Author: DW

Italian tennis star Jannik Sinner beamed as he met the newly elected Pope Leo in the Vatican.The world number one presented the US pontiff, himself a keen tennis player, with a racket after being invited to the Vatican along with his parents and a delegation from the Italian Tennis Federation. The two were pictured laughing as they held a racket each and Sinner, 23, also held a tennis ball. Image: Pic: Vatican Media/Reuters But Leo, who became the 267th pontiff in a historic election earlier this month, declined a suggestion to go for a hit with the three-time grand slam…

“I’m very nervous,” the 41-year-old director and screenwriter Mascha Schilinski tells Berlin public broadcaster RBB. “I’m insanely happy, but the nervousness outweighs that.” She had hoped that “Sound of Falling” would be screened at a major festival, and felt it deserved that distinction. “But I didn’t really expect it. It’s a filmmaker’s dream!” Now Schilinski is fulfilling that dream at the 78th Cannes International Film Festival, which runs from May 13 to 25. German directors at Cannes have been, as the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung noted sardonically, “at times harder to find than a decent lunch for less than €20.” This year, the…

Vaccines completely revolutionized public health when they were first created by Edward Jenner in 1796. They have protected billions of people worldwide against harmful and fatal viral diseases, even successfully eradicating diseases like smallpox and rinderpest. Over the last 50 years alone, vaccines have saved 101 million children’s lives around the world, according to estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO). Vaccines are available to protect against more than 30 life-threatening diseases and infections. The WHO recommends that every child should get vaccinated against 12 of those diseases: tuberculosis, hepatitis B, polio, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, Haemophilus influenza type B, pneumococcal disease, rotavirus,…

On April 28, Vaibhav Suryavanshi made headlines around the world. Just 14, the cricketer became the youngest player to score 100 runs, in the Indian Premier League (IPL), a major landmark in the sport. Amazingly, he is also the second fastest ever to reach a century, taking just 35 balls. While his age is unusual, Indian cricket produces many young talents and the IPL, founded in 2008, attracts the cream of the sport.  For soccer fans in the country of 1.4 billion, the situation is a little different. Just weeks prior to the teenager’s achievement in Jaipur, which has pundits…

A charter plane carrying 59 white South Africans arrived at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, DC, on Monday. For these 59 people, including families and children, the United States is their new home. US President Donald Trump himself had fast-tracked their arrival. Back in February, he had announced a new program to take in refugees from South Africa who, in his view, were suffering from racist policies. While many refugees wait years before they are approved to travel to the United States,  the Afrikaners who arrived on Monday were admitted in under three months. Refugee status ‘based on lies’ On Monday, Trump…

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that he was open to discussing the potential deployment of his country’s nuclear weapons elsewhere in Europe. The comments came in an interview with French broadcaster TF1 on Tuesday evening. Macron noted that the United States already stations nuclear-armed aircraft in Europe. “The Americans have the bombs on planes in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Turkey,” Macron said. “We are ready to open this discussion.” “I will define the framework in a very specific way in the weeks and months to come,” he said. Macron lists conditions for sharing France’s nuclear umbrella In the interview,…

Latin America’s largest economy, Brazil, is planning a major rail link to Peru’s Chancay megaport on the Pacific — a project backed by Chinese financing with the aim of reconfiguring the Asian powerhouse’s trade routes and reduce dependency on traditional Atlantic shipping lanes. Brazilian business magazine Valor wrote recently that Chinese interest in new investments in Brazil is on the rise. Colombia, too, is reportedly weighing participation in China’s so-called Belt and Road Initiative, and Venezuela is actively pursuing deeper ties with Chinese oil firms.Why is China’s new megaport in Peru facing pushback?To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web…

Dozens of white South Africans have arrived in the US after the Trump administration granted them refugee status in the country, having deemed them victims of racial discrimination. The first 59 Afrikaners were greeted by Christopher Landau, the US deputy secretary of state, at Washington’s Dulles International Airport on Monday. President Donald Trump invited Afrikaners, the descendants of mainly Dutch settlers, to move to the US in February to escape the alleged discrimination they face at the hands of the black majority in South Africa.Mr Trump echoed his white South African-born ally Elon Musk, who used to be his US national…

President Donald Trump said on Sunday a 100% tariff would be introduced on movies made outside of the United States, claiming the American film industry was “dying a very fast death.” Trump said this was due to the incentives that other countries were offering to attract American movie makers. “This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. Trump said he was authorizing the relevant government agencies, such as the Department of Commerce, to immediately begin the process of imposing a 100% tariff on all…

Test cricket great Virat Kohli announced on Monday he had retired from the format. This comes days before India names its squad for a tour to England. Kohli scored 9,230 runs in 123 matches at an average of 46.85. He peaked at an average of 55 between 2011 and 2019, with his test form falling to 23.56 in the past two years. He is considered to be among the safest catchers and the fastest retrievers of the ball. When did Kohli rise to greatness? “King Kohli” also revolutionized the fitness culture in the India dressing room. The batting legend made his debut in…