Author: DW

Last month, Matthias Blübaum did something no other German chess player had in 35 years by qualifying for the World Championship Candidates Tournament. The 28-year-old did so by coming second at the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament, held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. This means he will be competing against seven other elite players for the right to take on current world champion Gukesh Dommaraju for the title. In his run in Uzbekistan, Blübaum outshone many of the biggest names in chess, including the world champion and his highly touted Indian compatriots Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and Erigaisi Arjun. Only the winner, the Netherlands’ top-ranked player, Anish…

Munich airport said early on Friday that drone sightings on Thursday evening had forced air traffic control to halt operations. What has been the disruption to Munich airport? This had prompted the cancellation of 17 flights, disrupting travel for nearly 3,000 passengers at the airport in the southern German state of Bavaria. Another 15 arriving flights were diverted to Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Vienna and Frankfurt, the airport said in a statement. German police said the airport’s runways were closed late in the evening as a precaution.  Police officers searched the area for suspicious individuals but found nothing. A police helicopter was also deployed. Munich airport…

Following the end of World War II in 1945, a defeated Germany was divided into four occupation zones, controlled by the Allied powers: the United States, France, Great Britain and the Soviet Union. In 1949, two states emerged: the democratic Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) in the West, and the socialist German Democratic Republic (GDR) in the East, with the latter being under Soviet control. From that point on, Germany was divided. Citizens of East Germany were only allowed to travel to the West under strict conditions. The GDR’s borders were heavily guarded, and a massive wall was built around…

Flying is just not what it used to be. Long lines to go through security, cyberattacks on airport check-in systems, labor strikes, lost bags and cancellations. Now on top of all that, there is a global shortage of pilots and airlines are feeling the pinch.During and after the COVID-19 pandemic, pilot training was put on hold in many places as companies waited to see what the pandemic would do to the travel industry. Today, as air travel rebounds, there is a training backlog, and schools are struggling to get new pilots in the air.Job prospects for pilots are better than ever…

A vaccine administered to adolescent girls and boys has been so successful that herd immunity against a virus that causes cervical cancer is within reach, at least in the United States. However, sustaining community resistance to the human papillomavirus (HPV) will depend on whether the US can maintain high vaccination rates. HPV is the world’s most common sexually transmitted infection . Vaccines against certain strains of HPV, of which there are hundreds, have existed for almost two decades. Currently a “nine-valent” vaccine — protecting against nine strains of HPV that together account for 90% of cervical cancers — is licensed in the…

When the league stage of the UEFA Women’s Champions League begins on October 7, it will do so without the game’s most expensive player. France midfielder, Grace Geyoro, signed for newly-promoted London City Lionesses (owned by wealthy businesswoman and serial football investor, Michelle Kang) in September for a fee of about €1.6 million ($1.9 million). Geyoro’s move was the fifth to break the world transfer record in 2025, with each player moving to either the NWSL in the USA or the WSL in England. “It is a very good sign,” women’s football agent Jasmina Covic told DW. “The record is being…

 A nationwide general strike in Greece halted trains, ferries and taxis on Wednesday, stranding a number of workers and other people in the country. The one-day general strike was called in response to proposed changes to labor standards —  including a government plan to allow employers to extend working hours. No taxis in Athens nor trains will run for the duration of the 24-hour strike. Buses and the city’s subway, tram and trolley service are operating on a severely reduced schedule. Thousands of people, including teachers and seafarers, marched to parliament in Athens after the strike was organized by Greece’s largest…

The Trump administration has frozen some $26 billion (€22 billion) for projects in Democratic-leaning states on the first day of the federal government shutdown. The White House announced the freeze on Wednesday on roughly $18 billion in payments to build transit projects in New York, home to Congress’s two top Democrats. The freeze also includes almost $8 billion in green energy projects in 16 Democrat-run states, including California and Illinois. Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate who is from New York, said Trump was targeting regular Americans for partisan aims. “He is using the American people as pawns,…

From her pioneering work in French surrealism to war photography, Lee Miller (1907-1977) is currently celebrated in an exhibition at the Tate Britain museum. The largest retrospective of the trailblazing photographer ever held in the UK, “Lee Miller” runs from October 2 to February 15, 2026. Lee Miller started modeling in the late 1920s, posing for legendary photographers such as Edward Steichen and George Huyningen-HueneImage: Martin Schutt/picture alliance/dpa The accidental model Born in Poughkeepsie, New York in 1907, Elizabeth “Lee” Miller showed an early interest in the arts and Europe, moving to Paris at age 18 to study lighting, costume and design at a theater school. A year later, she…

Called the 3TG because they include tantalum, tin, tungsten, and gold, this group of raw materials makes a huge difference for the auto industry of our times as it strives to transition to electric vehicles (EV). They are critically important for building suspension systems, wiring, lighting, and electronic displays. Durable, resistant to corrosion, and great for conducting electricity, 3TG minerals are currently high in demand from carmakers in Europe and elsewhere. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) boasts some of the biggest deposits of such minerals in the world, and exploiting them could be a source of prosperity for the country in Central Africa.…