Author: DW

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…

Words have meaning. They shape how people feel about an issue, remember events and respond to developments that affect their lives. For decades, people in Germany have referred to the anti-Jewish violence that cascaded across the country on November 9, 1938, as the “Kristallnacht” or “Reichskristallnacht.” The translation “Night of Broken Glass” is widely used in English. In Germany, that has begun to change. Historians debate the origins of the term “Kristallnacht,” but it has nevertheless entered the lexicon of German history as such, “owing its name to the shards of shattered glass that lined German streets,” according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in Washington,…

The U-17 Men’s World Cup is usually followed by football scouts and keen fans all searching for the next Lionel Messi — but the 2025 edition has taken on greater significance. The tournament has become FIFA’s testing ground for the 48-team format, the one that will be on show at the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico in 2026. It’s also the start of an annual cycle of these under-17 tournaments, and the first of five consecutive tournaments to be played in Qatar. FIFA expert and former player Pascal Zuberbühler says it’s the “beginning of a new global rhythm…

Pope Leo XIV met on Saturday with a group of people who were sexually abused by members of the clergy in Belgium. The group of fifteen were victims of abuse when they were minors, the Holy See Press Office said.  Many of the survivors had previously met with the late Pope Francis during his 2024 visit to Belgium, the Vatican said, adding that the late pontiff had heard their story “with a sense of shame for the suffering they endured as children.” Belgium is a largely Roman Catholic country, where the Belgian Catholic Church has been plagued by a series of abuse scandals in recent years.…

Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa arrived in the United States on Saturday for an official visit that includes a scheduled meeting with President Donald Trump next week, a diplomatic gesture that was previously unimaginable. Al-Sharaa arrived a day after the US removed the Syrian president from a terrorism sanctions list, just one day after the United Nations Security Council lifted similar sanctions. Al-Sharaa led the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham militant group, previously affiliated with the US-designated terror group al-Qaeda, that overthrew the regime of Bashar Assad last year. Shortly after Assad’s ouster in December 2024, the US lifted a $10 million (€8.6 million) reward it had earlier put in place for al-Sharaa’s arrest. In May, Trump…

“Nuremberg” is what used to be called an Oscar movie. Or, less charitably, “Oscar bait”: The new film from director James Vanderbilt, which opens Friday, takes a subject of immense historical weight, the trial of Nazi leader Hermann Göring at Nuremberg; casts Oscar winners Russell Crowe and Rami Malek, who deliver big, showy performances; and throws money at the screen to create a slick and respectable piece of cinema. Unlike previous films about the high-stakes trial, Vanderbilt’s film is not a courtroom drama, but rather a psychological thriller based on Jack El-Hai’s nonfiction book “The Nazi and the Psychiatrist.” “Nuremberg” focuses on the interviews between Göring (Crowe) —…

It is not just superstars, royal families or oligarchs skipping long security lines and sitting in the cushy leather seats anymore.  Today, there are more options than ever to take to the skies in a private jet without being head of state, CEO or owning a plane outright. Private jet deliveries are up Since the COVID-19 pandemic travel slump, planemakers have made a steady recovery driven by strong customer demand. Currently, there are around 23,500 private jets in service globally, according to Denesz Thiyagarajan, head of the general aviation team at IBA Insight, an aviation advisory company. North America accounts for…