Author: DW

Peter Higgs, the theoretical physicist and Nobel Laureate, who died April 8, 2024, was known for predicting the existence of a very special, fundamental element of the known universe: The God Particle. Or “Higgs boson.”  In 2013, Higgs and Francois Englert won the Physcis Nobel Prize for their work on the particle which was thought to be a key to explaining the universe. “After graduating from King’s College London in 1950, Peter was interested in doing a PhD in elementary particle physics,” recalled Sir David Wallace, who did his own PhD under Higgs in Edinburgh in the 1960s. “But Peter was advised against…

Local authorities in the Russian region of Orenburg urged residents to evacuate riverside areas on Friday. The region’s capital, also called Orenburg, lies 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) east of Moscow, near the border with Kazakhstan. A number of provinces in Siberia and along the Ural Mountains that divide Asia and Europe, as well as parts of Kazakhstan, have been grappling with flooding in recent days. Emergencies ministry personnel had helped around 3,500 people affected by flooding throughout Russia.Thousands of people have been affected by flooding in parts of Russia near the Ural mountain rangeImage: Russia Emergency Ministry/dpa/picture alliance Hundreds of…

Elon Musk has lambasted Alexandre de Moraes, one of the 10 judges on Brazil’s Supreme Court, for ordering X to block several accounts, including that of a blogger and two members of Congress. For a while now, Brazil’s Constitutional Court has been clamping down on so-called digital militias accused of spreading disinformation and vitriol online.  Musk, who owns X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, took aim at Moraes saying “this aggressive censorship appears to violate the law & will of the people of Brazil.” Musk followed up his post with an even stronger message on X: “This judge has…

Thousands of police have been drafted in for tonight’s Champions League games in Paris and Madrid amid the terror threat.Several posters emerged on social media alleging to be from the Al-Azaim Foundation – a media arm of an IS affiliate group. They called for attacks on the four Champions League quarter-final ties that are taking place this week.In response, security has been “considerably reinforced” in Paris ahead of tonight’s game, as thousands of officers were drafted in to help with the security operation in Madrid across both nights.Both European capitals host games today, with PSG playing Barcelona in Paris, and…

“There’s a lot said about Jews, there’s a lot written about Jews, but no one really knows anything about Jews,” says Mirna Funk. Speaking to DW, the 43-year-old Berlin journalist and writer said she did not grow up with Jewish traditions. But she’s since learned a lot about Jewish history and culture, and she’s summarized the most important lessons she’s gleaned in her new book, “Von Juden lernen” (Learning from Jews). The mission: to improve the world Mirna Funk is in the shower and struggling with life: There’s the war in Ukraine, not enough money in her bank account, no lover…

Peter Pellegrini of the left-wing nationalist Hlas-SD party has won Slovakia’s presidential election, official results showed. Pellegrini’s Hlas-SD is part of the ruling coalition, while opposition candidate Ivan Korcok is an independent. Pellegrini received 53.85% of the vote with ballots from over 98% of polling stations counted. Korcok garnered 46.14% of votes. Korcok conceded defeat and congratulated the winner. “I am honestly disappointed. But I’m an athlete, so I can respect even this result. I want to congratulate the winner,” Korcok said. “I want to express my belief that Peter Pellegrini will be independent and will act according to his own…

Three men and two women have been killed during a fire in a largely residential building in Hong Kong. Another 27 people have been left injured. At least six of them are in a serious condition and one is critical, Hong Kong’s hospital authority said. Firefighters rushed to the New Lucky House in the Jordan neighbourhood after being called at around 7.53am local time on Wednesday, authorities said.The fire was extinguished by 9am local time, but police said people could still be heard calling for help from inside the 16-storey building. Image: Pic: AP People waved towels at their windows…

Voters across Poland cast ballots in local elections on Sunday four months after the government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk took power, ending eight years of conservative nationalist rule in the country. Nearly 190,000 candidates are vying for positions as mayors and councilors across the nation of 38 million people. Recent voter surveys have shown a close race is likely between Tusk’s Civic Coalition and Law and Justice (PiS), the conservative party that governed the country from 2015. Voter turnout at 1500 GMT was 39.4%, the country’s electoral commission said. As polls closed in the evening, initial returns suggested that PiS had taken 33.7% of the vote, bettering…

Dogs are man’s best friend nowadays but humans once kept an unexpected pet, new research suggests. In what has been labelled a “rare and unusual find,” scientists have discovered the bones of an extinct fox and found evidence that the animal shared “a strong bond” with humans. Analysis of 1,500-year-old skeletal remains from a burial site in Argentinian Patagonia suggest the Dusicyon avus, or the Falkland Islands wolf, was “a valuable companion to the hunter-gatherer groups”.The bones are from a single animal while the human remains buried with it come from 21 individuals.A lack of cut marks on the bones…

Greece on Sunday raised the wildfire alert level for several regions to “high risk” — the second-highest —  after more than 70 forest fires were reported across the country on Saturday. Although most were brought under control, one on the island of Crete was still burning on Sunday, the fire department said, adding that three people had been lightly injured in the blaze. High winds expected On Saturday, “71 fires were declared in agricultural and forestry regions across the country in 12 hours, between 0300 GMT and 1500 GMT,” said the Civil Protection Ministry, which is also in charge of responses to…