World

First it was cars and electronics, then pop music and films, and now the beauty industry: skincare and cosmetics "made in Korea" are in demand all over the world. More and more Westerners are raving about South Korean beauty products. This success is no coincidence, nor is it a purely aesthetic phenomenon. The east Asian country has made its cultural exports an important source of soft power. What is known as "K-beauty" relies on a combination of cultural dynamics, economic strategy and geopolitical positioning.  "Soft power means using attractiveness, not force, to influence others," explains political scientist and Korea expert Hannes Mosler from the University of Duisburg-Essen. This is crucial for a country like South Korea, he says. "South Korea finds itself in a geopolitically pr...

The Hungarian election campaign has been in a frenzy for weeks, but this latest scandal has shocked even the most cool-headed observers. Many have described it as a "return to dictatorship and Communist times." Last week, it emerged that Hungary's Constitution Protection Office (Alkotmanyvedelmi Hivatal), one of the country's five intelligence services, is believed to have tried to infiltrate the opposition Tisza Party with the aim of obstructing its participation in the elections or at least minimizing its chances of success. The intelligence service is said to have tried to recruit technicians in charge of maintaining the party's IT system to access internal party information and use it to rig the election. The operation is said to have started in July 2025. It was already apparent by ...

In a crucial maneuver, NASA's Artemis II astronauts fired up their spacecraft's engine, breaking away from the Earth's orbit on Thursday and blazing towards the moon. The key thruster firing or the translunar injection burn puts four astronauts — three Americans and a Canadian — on path to the first crewed lunar flyby in over half-a-century since the Apollo mission 17 in 1972. The mission control in Houston confirmed a "good burn." The hours after Artemis II's launch The burn was reported 25 hours after the massive orange-and-white Space Launch System (SLS) rocket carrying the Orion capsule lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "We ‌are getting just a beautiful ⁠view ⁠of the dark side of the Earth lit by the moon right now. Phenomenal," Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hanse...

Senegal's official journal on Tuesday showed that President Bassirou Diomaye Faye had formally signed into law new legislation on same-sex relations that have proved contentious abroad despite broad political support within the majority Muslim country's parliament.  Several human rights groups had voiced concerns about the bill, including warning that it would dissuade people at risk from illnesses like HIV/AIDS from seeking help.  UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called the law "deeply worrying" and said it "flies in the face of the sacrosanct human rights." Protesters sometimes rallied in favor of tougher laws during the previous legislative period, as here in 2022Image: Seyllou/AFP What does the new package of LGBTQ laws entail?  The new bill implements a series of ...

There is little doubt that the nuclear threat in the Middle East has risen during the current conflict. During the war, which started in late February when the US and Israel attacked Iran,  nuclear sites in both Iran and Israel have been targeted. US President Donald Trump has said that thewar on Iran was launched in order to prevent Iran getting a nuclear weapon. But, experts suggest, this may well backfire. Possessing nuclear arms is supposed to be a deterrent. The theory is that they prevent your enemies from acting against you. Observers often cite the case of North Korea. It has developed nuclear weapons which, some argue, make the dictatorship untouchable. Ukraine provides an example of the opposite. In 1994, Ukraine agreed to give up what was then the third-largest nuclear ar...

Finland's Defense Ministry reported on Sunday a suspected territorial violation by unmanned aerial vehicles in the southern part of the country. According to the ministry, "a few low-flying slow objects were observed in Finnish airspace in the sea area and in southeastern Finland on Sunday morning," and the air force dispatched an F/A-18 Hornet fighter to conduct an identification mission. "One drone has fallen to the ground north of Kouvola and another drone east of Kouvola. The police have cordoned off the areas for further investigation," the Defense Ministry added.The police cordoned off the area where the drones crashedImage: Sasu Järnstedt/Lehtikuva/picture alliance What did the Finnish authorities say about the drones? "Drones have strayed into Finland's territory. We take this ...

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday rejected claims that God justifies war during a Palm Sunday Mass, as the Iran war entered its second month. Addressing tens of thousands gathered in St. Peter's Square, the pontiff emphasized that Jesus must not be used to legitimize any form of warfare. "Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war," Leo said. "He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: 'Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood'," he added, citing a Bible passage.  Leo repeatedly calls for ceasefire in Iran war The first US-born pope did not single out any world leaders, but in recent weeks, he has sharpened his criticism of the ongoing war in Ira...

The Israeli police prevented Catholic leaders from marking Palm Sunday at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre "for the first time in centuries," church officials there said, with Israel citing security concerns amid the war with Iran. Two of the church's top religious leaders, including Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and the head of the Custos in the Holy Land, were blocked from celebrating at the place where Christians believe Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead. The two were proceeding privately, without any ceremonial procession, and "were compelled to turn back, "the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which manages the Catholic Church's affairs in the Holy Land, and the Custody of the Holy Land said in a joint statement. "This incident is a grave precedent, and disregard (sic) t...