Author: DW

The 14 clubs in the Women’s Bundesliga have announced a plan to go it alone in establishing a league association similar to the German Football League (DFL), which operates the men’s Bundesliga.  The new association is to be known as the “Frauen-Bundesliga FBL e.V.,” and is to be formally established in a meeting at Frankfurt’s Waldstadion next Wednesday, December 10. The stated purpose of the new organization is to take the league’s marketing and professionalization to a new level. The announcement came as something of a bombshell, not so much because of its timing, a day after Germany was chosen…

The United States military said it killed four men in a strike on a suspected drug-trafficking boat in international waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Thursday, part of a campaign that has killed at least 87 people. “Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was carrying illicit narcotics and transiting along a known narco-trafficking route in the eastern Pacific,” the US Southern Command said in a statement. In a video posted by the US military, a small boat moving across the water is struck by a large explosion. The camera then zooms out to show the vessel engulfed in flames and…

On November 25, 1960, three sisters — Patria, Minerva and Maria Teresa Mirabal — were found dead at the bottom of a ravine near La Cumbre, a mountainous stretch of road in the Dominican Republic. The jeep they were traveling in had plunged 150 meters (about 500 feet) into a mangled heap. It looked like an accident — except their bodies, and that of their driver, bore signs of beating and strangulation. The Dominican Republic was then under the rule of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina, a dictator whose over 30-year regime was marked by censorship, surveillance and brutal repression. Dissidents were often…

Europe’s auto industry is braced for a major announcement from the EU on December 10, which could see significant changes made to the European Commission’s proposed 2035 combustion engine phase-out. However, amid pressure from carmakers and other affected sectors such as car rental and car leasing companies, the announcement may now be pushed back until January. “We are still working on it,” EU Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism Apostolos Tzitzikostas told the German business newspaper Handelsblatt this week. “We want to present an automotive package that is truly comprehensive and covers all the necessary aspects.” Multiple media reports in recent weeks have…

Look east on the night of December 4 and you will see the final supermoon of 2025. Supermoons occur when a full moon coincides with the moon’s closest approach to Earth, known as the moon’s perigee. The moon then appears up to 10% larger and much brighter than usual.  On December 4, 2025, the moon will be around 17,000 miles (27,300 kilometers) closer to Earth. This supermoon is also known as a “cold” full moon because it marks the start of colder, darker months ahead. A ‘moon illusion’ on the horizon If skies are clear, the moon may appear larger than it usually does as it rises over the…

Germany is set to host the Women’s Euros in 2029. In a bid process that saw Italy and then Portugal drop out, Germany on Wednesday was victorious over bids from Poland, aiming to become the first eastern European nation to host a women’s tournament, and a joint bid from Denmark and Sweden.  In a ceremony that was refreshingly short, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin appeared on stage in Nyon, Switzerland, to announce the successful bid — just five minutes after it started.  “It was a long journey and it’s not just all of us standing up here, but we had so many people working at…

Negotiators from the European Union have agreed on a new set of rules for so-called new genomic techniques, or NGTs, in plant breeding. The new framework covers key issues around how such products should be labelled in supermarkets and whether or not they can be patented. What are new genomic techniques? New genomic techniques, such as gene editing, are breeding methods used to change a small part of the genetic material of an animal, plant or microbes (such as yeast or bacteria). They don’t require the insertion of foreign genetic material, or DNA, from another species. This makes them different to…

Most people in Germany associate the feast of Saint Nicholas with a harmless tradition: Children leave their cleaned shoes next to the front door on the night of December 5, and the next morning, they expect to find their footwear filled with small presents and treats brought by Nikolaus. There are, however, regions in Germany, such as in Bavaria, where the Father Christmas-like character has a dark sidekick, the Krampus. The hairy devil has different names across regions and is part of folkloric festivities involving terrifying costumes and processions. The Krampus is a mythical figure in Austria and other parts of EuropeImage: Werner…

The final barriers are being set up at Bonn’s Christmas market. Concrete blocks now seal off the streets in the western German city leading into the central square, where visitors are already enjoying mulled wine and gingerbread hearts. Market manager Kathrin Krumbach is making her way through the crowd, checking security measures for which she’s also responsible. While speaking with DW, she points to a rubber mat that covers electrical cables running across the pathway. “You might not even notice, [but] that’s part of the security concept too,” she says, adding that the mat is meant to smooth the bump so no one…

As Spain added a second consecutive Nations League title to its 2023 World Cup win, Germany were left reflecting on a trophy drought that will soon stretch beyond a decade. But Christian Wück’s team’s presence in the final, and performance across the two legs, was enough to suggest that a major tournament win is not beyond the current generation. “We can be very, very proud,” said Wück after two second half goals from Claudia Pina either side of one from Vicky Lopez were enough for Spain. “It was even in the first half but we couldn’t maintain that level of play.…