Author: DW

A sex scene from the recently released Hollywood movie “Oppenheimer” has drawn online outrage in India, after it was heavily criticized by Hindu nationalist groups.  One scene from the biographical drama about US physicist Robert Oppenheimer shows the protagonist reciting a verse from the Bhagavad Gita — one of the holiest scriptures of Hinduism — just before sexual intercourse.  He reads the line, “Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.”  “This is a direct assault on religious beliefs of a billion tolerant Hindus, rather it amounts to waging a war on the Hindu community,” Uday Mahurkar, a senior official at the…

It was the end of communism that first paved the way for the integration of the Roma into  Romanian society — in theory anyway. Before 1989, the authorities had practiced a policy of assimilation, and before them a fascist regime had pursued extermination. After Romania, the country with Europe’s largest Roma population, acceded to the EU in 2007, public policy towards Roma people was reshaped with a view to inclusion. And absolutely all such policies, including the World War II-era “explanations” for why the Roma were inferior, had previously centered on the problem of their inadequate formal education. Today, after more than three decades…

The head of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said late Sunday that part of a Boeing aircraft that blew off mid-flight on Friday was located by a schoolteacher in his backyard. The piece of fuselage recovered from the yard in Portland, Oregon could provide clues as to what caused a panel used to plug a portion reserved for an exit door on an Alaska Airlines’ Boeing Max 9 jet to blow off on Friday shortly after the flight took off.  Investigators said a plug on an unused exit door seal blew off while the plane was climbing, depressurizing the aircraft at 16,000 feet (about…

Paris has honoured music legend David Bowie by naming a street after him on what would have been his 77th birthday. The Rue David Bowie – first announced in 2020 by the mayor of the city’s 13 arrondissement – was unveiled and features his year of birth (1947) and death. Bowie died after a long battle with cancer in 2016, days after his 69th birthday when he released his 25th album, called Blackstar.The tribute celebrates Bowie’s first Paris performance in 1965 – his first outside the United Kingdom – and his lasting impact on music, fashion choices, theatrical aura, and…

In 1938, two German chemists, Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann, discovered nuclear fission. Fission is the reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into two or more smaller nuclei, releasing huge amounts of energy. Harness this power, physicists said, and you could create a bomb so powerful it could flatten entire cities. Almost immediately, German scientists commenced work on an atomic bomb project. Backed by a strong German industrial base and military interest, the Uranverein (uranium club) employed some of the world’s top nuclear experts.  Although the project was secret, word got out via scientists fleeing persecution in…

Franz Beckenbauer, a German football legend, died on Sunday at the age of 78, his family said Monday. “It is with deep sadness that we inform you that my husband and our father Franz Beckenbauer passed away peacefully yesterday, Sunday, surrounded by his family,” his family announced. “We ask that you mourn in silence and refrain from asking any questions.” Nicknamed “Der Kaiser” (The Emperor), Beckenbauer is widely regarded as one of the finest footballers of all time.’Beckenbauer was synonymous with winning’To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Tributes…

Dozens of farmers on Sunday arrived in Berlin ahead of demonstrations against government plans to reduce subsidies. The convoy reached the iconic Brandenburg Gate at 5:30 pm local time (1530 UTC), according to the local Berliner Zeitung daily. A candlelight vigil is scheduled for 11 p.m. What are the farmers’ protests about? Farmers are demonstrating against plans by Germany’s government under Chancellor Olaf Scholz for the suspension of agricultural subsidies. The governing coalition is made up of Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP). On Thursday, the government announced that it would walk back some…

Under different circumstances, the kind of deal agreed between Ethiopia and the breakaway region of Somaliland would have been relatively straightforward. One country grants its landlocked neighbor access to a seaport and, by extension, to international trade and, in return, is rewarded a political prize. But Somaliland is just a de facto country. And since the political prize was nothing less than Ethiopia taking steps towards recognizing Somaliland as a sovereign state, serious repercussions have followed. The Somali government in Mogadishu has called its ambassador to Addis Ababa for consultation. On Saturday, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud signed a law nullifying the agreement. In a…

Sex tapes are alleged to have been taken of Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton and Sir Richard Branson by Jeffrey Epstein, court documents have revealed.Sarah Ransome, who says she was a victim of Epstein, wrote in 2016 emails to a reporter about claims the Duke of York, the ex-US president and the billionaire businessman were filmed by the paedophile US financier.A firm representing Epstein’s lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, highlighted the allegations to demonstrate Ms Ransome “manifestly lacks credibility”.The claims were included in hundreds of documents that a US judge has ordered to be unsealed as part of a civil claim by Andrew’s…

Among the 30 participants gathered for a guided tour of “Flow: The Exhibition on Menstruation” at Berlin’s Museum of European Cultures (MEK), most are women of all generations — from mothers with their teenage daughters to elderly women. A few men are also in the group, often accompanying a female partner. Surprisingly, the guide is a man, too. At first, the fact that a man is guiding a tour about menstruation feels a bit awkward, but cultural anthropologist Stefan Lischewski tackles the topic so naturally that any sense of embarrassment quickly dissipates.Various historical undergarmentsImage: Marina Konstantinova The history of undergarments and menstrual products Through a display of 100 historical and modern sanitary products…