Author: DW

Perhaps keen to exact some revenge for the shock loss in Bratislava or just distinctly aware that a win in Leipzig would make for a more manageable World Cup group when the draw is made in early December, Germany played their final game of 2025 like they were already at the tournament in the USA. Fluid and ferocious from the start, Germany delivered their best performance of the campaign. Such was their dominance that their 4-0 lead at the break could have been even bigger, and the final score of 6-0 was in no way flattering. “We were creative, active. I…

11/17/2025November 17, 2025Von der Leyen says EU states can fund Ukraine if they balk on using Russian assetsEuropean Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday sought to tamp down fears among EU member states when it comes to the possibility of seizing Russian assets frozen by the bloc to finance Ukraine’s reconstruction. Several nations, especially Belgium, fear that by seizing Russian assets they may open themselves up to massive legal and financial penalties. Von der Leyen also detailed how Russian funds held by commercial banks in other EU states could be used, estimating they added up to some €25…

Gunmen kidnapped 25 female students and killed the vice principal of a secondary school in Kebbi state in northwestern Nigeria Monday, police said. Nigeria’s northwest has seen repeated kidnappings from schools in recent years by armed gangs seeking ransom. What do we know about the raid at the school in Kebbi state? Police said that the attackers had “sophisticated weapons” and were “shooting sporadically” during the raid. They “stormed the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School” at around 4 a.m. local time (0300 UTC), according to the statement. Police officers were deployed to the scene, but the statement stressed: “Unfortunately, the suspected…

Superheroes don’t have it easy. In their never-ending fight against evildoers, they’re forced to contend with supervillains while selflessly putting their own needs on the backburner. At least they make it out of all their battles safe and sound — thanks to superpowers. They can fly, are ultra-strong, or may have a few other fantastic tricks up their sleeves. Their special abilities have all kinds of different explanations. For his part, Superman comes from the planet Krypton, meaning he’s actually an extraterrestrial who happens to look like a human. A spaceship brought him to Earth as an infant, and he…

Drained peatlands today cause more CO2 emissions than all global air travel combined — which is why  some farmers in Germany are experimenting with rewetting these areas. But so far, it remains a risky business model. Anyone visiting farmer Henning Voigt’s operation near Germany’s Baltic Sea coast stands a good chance of getting their feet wet. About 25 years ago, his father began rewetting a once-drained peatland. “We’ve been an organic farm since 1996 and currently manage 350 hectares (864 acres) of grassland. Most of it is very wet,” Voigt says. Speaking with DW, Voigt explains that the hay they…

“All roads lead to Rome!” Roads were the lifeline of the Roman Empire, stretching from Britannia to North Africa — people settled along those roads; armies, travelers, goods, knowledge and power passed along them — into the furthest corners of the empire. To this day, the Roman road network continues to shape large parts of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Now, an enormous new digital research project is fundamentally changing the way we look at that antique infrastructure. The international academic team behind Itiner-e has created the first high-resolution open-data set mapping the entirety of the Roman Empire’s road network. In…

US President Donald Trump said Republicans in the House of Representatives should vote to release all  documents relating to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. It is a rare example of Trump backtracking because of opposition within his own Republican Party. “House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform late on Sunday. “[I]t’s time to move on from this Democrat hoax perpetrated by radical left lunatics in order to deflect from the great success of the Republican Party,” he wrote. House to vote on Epstein files Congress is…

Ecuador’s voters have seemly rejected a proposal to allow the return of foreign military bases to help the South American nation combat drug cartels. Just over 60% of voters said “no” to the measure, according to a partial count with 80% of votes counted. “We respect the will of the Ecuadoran people,” President Daniel Noboa said in a short statement on X after the vote count showed the referendum was on track to fail. The question about foreign military bases was one of four posed in a referendum on Sunday. Other questions posed to voters concern ending public funding for political…

Beverages bearing the name “gin” must contain alcohol, Europe’s top court declared on Thursday.  The VSW German business association had appealed to the court, saying that a product sold by PB VI Goods and called “Virgin Gin Alkoholfrei” (“Non-alcoholic Virgin Gin”) was in breach of a 2019 EU definition of gin.  This states that “gin should be produced by flavouring ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin with juniper berries, and the minimum alcoholic strength by volume of that ethyl alcohol must be 37.5%,” as the court put it in a press release.Juniper berries and 37.5% alcohol content are needed to meet the…

Eighty years after Adolf Hitler’s death, a new documentary by British public broadcaster Channel 4 claims to reveal medical facts about the dictator. “Hitler’s DNA: Blueprint of a Dictator” also attempts to explain his behavior based on genetic analysis. But from a scientific point of view, this is a highly questionable endeavor. Kallmann syndrome: The dictator’s rare disorder According to DNA sequencing, Hitler suffered from Kallmann syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that leads to lower production of sex hormones. This prevents or significantly delays puberty, in addition to causing low testosterone levels, an underdeveloped sense of smell (anosmia), undescended testicles, and…