Author: DW

When Stefan Ambrosius from the Munich State Opera practices the tuba, he is deeply relaxed. If you want to play this large brass instrument, you have to breathe in very deeply in order to obtain proper sounds from the instrument when you breathe out. “There’s almost something meditative about it,” the musician explains. The tuba was chosen by Germany’s state music councils as the Instrument of the Year 2024, following the mandolin, which was in the spotlight in 2023 “It’s fantastic that the music councils in Germany crown an instrument every year and then make it known in schools or through social…

Regardless of who is winning, losing or playing, the major narratives in German football are often attributed to Kopfsache – literally translated as a “mind matter.” About 5% of athletes in elite sports suffer from depression, roughly in line with the general population. German football is already extremely aware of mental illnesses like depression after the tragic death of Robert Enke in 2009, so how is the current sports psychology system in Germany faring? In September, Rene Paasch, one of Germany’s most prominent sports psychologists, suggested the role was in need of a “paradigm shift” because “outdated thought patterns and approaches” had left little room for…

A Russian cruise missile briefly entered Polish airspace, traveling some 40 kilometers (roughly 25 miles) over Warsaw’s territory, early on Friday, according to the country’s top military officials.  This came during a widespread Russian aerial attack on Ukraine that also targeted areas in the west of the country, near the border to Poland, including the city of Lviv.  Poland’s military had initially only reported an unidentified object entering its airspace, without saying what it was or what happened to it. “Everything indicates that a Russian missile entered Polish airspace… It also left our airspace,” General Wieslaw Kukula, chief of the…

Chad’s new constitution has entered into force after being approved by the country’s Supreme Court, paving the way for civilian rule. The court on Thursday confirmed the results of the December 17 referendum, which saw the new constitution pass with 85.9% approval and 14.1% against. Voter turnout was 62.86%, with about 8 million people eligible to vote. Petitions by opponents seeking to overturn the referendum were rejected by the court. It ruled that although there were some irregularities, they weren’t enough to affect the outcome. Fidel Amakye Owusu, an international relations expert with the Conflict Research Consortium for Africa, told DW that Chad’s latest move toward civilian rule…

Workers at a crisp factory in Australia have complained that a hot and spicy seasoning is affecting their health.A union is claiming the “Flamin’ Hot” seasoning, used for Doritos and Cheetos products, has caused a number of adverse effects including sneezing, coughing, eye and skin irritation, and breathing difficulties. The United Workers Union (UWU) has lodged a complaint with the workplace health and safety regulator in South Australia after interviewing staff at the Smith’s Snackfood Company factory in Adelaide.The UWU said the employees raised “significant safety concerns” regarding the “improper handling of strongly irritating substances”.The union said it spoke to…

Afua Asantewaa Aduonum looked exhausted as her singing marathon came to an end — unsure after days of vocal acrobatics what day of the week it was. “At one point I kept asking which day it was, and I finally got to know that today is Friday,” she quipped, as her soar voice looked forward to a break. “This was a mere dream that was realized just in a period of five days. … I don’t even remember how it started, not to mention how it ended.” Much more than a joke Her brother, however, remembers exactly how this unusual journey for his sister…

What does the new format look like? A little more like a league than a cup, at least initially. The 36 qualifying teams will be divided in to four groups of nine within one big league table. Those groups will be seeded. So the winners of this season’s competition and the teams with the eight best coefficient rankings (based on previous European performance) will be in Group 1, the teams with the next nine best coefficient rankings will form Group 2, and so on. The winners of the Europa League and domestic champions will not be favored in the draws. Each…

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry alluded to recent reports and rumors, both from the Russian side and in Western media, of possible negotiations about trying to halt the conflict with Russia when condemning the large airstrikes overnight.  It said in an English-language post that the strikes demonstrated that such negotiations were not a realistic option.  “No talks about ‘cease-fires,’ ‘temporary territorial concessions,’ ‘fatigue,’ ‘negotiations’ or other ‘gestures’ will halt Russian aggression,” the ministry wrote.  “Arm Ukraine now. It is the only way to defend people,” it said. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also referred to the recent media reports, and seemingly to US difficulties…

Slick ads like to portray the future of transportation as clean and quiet. They show cars that gently purr, without emitting harmful emissions, along almost empty roads through unspoiled nature, with their occupants on their way to work or to shop in clean cities without traffic jams. The reality, of course, is somewhat different, as traffic jams, noise and the stench of exhaust fumes are, in fact, ubiquitous in Germany. According to Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA), the market share of electric cars in the country has grown, but it is still comparatively small. Ten years ago, they accounted for 0.02% of the total…

The latest attack in the Plateau State reads like a nightmare: 17 communities were targeted, numerous houses burned down, scores of people killed. “In Mangu local governorate alone, we buried 15 people … in Bokkos, we are counting not less than 100 corpses,” said Plateau Governor Caleb Mutfwang. But this is only the latest of many cases of such mass killings in Nigeria’s Plateau State this year, which have widely been attributed to the persisting farmer-herder crisis in the West African nation. While authorities are yet to establish the exact number of casualties from the Christmas attack, Amnesty International has confirmed at least 140 deaths in…