Author: DW

A suspected GPS sabotage forced European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s plane to divert from its course — and in Russia, the incident quickly made her the focus of mockery and smear campaigns.  The politician had flown to Bulgaria on August 31. The GPS disruption of the aircraft resulted in an unscheduled landing in the city of Plovdiv. Authorities in Bulgaria suspect that Moscow was behind the attack and link it to Russia’s war against Ukraine. However, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova dismissed the allegations as “fake and paranoia.” The insults and defamation of the EU Commission President are falling on fertile…

US artificial intelligence (AI) giant Anthropic will pay at least $1.5 billion (€1.3 billion) to settle a class action lawsuit brought by authors, according to court documents filed Friday. “This landmark settlement far surpasses any other known copyright recovery,” said plaintiffs’ attorney Justin Nelson. “It is the first of its kind in the AI era.” A trio of authors, Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson, filed the lawsuit last year, accusing Anthropic of using pirated books to train the company’s AI chatbot Claude — a major competitor to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. How does an AI chatbot work? To view this…

The Bauhaus was arguably the world’s most influential art, architecture and design movement, and in 2025 is celebrating a century since it moved from Weimar to the city of Dessau.  But even before it kicked off the centennial event dubbed “To the Core. Bauhaus Dessau 100,” the legendary modernist institution was already making headlines. In October 2024, Germany’s right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) warned against “glorifying” the art and design school through the upcoming centennial. The party complained that Bauhaus has promoted “globalist uniformity,” and submitted a motion demanding that the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt carry out a…

Auto shows have long been magnets for manufacturers and the general public in Germany. The first one displayed eight motor vehicles in Berlin in 1897. The shows expanded as the industry grew and more people bought cars. In the early 2000s, the Frankfurt International Motor Show had grown to around 2,000 exhibitors and brought in a million visitors. But slowly, some manufacturers opted to stay away, and those who stayed reduced their presence. Visitor numbers plummeted and companies wondered about the relevance — and expense — of such trade shows. Mobility comes in many forms. Maybe that is why the organizers…

Germany’s journey to the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada got off to the worst possible start as Julian Nagelsmann’s team suffered a deserved 2-0 defeat to Slovakia in Bratislava. Nearly three months after the disappointment of the Nations League, Germany looked out of shape and sorts. They had never lost a World Cup qualifier away from home before tonight. History had been made, but not the kind that Nagelsmann wanted. Here are the key takeaways from Germany’s loss. Germany ‘lacking in all areas’ “We still have to convince the public, but I would like to emphasize…

In late August, Andriy Parubiy was walking down a street in Lviv, western Ukraine, when a man disguised as a delivery driver followed him and suddenly opened fire. The former Ukrainian parliamentary leader was killed in broad daylight with several shots fired. A surveillance camera captured the crime, sending shockwaves throughout the country. A debate is now underway in Ukraine about how politicians, activists, and celebrities have become targets in Russia’s hybrid warfare. According to experts, such acts serve the Kremlin’s strategic goal of destabilizing and demoralizing Ukrainian society.  During the 2014 Maidan Revolution, Parubiy was one of the leaders of the pro-European protests against then-President…

United States  President Donald Trump is renaming the Department of Defense as the “Department of War,” the White House said on Thursday. Trump will sign an executive order on Friday authorizing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and  the Defense Department to use “secondary titles,” a White House document stated, as the president cannot change the name without legislation. Renaming of US departments needs congressional assent. According to the document, the US president’s order would instruct Hegseth to recommend legislative and executive actions to “permanently rename” the department. On Thursday night, Hegseth posted the text  “DEPARTMENT OF WAR” on the social media platform X.…

The Venice Film Festival this year offered up films wrestling with the most pressing political and social issues of our times — from war in the Middle East to the rising threat of AI — while finding a way to make existential despair feel entertaining. Dystopia has never looked so good. Laughing at the apocalypse Two of the films with the bleakest messages for humanity were also the funniest. “Bugonia,” from “Poor Things” director Yorgos Lanthimos, casts Emma Stone as a high-powered CEO who is kidnapped by two conspiracy theorists convinced she’s an alien out to destroy planet Earth. Adapted…

At the 2022 World Cup, South Korea was one of just four nations, along with Brazil, Argentina and Saudi Arabia, not to have a naturalized player in its squad. That is unlikely to be the case in the 2026 World Cup as the East Asian nation selected a foreign-born male player who has switched sporting nationalities in August for the first time in its history. It is a move that could be more significant off the pitch than on it. Jens Castrop has lived all his life in Germany but is now preparing to make his senior international debut against the…

Emergency services in the Portuguese capital Lisbon said that at least 15 people were killed and 18 injured one Wednesday when one of the city’s iconic yellow Gloria railway cars derailed. In a statement, the National Institute for Medical Emergencies said that five of the injured were in serious condition, including a child, and that some were foreigners. According to emergency services, all of the victims have been recovered from the wreckage.Emergency services said that all of the victims have been recovered from the wreckageImage: Pedro Rocha/REUTERS What do we know about the accident? The famous funicular, which travels up and…