Author: DW

The Swiss Alpine town of Davos is once again welcoming the cream of the political, economic and cultural world for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF). The event is taking place at a time US President Donald Trump is seeking to dismantle the international order: From upending established trade rules and mass withdrawal from international organizations, including the UN climate treaty, to capturing Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro following an attack on the capital Caracas and threatening to annex Greenland from close ally Denmark. Trump’s assault on the international rules that have largely been in place since World War II,…

Apart from cricket,India has long been seen as an underachiever on the international sporting stage, as demonstrated by a 71st ranking in the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, a surge in the participation of women in a wide range of sports could help change this. The number of registered women football players in India grew from 8,683 in 2016 to 37,829 last year. Participation in national javelin championships rose from 31 juniors in 2019 to 137, while in shooting, the number of female competitors jumped from 1,033 to 2,181 over the same period. At the Asian Games, women won just 36%…

Often referred to as the European equivalent of the Oscars, the European Film Awards are one of the continent’s most important accolades for cinema.  The awards have been presented by the European Film Academy since 1988. The ceremony, held in Berlin on January 17, can be watched live here starting at 6 p.m. CET. The awards will be presented in 25 categories, including three prizes that are chosen by the audience. Here are the nominations in the main categories: European Film  “Afternoons of Solitude” “Arco” “Dog of God” “Fume O Morte!” “It was Just an Accident” “Little Amelie” “Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake”…

Federal prosecutors in the United States have launched a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s testimony to Congress on the $2.5 billion (€2.14 billion) renovation of the US central bank’s headquarters in Washington, DC. Powell confirmed the probe Sunday in a statement posted on the social media platform X, hitting back at what he said was pressure from the Trump administration on interest rate policy. During US President Donald Trump’s first term and since he returned to the White House one year ago, the pair have clashed repeatedly over interest rate decisions made by Powell The Fed chair has maintained that the central bank must set policy independently — guided…

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said a proposed NBA Europe league would “respect the traditions of European basketball.”  Silver used the occasion of Thursday’s NBA game in Berlin between the Orlando Magic and the Memphis Grizzlies — the first regular season game to ever take place in Germany — to give an update on the venture. He said the NBA was continuing to hold discussions with teams about its plans, which would see it partner with FIBA, world basketball’s governing body, to create a 16-team European league. Up to 12 spots would be reserved for permanent members, and at least four…

On average, the cartoons published on the Instagram account of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo get a few hundred reactions, but a recent drawing by cartoonist Eric Salch has prompted more than 15,000 social media users to express their dismay. It was published as Switzerland observed a national day of mourning to commemorate the victims of the deadly fire in a bar in Crans-Montana on New Year’s Eve, which killed 40 people, most of them teenagers. More than 110 others suffered injuries, some severe. The cartoon referring to the tragedy shows two apparently charred skiers, wrapped in bandages, skiing downhill in Crans-Montana.  The caption reads:…

Ukraine’s drone strikes on Russian energy infrastructure have hit Moscow’s export operations significantly in recent months, but they are also affecting other countries, notably Kazakhstan. In late November, Ukrainian drone strikes knocked out one of the three main tanker loading facilities at the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk in Russia It’s at that export terminal where the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) oil pipeline ends up, carrying crude oil all the way from Kazakhstan’s massive Tengiz oil field more than 1,600 kilometers (994 miles) away. Meanwhile on Tuesday (January 13), news agency Reuters reported that three Greek-managed oil tankers had been hit by…

A crew of four aboard the International Space Station will return to Earth several weeks ahead of schedule due to a medical emergency. NASA confirmed last week that a serious medical condition was affecting one of the four members of the current ISS crew rotation. It has not released more details due to medical privacy, but said the crew member is now in a stable condition.  At a press conference confirming the emergency return, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the there was no capability on the ISS to treat the crew member’s condition, forcing his hand to return the group early.  It is…

Just as human history is often divided into the eras B.C. and A.D., it’s not unreasonable to imagine the Internet’s story split between B.W. and A.W. — the “W” denoting Wikipedia. When Wikipedia went online on 15 January 2001, it was the brainchild of two men: Jimmy Wales, an internet entrepreneur with a libertarian streak, and Larry Sanger, a philosopher who became its first editor-in-chief. Their collaboration lasted only a little over a year — but the tension between their visions still shapes the project today. From the outset, Wales imagined Wikipedia as a radically open project: a place where…

Ukraine’s drone strikes on Russian energy infrastructure have hit Moscow’s export operations significantly in recent months, but they are also affecting other countries, notably Kazakhstan. In late November, Ukrainian drone strikes knocked out one of the three main tanker loading facilities at the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk in Russia It’s at that export terminal where the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) oil pipeline ends up, carrying crude oil all the way from Kazakhstan’s massive Tengiz oil field more than 1,600 kilometers (994 miles) away. Meanwhile on Tuesday (January 13), news agency Reuters reported that three Greek-managed oil tankers had been hit by…