Deutsche Welle (English edition)
German Bundeswehr says military- aged men can travel
For several days, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius struggled to explain himself. A provision in the new Military Service Act, which took effect on January 1, appeared to require men between the ages of 17 and 45 to notify the German military, or...
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Germany: Fare evasion is a crime that can send you to
Does everyone who boards a public bus or train in Germany even know that riding without a ticket is a criminal offense that usually results in a € 60 ($ 70) fine? Or that people who don't pay the fine might end up in jail? The somewhat unwieldy German...
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Iran war: how farmers adapt as fertilizer crunch heats
Choked off shipping in the Strait of Hormuz isn't just grinding oil tankers to a halt. The Iran war is creating a onetwo punch for the world's fertilizer supply, blocking both the export and one of its critical ingredients from leaving the Persian...
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US citizens beat rising energy bills with homegrown power
About $ 150 (€ 130) is what Brian McGowan says he spent on power last year in his home in Coatesville, Pennsylvania. And since installing additional solar panels in the fall, he expects his bill to be even lower this year. Ordinarily he would have had...
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Germany's new religious diversity
In Erlangen, a city of 119,000 residents in northern Bavaria, a great deal is happening at once. Preparations are underway for a new synagogue for which the state of Bavaria has provided a plot of land near the university. The city's two major mosques...
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Germany's new religious diversity
In Erlangen, a city of 119,000 residents in northern Bavaria, a great deal is happening at once. Preparations are underway for a new synagogue for which the state of Bavaria has provided a plot of land near the university. The city's two major mosques...
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Germany's peace movement gears up for its traditional Easter peace marches, overshadowed by war and possible conscription
Thousands of people are expected to take part in the German peace movement's traditional Easter peace marches, with over a hundred events organized in dozens of towns across the country between April 2 and 6. Several German newspapers have run ads...
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Germany: Chancellor Merz has never been more unpopular
The first two state elections of the year have come and gone in Germany, and things are starting to pick up again within the federal government. For weeks, the coalition of the conservative Christian Democratic Union ( CDU)/ Christian Social Union (...
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Undiagnosed TB pose challenge for South Africa, Mozambique
Southern Africa remains one of the regions hardest hit by tuberculosis ( TB), with countries such as South Africa and Mozambique still bearing a significant share of the global disease burden. Experts say that while some progress has been made, much...
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US judge orders Trump to halt ballroom construction
Trump's $ 400 million (€ 346 million) ballroom was planned for the White House' s East Wing, which was demolished last year to make way for the new structure. The US president has said the ballroom is a necessary addition to the White House...
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Capital punishment: Which countries use the death penalty?
Israel's parliament, the Knesset, has passed a bill imposing the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks in military courts. Although the death penalty already exists in Israel, it was not enforced. The proposed bill changes that,...
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German public sector tries to reduce reliance on US tech
It's not just the German authorities who have access to documents created by German government agencies, at state and federal level. The US authorities potentially do too, since the German authorities currently predominantly use computer programs whose...
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Fact check: Fake satellite images distort Middle East conflict from above
Social media users have grown better at spotting obvious signs of AI doctoring in celebrity photos or glitchy cityscapes. But in the US- Israel war with Iran, a new type of deception has entered the spotlight: fake satellite imagery. "For satellite...
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Air Canada CEO apologizes for English- only condolence video
CEO Michael Rousseau's unilingual condolence message to the pilots killed in a collision in New York over the weekend was seen as "lacking judgement." CEO of Air Canada, Michael Rousseau, apologized Thursday for his Englishonly message of condolence...
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Germany's Left Party rocked by antisemitism allegations
Where does legitimate criticism of the State of Israel's policies end, and antisemitism begin? This question has come up because of a resolution adopted by a regional branch of Germany's Left Party addressing Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip and the...
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The German village running on its own juice
For many people, the arrival of an electricity bill might be met with a degree of dread. But in the small German village of Feldheim residents barely give them a second thought. "In my old apartment, I used about 2,400 kilowatt hours a year. All this...
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Iran war: Germany's Merz distances himself from Trump
Chancellor Friedrich Merz has gone back and forth in his relationship with Donald Trump: A year ago, Merz presented himself as a sharp critic of Trump. Then came a long phase of rapprochement - political opponents accused Merz of pandering to the US...
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Germany consecrates first bishop of Indian heritage
He himself calls it a ' strong signal:' A man with nonEuropean roots serving as a Catholic bishop in Germany. This Sunday, the Carmelite Father Joshy Pottackal, originally from India, is to be consecrated as a bishop in Mainz Cathedral, and will serve...
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Girls in Egypt box against violence and prejudice
"I won't stop until I'm a champion." The girls in Cairo learning to box seem determined and confident. It could be an everyday scene, a training session like any otherbut it's not. Many of the girls in southern Cairo come from socially disadvantaged...
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Iran war: Experts warns bombing oil infrastructure in Iran to leave lasting environmental damage
Strikes on oil facilities and missile bases in the US- Israeli war with Iran are raising concerns among experts about a toxic legacy for human health and the environment that could linger long after the fighting ends. Since the conflict began, UKbased...
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Merz says Germany won't join EU return to nuclear
At a nuclear summit near Paris earlier this week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described the transition from nuclear energy undertaken by some EU countries as a "strategic mistake." Nuclear power, she said, is a "reliable,...
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Can the US sustain its war in Iran?
On February 28, the United States launched "Operation Epic Fury" in Iran. In the week that followed, the US carried out thousands of strikes across the country, deploying more than 20 weapons systems across air, land, and sea. In the first wave of US-...
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Germany: Chancellor Merz downplays a state election defeat
The first of five regional elections in 2026, which took place in the wealthy southwestern state of BadenWürttemberg, has resulted in an unexpected victory for the ecologist Greens. For a long time, Chancellor Friedrich Merz's centerright Christian...
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Who is Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran's new supreme leader?
Mojtaba Khamenei, born on September 8, 1969, in Mashhad, is the second son of Ali Khamenei, Iran's former supreme leader, who was killed in an Israeli strike on February 28. An 88- member Assembly of Experts named him the Islamic Republic's new supreme...
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Do Americans support Trump's Iran war?
Until a few months ago, Donald Trump cast himself as a president of peace, boasting about how many conflicts around the world he had allegedly settled. He even founded a new international body, the Board of Peace, and suggested he should be awarded the...
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German high school students protest against military service
Young people gathered in Berlin's central Potsdamer Square on Thursday and marched through the German capital to protest against the government's plans to reintroduce military service. While the police counted around 3,000 participants, organizers...
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Donald Trump berates Spain, Friedrich Merz listens
Donald Trump appears to have a new favorite European leader. In the Oval Office in Washington this week, Chancellor Friedrich Merz sat beside the unpredictable US president and found himself being praised in the highest terms. Merz is a "very...
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Why it's worth getting a heat pump if you live in a cold country, too
Germany's ruling coalition plans to slow parts of its renewables push and amend a key heating law, amid fossilfuel industry lobbying and public hesitation over alternatives like heat pumps. Though new buildings frequently feature heat pumps, many...
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Iran war: Will Europe's split on US strikes backfire?
Europe's streets were full of jubilant Iranians from the diaspora this weekend after USIsraeli strikes killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "The dictator is dead. This is the best day of my life," one man told DW as he danced through...
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Afghan Taliban reportedly target Pakistani jets over
The Taliban say they engaged Pakistani jets in the skies over Kabul as the fighting between the Pakistani military and the Afghan militants continues to escalate. Pakistani jets near Kabul were targeted by Afghan Taliban on Sunday, with blasts and...
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Paramount to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in decision which could alter US media and entertainment landscape
Paramount is set to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of Warner Bros. movie studio, HBO and CNN. Warner Bros. Discovery Friday signed a formal agreement to be acquired by Paramount, the two companies said Friday. Paramount's bid, that...
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Young Europeans still drawn to tobacco - WHO report
People living across Europe, Russia and Central Asia together account for the highest number of tobacco users globally and it’s unlikely to change before 2030, according to the World Health Organization. This follows a 2025 report that the group of...
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Fact check: Trump's State of the Union address debunked
"Our nation is back, bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever before," US President Donald Trump said in his nearly two- hour long State of the Union speechon Tuesday night. Amid sagging poll numbers ahead of the midterm elections, he made false...
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University cuts ' damaging Berlin's cultural standing'
Berlin's government is effectively sabotaging the city's international status as an artistic and academic hub, according to students and teachers at the Berlin University of the Arts ( UdK), which is pressing ahead with cuts to its Englishlanguage arts...
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Ukraine updates: Russian invasion reaches 4- year anniversary
You join us as the Russian aggression against Ukraine enters its fifth year, after the Russian military launched a full- scale invasion on February 24, 2022. Russian forces, however, first entered Ukraine in February 2014 that resulted in them taking...
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Germans approve of democracy, but say it doesn't work well
Worldwide, autocracies are on the rise, populists are gaining momentum, democratic societies are under pressure. Wars, inflation and fear of economic declineare causing great uncertainty. The "shows that the vast majority of Germans believe in...
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Unreliable childcare forces parents into part- time
Chancellor Friedrich Merz's centerright Christian Democratic Union ( CDU) is holding its national conference - and one of the major themes up for discussion is what Merz sees as an "exaggerated" worklife balance. Too many people are working part- time,...
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Ex- Prince Andrew: What you need to
While the nature of the alleged offence has not yet been made clear, MountbattenWindsor, known as Prince Andrew until being stripped of his titles last year, has been heavily linked to disgraced and deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The latest...
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US troops arrive in Nigeria on training mission
Nigeria's government is seeking US help with training, technical support and intelligencesharing, to combat violence from extremist groups threatening its territory. The United States has sent 100 soldiers to Nigeria, with...
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Germany's Deutsche Bahn halts humorous publicity campaign
Last October, Deutsche Bahn (DB) launched a social media campaign with popular comic Anke Engelke in the main role. We watch Engelke, as train conductor Tina, and her team doing their best to navigate everything from defective doors...
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US: FBI releases images in Guthrie abduction case
Nancy Guthrie, the mother of NBC journalist and "Today" show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, disappeared from her home in the southwest US city of Tucson, Arizona, hours after relatives dropped her off there on January 31. Relatives...
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Fact check: Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show sparks viral claims
The NFL Super Bowl is one of the biggest sporting events in the world - and the halftime show remains the mostwatched TV moment of the year in the United States. This year, Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny (Benito Antonio Martínez...
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Venezuela: Juan Pablo Guanipa released from prison
Venezuelan opposition politician, Juan Pablo Guanipa, was released from prison on Sunday. A close ally of Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Maria Corina Machado, Guanipa had been held in a detention facility in the capital Caracas...
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German train conductor's death highlights rise in violence
A recent act of violence has shocked Germany: a Deutsche Bahn employee was checking passengers on a regional train near the southwestern city of Kaiserslautern on Monday night when he encountered a man traveling alone without a...
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Berlin hospitals threatened by spate of attacks
The Berlin Hospital Association (BKG) has issued a warning describing a spate of seemingly "inexplicable incidents" at hospitals and health care facilities in the capital. These range from drone incursions over hospital...
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US, Iran to hold talks in Oman on Friday
Iranian and US officials confirmed on Wednesday that a meeting between their countries would be held in Muscat, the capital of Oman, on Friday. Earlier Wednesday, a report surfaced that negotiations between the sides were falling...
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Germany and the Gulf region: Energy and arms deals
The fact that the key Gulf states - Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) - are currently held in high regard by the German government is evident from the steady stream of ministerial visits to their capitals....
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Russian captain found guilty in North Sea tanker collision
A London court on Monday convicted the Russian captain of a container ship that collided with a US oil tanker off the east coast of the UK last year, killing one sailor. Mark Pernia, a Philippines national, was lost at sea and presumed...
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Rita Süssmuth: The high-profile feminist reformer dies aged 88
Süssmuth died on Sunday, less than two weeks before she would have turned 89. As a federal minister and president of the German Bundestag during the 1980s and 90s, Süssmuth had been "a role model and a pioneer, not least for gender...
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EU asylum policy: What changes for refugees in Germany?
The system's reform, agreed in 2024, will become legally binding in Germany and throughout the EU in June 2026. EU member states had a two-year implementation period during which the new rules - including stricter border procedures...
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Germany's Bundeswehr shopping list
Germany's military, the Bundeswehr, is currently on a spending spree: it has more than €108 billion ($129 billion) at their disposal this year - a gigantic, unprecedented sum. This is being financed both by the official federal...
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German development policy: Partners in the Global South
The rule of the strongest is back: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz spoke of a "new world of great powers" at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week. There was much talk of armament, economic might, power plays - and of course US...
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Netherlands set for minority coalition as parties reach deal
The centrist, pro-EU D66, the winner of October's election, will join forces with the centerright Christian Democrats and the VVD, holding just 66 of 150 seats in the lower house. "We're incredibly eager to get started," said Rob...
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Berlin's young Jews reveal complex experiences with antisemitism
Tim Kurockin, a 21-year-old Jewish student from Bavaria, says he moved to Berlin shortly before October 7, 2023 - the day of Hamas' terrorist attack on Israel. Since then, he tells DW, some of his Jewish friends have been "physically...
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Alex Honnold: US man free climbs Taiwan's 101-story tower
Hundreds of spectators gathered as Alex Honnold, 40, began his journey up the "Taipei 101." After an hour and a half, Honnold had successfully climbed 1,667 feet (508 meters), uttering the word "sick" as he took in the view. He then...
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Fact check: Fakes spread online amid Syria's power shift
Syria is undergoing a dramatic transformation just over a year after Islamistled rebels ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad and 15 years after the civil war plunged the country into chaos. The new leadership under President...
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How bringing back a humble algae to Arctic waters makes all the difference
When Norwegian researcher Hans Christian Strand stepped aboard a research boat in the arctic waters of northern Norway last May, his expectations weren't very high. He had grown used to seeing a gray and lifeless sea, even in the...
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Nigeria: Gunmen kidnap more than 160 in church attacks
A leader at Nigeria's Christian Association said that 163 worshippers were kidnapped during Sunday services from two churches Kaduna state. "The attackers came in numbers and blocked the entrance of the churches and forced the...
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Iran protest crackdown: What are the US's military options?
For most of the last two weeks, Donald Trump has been publicly mulling over what to do in Iran. Amid a brutal crackdown on antiregime protesters in the Islamic Republic, the US president had promised "very strong action" before backing...
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Fact check: AI fakes and old videos mislead on Iran protests
Iran has been witnessing antiregime protests for more than two weeks, with demonstrations reported in several cities and towns. Verifying protest-related content has become increasingly challenging. Internet restrictions and...
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Germany and Iran: Merz calls Tehran leadership 'weak'
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has dubbed Iran's suppression of protests "brutal and disproportionate." A government spokesperson in Berlin backed taking one step at a time, but many in Germany want faster action. After being...
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