Semua Kabar

An event dubbed "Olympics on Drugs" and backed by the Trump family has moved a step closer to reality. The Enhanced Games claim one of its doped athletes has already broken a world record and now has a venue and date.

Whatever its legitimacy, the organizers of theEnhanced Gamesknow how to grab attention. A launch on Wednesday was accompanied by a glossy one-hour film, a sales platform for prescription performance enhancers and the claim of a new 50-meters freestyle world record by Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev.

"He should be retired, but in fact, he'sswimming fasterthan any human being has ever done so. Why? Because he used technology and science to enhance his performance," boasted founder Aron D'Souza.

"Once the world realizes that, I think everyone is going to want it. Every middle-aged guy who once played competitive sport and is now suffering from back pain is going to say, 'What is he on and how do I get it?'"

Gkolomeev, who has failed to reach the podium in his fourOlympicperformances, will not be credited by any official body for a number of reasons; there is no independent adjudication, he was wearing an inline full-body open water suit that falls outside World Aquatics standards and, most pertinently, there was nodoping control. In fact, performance-enhancing drugs are demanded by organizers who also claim Gkolomeev broke another world record in jammers, shorts which are allowed in the Olympics.

Not in any meaningful sense. World Aquatics, who govern swimming, have been as dismissive of the Enhanced Games as most of their fellow sporting bodies.

"The Enhanced Games are not a sporting competition built on universal values like honesty, fairness and equity: they are a circus, built on shortcuts," read a statement from swimming's global governing body.

While it's apparent that Gkolomeev was doped, it is not clear what with. The Enhanced Games have not revealed what substances the 31-year-old took, citing personal confidentiality, despite consistently promising transparency.

Much of the promotion has been around two things – money and drugs. At Wednesday's launch, D'Souza revealed that the first event would feature four swimming races, four athletics sprints and a weightlifting competition. Each event winner is to receive $500,000 (€440,000) with a $1 million bonus for world records in the 50-meters freestyle and 100-meter sprint and $250,000 for other world records.

Investors including Donald Trump Jr., Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel, German tech investor Christian Angermayer and former Coinbase Chief Technology Officer Balaji Srinivasan will hope to profit from the organization's "Telehealth Platform" it says will launch in August in a number of US states. The website currently offers "priority access" to a "fully tailored enhancement plan” for a fee of $99. The Enhanced Games say this is all legal with most banned substances in high-level sport available on prescription in the United States. They also insist they will go by the book.

While the drug-selling aspect of the Enhanced Games will be operational soon, the actual event will not take place until next May 21-24 in Las Vegas. This will be less than a month before the United States co-hosts thefootball World Cupand two years before Los Angeles hosts the 2028 Olympics.

Only four athletes, all swimmers, have so far confirmed their participation. They are: Andriy Govorov, the Ukrainian 50-meters butterfly world record holder and bronze medallst at the 2017 World Championships, 21-year-old Bulgarian swimmer Josif Miladinov, a silver medalist at the 2019 European Championships and retired Australian world champion James Magnussen.

The worlds of sports and medicine have been near-universal in their condemnation of the concept.

"Thinking that because you do medical checks on the spot is going to give you a good idea of the health risks of abuse of doping substances, again, is medical and scientific nonsense," said World Anti-Doping Agency science director Olivier Rabin.

"It's like the Roman circus, you know, you sacrifice the lives of people purely for entertainment. What's the value of this? I don't think any responsible society should move in that direction."

Speaking to DW earlier this year, Chris Raynor, a sports medicine doctor at Cornwall Community Hospital in Canada, told DW the dangers are dramatic.

"There are always effects associated with these medications. It can lead to cardiac arrhythmias, a heart attack, sudden cardiac death," he explained .

Former US swimmer and Olympic medalist Allison Wagner, who was beaten at major events by many swimmers who were either proven or suspected dopers, said that sport itself is at stake.

"For me and for so many athletes, sport has been about learning and incorporating values such as integrity and fair play, and these Enhanced Games make a mockery of that."

D'Souza argues that doping in professional and amateur sport is inherent and his proposal is a safer method that "makes sport a fair, level, transparent field so that innovation can be illustrated in a very public way to support technological progress."

Speaking to DW earlier this year, he added that "individuals should be able to take risks for themselves with free and informed consent."

Magnussen said the Enhanced Games have reinvigorated his passion for the sport but sees them as separate from clean competition.

"I was waking up each day with an enthusiasm to train, to compete. I felt so healthy, so motivated. It's honestly the happiest I've been in seven years," he said.

"As athletes we have a greater risk appetite than the general population and see an event like the Enhanced Games as an opportunity."

Myanmar is caught in a scramble for minerals. Their exploitation is causing deaths and environmental harm in the country's Kachin State, activists tell DW. Can the region's independence movement make a difference?

Lahtaw Kai draws an imaginary mountain into the air with her hands and uses her fingers to dot it with holes.

"At the top of the mountains, they drill holes and then pour chemicals like ammonium nitrate into the ground to extract the rare earth minerals at the bottom," the Myanmar environment activist told DW.

Lahtaw Kai — whose name we've changed for security reasons — was illustrating the so-called in-situ leaching technique, which has been applied for decades in miningrare earthsinMyanmar'snorthern Kachin state.

The process begins at the top of the mountains, where chemicals are injected into the earth through a network of pipes. As the solution tracks downslope, it gathers rare earth elements, which are then collected in large ponds.

At hundreds ofmining sitesin the region, in-situ leaching is proving to be a huge risk to both the environment and local villagers.

"The rare earth sludge dries out in wood-fired kilns, and areas close to the mining sites constantly smell bad," said Lahtaw Kai, adding that she and her research team cannot stay there for more than 30 minutes because it's hard to breathe.

"But people are working there without gloves and masks. Companies don't provide protection. So, the workers get sick and then [the company] fires them and brings in new workers," she added.

Seng Li, a human rights activist currently based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, has researched mining sites in Myanmar's north and says the mountains used to be green before mining started.

"Now those mountains are very ugly, the river turned red. Some of the chemicals they use in the mining pools, they just dump into the waters," he told DW.

DW met both Lahtaw Kai and Seng Li on the sidelines of a recent tour of Europe, where they were campaigning for support of their cause. They want to make Europeans aware of what happens at the beginning of global supply chains that finally lead to products such as electric vehicles, wind turbines, medical equipment, and even weapons.

Julie Klinger, assistant professor at the University of Delaware in the United States, explains that the term rare-earth elements refers to 17 chemically similar elements in the so-called periodic table of elements.

"The thing that distinguishes these elements is their fantastic, magnetic and conductive, and in some cases thermal properties," she told DW.

Also called the "spice of industry," rare earths can be used in relatively small quantities to enhance industrial processes.

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Dysprosium, for example, is used as a catalyst in petrochemical refining, said Klinger, and can be found in Myanmar's north. The element with a metallic silver luster is essential for battery production, increasing their heat efficiency and longevity, making it a key component for thegreen energy transition.

Dysprosium is also used in producing permanent magnets capable of maintaining a constant magnetic field needed for modern power generators in electric vehicles or wind turbines.

Nonprofit organizationGlobal Witness reported in 2024that Chinese producers of permanent magnets are sourcing rare earths from Myanmar.

Among the customers of China-made rare-earths products specifically named by the report are global auto giants Volkswagen, Toyota, Nissan, Ford and Hyundai, as well as wind power firms like Siemens Gamesa and Vestas.

Another report compiled by Adams Intelligence— a consultancy for strategic metals and minerals based in Toronto, Canada — found Germany to be China's biggest customer for sourcing permanent magnets in 2024.

China has reduced domestic mining for rare-earth elements, increasing the exploitation of deposits in neighboring Myanmar.

Chinese imports of so-called heavy rare earth elements from Myanmar skyrocketed from their previous highs of 19,500 tons in 2021 to 41,700 tons in 2023, the Global Witness report says.

"That's like a page out of the US playbook from the 20th century," said Julie Klinger, referring to the US approach of strategically not mining its domestic uranium deposits to safeguard them for later.

Lahtaw Kai says people in Myanmar don't want the Chinese to continue mining, and adds: "If the international community wants to continue buying these minerals, they should be responsibly sourced."

Myanmar's lucrative trade in rare earths  — worth $1.4 billion (€1.2 billion) in 2023, according to Global Witness — risks financing conflict and destruction in a highly volatile region.

In 2018, Myanmar’s civilian-led government had banned exports and ordered Chinese miners to wind down operations, but since 2021, extraction has continued in the context ofa ruthless dictatorship and widening civil conflict.

In late 2024, theKachin Independence Organization (KIO)and its allied military forces wrested control of most of the mineral-rich region in the north from forces allied with the central government. KIO has been fighting for the region's independence since the 1960s.

This power shift has led to new negotiations between KIO and Chinese producers on taxing rare earth extraction.

While the KIO enjoys broad popular support in Kachin and greater legitimacy than government-allied militias, the 2024 Global Witness report says that on "both sides, this largely unregulated mining is environmentally devastating, and the threat it poses to ecosystems and to human health is becoming ever more urgent."

Lahtaw Kai and Seng Li demand more public oversight of safety at the operations.

"So far, civil society groups and the people have been excluded from the process of policy-making on mining […] international organizations and governments should directly engage with the KIO to strengthen their governance," said Seng Li.

And although Seng Li doesn't think rare-earth mining can be stopped, he said conditions must be improved to "benefit not only the armed actors and the Chinese investors." The local populations and the state should "share the benefits, through systematic and regulated processes."

After decades of state censorship and imprisonment, the Iranian director won the prestigeous Palme d'Or for best film with his highly political piece "It Was Just an Accident."

Jafar Panahinever set out to be a political filmmaker. "In my definition, a political filmmaker defends an ideology where the good follow it and the bad oppose it," the Iranian director says. "In my films, even those who behave badly are shaped by the system, not personal choice," he tells DW.

But for more than a decade, Panahi, the winner of the 2025 Palme d'Or, the Cannes Film Festival's top prize, has had little choice. Following his support for the oppositionGreen Movement protests, the director of "The White Balloon" and "The Circle," was handed a 20-year ban on filmmaking and international travel in 2010 by Iranian authorities. That didn't stop him.

Over the years, he found new ways to shoot, edit, and smuggle out his films — from turning his living room into a movie set ("This Is Not a Film") to using a car as a mobile studio (in "Taxi,"which won the Golden Bear at the 2015 Berlinale).

This week, Panahi stepped back into the spotlight — not through smuggled footage or video calls, but in person. For the first time in over two decades, the now 64-year-old filmmaker returned to the Cannes Film Festival to present his latest feature, "It Was Just an Accident," premiering in competition to an emotional 8-minute standing ovation.

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The road to Cannes has been anything but smooth. Panahi was arrested again in July 2022 and detained inTehran's notorious Evin prison. After almost seven months anda hunger strike, he was released, in February 2023. In a stunning legal victory, Iran's Supreme Court overturned his original 2010 sentence. Panahi was legally free, but artistically still bound by a system he refuses to submit to. "To make a film in the official way in Iran, you have to submit your script to the Islamic Guidance Ministry for approval," he tells DW. "This is something I cannot do. I made another clandestine film. Again."

That film, "It Was Just An Accident," may be Panahi's most direct confrontation yet with state violence and repression. Shot in secret and featuring unveiled female characters in defiance ofIran's hijab law, the movie tells the story of a group of ex-prisoners who believe they've found the man whotortured them— and must decide whether to exact revenge. The taut, 24-hour drama unfolds like a psychological thriller.

Stylistically, "It Was Just An Accident" is a sharp break from the more contained, and largely self-reflexive works Panahi made while under his official state ban, but the plot remains strongly autobiographical.

The film opens with a banal tragedy — a man accidentally kills a dog with his car — and spirals into a slow-burning reckoning with state-sanctioned cruelty. Vahid (Valid Mobasseri), a mechanic who is asked to repair the damaged car, thinks he recognizes the owner as Eghbal, aka Peg-Leg, his former torturer. He kidnaps him, planning to bury him alive in the desert. But he can't be sure he's got the right man, because he was blindfolded during his internment. "They kept us blindfolded, during interrogation or when we left our cells," Panahi recalls of his time in prison. "Only in the toilet could you remove the blindfold."

Seeking reassurance, the mechanic reaches out to fellow prisoners for confirmation. Soon Vahid's van is packed with victims seeking revenge on the man who abused them for nothing more than voicing opposition to the authorities. There's a bride (Hadis Pakbaten) who abandons her wedding, together with her wedding photographer and former inmate Shiva (Maryam Afshari), to go after the man who raped and tortured her. There's Hamid (Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr), a man so traumatized and so furious by his experience he doesn't care if the man they've caught is the right guy; he just wants vengeance. "Even dead, they're a scourge on humanity," he says of all the intelligence officers serving under the regime.

As the group debates vengeance vs non-violence, alongside brutal descriptions of the beatings and torture they endured, Panahi inserts sly moments of humor and touches of the absurd. The hostage-takers cross paths with Eghbal's family, including his heavily pregnant wife, and suddenly find themselves rushing her to the hospital to give birth. Afterwards, as is tradition in Iran, Vahid heads to a bakery to buy everyone pastries.

"All these characters that you see in this film were inspired by conversations that I had in prison, by stories people told me about the violence and the brutality of the Iranian government, violence that has been ongoing for more than four decades now," says Panahi. "In a way, I'm not the one who made this film. It's the Islamic Republic that made this film, because they put me in prison. Maybe if they want to stop us being so subversive, they should stop putting us in jail."

Despite a career defined by resistance, Panahi insists he's simply doing the only thing he knows how. "During my 20-year ban, even my closest friends had given up hope that I would ever make films again," he said at the Cannes press conference for "It Was Just An Accident."

"But people who know me know I can't change a lightbulb. I don't know how to do anything except make films."

That single-minded dedication is what kept him going, even at his lowest.

"I remember just before I was given this very heavy sentence of 20 years, banned from making films and from traveling, and I thought: 'What will I do now?' For a little while, I was really upset," he recalls. "Then I went to my window, I looked up and I saw these beautiful clouds in the sky. I immediately got my camera. I thought: 'This is not something they can take away from me, I can still take pictures of the clouds.' Those photos were later exhibited at the Centre Pompidou in Paris … There's no way they can stop me from making films. If cinema is really what is sacred for you, what gives sense to your life, then no regime, no censorship, no authoritarian system can stop you."

While many Iranian filmmakers have fled into exile — including Panahi's close friendMohammad Rasoulof, director of theOscar-nominated "The Seed of the Sacred Fig,"who now lives in Berlin — Panahi says he has no plans to join them. "I'm completely incapable of adjusting to another society," he says. "I had to be in Paris for three and a half months for post-production, and I thought I was going to die."

In Iran, he explained, filmmaking is a communal act of improvisation and trust. "At 2 a.m., I can call a colleague and say: 'That shot should be longer.' And he'll come join me and we'll work all night. In Europe, you can't work like this. I don't belong."

So, even after his Cannes triumph, Panahi will return home. "As soon as I finish my work here, I will go back to Iran the next day. And I will ask myself: 'What's my next film going to be?'"

This article was updated on May 24, 2025, to reflect Jafar Panahi's Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or win.

Third Division winners Bielefeld had their dreams dashed by Stuttgart, who lifted their fourth ever German Cup. The final proved one step too far for giant-killers Bielefeld, who beat Leverkusen en route to Berlin.

Stuttgart survived a late scare against underdogs Arminia Bielefeld to win theGerman Cupfinal 4-2 at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on Saturday night.

The Bundesliga side had been cruising after going four goals up with over 20 minutes left to play.

But Stuttgart were made to hold off a late fightback from the Third Division champions, who scored twice in the last 10 minutes.

Nick Woltemade opened the scoring in the 15th minute to settle any nerves the Stuttgart fans might have been feeling against a Bielefeld side that had dumped out Bundesliga giants Bayer Leverkusen in the semi-final.

Enzo Millot doubled Stuttgart's lead after 22 minutes, with Denis Undav underlining Stuttgart's superiority just six minutes later as he put the Bundesliga team 3-0 up with less than half an hour played.

Millot added his second and Stuttgart's fourth after 66 minutes.

Bielefeld did give their supporters something to cheer about, however, bagging two goals — a Julian Kania effort and an own goal from Josha Vagnoman — in the last 10 minutes to make the scoreline more respectable.Stuttgart clinched the trophy for the first time since 1997, as the Bundesliga club lifted their fourth German Cup title.

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Despite the result, Bielefeld had plenty to be proud of having never previously made the German Cup final and became just the fourth side from the third division to qualify for the occasion.

Since their firstBundesligaseason in 1970-71, the club have bounced between the first and third tiers of German football. Their last spell in the top-flight was followed by successive relegations in 2022 and 2023.

Bielefeld overcame four Bundesliga sides in their run to the final, beating Union Berlin in the second round,Freiburgin the Round of 16, Werder Bremen in the quarterfinals andLeverkusen in the semis.

Although Berlin's Olympic Stadium holds 74,000, around100,000Arminia fans, roughly a third of Bielefeld's population, descended on the German capital for the historic occasion.

Bielefeld won promotion to the second division earlier in May. They are just the fourth club in German Cup history to reach the final from the third division.

Even while their youth academy continued to churn out talent, Stuttgart had fallen away after winning their last Bundesliga title in 2007.

Stuttgart had sat dead last in the Bundesliga and were staring at a third relegation in a decade, when they appointed Sebastian Hoeness in April 2023.

Hoeness, the nephew of Bayern Munich powerbroker Uli, kept Stuttgart in the top-flight via a relegation playoff.

A season later, he guided the club to second place, 40 points better than the previous season, and back into the Champions League.

This season, Stuttgart finished in mid-table as they juggled European commitments and their German Cup run, but the future remains bright.

Schilinski's "Sound of Falling" tells the stories of four generations in a small village in northeastern Germany, weaving a sweeping depiction of a century.

"I was afraid I'd misheard," said the 41-year-old director and screenwriter Mascha Schilinski when her film was named Jury Prize winner at the Cannes International Film Festival. "It was kind of a surreal moment — simply wonderful."

Ahead of the festival, the filmmaker said that she was "insanely happy" to have her film "Sound of Falling" selected in the main competition lineup at the Cannes Film Festival. " It's a filmmaker's dream!"

This year, Germany was represented byFatih Akin, whose historical film "Amrum" screened out of competition, andChristian Petzold, whose feature "Mirrors No. 3" was selected for the Directors' Fortnight, an independent sidebar at the Cannes festival.

But Schilinski was the only German director with a film in the main competition, the first sinceMaren Adecaused a stir at the2016 festivalwith"Toni Erdmann."

"Sound of Falling" is set on a farm in a small village in northeastern Germany. It follows the lives of four generations of women living on the farm, interweaving their stories by jumping back and forth among the different timelines until the lines between them blur. What starts as a portrait of four generations becomes a sweeping depiction of a century.

"As we went through the rooms of the farmhouse, we could sense the centuries," said Schilinski. "It brought up a question I've had since childhood." She explained that as a little girl growing up in a prewar apartment building in Berlin, she often wondered, "What happened between these walls in the past? Who has sat right in the spot where I'm now sitting? What fates played out here? What did the people who lived here experience and feel?"

Her film is an attempt to imagine answers to those questions.

As with Schilinski's 2017 debut film, "Dark Blue Girl," a psychodrama about a complicated family dynamic, this latest work focuses on a female perspective, relating events from the points of view of women. Schilinski said the female gaze was very important to her and co-writer Louise Peter because it's so rare in films.

"The film is very much about gazes, the gazes that women have been exposed to over the course of a century, how it feels today and also how it's carried on and burned into the body," the director explained.

Schilinski's career path seems to have almost been predestined: Her mother is a filmmaker who took her along on film shoots, and she started acting for film and television while still at school. Then she did film business internships, worked as a casting agent, traveled through Europe and worked as a magician and fire dancer for a small traveling circus. After studying screenwriting at the Hamburg Film School, she settled in Berlin and began working as a freelance screenwriter for film and television.

Schilinski attracted some attention when "Dark Blue Girl" was screened at the 2017Berlin International Film Festival, and her career is likely to get a further boost with the Jury Prize for her latest film in Cannes.

"Sound of Falling" is due for release in German cinemas on September 11.

This article was originally written in German. It was updated on May 26 to reflect Mascha Schilinski's win of the Jury Prize.

For months, there has been speculation that the US and Russia want to repair the Nord Stream gas pipelines running through the Baltic Sea and bring them back online. The question remains whether Germany might agree.

Asthe war in Ukrainegrinds into its fourth year, the idea thatRussiacould once again pump gas to the European Union via Germany is not as outlandish as it might have been just a few months ago.

With efforts ongoing to end the war, speculation continues over the possible reintegration of Russian gas into the EU's energy mix.

For months, some members of Germany's center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which leads the government,have been hinting strongly at support for such a proposal, particularly with regard to the Nord Stream pipelines. The latest came from Saxony's CDU state premier, Michael Kretschmer.

In an interview with German newspaperDie Zeit, he described the Nord Stream pipelines as a possible "opening for talks with Russia." He even specified how much of Germany's gas supply should come from Russia — 20%.

In March, some of his colleagues welcomed the ideaof repairing both pipelines of the damagedNord Stream 1 and the single damaged pipeline on Nord Stream 2. The three weredamaged after an act of sabotagein September 2022.

Nord Stream 1 brought gas to Germany before the start of the Ukraine war in early 2022, while Nord Stream 2 was finished in September 2021 but never actually entered service.

However, even if some in the German government are keen, many are not. Friedrich Merz, Germany's new chancellor and CDU leader, has made it clear that he supports EU plansto prevent the reactivation of the pipelines as part of the next sanctions package against Russia. Amid the rumors about the possible repair of the pipelines, the European Commission is currently consulting member states about permanently banning the use of Nord Stream.

However, both Russia and theUnited Statesare reportedly eager to agree on a deal to get gasflowing through the pipelines again.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said recently that discussions with the US have included Nord Stream. Meanwhile, according to several reports, US investors are interested in buying Nord Stream 2 AG — the Swiss-based subsidiary of the Russian state-owned energy giantGazpromwhich owns the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

In January, bankruptcy proceedings against Nord Stream 2 AG were delayed until May, with a redacted court document showing that Gazprom argued that the Trump administration could "have significant consequences on the circumstances of Nord Stream 2."

Chris Weafer, an investment adviser who has worked in Russia for more than 25 years, told DW that there are serious discussions taking place regarding a US purchase of the company.

"There are proposals on the table from US buyers that want to buy the infrastructure, where they could act as a cut out between the source of gas, which is Gazprom, and the buyers of gas, which would be German utilities," he said.

However, Ben Hilgenstock from the Kyiv School of Economics said it's notthe place of the US or Russia to decide what energy Europe buys.

"Whatever Russia and the United States negotiate with regards to Nord Stream 2 or 1 is entirely meaningless," he told DW. "It is Europe's decision in specific countries, to be fair, whether they want to purchase Russian pipeline gas through Nord Stream 1 and 2 again."

So, is there any way Europe would want to buy Russian pipeline gas again?

Europe's diversification away from Russian gas and oil after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion was the main factor that led to a surge in energy costs throughout 2022 and 2023. Although prices have come down significantly from those highs, the reemergence of Russian energy into the mix would likely push costs down further.

German companies such as the chemical giantBASFbore the brunt ofsoaring energy costs in recent years. A spokesperson for the company told DW it would not speculate on any possible deals regarding Russian energy, but it did emphasize it was not the only factor affecting its business.

"The increased gas price is only one factor affecting BASF's competitiveness," the spokesperson said. "Other important reasons are the current weak demand and increasing import volumes."

Wolfgang Grosse Entrup, managing director of Germany's Chemical Industry Association, told DW that his members "welcome measures that reduce excessively high energy prices," but he emphasized the importance of "reliable partners."

"Supplies via Nord Stream 1 were unilaterally suspended by Russia in August 2022," he said. "With a major effort, it has been possible to ensure security of supply even without Russian oil and gas. We should not fall back into old, supposedly comfortable, habits and avoid excessive dependence on individual countries in the future."

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However, Hilgenstock cautioned that the lure of cheaper energy will always be capable of directing the discussion in some quarters.

"There is this vision out there of cheap Russian gas that can propel us back wherever," he said. "That's where the political pressure is coming from."

Yet political opposition to a restoration of supply remains fierce in Europe. The EU Commission has repeatedly reiterated its strong stance against, in keeping with its current sanctions plans.

"Nord Stream 2 is not a project of common interest, it does not diversify the EU's energy sources," an EU Commission spokesperson said at a press briefing on March 3.

Project of Common Interest (PCI) status is given to energy infrastructure projects, allowing them to benefit from an accelerated approval process and more flexible regulation.

The EU has pledged to quit all Russian fossil fuels by 2027, and the European Commissionreleased a detailed strategy and road map on May 6 as to how it plans to achieve this goal. The strategy mentions the end of all imports of Russian gas by the end of 2027, and says new contracts to supply any kind of Russian gas will be stopped by the end of 2025.

In this context, Hilgenstock thinks supporting the restoration of Nord Stream would be "absolutely bizarre and grotesque."

"I think we would demonstrate that we're fundamentally not serious about Russian sanctions. Turning around on this, specifically, means we are absolutely not serious about restraining Vladimir Putin's ability to continue his war in Ukraine and threaten peace and prosperity in Europe. It would be an absurd development," he said.

Even if some in the German and European political establishment were in favor of restoring one or both Nord Stream pipelines, argued Hilgenstock, there are "multiple technical obstacles."

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline has never been legally certified by Germany, for one, and Hilgenstock said he doesn't see the new German government doing that.

Then there's the significant repair work, which Chris Weaver believes could start relatively quickly if the US were able to convince the EU of the merits of a deal.

"Those discussions are definitely taking place, and they are credible," he said. He added that he expects some Russian gas going back to Europe, "but probably no more than 50% of the volume that was sold before the invasion" in February 2022.

However, Hilgenstock believes it's vital that the EU makes it clear to the US that the reopening of the Nord Stream pipelines is not up for discussion.

"We just have to say, this is not happening. And whatever bullying you're attempting, we are not undermining a fundamental element of our policy to constrain Russia," he said.

Editor's note: The article, which was originally published on April 25, has been updated to include recent developments in the Nord Stream debate.

What roles do our pensions, investments and banking decisions play in supporting fossil fuel projects? And how green are the sustainable alternatives?

Personal finance is a climate blind spot for many — lagging behind decisions on things like diet, travel or shopping when it comes to individual action.

Yet when it comes tolowering a personal carbon footprint, moving to a sustainable pension provider can be 20 times more effective than the combined impact of giving up flying, going vegetarian or switching energy provider, accordingto analysisfrom UK campaign group Make My Money Matter.

The world's60 biggest banks are estimatedto have committed $705 billion (€619 billion) to thefossil fuel industryin 2023, and $6.9 trillion since theParis Agreement was reached in 2015.

Much ofthis is funding expansion plansthat fly in the face of science's unequivocal climate warnings.

"We all have pots of money that are contributing to this in various ways without our knowledge a lot of the time," said Adam McGibbon, campaign strategist at US-based research and advocacy organization Oil Change International, adding that it could be in the form of current accounts, pensions or insurance policies that are reinvested into the fossil fuel industry.

Yet experts note the difficulty in precisely quantifying personal finance's contribution to fossil fuel funding due to complex financial systems and individual circumstances.

This is largely because it is through the corporate rather than retail side of a bank's operations — where individual customers' money is held — that they usually lend money or underwrite bonds for companies developing fossil fuel projects, explained Quentin Aubineau, policy analyst at BankTrack, an international NGO documenting the financial activities of commercial banks.

However, McGibbon added that banks are still using our money to grow their business, create more revenue and attract investors. He said our savings might at the very least be "used to inflate the balance sheet of a bank, which will then allow them to service corporate clients" with links to fossil fuels.

When it comes to investments, some personal finances go directly into the fossil fuel industry via stocks or bonds, said Carmen Nuzzo, executive director of the Transition Pathway Initiative Centre in the UK, which researches progress made by the financial and corporate world to low-carbon economy.

"This includes investment in oil and gas companies, which have been very attractive and profitable in recent years … as well as investment in other companies that rely heavily on fossil fuel for their production or service provision, such as steel or aviation," said Nuzzo.

Many people will also be funding fossil fuels through savings going intopension fundsthat invest in "brown" companies — those within the highest greenhouse gas and carbon-emitting industries. Pensions are usually held and controlled by either the state, employers or private companies.

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"You pay into a pension pot, that money is invested on your behalf and some of that may end up being invested in companies that make sure that your retirement will be one where you live in an unstable, difficult world," said McGibbon.

Recent studies have estimatedthat in a world of 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) warming, an average person will be 40% poorer and that pension fund returns in the US and Canada could fall up to 50% by 2040, due to the exposure of assets to extreme climate events.

Pension funds are among the world's largest investors in fossil fuels, with an estimated $46 trillion plowed into the industry and holding 30% of its shares, according to Climate Safe Pensions, a divestment campaign based in the US and Canada. They were also found to be among the leading funders of fossil fuel expansion across Africa.

In 2023, the German investigative platform Correctiv revealed that 10 out of 16 German federal states invested pension funds in fossil fuel activities.

While green banks don't always have the most favorable conditions, among climate-conscious people there is a growing appetite for sustainable financial alternatives, said Katrin Ganswindt, a finance researcher at the German NGO Urgewald.

Among the growing pool of green banks are those that pledge to stop lending to fossil fuel companies and invest in climate-friendly activities.

Online tools such asbank.greenhave also emerged to help consumers compare the environmental credentials of different banks.

But overcoming a lack of financial knowledge is still one of the key challenges, explained Nuzzo.

"In the countries where most people have a pension, individuals do not keep track of where their pension assets are being invested …. or they might not review their options regularly."

Things such as pensions that invest in the long-term are effective places to make a change, said Ganswindt. "Pension funds have a big effect because they invest large sums."

Make My Money Matter estimated that the UK's pension industry could invest €1.2 trillion into renewable energy and climate solutions by 2035.

The green pension landscape is, however, evolving.

In the Netherlands, pension funds for civil servants and teachers as well as health care workers have divested from fossil fuel companies, and in the UK, large pension schemes are also now required to report their climate risks.

Yet despite growing awareness and green finance options, there is still a lack of standards and regulation in this space, said Franziska Mager, senior researcher at Tax Justice Network, a UK advocacy group working against tax avoidance.

"Even if you're banking with a 'green' bank, you might be surprised to find out where your money is invested — if you're able to find out, that is. Let alone what the big players define as sustainable," she said.

A recent paper she co-authored on "greenlaundering"in the banking industry said the existence of opaque financial practices — including the use of secrecy jurisdictions, a type of tax haven — obscure the true scale of fossil fuel financing.

When it comes toETFs— a type of investment fund traded on the stock market — you have been able to say it is "green" and it can mean nothing," said Ganswindt.

There has, however, been recent progress when it comes to transparency, she added, pointing to new EU guidelines that will regulate which companies are allowed into funds that are labeled green or sustainable.

Ultimately, personal finances likely make up a small fraction of the enormous sums of funding fossil fuels — but that is not the point of actions like switching your bank to a greener provider, explained Ganswindt. It's about sending a message.

"Certainly, there's some power as customers, but we have way more power as citizens," said McGibbon. "So great to move to a greener bank, great to move to a greener pension scheme. But ultimately, we could have much more power as citizens, changing the way we vote, demanding the politicians regulate the financial sector."

Sexuality is diverse. The gender you're attracted to is decided during puberty through an interplay of biological and psychosocial factors.

Thirty-five years ago, millions of people around the world suddenly became "healthy." It was on that day — May 17, 1990 — that theWorld Health Organization(WHO) removed homosexuality from a list of human diseases.

Until then, same-sex love was considered as a kind of mental illness. Those affected were often locked up in sanatoriums or prisons and "treated" with electric shock therapy and other questionable psychotherapies.

Buthomosexual, bisexual and transsexualpeople are not — and never were — sick, said Klaus M. Beier, the director of the Institute for Sexology and Sexual Medicine at the Berlin Charité hospital.

Human sexuality is characterized by itsdiversity, Beier said.

"These days it's clear that no one chooses their sexual orientation. It's a matter of fate, not choice. Sexual orientation — or what experts call a 'sexual preference structure' — develops during puberty, influenced by a person's sex hormones. Their sexuality is determined in adolescence — what they find physically attractive and the kind of sexual interactions they desire."

After this developmental phase in adolescence, the respective sexual preference remains stable, according to Beier.

"It arises in adolescence and is then stable for life, despite the desire in some people for sexual orientation to change, for example, if there's social pressure to be like everyone else," said Beier.

Universal human rights include the right to free sexual orientation. Sexuality is, and has always been, diverse. It is neither a fad, nor is it limited to particularly liberal societies.

"According to the data we have, same-sex orientation accounts for about 3-5% of a population, and that applies across cultures. Human sexuality […] is characterized by this diversity — and cannot be had any other way," said Beier.

It follows that it's wrong to judge or even condemn someone because of their sexual orientation.

Nevertheless, the sexual orientation of individuals polarizes entire societies. In some cases, this leads to their exclusion, discrimination and persecution. Homosexuality, for example, is punishable in at least 67 countries, and in seven countries there is even a threat of death for same-sex sexual acts.

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How sexual orientation develops is a simple question to which there is no simple or conclusive answer. There is no one cause for sexual orientation. But researchers have attempted to understand how sexual orientation develops through analyses of genes,hormonesand sociocultural factors.

"The current thinking is that there are a number of factors. So far, no one has been able to find any single factor that could be named as the cause of one person being same-sex oriented and another being opposite-sex oriented," said Beier.

It can be assumed that a complex interplay of biological and social factors is responsible for the development of sexual orientation.

The biological factors influencing the development of sexual orientation include a person'sgenetic makeup, as well as (prenatal) hormones and chemical substances.

But sexual orientation is not hereditary. Family and so-called twin studies suggest homosexuality can be common in any one family. However, the genetic markers found in these studies were not deemed to be significant enough for researchers to conclude there was "homosexuality gene."

Hormones, such as testosterone, and chemicals in the body, such as pheromones, may also be partly responsible for the development of sexual orientation. Pheromones are chemical secretions that influence sexual behavior.

Studies show that male pheromones stimulate hypothalamus activity in both heterosexual women and homosexual men — but not in heterosexual men. The hypothalamus is a gland in the diencephalon that influences our instinctive behavior and sexual functions.

Dolls and clothes for girls? Tools and cars for boys? Toys that are typically seen as being for females or males have no influence on sexual orientation. The same applies to education.

It's true that some people do not live out their actual sexual orientation until later in life. That said, our sexual preference does not change as we age.

"We have very strong indications that this is not possible," said Beier. "There are followup studies on sexual orientation. There were these regrettable 'conversion attempts' in same-sex oriented men. This was attempted in a larger study in the United States in the 1970s, without any success. It's strong evidence that sexual orientation is very stable."

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While sexual orientation develops during puberty, the development of gender identity begins in childhood and is completed in most people by the age of 5 to 6 years, said Beier. From this age on, children can "see themselves in their sexuality in the future and thus make assumptions about their future as a man or woman," he said.

Once sexual orientation has been established, it never changes. Not even through "seduction" or through early sexual contacts. "There is nothing to it," said Beier. "An important proof of this: There are many people who have had same-sex sexual contacts in their youth, but who are not same-sex oriented."

The decisive factor for identity development is whether children receive support or rejection from their parents. If children and adolescents encounter strong rejection, they often develop weaker self-esteem by comparison. If parental rejection is associated with a child's sexual identity or orientation, it can lead to depression and suicidal thoughts.

Especially in societies where sexual minorities are excluded and persecuted, an unprejudiced debate about sexual diversity is very important, said Beier.

From a scientific point of view, no sexual orientation is a disease or "unnatural." What is tolerated, or what is considered "normal" or "unnatural," is determined by social norms. These norms can change greatly depending on time and context. But human nature does not change.

This article was originally written in German.

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that Sharia law mandated the death penalty in Mauritania, Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan. Sharia law is only applied in 14 of Nigeria's northern states, not the whole country. South Sudan is a secular state and does not practise Sharia law. While homosexuality is banned, the punishment is not death, but up to 14 years in prison. (27.05.25)

Bayer Leverkusen have named a replacement for the man who led them to their only Bundesliga title. Dutchman Erik ten Hag is promising to deliver "dominant, attractive football" to the fans.

Just hours after Real Madrid confirmed that they had signed formerBayer LeverkusenbossXavi Alonsoto take their club forward, theWerkelfpresented their new boss.

"Bayer 04 are one of the best clubs in Germany and also among the top clubs in Europe. The club offers outstanding conditions, I've been very impressed with the discussions of the management," Erik ten Hag said in a statement on the club's website.

"I've come to Leverkusen to continue with the ambition shown in recent years. It's an attractive challenge to set up something together in this period of change and develop an ambitious team."

Sporting director Simon Rolfes described the 55-year-old Dutchman as "an experienced coach with an impressive track record," pointing to the six titles he won at Ajax.

At the press conference to unveil the new manager, ten Hag resisted speaking about his time at Manchester United, who sacked him last October, simply saying that was "the past."

Ten Hag, who has signed a contract that would keep him at Leverkusen until the end of the 2026-27 season, said he wanted to play "dominant, attractive football" at the club.

He replaces Alonso, after the Spaniard last season failed to duplicate his double-winning campaign, as Leverkusen finished second toBayern Munichin theBundesliga. Leverkusen had goneundefeated in the previous campaign, in which Alonso made history by leading them to theirfirst league title.

Italian filmmaker Silvio Soldini's "The Tasters" is a fictional version of the story of a woman who worked as Hitler's food taster. But how much of it is true?

The first scene of the film "The Tasters" is set inNovember 1943, in the East Prussian village of Gross-Partsch (present-day Parcz, Poland). A young woman called Rosa Sauer (played by Elisa Schlott) is fleeing her bombed-out apartment in Berlin and moving in with her in-laws, who live in the village. Her husband, a German soldier, is fighting in Ukraine.

Just a couple of kilometers away from the village, hiding in a thick forest surrounded by barbed wire, is the "Wolf's Lair" — the Eastern Front military headquarters ofAdolf Hitler.

Shortly after her arrival, Rosa lands among a group of women who are forcibly recruited by the SS. The women are driven every day to Hitler's secret complex to serve as his food tasters.

Without ever seeing him, the women know that the Nazi "Führer" has many enemies and that his meals — and thereby theirs — could be poisoned. Even though so many Europeans at the time are desperate for food amid the war, the elaborate meals are a source of terror for the women.

Amid the tension, Rosa develops a secret relationship with SS lieutenant Ziegler (played by Max Riemelt) and becomes friends with a shy woman in the group, Elfriede (Alma Hasun), who has good reasons to be discrete.

The German-language film, directed by Italian filmmaker Silvio Soldini ("Breads and Tulips," 2000), is based on Rosella Postorino's bestselling novel, "Le assaggiatrici" (2018), which was translated into more than 30 languages, including in English as "At the Wolf's Table."

The filmmaker, who worked with German actors without speaking the language himself, had previously avoided directing period pieces. But one of the reasons that motivated him to adapt the novel was that it focuses on women, which is unusual for a World War II story.

Soldini told DW that he also liked the fact that the story isn't judgmental about the two main characters, Rosa Sauer and Albert Ziegler, who are "simply human, despite being caught in the gears of a horrific system."

Postorino's novel was inspired by the testimony of a woman called Margot Wölk. She had never talked about her World War II experiences, but at the age of 95 in December 2012, she started giving interviews to the press.

Wölk recalled how, for about two and half years starting in 1942, she was among the 15 young women who were required to taste food prepared for the Wolf's Lair.

The film's portrayal reflects the tasters' recruitment and the daily schedule, as described by Wölk.

Wölk also said she survived thanks to a lieutenant who put her on a train to Berlin in 1944; he knew that the Soviet army was just a few kilometers away from reaching the Wolf's Lair. After the war, she met the lieutenant again, and he told her that all the other food tasters in her group had been shot by Soviet soldiers.

Wölk's escape inspired Postorino to include the love affair in her novel; the author speculated that Wölk was saved because she had developed a privileged relationship with one of the SS guards.

If anything did ever happen between the taster and the lieutenant, Wölk didn't mention it in her interviews.

In an interview withDer Spiegelin 2013, she did however mention being raped by one of the SS officers while she was working as a taster. She was also raped repeatedly by Soviet soldiers after she returned to Berlin. More than a year after the end of the war, she was reunited with her husband, who was also traumatized by his wartime experiences.

Postorino tried to reach Wölk to interview her for the novel, but the elderly woman died in 2014 before they could talk.

After a documentary featuring Wölk came out in 2014, German historian Sven-Felix Kellerhoff pointed out that the story was unlikely to be true.

In his piece for the dailyWelt, he pointed out that Hitler had digestive problems in the final years of his life, and that instead of eating the meals prepared for his inner circle, he hired a dietitian who prepared special meals for him in a separate kitchen close to his bunker, within "Sperrkreis 1" (Security Zone 1). It therefore wouldn't have made much sense to have had the food transported outside of this highly restricted area to have it tasted by a group of women before Hitler's meals.

According to Felix Bohr in his new book "Before the Downfall: Hitler's Years in the 'Wolf's Lair'," the first dietitian to cook separately for Hitler, Helene von Exner, was hired in July 1943. Before that, a cook called Otto Günther prepared meals in large pots for the Nazi leaders based at the Wolf's Lair.

Beyond Hitler's inner circle, up to 2,000 people were working in the Wolf's Lair.

Were the women perhaps required to taste other food, being told it was Hitler's meals?

In his book detailing the organization of daily life at the Wolf's Lair, Bohr only mentions Wölk's testimony in a footnote, noting that no other historical sources back her claims. As he confirmed to DW, throughout his intensive research into the Wolf's Lair structures, he "found no sources that confirm Margot Wölk's story," but, he adds, "neither did I find any documents that prove the opposite."

Soldini is unfazed by any potential historical inaccuracies. After all, he pointed out, "the film is based on the novel, it's not from the true story."

The story that is told remains relevant, he added, because the movie portrays parallels with current developments in the world. Like the tasters, we can all feel today's political violence — even if we have the privilege of eating good meals.

One thing that historians have definitely well documented are the various attempts to kill Hitler. At least 42 plots have been uncovered.

The best-known one isOperation Valkyrie, in which Wehrmacht officers, led by Claus von Stauffenberg, tried to kill Hitler at the Wolf's Lair by detonating an explosive hidden in a briefcase.

This failed assassination attempt on July 20, 1944 is also referred to in the film through Hitler's actual radio broadcast, in which he describes the attack that killed four people and injured 20 more.

"I myself am completely unhurt except for very small skin abrasions, bruises or burns," stated the leader of Nazi Germany at the time.

Like Donald Trump following the attempt on his life in July 2024, Hitler saw the fact that he survived the attack practically unharmed as a sign of destiny: "I take it as a confirmation of the mission of providence to continue to pursue my life purpose, as I have done so far."