Author: DW

“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous,” said President Donald Trump on “Newsmax’s Greg Kelly Reports” on Monday, reacting to the news that Puerto Rican star, Bad Bunny, would headline the 2026 Super Bowl’s iconic halftime show. “I’ve never heard of him,” Trump added.  Renowned for his obsession with ratings, the US president has presumably since been informed that the global superstar holds significant streaming records. Bad Bunny’s “Un Verano Sin Ti” (2022) is Spotify’s most-streamed album of all time. He was the most-played artist on Spotify for three consecutive years, from 2020 to 2022. And this September, his residency finale, “Una Más,” became the most-watched single-artist performance…

France’s political crisis shows no sign of abating. The resignation of Sebastien Lecornu as prime minister this week, after just 27 days in office, means the country is set to have an eighth prime minister in the space of five years. Although President Emmanuel Macron now looks set to name another prime minister before the week is over — potentially fending off the need for new elections — the political turmoil comes with major consequences for the EU’s second-largest economy. As happened in 2024, it means the 2026 budget may not be agreed in time to be debated and passed…

Before India’s courts and federations took over the headlines, the heart of Indian football lived on its local grounds. “Earlier, a player in Mumbai could play 100, 120 matches in the entire season,” Henry Menezes, former India goalkeeper and longtime football administrator tells DW. “Competitive matches, local grounds, different tournaments — he had the option to play.” That system once formed the backbone of Indian football. District and state leagues fed into national tournaments, and professional players could climb step by step — from district clubs to state teams and eventually the national setup. The Indian Super League (ISL) changed all that, breaking away…

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz spoke out against the EU’s current goal of phasing out new cars with internal combustion engines by 2035, only allowing the registration of new all-electric vehicles by that date.  Merz was speaking at a summit with other German political leaders and leading representatives of the country’s struggling car industry.  “Such a hard cutoff in 2035 will not take place, if I have anything to do with it, and I will do all I can to achieve this,” Merz said in Berlin.  Activists from Greenpeace and Fridays for Future were waiting outside the chancellery in Berlin on…

A United States federal judge on Thursday ordered a temporary halt to President Donald Trump’s deployment of hundreds of National Guard soldiers in the state of Illinois, which includes the city of Chicago. The Trump administration had ordered the troops to protect federal officials, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, and facilities in Chicago — which it depicts as a “war zone” — from what it described as violent protesters. Local Democratic officials in Illinois have accused the Republican president of purposefully spurring protests with heavy handed operations, adding that state’s law enforcement agencies were perfectly sufficient. What did…

It was a radio broadcast that marked media history, rocketing a 23-year-old Orson Welles to notoriety: his 1938 adaptation of H. G. Well’s novel “The War of the Worlds.”  That year, on the evening of Sunday, October 30, listeners who had tuned in to dance music on the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) radio network heard a news flash interrupt the “regular” program. A series of unusual explosions had been observed on the planet Mars, and a mass of hydrogen gas was moving towards Earth. The broadcast went back to dance music. Another news flash interrupted the orchestra, to inform listeners…

Never has state support been more critical to the survival of Germany’s auto industry . Thursday’s Autogipfel (“auto summit,” in English) — a high-stakes meeting in Berlin of political leaders, automotive executives and unions — comes at a moment of deep crisis as the sector faces stagnation, mass layoffs and a rocky transition to electric vehicles (EVs). Once dominant in engineering and brand prestige, the likes of Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz now lag behind Chinese rivals in software innovation and adopting EVs. China’s BYD, Nio and others are expanding aggressively into the European market, offering cheaper, tech-savvy EVs. US President Donald Trump’s protectionist policies have also dealt…

Immigration difficulties, mass deportation raids and climate issues have plagued the United States, the biggest of the three World Cup host countries, for most of 2025. With the first phase of ticket sales leaving fans astounded by the record-high prices, it raises the question: how much will fans really be able to enjoy the 2026 World Cup? Immigration struggles Since Donald Trump’s return to power, the US has made entering the country a nightmare for many. Unpredictable rejections and even detentions at the border made headlines early in the year, notably in March when German citizens were being detained by US immigration. The…

Gisele Pelicot appeared in court in Nimes in France on Wednesday, telling the one man who still contests his rape conviction that she “never” gave him her consent.  The 72-year-old’s former husband has admitted to drugging her with sedatives and inviting dozens of men to their home to rape and abuse her over the course of nearly a decade.  Dominique Pelicot, 72, received the maximum possible sentence of 20 years. He and 49 other men convicted in a case that shocked France and the wider world are not appealing.  But one 44-year-old man has maintained his innocence and appealed his…

Global internet monitor NetBlocks has reported that access to major social media platforms is currently restricted in Afghanistan. “Metrics show social media platforms Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat are now restricted on multiple providers in #Afghanistan,” it posted on X on Wednesday. The Taliban had already banned access to TikTok back in 2022. Social media users first started commenting on the restrictions late on Monday, local broadcaster Ariana News reported. Some users were reporting a complete cut in access in certain areas, Ariana News said, while others had slow internet connections or intermittent service. A resident of the capital Kabul and…