Author: DW

It’s Sunday afternoon, and 10 people are gathered for a theater rehearsal in a community hall in Lille, a city in northern France. Most of the amateur actors did not get to know each other through the arts scene. They met during France’s  “yellow vests” protests.  The grassroots protest movement was at its height in 2018 and 2019 when protesters wearing yellow, high-visibility vests, blocked streets across France in response to fuel tax hikes designed to partially finance climate measures. Since then the movement, named “gilets jaunes” in French, has dissipated somewhat. Smaller, local actions still take place but the larger protests…

The future’s so bright for Elon Musk, even industrial-grade shades won’t block the glare from his $1 trillion (€862 billion) pay deal. That is, of course, if he manages to hit some truly mind-boggling goals for Tesla, the electric-vehicle company he founded and transformed into a tech juggernaut. To unlock the full value of his compensation package, Musk must hit milestones that sound more like science fiction than corporate strategy. These include deploying one million robotaxis — autonomous vehicles that generate revenue without human drivers — and producing a million Optimus humanoid robots, powered by artificial intelligence (AI). Musk will only become the world’s first trillionaire, albeit…

North Korea’s women have won back-to-back U-17 World Cup titles after defeating the Netherlands 3-0 in Morocco. It was the fourth time that the country has won the competition. With the country’s U-20 team winning their third World Cup in 2024, North Korea’s women have cemented their status as the dominant force in women’s youth football. But what is it that makes a state that, according to the United Nations, “does not have any parallel in the contemporary world” so good at youth football? “International sport is one of the few ways to demonstrate their sovereignty, existence and identity to the international community, so this type…

US President Donald Trump’s team has sent a letter to the BBC threatening to sue the UK-based public broadcaster for $1 billion (€865 million). His lawyers said the broadcaster must retract a controversial documentary by Friday or face a lawsuit for “no less” than $1 billion. The letter follows the resignation of BBC Director General Tim Davie and Chief Executive of News Deborah Turness on Sunday, after claims that a documentary aired by the flagship Panorama program misled viewers. The program allegedly spliced two separate excerpts from one of Trump’s speeches, creating the impression that he was inciting the January 6 Capitol…

British-Hungarian writer David Szalay has been awarded the Booker Prize for fiction for his novel “Flesh,” a tortured story of a Hungarian emigre who makes and loses a fortune. The 51-year-old writer beat five other finalists to take the high-profile annual literary award, which honors the best English-language novel published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. It comes with a 50,000-pound ($66,000, €57,000) prize and a big boost to the winner’s sales and profile. Written in sparse prose, “Flesh” follows the life of a working class and taciturn Hungarian man over decades. It charts his teenage relationship with an older…

It can seem like a strange coincidence to see children parade through the streets of Germany with lanterns to mark St. Martin’s Day on November 11 while, at the same time, colorfully dressed carnival revelers shout “Alaaf” or “Helau.” Do these things really go together? In fact, Carnival and St. Martin’s Day are two customs that share a common origin dating back several centuries. Bishop Martin of Tours died on November 8, 397, and was buried three days later. This was a huge event, and explains why November 11 is celebrated, and not the day of his death. The legend of how Martin shared…

When Chinese fast-fashion online retailer Shein opened its first boutique last week, there were both protests and a crowd of shoppers. The brick-and-mortar shop inside the BHV Marais department store in central Paris hit a nerve and not just because it is in the home of haute couture. It was a love-hate response to the company seen in many other areas. Ultracheap and still duty-free Shein, which is often put in the same category as the Temu online platform that allows manufacturers to sell much more than just fashion directly to consumers, has been criticized for things like counterfeits, aggressive marketing,…

On the day Berlin marked the 36th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, it was wild to watch the razzle dazzle of America’s game on show in the German capital. The Indianapolis Colts beat the Atlanta Falcons 31-25 in overtime. Catching from the tortilla cannon, singing Country Road, watching Jonathan Taylor run 83-yards for a touchdown to make franchise history, hearing DJ Scooter in the endzone — there was a barrage of live entertainment and German cliches on offer in the Olympic stadium, but the 72,203 fans in the refurbished Olympic Stadium loved every minute of it. “The…

South Korea’s former president, Yoon Suk Yeol, has been indicted on additional charges of abusing the powers of the presidency andaiding an enemy state, Yonhap news agency reported. Yoon faces additional charges related to short-lived imposition of martial law last year A special counsel team has been investigating Yoon’s short-lived bid to impose martial law in South Korea in December 2024.  The team charged Yoon with aiding the enemy by allegedly sending spy drones to Pyongyang in October last year, in a deliberate bid to stoke tensions and justify his plans to declare martial law. The team also charged the impeached leader with abuse of…

The multi-million dollar Museum of West African Arts (MOWAA), a prestigious cultural project in Edo State in southern Nigeria, has suspended preview events scheduled for this week. MOWAA made the decision after around 20 men, some armed with wooden bats, stormed into the museum courtyard on Sunday during a pre-opening event. Guests, including ambassadors and donors, were forced to take refuge inside. “If you were planning on travelling to Benin [City] for the MOWAA preview week, please suspend your travel plans,” a MOWAA statement posted on Instagram says. The incident comes just days after dozens of demonstrators protested outside the…