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Europe wanted to build a joint next-generation fighter jet. Instead, the bloc's biggest defense project may now produce two separate warplanes. Airbus, which represents the German and Spanish side of the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), told DW it is open to restructuring the program after years of political and industrial disputes.  That could include a "two-fighter solution" allowing France and Germany to develop separate combat aircraft while still cooperating on drones, sensors and the digital systems linking the battlefield in real time. The twist: the fighter jet itself may no longer be the project's most important part. The proposal marks a serious shift for a project once billed as a symbol of Franco-German military unity.Europe's massive defense gambleTo view this video please...

The Czech Republic, which boasts a population of 10 million, is a famously beer-loving nation. Nobody in the world drinks as much beer as the Czechs do — for decades, they have nabbed the top spot for most per capita beer consumption lists, only occasionally ranking second. Traditionally, the pub has formed the heart of a Czech community, being a place for people to meet, play cards, and discuss life, politics and literature. Beer, pubs and lively conversation have also been depicted in the works of the Czech writers Jaroslav Hasek, Bohumil Hrabal and Jaroslav Rudis. For centuries, beer has played a role in what is now known as the Czech Republic. Even during times of economic decline when the country, then known as Czechoslovakia, was under communist rule, Czech beer, particularly Pilsne...

Thirty-four European countries plus Australia, Costa Rica and the European Union as an entity on Friday signed up to a future special tribunal that will seek to prosecute Russia for crimes committed during its invasion of Ukraine.  The plan has been in the works since soon after Russia's full scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed an agreement with the Council of Europe last year seeking to implement it.  What was agreed on Friday?  Most of the 46 member states of the Council of Europe, a France-based body focused on safeguarding human rights and democracy with a larger membership than the EU that's not to be confused with the European Council, approved a resolution laying the groundwork for the future tribunal, the Council said in a statement. Ukraine is...

Usually, it tends to be Muslim men who go to pray on Fridays in the mosques of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As is customary in Islam, women are not required to go to the mosque to pray on the holiest day of the week. However, more and more, devout Muslim women in the Western Balkan country want to attend the mosque, too. In the secular state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, men and women are equal before the law. In recent decades, the state has made significant efforts to eliminate gender-based discrimination and protect women from violence. However, in certain religious communities, whether these are Muslim, Orthodox or Catholic, social and cultural norms continue to stand in the way of equality. Since the end of the Bosnian War (1992–1995), religion has played a greater role in all of the countr...

The European Commission has invited representatives of the Taliban to Brussels for talks on deporting Afghan nationals who have been refused permission to stay in the European Union.  The invitation follows a preliminary meeting for "technical talks" that took place this January in Afghanistan, European Commission spokesman Markus Lammert said on Tuesday, classifying the planned Brussels discussions as a "follow-up."   He said the invitation to Brussels "does not by any means constitute a recognition" of the Taliban as the Afghan government.  The EU does not formally recognize the Taliban's leadership, after its sudden return to power amid the NATO withdrawal just over five years ago in early 2021.  'Don't send us back': Afghan women in India fear deportationTo view this video please e...

"We've been observing the human rights situation in Iran with great concern," Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam tells DW. The Norwegian-Iranian neuroscientist is the founder of the NGO Iran Human Rights. "The near-daily executions of political prisoners, protesters and people accused of espionage are particularly alarming," he adds. In 2025, his organization found that Iran had executed at least 1,639 people, marking a 68% increase compared to the previous year and averaging in four to five executions per day.  Since the latest US-Israel war with Iran began in February, the Middle Eastern nation has become a focal point of global politics. Most attention is directed at geopolitical concerns, and especially at the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a quarter of the world's crude oil and oil ...

A judge in Damascus on Sunday detailed the charges against Atef Najib, a cousin of Bashar Assad and formerly a senior security official in Syria, as the first trial of Assad-era officials gets moving.  Former President Assad, his brother Maher and several other senior officials face trial in absentia. They are believed to have fled to Russia as the former Syrian government fell in December 2024. Najib, the former head of political security in the south Syrian province of Daraa, where peaceful protests erupted in 2011, is the most senior former regime member facing trial in person. The trial opened last month.  Najib, a former brigadeer, was the head of security services in the region where the first anti-Assad protests erupted in 2011Image: Izz Aldien Alqasem/Anadolu Agency/IMAGO What ...

Thailand's former Prime ‌Minister ⁠Thaksin ⁠Shinawatra was released from prison on parole ‌on Monday. In September 2025, the Supreme Court had ordered the 76-year-old telecommunications billionaire to serve one year in prison for a past corruption conviction. Thaksin walked free from Klong Prem Central Prison in Bangkok around 7:40 a.m. local time (00:40 UCT). He hugged waiting family members and greeted the several hundred supporters wearing the signature red shirts of Thaksin's Pheu Thai party who had gathered outside of the jail.Thaksin and parties tied to him have heavily influenced Thai politics for over two decadesImage: Athit Perawongmetha/REUTERS The corrections department announced Thaksin's parole in April, citing his age and that he had less than a year left to serve as reas...