Author: DW

When Volkswagen chief designer Andreas Mindt looks at the electric ID.Polo, he sees a friendly, familiar face. And that’s exactly the point.   Standing before the still-camouflaged model at the IAA auto show in Munich, Germany, Mindt described a shift away from the futuristic, sparser design language of recent ID models.  “When you look at the face here, it’s very optimistic,” Mindt said, pointing to the front. “It’s uplifting. All the lines are up-rising so that it looks friendly and positive and optimistic.” A similar approach is visible across this year’s IAA Mobility show, where European carmakers are rethinking electric-vehicle design and…

NASA’s rover Perseverance has uncovered rocks that may hold potential signs of ancient microbial life on Mars, according to research published Wednesday. Since landing on the Martian surface in 2021, the rover has been searching for signs of ancient life in Jezero Crater, a region in the planet’s northern hemisphere that was once flooded and contained an ancient lake basin. In summer 2024, Perseverance discovered newly identified “Sapphire Canyon” rock samples in the reddish, clay-rich mudstones of Neretva Vallis, a river channel that once carried water into Jezero Crater. The samples were then examined using all the scientific instruments aboard…

If you want to beat Slovenia, the number one job is to stop Luka Doncic. Germany, who will be aiming to do just that in the EuroBasket quarterfinals, know exactly the threat the Los Angeles Lakers star poses. “You can’t stop him. You have to find ways to beat the team,” Germany point guard Maodo Lo said ahead of the match. “We’ll see how much we can limit him. We’ll have a few ideas,” added interim head coach Alan Ibrahimagic. “But we’re not playing against Luka Doncic, we’re playing against Slovenia.” The NBA playmaker is the heart and soul of Slovenia. In…

Ghana has agreed to accept West Africans deported from the US, Ghanaian President John Mahama said Wednesday. Mahama said Ghana had agreed to take in nationals from West Africa, where a regional agreement allows visa-free travel. “We were approached by the US to accept third-party nationals who were being removed from the US. And we agreed with them that West African nationals were acceptable,” Mahama said. The “first batch” of 14 people, which includes several Nigerians and one Gambian, has already arrived in Ghana, he told journalists. Racism and discrimination in US immigration policyTo view this video please enable JavaScript,…

Global patterns show that democracy around the world continued to weaken last year, according to a new report. The Global State of Democracy 2025, published by the Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), analyzed democratic performance in 173 countries in 2024. In the report, 94 countries — or just over half of those surveyed — showed a decline in at least one of the key democracy indicators between 2019 and 2024, the report said. In comparison, only a third made progress. “The current state of democracy in the world is concerning,” IDEA Secretary General Kevin Casas-Zamora said.…

Residential tower blocks made of prefabricated concrete slabs were built in many parts of the world during the second half of the 20th century, but this type of building was particularly popular in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), where it became known as the “Plattenbau.”  The cultural implications of the Plattenbau are so specifically German that the name for the prefab buildings is kept untranslated in the English title of the exhibition “Wohnkomplex: Art and Life in Plattenbau,” on show at the museum Das Minsk in Potsdam until February 8, 2026. The exhibition explores the cultural legacy of the prefabricated…

You’ve probably never heard of KfW. It’s a national development bank — the world’s largest — backed by the German state and established to funds projects around the world, ranging from roads in Africa to water systems in Asia. But what happens when projects backed by the lender displace a village, pollute a river, or silence dissent? A new report on KfW Bank’s human rights record says these aren’t just hypotheticals; they’re real risks and they’re not being handled well enough. Known by the slogan “Responsible Banking,” KfW is backed by billions in public money. So those failures aren’t seen as just tragic; they’re paid for by German taxpayers.Kofler: German aid can’t…

Of all the threats in space, it’s what the UN calls “a blurring of the line between civilian and military uses” that fires the imagination most. But there are other concerns: collisions between satellites, flight congestion, space debris hitting other spacecraft or falling to Earth, asteroids…  Viewed as a mass of problems, it may seem as though we’re “staring at a perceived wild tiger,” says Helen Tung, a space lawyer and lecturer based at the University of Huddersfield, UK. “It automatically engages our fear mechanisms,” she told DW. But you get what you want, Tung added: If you want war, you do…

09/10/2025September 10, 2025What do we know so far about the drones violating Poland’s airspace?Poland’s armed forces said that during Russia strikes on Ukraine, its “airspace was repeatedly violated by drone-type objects.” “An operation is underway aimed at identifying and neutralizing the objects,” the military’s RSZ operational command said in a post on X shortly before 4 a.m. local time (0200 GMT) on Wednesday.  Earlier it had posted that Polish and NATO allied aircraft were operating in Polish airspace.  What regions in Poland are affected? As of 0120 GMT, most of Ukraine, including western regions of Volyn and Lviv, which border…

Iran and the United Nations nuclear watchdog have signed an agreement to pave the way for resuming cooperation, including on ways of relaunching inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities. The announcement followed a meeting in Cairo between Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi. The meeting was mediated by Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty. What do we know about the agreement? Grossi called the deal “a step in the right direction,” at a joint news conference after the signing. He said the deal was technical in nature and highlighted the “indispensable” inspection work that needs…