Author: DW

Mark Cavendish has broken the record for Tour de France stage wins.The British cyclist secured the historic milestone after triumphing in Saint-Vulbas, eastern France, to win the 35th stage of his career. Cavendish, from the Isle of Man, had been level with Belgian great Eddy Merckx on 34 victories. Image: Cavendish crosses the finish line to take the win in Saint-Vulbas. Pic: AP “I’m in a bit of disbelief,” the 39-year-old Astana-Qazaqstan rider said shortly after the win.”Astana put a big a gamble on this year, to make sure we got here, the Tour de France. “A big gamble to…

What’s the oldest story ever recorded by humans? Scientists now think it’s a story as old as time — humanity’s place in nature — painted at the back of a cave in Indonesia. It’s a scene of humans interacting with a pig, painted on a wall in red and black pigments; the flickering of torchlight makes the figures dance and leap, animating the scene into a story. New analysis, published July 3 in the journal Nature, has found that this sophisticated scene of human-animal interactions is around 51,200 years old, making it tens of thousands of years older than other narrative cave art in places like…

How can you know if this text was really written by a human? I know, because I am writing it right now. But, of course, that previous sentence could have been written by artificial intelligence. It seems we now have to live with this uncertainty of who or what the author of something actually is. Writing as an end in itself The difference between man and machine has been a recurring theme since at least the time of the Industrial Revolution. But in this age when robots are programmed to speak of themselves in the first person, it has gained…

Euro 2024 tournament organizer UEFA on Wednesday said it was investigating Turkish national football player Merih Demiral for “inappropriate behavior” during his side’s knockout game against Austria in Leipzig. After scoring a goal on Tuesday evening in the knockout match, the 26-year-old defender made the so-called wolf salute — a symbol of Turkey’s far-right “Gray Wolves” — with both hands. Demiral put his side ahead less than a minute after the match began and scored a second just before the hour mark. After netting the second, he made the gesture — with index and little finger raised — associated with the violent ultra-nationalist organization. Turkey’s Foreign Ministry…

Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed relations with China, saying they were “at their best period in history,” during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two leaders met in the Kazakh capital of Astana on Wednesday, where they were attending a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The Eurasian security and defense club is seen by Moscow and Beijing as an instrument to counter the influence of the US and its allies in international affairs. Alongside Russia and China, four Central Asian states, India, Iran and Pakistan are members of the SCO. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was also…

On Sunday, an angry mob burned cars and destroyed stores belonging to Syrian refugees in the central Turkish city of Kayseri, chanting that they “don’t want any more Syrians.” In response, demonstrators in the Turkish-controlled area of northwestern Syria launched anti-Turkish protests of their own in the following days, saying they were acting in solidarity with their Syrian compatriots in Turkey. Several people have died in the unrest. The mob’s rage in Turkey wasn’t just directed at Syrian refugees, but also against the Syria policy of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with calls for the Turkish president to “step down!” They said they no longer accepted Erdogan’s long-standing open-door policy…

Many myths and legends have circled around the Titanic up to this day, contributing to an ongoing fascination for the wreck. For decades, it has also drawn wealthy tourists to travel to the remains of the liner for themselves — an expedition that is not only expensive, but also dangerous, and now a submersible vessel carrying five people has gone missing. Titanic tour submersible goes missing in AtlanticTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 videoThe RMS Titanic was supposed to be a triumph of engineering. Built in Belfast, the ship was the largest in the world in its day. In…

More and more women are being turned away by the justice system in Iraqi Kurdistan, Amnesty International said in a report released on Wednesday.  “[Authorities] are failing to ensure that perpetrators of domestic violence, including harrowing cases of murder, rape, beatings and burning, are held to account,” Amnesty’s report said of officials in Iraqi Kurdistan. “Survivors of domestic violence in the Kurdistan region of Iraq are being failed at every turn,” said Aya Majzoub, Amnesty’s deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa. Domestic violence a problem across Iraq The effects of domestic violence are felt not just in the Kurdistan region, but…

For nearly five months, around 40 farmers have been living in reinforced tents on a highway in northern India, 212 kilometers (132 miles) from Delhi. These farmers have been protesting against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, despite their dwindling numbers from earlier this year. In February, their numbers were significantly larger. Tens of thousands of farmers had gathered at the Shambhu border, a key interstate checkpoint, expressing anger towards the government for not fulfilling its promise to guarantee a minimum support price (MSP) for crops. The proposed MSP, which would be at least 50% higher than the cost of production,…

UEFA has launched an investigation into Turkey’s Merih Demiral for allegedly making a political gesture as he celebrated his country’s Euro 2024 victory over Austria.The 26-year-old defender was the match-winner as he scored both of his side’s goals in a 2-1 win to secure his nation a place in the quarter-finals of the tournament in Germany. But officials at European football’s governing body are understood to be investigating whether Demiral gave a so-called ‘wolf’s salute’ with each hand in a gesture linked to the Turkish nationalist movement.After scoring the second goal, he appeared to make a sign associated with the…