Author: DW

A grinning skull wearing a straw hat: Fans of the Japanese manga and anime “One Piece” instantly recognize this Jolly Roger flag as the banner of the Straw Hat Crew, an infamous group of pirates led by a young captain called Monkey D. Luffy. The flag was raised in front the Nepalese parliament when protesters stormed the building and set it on fire in early September, and it is now used in global youth-led movements known as the Gen Z protests. But how exactly did the fictional pirate crew become a rallying symbol of resistance, and what does the symbol represent?A…

Germany’s Federal Cartel Office on Wednesday announced an investigation into Chinese e-commerce giant Temu, saying it wanted to examine conditions for traders and the company’s treatment of the suppliers it relies upon to sell products.  “Each month more than 100 million users from European marketplaces visit temu.com,” Andreas Mundt, the president of the competition watchdog, said in a statement.  Why is the Cartel Office taking action? “For almost a year now the trading platform for German suppliers is also open. We are pursuing the suspicion that Temu could be setting unacceptable conditions for pricing for traders on the German marketplace,”…

Two-time Olympic champion Caster Semenya has played down reports that she is ending her legal challenge against sex eligibility rules in athletics. “We are forever fighting,” the South African told DW. In July, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) handed Semenya a partial victory in her yearslong legal battle, ruling that a Swiss appeals court hadn’t examined her case rigorously enough. That ruling leaves open the possibility of further legal action against World Athletics, the sport’s global governing body. Last week, The Associated Press quoted one of Semenya’s lawyers, Patrick Bracher, as saying her challenge would “not be taken…

Although there’s a temporary pause this week, the protests in Morocco will keep going until they achieve what they set out to do, one of the organizers of the youth-led movement behind the biggest anti-government protests the country has seen in years, told DW. They were marred by violence last week but the protests have been mostly peaceful and in a statement published early Tuesday morning, the movement — Gen Z 212 — called for the government’s resignation. Analysts have already suggested Morocco’s billionaire Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch may be forced to resign as a result of the Gen Z-led protests. Gen Z 212 has also demanded…

On Monday afternoon, when the European Parliament met for the second time after the summer break in Strasbourg, legislators got down to business right away. Jordan Bardella, the French chairman of the far-right group Patriots for Europe, accused European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen of a lack of transparency, a failed migration policy and a loss of competitiveness because of her climate policy. He also called the customs deal with the US a disaster. “You have effectively signed Europe’s surrender,” he said. The next to speak was the deputy chair of the left-wing group, French politician Manon Aubry. Her accusations were…

An exhibition tells the story of the morning of October 7, 2023, when approximately 3,000 people attending the Nova Music Festival in the Israeli desert became the victims of the deadliest attack on a music event in history. According to the Israeli military, Hamas members killed 378 festivalgoers, hundreds were injured and more than 40 were taken hostage into the Gaza Strip.   “October 7, 06:29 AM — The Moment Music Stood Still,” also known as the Nova Exhibition, has been shown in Tel Aviv, New York, Buenos Aires and other cities. Now, it’s on display in Berlin. Rather than providing a…

The common European currency, the euro, fell against main rivals and French borrowing costs spiked as Sebastien Lecornu, who had been France’s prime minister for less than a month, resigned on Monday (October 6) — just 14 hours after naming a largely unchanged cabinet. However, shortly after quitting, Lecornu accepted a request from French President Emmanuel Macron to work on a plan for the “stability for the country” by Wednesday evening. That unexpected twist capped a day of political upheaval which saw stocks fall sharply on the Paris exchange amid concerns over the political parties’ ability to tackle the country’s economic woes. While…

With 111 appearances and 18 goals for her country, Sara Däbritz has announced her retirement from the international footballing stage at the age of 30. The midfielder won the European Championship in 2013 as well as the gold medal at the 2016 Olympics. “If someone had told me all that when I was a little five-year-old girl – I would have hardly believed it. But that was exactly my biggest dream,” she wrote in an Instagram post announcing the decision. “From the first match to the last, I wore the jersey with pride, joy and humility. It was a great…

The Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for 2025 will be awarded jointly to Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell of the United States and Shimun Sakaguchi of Japan for “for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance,” the Nobel Assembly of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute announced on Monday. “Their discoveries have laid the foundation for a new field of research and spurred the development of new treatments, for example for cancer and autoimmune diseases,” the Assembly said in a statement. The winners will receive a prize sum of 11 million Swedish crowns (€1 million, $1.2 million), as well as a gold medal from the King of Sweden.…

It remains unclear whether the peace plan unveiled in Washington by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump will mark a turning point in the war in Gaza. Filmmakers from the region will likely, however, continue to struggle to get their stories seen. For both Palestinian and Israeli directors, the barriers to international release have rarely been high. Films that win major prizes at top festivals or even take home Oscars are still struggling to find companies to put them in theaters, particularly in countries — like the US and Germany — where the debate over Gaza is especially…