Author: DW

It’s not often that a German federal president writes a book while still in office but Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who’s been Germany’s head of state for over seven years, has done just that.  He says the decision was prompted by the approach this year of major anniversaries for two significant events in German history: the 75th anniversary of the Proclamation of the Constitution [Germany’s Basic Law] on May 23; and the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9. Steinmeier fears rise of the right, speaks of politcal despondency  Looking ahead to those milestones, the president — who plays a…

Australia’s prime minister said Elon Musk is an “arrogant billionaire who thinks he is above the law” over his reluctance to remove footage of last week’s Church stabbing from X.In response, Elon Musk thanked him “for informing the public that this platform is the only truthful one”. The spat comes after a week of legal battles and public arguments between X and the Australian government.So what’s going on?Last week, two clerics at Sydney’s Assyrian Christ the Good Shepherd church were stabbed while live streaming a service. Soon after, videos of the stabbing began circulating on social media. The Australian eSafety…

Tino Chrupalla, co-chair of Germany’s far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, was the main guest in an evening political TV show on public channel ARD on Sunday. He got plenty of space to present himself as friendly and well-meaning, denying any knowledge of leading AfD politicians being on Russia’s payroll, of racism and misogyny in his own party. Political commentators for other traditional media were outraged. As the far right continues to poll as the second-strongest party in Germany well ahead of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD)led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, how to deal with far-right politicians is posing…

Another possible major doping scandal is shaking world sport less than 100 days before the start of the Olympic Games in Paris on July 26. What happened? According to research by the doping investigations team at German broadcaster ARD and the US newspaper, The New York Times, 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine at a swimming competition in January, 2021 in Shijiazhuang, the capital of the northern Chinese province of Hebei. However, the Chinese anti-doping agency, CHINADA, did not classify the results as specific suspected cases and the participants were allowed to continue competing. The reason, according to CHINADA, was that there were low concentrations…

“No more farmers, no more bread” was a popular slogan during the more than 200 street blockades organized by Polish farmers in February this year. Outside the Polish town of Kock, a two-hour drive from the Ukrainian border, for example, hundreds of tractors blocked a street to prevent cheap Ukrainian grain from entering the country. For farmers here, there’s another major worry: They fear that the entry of Poland’s eastern neighbor into the EUcould threaten their livelihoods. “They must forget about it. It’s a crazy idea,” one of the protesting farmers told DW during the blockade. For more than a decade, the EU seemed…

European Union lawmakers on Tuesday approved a reform of the bloc’s budgetary rules aimed at reigning in spending. Brussels has spent two years negotiating the reform. The new rules still need to be endorsed by the bloc’s 27 member states. Member state negotiators gave provisional approval in February after talks with lawmakers. What is the EU’s budgetary reform? The new rules stipulate that a state’s debt must not go beyond 60% of GDP and its public deficit must stay below 3%. Countries with debt at over 90% of GDP will be required to reduce it by 1% per year on…

Dramatic footage of a boat chase has been released by Spanish police as officers seized a huge haul of drugs and arrested more than 60 people.Spain’s Guardia Civil has shared footage showing one of its speed boats pursuing a vessel during the operation to tackle drug trafficking. The force said 63 people have been arrested after officers seized more than 12,000 kilos of hashish and 630 kilos of cocaine along the Andalusian coast and the Guadalquivir river. X This content is provided by X, which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your…

It’s not often that a German federal president writes a book while still in office. But Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who’s been the head of the German state for over seven years, has done just that.  He says the decision was prompted by two major anniversaries of significant events in German history coming up this year: May 23, the 75th anniversary of the proclamation of Germany’s constitution, the Basic Law; and November 9, which will mark 35 years since the Berlin Wall fell. Steinmeier fears rise of the right  Looking ahead to those milestones, the president — who plays a relatively ceremonial role…

Germany is grappling with a critical labor shortage and aging population, with projections indicating a deficit of 7 million skilled workers by 2035. With some 700,000 vacancies currently unfilled, the country’s economic growth potential has dropped to about 0.7% now from around 2% in the 1980s. It’s set to fall further to 0.5% if the country fails to resolve this problem, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck has said, stressing the importance of migration in bridging this widening gap. Engaging the Indian student population in the German workforce may be part of the solution. Tapping into the international student talent pool According…

Iran is “weeks rather than months” away from having enough enriched uranium to develop a nuclear bomb, Rafael Mariano Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told DW. “But that does not mean that Iran has or would have a nuclear weapon in that space of time,” he added. He said that although uranium enrichment at near weapons-grade levels is a cause for alarm, one cannot draw the direct conclusion that Iran now has a nuclear weapon.  “A functional nuclear warhead requires many other things independently from the production of the fissile material,” Grossi said. He also said Iran’s objectives are “a matter of…