Penulis: Agus S

French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the latest school attack, calling it part of a "senseless wave of violence" sweeping through French schools.

AFrenchschool employee was stabbed to death by a 15-year-old student during a bag check, the gendarmerie said Tuesday.

A police officer assisting with the checks was also slightly injured in the incident, which occurred at a school in Nogent, northeastern France.

"While watching over our children in Nogent, an educational assistant lost her life, the victim of a senseless wave of violence," French PresidentEmmanuel Macronwrote on social media.

"The nation is in mourning and the government is mobilized to reduce crime," he added.

The 31-year-old teaching assistant was stabbed multiple times as classes began. The suspected attacker was subdued by gendarmes, according to education officials.

The student, who had no criminal record, was taken into custody.

Education Minister Elisabeth Borne was en route to Nogent "to support the entire school community and the police."

Althoughfatal school attacksremain rare in France, growingconcerns over violencehave led the Education Ministry to implement bag checks at some schools this year.

Over a two-month period this spring, a total of 186 knives were confiscated during these checks, and 32 individuals were detained, the Interior Ministry reported Tuesday.

"The threat of bladed weapons among our children has become critical. It is up to us to make this widespread scourge a public enemy," Prime Minister Francois Bayrou wrote on X following Tuesday's attack.

Local elections were held in two Serbian towns on Sunday amid high tension and accusations of irregularities. With the ruling SNS and the opposition both claiming victory, it is not clear what will happen next.

"Let it echo through the skies — SNS meets its demise!" chanted citizens on the streets of two Serbian towns, Zajecar and Kosjeric, after polls closed in local elections on Sunday evening.

They were convinced that after 13 years of rule by the governing Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), change was about to happen.

"May the Serbian people experience freedom the way we are feeling it tonight in Kosjeric," declared Slavica Pantovic, the opposition candidate for municipal president.

But then, just a few hours later, the ruling SNS declared victory.

"We managed to win because the people chose the state. You can shout, block the streets, but when we step behind the curtain, we vote for our country — not against it," saidPresident Aleksandar Vucic.

For the past month, all eyes inSerbiahave been on Zajecar and Kosjeric.

These were the first elections to be held in Serbia since the collapse last November ofthe canopy at the entrance to Novi Sad railway station, which killed 16 people.

The tragedy, which is widely seen by Serbian citizens as the result of deep-seated corruption, sparkedmonths of proteststhat have putincreasing pressure on populist President Aleksandar Vucic.

Preliminary results show that the SNS won 27 seats in Zajecar compared to the opposition's 23, and 14 seats to the opposition's 13 in Kosjeric.

But the opposition refuses to acknowledge the outcome, and it is possible that there will be a recount in both towns.

"We won't let you steal the votes. You'll have to explain every bag, every sheet of paper — even the ones you've stolen," said Ugljesa Djurickovic of the opposition list Change We Believe In in Zajecar on election night.

The opposition leaders in both towns are backed by students who have already organized post-election protests in Kosjeric to "defend the will of the people." The students also announced that they would monitor any recount closely.

"If necessary, we'll call all of Serbia — and there won't be enough room here for everyone. We're defending the electoral will, because Kosjeric is free," said student Milica Maksimovic at a protest on Sunday.

The monitoring mission of the NGO Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA) has claimed that there were serious irregularities in the election.

Indeed, the CRTA's assessment after the polls was unequivocal: "These elections do not reflect the free will of the citizens."

According to the CRTA report, problems began during the campaign itself, which the center says was marred by the misuse of public resources and violence.

The center also says that there were numerous irregularities on election day itself.

"These include the illegal presence of third parties at polling stations, suspicious gatherings near polling sites, vote-buying, parallel records being kept in and outside polling stations in connection with vote-buying, individuals who were not on the voter list attempting to vote, the photographing of ballots, voting without identification, and threats to and pressure on observers," CRTA's program director Rasha Nedeljkov told a press conference.

Students, citizens and opposition politicians were also active on the ground in Zajecar, claiming that they were "defending the electoral will."

They told of "Bulgarian trains" (a form of vote-buying to rig elections) and the organized transportation of voters from other areas, parallel voter lists and direct vote-buying.

"In a village called Salac, about 30 kilometers from Zajecar, there were about 1,600 thugs with metal rods. At Josif Pancic Primary School, they were bused in — in large buses, minibuses — they were carrying in and out bags, people filmed it and reported it immediately," Maja Djinovic, who had come to Kosjeric fromBelgradeto support the opposition, told DW.

The atmosphere in both towns on election day was extremely tense and seemed to be on the verge of confrontation. Citizens reported the presence of unknown individuals they suspected of being thugs.

A large police presence further heightened the tension.

"I was terrified by how much police and gendarmerie there were. Why? There's no violence, no threats — we just want a better future for this town," one Zajecar resident told DW.

The atmosphere surrounding the elections in Zajecar and Kosjeric clearly reflects the unequal conditions under which elections in Serbia are held, political scientist Dusan Spasojevic told DW.

Spasojevic also pointed out that these two local elections reveal changes in the structure of the electorate and the strength of the opposition.

"One important takeaway from these elections is the realization that there is now an articulated bloc made up of students, citizens, the opposition and civil society — which is now relatively equal to the ruling bloc and capable of competing with them in elections," said Spasojevic.

"That shows that a certain shift has taken place in society, but it's not as large as some opposition supporters believe, who think Vucic's approval has collapsed after the recent crisis," he said.

After the elections, students reiterated their demand for early parliamentary elections. They believe this could bethe opportunity to push the SNS into opposition.

"What we saw on election night — both sides declaring victory — is probably the same scenario we'll see after the next parliamentary elections. In other words, both sides will go into the elections hoping that their win will be significant enough that it can't be challenged. Will that happen? Probably not, but that's the political reality here, and I don't think it will change much," said Spasojevic.

After claiming victory in both elections, how likely is it that the president will call an early election?

So far, the ruling party has rejected the idea, claiming there is no reason for an early poll.

President Aleksandar Vucic has previously stated that elections will be held, but not for another year and a half.

"Once the preparations for EXPO are complete, I'll call early elections. And in those elections, I'm afraid they've made a big mistake. I used to think the odds were even, but not anymore. We will defeat them — convincingly," Vucic said confidently.

EXPO is due to take place in Belgrade from May to August 2027, which would mean that elections could be almost two years away.

Following the local elections in Kosjeric and Zajecar, SNS leader andformer prime minister Milos Vucevicstated that not only are early parliamentary elections uncertain, but the party may reconsider holding upcoming local elections as well, accusing the opposition and students of creating a near-conflict atmosphere.

"In this kind of atmosphere, we won't go to elections — not in Negotin, not in Mionica. What happened now should never happen again," Vucevic said.

Political scientist Dusan Spasojevic, however, believes that elections are the only viable way forward.

"Maybe they're not the solution to the crisis, but they're a step toward resolving it. We saw, based on the police presence yesterday and the incidents that occurred, that this crisis cannot resolve itself under the current political and social conditions," he said.

Climate change, plastic pollution and overfishing are putting a toll on oceans, biodiversity and livelihoods. Can the UN's ocean conference underway in France find solutions to help protect them?

Earth's oceans are home to more than 250,000 species, among them tiny plankton, colorful coral reefs and the gigantic blue whale. Over a billion people rely on food from the sea as a significant source of nutrition.

The international community is now meeting in Nice, France, to hash out solutions to better protect the planet's vulnerable and plundered ocean waters. But what are the areas of concern at theUN Ocean Conference?

As the planet heats up, huge swaths of underwater life are at stake.

Withrising temperatures, corals lose their color as a stress response and these crucial habitats can then die.Coral bleachingaffects about 84% of allreefs.

If ocean temperatures were to rise by 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) compared with pre-industrial times, most reefs would die.

"With anything higher than 2 degrees Celsius, destruction would be inevitable," said Katja Matthes, director of the GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel in northern Germany.

Warm water also absorbs less oxygen and that puts many more underwater creatures at risk. New research shows that oceans are already warming to a depth of 2,000 meters (about 6,600 feet).

"That means plankton, fish and marine mammals run out of oxygen. We see death zones here in Germany's Baltic Sea where life is virtually unable to exist anymore," said Matthes.

Excessive and unregulated fishing also puts a strain on marine ecosystems.Environmental organization WWFestimates the number of overfished stocks globally has tripled in the past 50 years. Fish populations have no chance to replenish if they're overly exploited.

The problem is especially dire in the Mediterranean Sea, where over half of fish populations, such as herring, sardines and anchovies, are considered overexploited.

"That has an impact on the food chain of bigger marine mammals and in turn affects an entire ecosystem," said Matthes.

Fish are the most important source of protein for over a billion people. Over 600 million people depend on oceans for their livelihoods—especially in China, Indonesia and India.

By 2050 the weight of all fish combined could be exceeded by something else:plastic waste. Every year, about 8 to 10 million tons of plastic ends up in the water. That's according toestimates by the World Resources Institute, a nonprofit organization based in Washington D.C.

It can take hundreds of years for plastic to break down. The persistent waste andmicroplastic particlesare causing increasing problems for marine life.

Global ocean currents have a major influence on monsoon periods in South America and Asia and Europe's relatively mild climate.

TheGulf Stream, for example, as part of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), brings warm water from the tropics to the North Atlantic Ocean. This helps regulate Europe's mild air temperatures and, thus, is central to the continent's high agricultural yields.

According to researchers, rising temperatures could alter the AMOC. There are signs that the Gulf Stream is already slowing down. Without it, northern Europe would be 5 to 15 degrees Celsius colder, according to Germany's environment agency UBA.

Sea surface temperatures set new records in 2023 and 2024, according to thelatest reportfrom Copernicus, the European Union's Earth observation program. Water expands as it warms. This isone of the main reasons for sea level rise,alongsidemelting land ice.

The sea is getting warmer, because it absorbs CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions. It's sucked up about a third of human-made emissions.

"Without this storage function, the temperature in the atmosphere would already be unbearable," said marine scientist Carlos Duarte, who's based at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia.

"The ocean is our ally in the fight against climate change," said Matthes, "but only as long as we maintain its function." As water temperatures rise, oceans absorb less CO2.

And higher CO2 levels turn the sea acidic, killing off mussels and corals, Matthes added.

Adjusting to more acidic conditions is hard on many creatures, and means they can lack the energy needed to grow and reproduce.

To counteract these threats, countries have established marine protected areas. The largest of these is located off the coast of Hawaii in the US.

The kind of protection provided in such zones varies from country to country. Wind farm construction and fishing are often prohibited. Currently, there are protected areas in less than 9% of the world's oceans — but fishing is prohibited in just 3% of these.

"We can't solve all the problems with marine protected areas. These zones don't matter to climate change or the plastic floating in the ocean," said Duarte.

The UN has pushed for aninternational treatyfor years to cut down on plastic pollution. Recent negotiations stalled thanks to oil and gas producing nations such as Saudi Arabia and Russia. The next round of talks is scheduled for August in Switzerland.

Research into alternatives toconventional plasticis another avenue scientists are pursuing. Japanese researchers have developed a substance that is supposed to dissolve in ocean saltwater within hours.

However, such new alternatives offer no solution to the already huge amounts of plastic waste in oceans.

About 40% of the oceans are governed by national law. These are the areas within a radius of approximately 370 kilometers (about 230 miles) around a state. Beyond this line are the high seas, which don't belong to any nation and are often referred to as the "common heritage of mankind."

For the longest time, this area wasn't regulated at all.

"As a result, many of the ocean's resources were plundered without anyone being held accountable," said Duarte.

So far, only 1% of the high seas is protected because the international community could not agree on any other region besides Antarctica.

The International Convention on the High Seas, signed by 134 nations in 2023 after 15 years of negotiations, aims to close this gap.

However, it only becomes binding when at least 60 countries have ratified the treaty. So far, 49 have done so, among them many smaller countries, as well as Bangladesh and France. Germany and the US have not yet ratified the treaty.

The international community has also agreed to protectbiodiversity. The goal is to place 30% of the oceans under protection by 2030, so within the next five years.

That's ambitious, said Duarte, adding: "It will take time for our current actions to have a noticeable impact in the future."

Nevertheless, he said he's optimistic. "If we agree on this protection now, we will be able to leave our children and grandchildren an ocean in 2050 that looks roughly like the one our grandparents knew."

This article was originally published in German and was adapted by Sarah Steffen.

At least 11 people have died after a school shooting in southern Austria. Police said the gunman was a 21-year-old former student at the school who killed himself after the attack.

Multiple people have been killed in a gun attack at a high school in the southernAustriancity of Graz.

Police said 10 people were killed during the incident — including the suspected shooter — while several more people were seriously injured.

Another victim later succumbed to their injuries in hospital.

"The rampage at a school in Graz is a national tragedy that has deeply shaken our entire country," Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker said.

"There are no words for the pain and grief that we all — all of Austria — are feeling right now."

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A police operation began at 10 a.m. local time (0800 UTC), with authorities later saying the school had been successfully evacuated.

"The situation is secure," police said. "No further danger is expected."

Police said that a helicopter had been deployed as part of the operation.

Graz has around 300,000 inhabitants and is the capital of Styria state.

Austrian authorities described the shooter as a 21-year-old man who was not known to police.

He carried out theschool shootingwith a long gun and a handgun that he owned legally.

Police said the suspected perpetrator's motive was initially unclear.

They said the gunman killed himself in a toilet in the school after carrying out the shooting.

Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said that the shooter was a former student at the high school who did not graduate.

He said on Tuesday afternoon that 10 people were killed in the attack, including the suspected perpetrator. Among them, six of the victims were female and three were male.

The minister added that 12 people were wounded in the shooting, with some of them sustaining serious injuries. One of the wounded individuals later died in hospital, local medical authorities said.

Austrian public broadcaster ORF reported that both students and teachers were among the casualties.

Police said they believed that the shooter had acted alone.

Austria's chancellor declared three days of national mourning following the shooting, which he described as a "dark day in the history of our country."

Flags are to be flown at half-mast, with national minute of mourning scheduled for 10 a.m. on Wednesday.

President Alexander van der Bellen said that the attack had hit Austria "right in the heart."

"Austria is in mourning," he said. "And in this hour, we are standing together."

The chancellor of neighboring Germany,Friedrich Merz, said Germans were mourning with Austrians.

"Horrific news from Graz. Our thoughts are with our Austrian friends and we mourn with them," he said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also expressed her condolences in an X post.

"My thoughts are with the victims, their families and friends," she said. "Schools are a symbol for youth, hope and the future. It is hard to bear when schools become places of death and violence."

EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas said she was "deeply shocked by the news of the school shooting in Austria."

"Every child should feel safe at school and be able to learn free from fear and violence."

Austria has nearly 30 civilian firearms per 100 people, according to the Small Arms Survey research project.

The Alpine country has banned automatic weapons and pump action guns, while revolvers, pistols and semi-automatic weapons are allowed with a permit.

Rifles and shotguns are permitted with a firearms license, a valid hunting licence or for members of shooting clubs.

In 2020,four were killed and 22 injured in a shooting in the center of Vienna. That attack was carried out by a sympathizer of the so-called Islamic State (IS) group.

Tuesday's school shooting appeared to be the deadliest attack in Austria's post-World War II history.

Edited by: Kieran Burke and Zac Crellin

A Maltese court has sentenced two men to life in prison for providing explosives used in the 2017 car bombing that killed journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. The verdict follows years of investigations into the attack.

A court in Malta on Tuesday sentenced two men to life imprisonment for aiding and abetting the2017 murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

According to investigators, the two men supplied the car bomb used in the fatal car bombing, which shocked the nation and the international community.

The Valletta court handed down the sentences on Tuesday, days after a jury found the men guilty.

The two defendants wereconvicted on Fridayafter jurors reached an 8-1 verdict, concluding that they had supplied explosive materials in exchange for money. The trial had lasted more than six weeks. Both men had pleaded not guilty.

The investigation revealed that the assassination was carried out by three men. Two brothers wereconvicted and sentenced to 40 years in prison in 2022, while another accomplice received a 15-year sentence in 2021 after confessing and providing key information.

The bomb, containing around 500 grams of gelatin explosives, was designed to be detonated by mobile phone. The attackers planted the device under the driver's seat of Caruana Galizia's car and triggered it remotely.

Sentencing was delivered after legal submissions on punishment.

Caruana Galizia's sister, Corinne Vella, said the family lawyers had asked "for the court to consider the devastating impact of Daphne's brutal murder both on our family and on society."

Caruana Galizia was a prominent journalist inMalta, known for her extensive reporting on corruption and misconduct involving political and business figures.

Her death triggered widespread protests on the island. At the time of her death, she was facing over 40 libel cases.

"Her assassination created a sense in society that the people behind her murder were sure of their impunity and that the institutions that are duty-bound to protect her and society had failed," Vella said on behalf of her family.

"We hope that today's sentences will be a step towards a safer world for journalists by signaling to potential killers that there are heavy penalties to pay when a journalist is murdered."

A businessman accused of masterminding the murder isstill awaiting trial. The man, who had close ties to former Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s government, was arrested in November 2019 while trying to sail out of Malta aboard his yacht. He was granted bail in January.

Mass shootings at schools, universities and youth centers remain rare in Europe compared to the US. In recent decades, European governments have tightened gun laws in response to shootings.

A school shooting in the Austrian city of Graz hasleft at least 10 people dead, marking the deadliest incident of its kind in the country in recent decades. The tragedy has shocked Austria, where firearm violence in educational settings is rare.

According to public broadcaster ORF, there have been four recorded incidents involving firearms at Austrian schools since 1993. None, however, resulted in more than one fatality — excluding the perpetrator — until now.

Similar incidents on school or college campuses have occurred elsewhere in Europe over the last few decades, several of which led to policy shifts.

When a shooter killed 16 children, aged between 5 and 6, in the Scottish town of Dunblane in 1996, the UK government swiftly banned private ownership of handguns.

After mass shootings in the 2000s,German lawmakers raised the age limit for gun ownershipand mandated random spot checks on gun owners to ensure they were storing guns according to regulations.

In 2002, expelled19-year-old student Robert Steinhäuser opened fire at a schoolin Erfurt, killing 12 teachers, two students, a secretary and a policewoman, before killing himself. Seven years later in the town of Winnenden, in southern Germany,a 17-year-old shot and killed 15 students, teachers and passersbyinside and near his former school. He was later killed in a shoot-out with police.

In Serbia, authorities introduced spot checks at gun owners' homes and launched anamnesty for unregistered firearmsafter a13-year-old boy gunned down eight of his fellow pupilsand a security guard at a primary school in the middle-class Belgrade district of Vracar in May 2023. The suspect was arrested soon after.

And in December of the same year,a 24-year-old student killed 14 people at a university in Praguewith a gun he legally owned. The gunman was killed at the scene, possibly by one of his own bullets.Czech lawmakers are now in the process of tightening firearms laws, according to reporting by The Associated Press.

Massacres in schools or education settings remain rare in Europe compared to the United States. Though no direct comparison data on schools is available,research by the Rockefeller Institute of Governmentshows the US has suffered far more "public mass shootings" than countries with similar levels of economic development.

According to their research, 109 such incidents were recorded in the US between 2000 and 2022, compared to six in France, five in Germany, three in Finland and two in the UK, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland during the same period.

"While there are a multitude of factors contributing to these attacks, studies find the higher rate of public mass shootings in America is associated, at least in part, with less restrictive firearm laws and higher rates of civilian firearm ownership relative to many other countries," criminologist Jason R. Silva wrote in a research blog for the institute last year.

In the European Union, the bloc's central executive inBrussels sets minimum regulations on owning and using gunsacross its 27 member states, which include Austria and Germany. National governments can choose to beef up the baseline rules with tougher measures.

Though rates vary across Europe, the number of guns remains substantially lower than in the US.According to the Small Arms Survey, there were an estimated 120.5 civilian firearms per 100 people in the US in 2017. That figure was 4.6 in England and Wales, and 19.6 in both France and Germany. The estimate for Austria was 30 per 100 people, while Serbia ranked highest in Europe at 39.1.

Though shootings remain rare in Europe,knife attacksat schools are more common. France has seen a spate of school stabbings in recent years, including a teaching assistant who wasstabbed to death by a student in northeastern Franceon Tuesday.

In October 2023, a man who was under surveillance for suspected Islamist radicalizationstabbed a teacher to death at the schoolhe previously attended in the northern French town of Arras — according to reporting byLe Mondenewspaper. And in a case which shocked France in 2020, an18-year-old beheaded French teacher Samuel Patyoutside his school near Paris.

In the UK,riots took place in multiple cities across the countrylast year after false information spread online about a17-year-old who stabbed three girls aged 6 to 9 to deathat a dance class in Southport.

And in Germany,state prosecutors charged a 17-year-old with four counts of attempted murderafter a knife attack at a high school in the city of Wuppertal in February.

A knife-wieldingattacker killed a 7-year-old child and injured several othersat a primary school in the Croatian capital, Zagreb, last December, while a student and a teacher were stabbed to death at a secondary school in northern Slovakia this past January.

Correction, June 11, 2025: An earlier version of this article gave the wrong day of the June 10, 2025, stabbing at a school in northeastern France. That has now been corrected.

The right-wing extremist magazine Compact was outlawed in 2024, but it's available on newsstands again after winning an appeal. Now, Germany's Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig will have the final word.

In July 2024, thenInterior Minister Nancy Faeser bannedCompactmagazine. She justified the move, saying: "It's a central mouthpiece for the right-wing extremist scene. This magazine incites against Jews, people with ethnic migrant backgrounds and against our parliamentary democracy in the most abhorrent way."

A 2023 report from theFederal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany's domestic intelligence agency, features an entire page dedicated toCompact— a magazine and multimedia company headquartered in Falkensee, on the outskirts of Berlin.

According to the BfV, the magazine's publisher says it sells 40,000 print copies a month. The number of subscribers to theCompactYouTube channel is significantly higher, at 513,000 as of June 10, 2025.

"Compactsees itself as part of what it calls the resistance movement, and it is seen by other actors among the so-called new right as part of the scene," the BfV wrote. "The main feature of many of its published articles is agitation against the federal government and against the current political system."

Examples cited by the BfV include abstruse conspiracy theories used to agitate against state institutions and pluralist society. "Historic revisionist content and antisemitic narratives round out the agenda," it added.

Moreover, the report said, the outfit maintains ties with right-wing extremist groups like theGerman Identitarian movement (IBD)and the eastern German regional party the "Freie Sachsen," or Free Saxons.

Faeser said the message was clear— we will not allow anyone to define who does and does not belong in Germany by their ethnicity. "Our constitutional state protects all those who have been attacked because of their religion, their origins, their skin color or their desire to live in a democracy," she said last July.

Faeserleaned heavily on the constitution, Germany's Basic Law, in calling for the right-wing extremist publication to be banned. Article 9 of the Basic Law, which regulates freedom of assembly, reads: "Associations whose aims or activities contravene the criminal laws or that are directed against the constitutional order or the concept of international understanding shall be prohibited."

Compact's editor-in-chief, Jürgen Elsässer, is a suspectedright-wing extremistwho belonged to the far left as a young man. Now in his 60s, Elsässer was once a member of the Communist Youth Wing and wrote for the newspaper,Arbeiterkampf(The Workers' Fight). He later worked as a reporter for other left-wing media, includingNeue Deutschland(New Germany), which was a key news organ for the socialist East German government when the country was still partitioned.

Elsässer and other plaintiffs fought the ban on his media operations before the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig. He waspartially successful in August 2024when it was determined that he could continue publishingCompactuntil a final verdict had been handed down. In granting its stay, the court said the outcome of the case remained unclear as it had yet to be determined whetherCompacthad acted against the constitutional order.

The court did, however, immediately find evidence of violations of human dignity in which citizens with migrant backgrounds were demeaned. Notwithstanding, it also voiced doubt as to whether that was enough to justify a ban. For that would represent the most serious intervention possible regardingspeechandpress freedomsguaranteed in Article 5 of the Basic Law.

Still, Article 5 does put some limits on speech, saying, "These rights shall find their limits in the provisions of general laws, in provisions for the protection of young persons and in the right to personal honor."

The trial to define where press freedoms inGermanybegin and end will start on June 10. It's unclear when a decision will be handed down.

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This text was originally written in German.

Violence against LGBTQ+ people and well as war and displacement in Gaza inspire two adaptations of one of Johann Sebastian Bach's works on the story of Christ.

"QueerPassion," by author, director and dramaturge Thomas Höft, opens with a reference to theJune 2016 Orlando nightclub shootingtargeting theLGBTQ+community, in which 49 people died and 53 were injured. It is one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in US history.

Played by the Art House 17 orchestra on period instruments, Höft's work uses as its musical basisJohann Sebastian Bach's famous St. John Passion, based on the Gospel story of the suffering of Jesus Christ on the cross.

In his libretto, however, Höft describes the stories of queer people who are discriminated against or murdered. "I asked myself, where do I, as a queer man, appear in classical music?" Höft told DW. And he quickly realized that the answer was: "Actually, not at all." And that is precisely what he wants to change.

Bach's St. John Passion also served as a model for the Bulgarian musician and musicologist Vladimir Ivanoff in his "Arabian Passion." The composer is concerned with the people living in theMiddle East, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, whose suffering through war, displacement and oppression has a long history.

The impetus for his "Arabian Passion" was the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, which had devastating consequences for the civilian population. "And I feel the same way about Gaza now. I had several music students from the Middle East in my workshops, of whom I'm only sporadically informed if they're still alive," Ivanoff told DW.

Ivanoff left the text and music by Johann Sebastian Bach in their original form, but some of the instruments come from the Arabian Mediterranean region. Lebanese singer Fadia El-Hage sings all of Bach's arias in Arabic.

Both the Arabian and the queer versions of the St. John Passion are now on tour. They will be performed, among other works, as part of theBachfestin Leipzig, held from June 12-22. The revisited versions of the work appropriately fit into this year's theme for the Bach festival, "Transformation."

It was in Leipzig that Johann Sebastian, while serving as Cantor of St. Thomas Church, composed his famous St. John Passion in 1723.

Bach often rewrote his cantatas himself, using the so-called parody technique. He also had them performed by other ensembles.

For example, he later added a sacred text to secular cantatas, thus placing them in a different context. Thomas Höft and Vladimir Ivanoff build on this approach with their version of the St. John Passion.

For his "Arabian Passion," Vladimir Ivanoff has recombined pieces from the St. John Passion and Bach's St. Matthew Passion.

Instead of sticking to the traditional combination of orchestra and choir, his ensemble Sarband also features the jazzy Modern String Quartet. The ensemble also includes instruments from the Mediterranean region, such as the long-necked lute ud, the flute ney and the Arabic violin.

Sarband means "connection." Ivanoff sees himself as a bridge-builder and wants to connect the West and the East through music.

The mere fact that Christian texts from the St. John Passion are sung in Arabic, and by a woman at that, can be seen as a provocation for conservative Muslims. This makes it all the more surprising that Vladimir Ivanoff and his Sarband ensemble have been welcome guests at various Arab music festivals.

Since 2003, Sarband has been touring the Middle East with the "Arabian Passion." The ensemble has performed in the cathedral of Beirut and in Aleppo, Syria. "We also performed the Passion in Damascus at the Alhambra Cinema, a very famous jazz concert hall," says Ivanoff.

They were also invited to Abu Dhabi to perform during the Sheikh Zayed Book Award ceremony. The Emir liked their music. However, shortly before the event, organizers noticed that a female singer was planned. That couldn't be allowed; the ensemble had to play an entirely instrumental version of the work.

Ivanoff also travels with his ensemble to Hezbollah-held areas. Sometimes, lyrics or titles of Christian and Jewish songs are changed, he says, but he accepts that. "That's our principle: we want to get into the structures at all costs," says Ivanoff. "I see myself a bit as a musical guerrilla. What we do is effective, and this gentle seduction works incredibly well."

Like Vladimir Ivanoff, Thomas Höft adheres strictly to Bach's original musical style in his "QueerPassion," including the structure of the arias, recitatives and choruses. "In the end, every note is a one-to-one copy of Bach's, only the text is new," says Höft. His libretto alludes not only to the current discrimination against the LGBTQ community, but also to centuries-old cases Höft encountered during his research.

One of the historical events his work refers to goes back to 1674, when the cathedral in the Dutch city of Utrecht collapsed. The ruins later became a secret meeting point for gay men. But they were betrayed, Höft says: under torture, one of the participants revealed the names of the others. Among them were prominent members of the community. "The whole thing culminated in a pogrom, because the Protestant pastors said the collapse of the cathedral was God's punishment for the sodomites." Mass executions of gay men followed. "That's shocking and one of the main stories featured in 'QueerPassion.'"

Thomas Höft incorporates regional references related to each city where his work is performed.

For example, in the eastern German city of Halberstadt, a woman who was living with another woman while disguised as a man was executed. "For me, that was the right kind of trial story, like the one between Jesus and Pilate in the St. John Passion; I was able to use the dialogues in the courtroom in Halberstadt for these passages," says Thomas Höft.

The Passion chorales are sung by LGBTQ choirs from each region. In Leipzig, it's the "Tollkirschen," who usually sing pop songs with choreography, and the women's choir "Fräulein A Capella," whose repertoire otherwise includes songs from Eastern Europe. Both choirs rehearse under the direction of Cornelia Schäfer. Bach's Baroque music is new to them.

The "Tollkirschen" claim to be the only openly gay men's choir in Germany's eastern states. "We don't want to hide ourselves. Terms like 'gay' appear in many of the lyrics in our program," says choir member Dirk Bockelmann.

The stories of the persecution of queer people deeply touched the choir members. "Thomas Höft told us the background information during the rehearsal; at times, we were brought to tears; we immediately sang the chorales in a completely different way."

"QueerPassion," which is funded by the European Union, will be performed in Vienna on June 7, in Leipzig on June 13 and in Antwerp on August 22.

This article was originally written in German.

A year out from a football World Cup across three countries, tensions between the US, Canada and Mexico hang over preparations. From travel bans and trade wars to presidential grandstanding, politics could play a part.

A year out from the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, host city Los Angeles isengulfed in protestsrelated to the deportation of Mexicans and other minorities. Meanwhile, an ever-shifting trade war threatens relations between the three hosts and a travel ban will likely prevent some fans from attending.

While the whims ofUS President Donald Trumpmake predictions perilous, fans, players and national teams must already start to make plans for one of sport's biggest events, one secured in Trump's first term when relations between the three countries were much more harmonious.

The ongoing protests are an immediate safety concern for theClub World Cupin the US, withEuropean champions Paris Saint-Germainset to meet Atletico Madrid in LA on the tournament's opening day on June 15. LA will also host the first US game of the 2026 World Cup on June 12, a day after the tournament opens in Mexico.

Trump's travel ban, which came in to effect on Monday, bars citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from entering the US. An exception was made for "any athlete or member of an athletic team, including coaches, persons performing a necessary support role, and immediate relatives, traveling for the World Cup, Olympics, or other major sporting event as determined by the secretary of state" but not for fans.

Iran have already qualified for the World Cup, but currently fans would not be able to travel to support them in the US.

The same is not yet true for citizens ofMexicoandCanada. And for Andrew Zimbalist, professor emeritus in economics at Smith College in the US state of Massachusetts and author of "Circus Maximus: The Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and the World Cup," putting on a good show to burnish his own reputation is likely to be at the forefront of Trump's mind.

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"Mr. Trump has shown a willingness to make exceptions when there's pressure. And I think further that Trump cares. He's a sports fan. He cares about his international image. He cares about the attention that that will come to him when both the Club World Cup in 2025 and the realWorld Cup in 2026happen. These are photo opportunities for Trump to bask in in the game's glory," he told DW, speaking ahead of the LA protests.

Zimbalist added that with Trump, things can always change quickly.

"There's a tremendous amount of tension and a tremendous amount of uncertainty about how Mr. Trump will behave, and we never know."

World Cup cohosts Canada and Mexico were, along with China, the first countries targeted in the evolving tariff war that began soon after Trump took office. Zimbalist doesn't predict the uneasiness at the government level will have a significant impact on the tournament, arguing that there will be enough fans prepared to travel for games that any discouraged from doing so will not be noticeable. He also believes that the relatively new leaders in Mexico —Claudia Sheinbaum, elected in October 2024 — and Canada — Mark Carney, elected in March — will not allow their countries to become marginalized.

"I think both with Carney in Canada and Sheinbaum in Mexico, that he has met his real enemy. These leaders are not bowing down to him, and they're both very, very smart, very well prepared, and at the moment, are popular in their countries. And so they have the latitude to take on Trump," said Zimbalist.

Nevertheless, for Mexican fans in particular, traveling across the border to World Cup, or indeed Club World Cup games this month, in the US is a fraught business.

"I don't feel afraid to go to the United States but it feels little bit like going to someone else's house where you are not welcome," said Alan, a Pachuca fan talking to DW ahead of his team's participation in the Club World Cup.

Other Pachuca fans complained that significant visa processing delays, some up to two years, meant they would have been unable to travel to support their team even without the current safety concerns.

"Appointments were delayed and then the president said that some Mexicans shouldn't go there, I think that has a big influence on why they're taking so long with the visas," said Axel.

"I would feel a little unsafe around the police and everything government-related and that side of the United States."

While demand for, and interest in, the World Cup will be on a different level to the revamped Club World Cup, which has proved controversial in some quarters, and stands may see some foreign nationals from Canada and Mexico, it does seem like political relations will have some impact on fans — even if the stands will be full.

While Canadians are not quite as central to the current events in LA, the US' northerly neighbors have been at loggerheads with the Trump administration. The US national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner," has been booed at ice hockey games in Canada in recent months, and Carney's surprise election was partly ascribed to his willingness to take on Trump and his plan to make Canada the 51st state.

"Having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign in the last several months, it's not for sale. Won't be for sale, ever,"Carney told Trumpwhen the pair met in May in a meeting that was otherwise relatively cordial, despite clear tensions.

For those hoping to plan a visit to, or participation in, the World Cup, judging the political mood — and the implications of changes in it — have become as important as waiting for results from qualifying.

"I could see it happening along the way that if Sheinbaum becomes a little bit more aggressive than Trump wants her to be, or challenges some of Trump's immigration moves, that he would say: "You know what? I might not let Mexico participate in the World Cup, or I might not let this happen or that happen.' So I can see threats like that, but I'd have to believe that they wouldn't be carried out," said Zimbalist, musing on what might play out in the next year.

The Club World Cup, which starts Saturday and is hosted solely by the US, is perceived by some as a test of elements of the country's readiness to host the 026 World Cup. But any development or deterioration of relations between the three cohosts will be critical to the success of next year's tournament.

Correction, June 11, 2025: An earlier version of this article misspelled the name of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. DW apologizes for the error.

Günther Uecker was a prominent figure in postwar German art and a key member of the contemporary ZERO art movement.

Nails. Thousands of completely normal nails, each one driven into a wooden board covered with linen. Some straight, some slanted, but none hammered in all the way. Sewing machines, chairs, record players and grand pianos have also borne the brunt of those little shafts of steel.

Artist Günther Uecker, who has died on June 10 at the age of 95, became famous in Germany and beyond through his nail reliefs.

Hardly any other artist has equally dedicated his work to the craft of simple physical labor. Even during the last years of his life, he was still hammering nails into backdrops and objects with force and precision.

Günther Uecker created reliefs that he termed "nail fields." The works achieve their full effect in the play of light and shadow.

Born in the of town of Wendorf near Schwerin in northeastern Germany on March 13, 1930, Günther Uecker found himself boarding up doors and windows of his family house at age 15 in an effort to protect his mother and sister from the Russian army at war's end. It was the beginning of a life-long preoccupation with hammers and nails.

Post-World War II, he studied pictorial arts from 1949 until 1953 in Wismar, then inEast Germany. In 1955 he fled to West Berlin and eventually found himself at the Art Academy in Düsseldorf, studying under Professor Otto Pankok from 1955-57.

During his studies he encountered the artistsHeinz Mackand Otto Piene and joined their artists' conglomerate named ZERO in 1961. Together they represented a "zero hour" of art untouched by the horrors of the Second World War, marking a new beginning in art history.

The avant-garde artists' group made waves far beyond Germany and their time. ZERO's ideas have undergone a renaissance in the new millennium, with ZERO retrospectives staged regularly worldwide since 2004.

Back in 1966, no one could have anticipated the group's future popularity. It dissolved soon afterwards, and the artists went their separate ways.

Meanwhile, Günther Uecker's abstract art has been shown in over 60 countries and frequently been considered pioneering. In 2012 he became the first Western artist to be exhibited in the Iranian capital Tehran since the 1979 revolution. In 2007 came an exhibition in Beijing originally scheduled for 1994. On invitation from the Chinese government, Uecker had prepared the conceptual artwork "Letter to Beijing."

In this work, theUN Declaration of Human Rightswas reproduced on 19 large, freely-arranged screens, but the words were partially rendered unrecognizable by black paint.

However, on short notice, the Chinese culture ministry cancelled the show in 1994, explaining that the people were not yet ready for his art. Uecker was permitted to exhibit in China 18 years later.

"Letter to Beijing" isn't the only work in which Uecker addressed human rights violations. In "Verletzungsworte" (Words That Hurt), on display in various cities of the world since 1993, 60 words like "hitting," "despising" and "gassing" that describe physical and psychological abuse are translated into local languages and painstakingly added by Uecker to the artwork.

Günther Uecker's art is understood — and esteemed — worldwide and in the most diverse cultures. Asked what makes it so universal, Uecker once volunteered his own explanation: "I'm often told that the humane character recognizable in my work stirs peoples' feelings."

This article was originally written in German and is an updated version of a profile of the artist for his 90th birthday.