz, who has been a doctor (but not the lead one) for Germany’s men side for the last three years, Huurman is the only female doctor at the entire tournament. In the history of the competition, Huurman is just the third woman ever to be any kind of doctor for a team at the World Cup. The…

Millions of people across Europe are dealing with temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), baking under a heat dome. Hot nights are making recovery harder. While many recognize the need to use sunscreen to protect themselves from the sun, some people, particularly on social media, have been asking whether it could actually be harmful. The discussion centers around the question of whether sunscreen could increase the risk of skin cancer, rather than reduce it. And while the debate is not new, it does seem to be resurfacing more frequently, as global temperatures continue to rise and droughts and extreme heat become…

Rainbow flags in the stands, Pride events across the city, colorful parties in the streets. And right in the middle of it all: a football match between two nations united in their hostility toward the LGBTQ+ community. Saturday’s World Cup Group G clash between Iran and Egypt in the northwestern US city of Seattle won’t just determine who will progress to the knock-out round; it is also generating significant political controversy in the buildup. In the first official “Pride Match” in World Cup history, the two competing teams hail from Muslim-majority nations where the LGBTQ+ community faces immense hardship and…

Miscanthus grows up to 4 meters (13 feet) tall, tolerates heat and drought, and can be harvested for decades. In France and Germany, the Asian grass is now being grown for heating, building materials and water protection. But why is Europe growing so little of it? The supergrass that heats towns and builds homesTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video In Bamako, Mali, a painter is transforming a public minibus into a colorful rolling message on the need to protect the environment and address rising temperatures. Drissa Konate uses bold murals to contrast…

For decades after the end of the Cold War in 1989, defense was not a high priority for European leaders. Military spending was slashed, armed forces were downsized, and equipment stockpiles depleted, resulting in diminished combat readiness. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, however, served as a wake-up call and prompted European governments to reverse course and focus on defense. Growing uncertainty about US security commitments under President Donald Trump accelerated the trend. Germany even amended its constitution to remove borrowing limits for defense, giving Berlin free rein over military spending. Last year, the 29 European members of the North…

Scotland head coach Steve Clarke knew exactly what to expect from Ismael Saibari. “He’s fast, he’s powerful and he showed against Brazil that he knows how to take chances,” he told reporters ahead of the World Cup Group C meeting between Scotland and Morocco in Boston last week. A week earlier, Saibari had put Morocco, the Atlas Lions, ahead against Brazil with a brilliant chip over goalkeeper, Alisson. Scotland were warned but it didn’t make any difference as, less than two minutes into the game, Saibari again raced clear of the defense and fired an unstoppable shot into the roof of…

It’s often easier in retrospect to see how an artist has paved the way for others. Nowadays, making fun of anything and everything is commonplace and even Nazi parodies are a dime a dozen. But it hasn’t always been that way, as a look at the work of director and actor Mel Brooks shows. Born 100 years ago on June 28, 1926, in Brooklyn, New York, the entertainer was clearly a pioneer of satire. The taboo-breaker Though they may have become more common than in the decades following World War II, taking a humorous look at the Nazis may not be…

Bayer is still grappling with tens of thousands of lawsuits over its glyphosate-based weedkiller Roundup, which plaintiffs claim causes cancer, primarily non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Germany’s agrochemicals giant inherited the legal mess after taking over Monsanto, the company that produced Roundup, in 2018. Farmers, landscapers and gardeners — mostly based in the United States — argue that Monsanto knew, or should have known, about the risks but failed to provide adequate warnings on product labels. According to the Lawsuit Information Center, Bayer has so far paid out around $11 billion (€9.65 billion) to settle roughly 100,000 cases. Around 61,000 to 65,000 claims remain active. The company has…

Two major earthquakes struck central Venezuela seconds apart on Wednesday, one with a magnitude 7.2 and the other with a magnitude 7.5. At least 164 people have been killed, and hundreds injured. Extensive damage was reported in the capital, Caracas, and the nearby state of La Guaira. Strong earthquakes are unusual in Venezuela, even though it sits near multiple fault lines along the South American and Caribbean tectonic plates. Other countries on the Pacific coast, including Mexico, Chile and the western edge of the United States, are positioned along the seismically active tectonic belt known as the Ring of Fire, responsible for about 90% of…