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dw.com •

Fashion against fascism: When trademarks deter neo-Nazis

In Germany, where Nazi symbols are banned, activists are using trademark law to fight far-right merchandise.In recent years, far-right merchandise has become an important source of income for some right-wing extremist groups and individuals in Germany. Online stores sell clothing, accessories and other products that use symbols members of the far-right scene recognize.

Because many openly Nazi symbols are illegal in Germany, sellers have increasingly relied on coded language to get around the l...
dw.com •

Teen discovers first ancient Greek artifact found in Berlin

A 13-year-old stumbled upon a coin from ancient Troy — an extremely rare find in Germany. Experts say it may offer new clues about little-known links between ancient Greece and northern Europe.While walking through Berlin's western neighborhood of Spandau, a 13-year-old made a discovery that has been hailed as highly significant in Germany's archaeological history.

He found a small bronze coin, which experts have since dated 2,300 years — back to the ancient Greek city of Troy, in present-day T...
dw.com •

One in five young Germans plan to leave the country

A recent study shows that as many as one in five Germans between the ages of 14 and 29 are actively thinking about moving to another country — and 40% plan to do so in the long term. Think life is great in Germany? Many of the country's young people disagree. A growing number of Germans aged between 14-29 say they are actively planning to leave their homeland. In the recent study called "Jugend in Deutschland" or "Youth in Germany," some 21% of young Germans surveyed say they are actively planni...
dw.com •

Ancient graffiti reveals scenes of everyday life in Pompeii

A growing number of researchers are turning to Pompeii's graffiti to better understand the lives, humor and concerns of ordinary people nearly 2,000 years ago. Spoiler alert: They liked gladiators.If you thought that the "I was here" style graffiti is a modern-day phenomenon confined to the backs of bathroom stalls, think again! New technologies are unearthing graffiti scratched on ancient sites like never before, giving voice to everyday people of the ancient world — from enslaved individuals t...
Greece Is •

Athens Through Folk Songs and Dance - Greece Is

It’s late Friday, and like many nights over the past five years since I made Athens my home, I’m sitting in a dimly lit basement taverna surrounded by Greeks – most of whom are on the younger side. I see many familiar faces, as I sip the wine I’ve chosen instead of tsipouro, the standard drink for such situations – I, too, love the stuff, but I hate the hangover. A few mezedes, or small plates, sit on the table. The air is thick with smoke, something I will regret tomorrow. What I won’t regret i...
dw.com •

Why new 'Wuthering Heights' film is accused of whitewashing

The upcoming movie adaptation of Emily Bronte's 1847 novel stars Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi. Fans of the Gothic novel have criticized the film's casting and "soft porn" tone.A new adaptation of the so-called "greatest love story of all time," "Wuthering Heights," is coming to the big screen this Valentine's Day.

The new movie features an all-star lineup, headed by Margot Robbie as leading lady, Catherine, and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff.

Directed by Emerald Fennell, the trailer released las...
The Guardian •

Without India, you can forget about achieving a sustainable palm oil sector

In a food stall on a dusty New Delhi street corner, a woman in a bright orange sari drops samosas into a skillet of bubbling liquid, which crackles and pops as it laps up the potato­-filled dough.


She is cooking with palm oil, the ingredient often met with controversy in the west due to concerns about deforestation and habitat loss. In India, however, the world’s top importer of palm oil, its sustainability goes largely unquestioned.

India’s 1.2 billion citizens consume approximately 15% of
POLITICO •

Echoes of Lesvos as migrants get stuck in limbo on Canary Islands

GRAN CANARIA, Spain — If any lessons were learned from Lesvos, there’s little to show for it in Europe’s latest migration hotspot.

The Canary Islands have experienced a surge in migrant arrivals over the past six months. Though numbers remain much lower than those seen on Greece’s easternmost islands at the height of the 2015 refugee crisis, an eightfold increase — from about 2,700 people in 2019 to more than 23,000 in 2020 — has left authorities on the Spanish archipelago struggling to cope.
dw.com •

How the myth of whiteness in classical sculpture was created – DW – 01/24/2023

The myth that the statues of ancient Greece and Rome were white was created over time and upheld in part to serve racist ideological purposes. But recent exhibitions have shed new light on the colorful ancient world.

In ancient times, when approaching the Temple of Aphaia on the Greek island of Aegina, one would have seen a sculpture of a young archer, painted in bright colors to look as lifelike as possible. "Run your eyes up towards the sky and take a look at the painted reliefs of the pedime
Mongabay Environmental News •

Lies, deceit and abduction staff Thailand’s fishing industry

One night nearly four years ago in Mahachai, a gritty port town near Bangkok, Akaradetch Seri was down on his luck. A fight with his girlfriend had left him out on the streets. Lacking funds, a job and now a home, the former factory worker pondered his next move, bedding down on a park bench, the smell of raw fish lingering in the air.

This would be among Seri’s last nights on Thai soil after becoming one of an unknown number of men trafficked onto boats in the country’s fishing industry.

Cont
ABC News •

Venice's 1,000-year-old tradition of glass-making sees an artistic revival

It is not easy to become a glass "maestro" on the Italian island of Murano

VENICE -- Nicola Causin was 17 years old when he started working with glass.

"It was like falling in love," he said.

That love hasn't faded after 34 years of honing his craft on Murano, a short boat ride from Venice – and the epicenter of the Venetian glass-making industry.

"It's always a challenge; you have to be very humble in front of this material. It's the glass that commands you" and not the other way around, he
dw.com •

No plans to give Parthenon Marbles back to Greece – DW – 03/14/2023

PM Rishi Sunak says UK will not change law to give Parthenon fragments back to Greece. The debate over their restitution continues.

For decades, Greek authorities have been arguing for the permanent return of the so-called Parthenon Marbles. About half of the surviving fragments of a 160-meter-long (520-foot) frieze of the Parthenon Temple are in the collection of the British Museum in London.

Athens wants them back permanently, but the UK's Conservative Party Prime Minister Rishi Sunakhas onc
ABC News •

Volunteers from the ship Iuventa saved thousands of migrant lives on the Mediterranean; now they could face prison

BERLIN and ROME -- When he was rescued in the Mediterranean by the Iuventa in 2016 -- a humanitarian vessel run by a German NGO -- Mohammed was convinced he would be sent back to Libya. He had already been imprisoned twice for his social media activity publicizing the violence he’d seen at the hands of local militias.

“A volunteer calmed me down. She said, ‘Don’t worry, you won’t go back to Libya,' but I didn’t believe her,’” the 25-year-old, whose name is being withheld because he fears for hi
ABC News •

How Bogota is combatting child begging

BOGOTA, Colombia -- On a sunny Monday in January, Bárbara Méndez arrived at daycare center El Centro Abrazar in Bogotá, Colombia, to drop off her 2-year-old son Michal before heading to work. She had only been in the country for a little over two weeks and was doing her best to make a life for herself. Like many of the 1.6 million Venezuelan migrants who have arrived in recent years, she saw few opportunities back home.

“In Colombia there are more opportunities and more ways to get ahead. It’s
Ala Champ •

PARĪLIO — Ala Champ

A stay at the Parīlio hotel on the Greek island of Paros in the Aegean Sea is akin to basking in an aura of serenity.

The 33-suite property was designed with great care by Athens’ based Interior Design Laboratorium and is touted as island’s first luxury property – an ideal place to avoid the crowds of popular islands like Santorini and Mykonos (in non-pandemic high-season times, of course).

It hasn’t been an easy year for the tourism industry. In Greece, the sector accounts for approximately 2
dw.com •

Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangarembga acquitted – DW – 05/09/2023

After facing years of trial for attending an anti-government protest in her country in 2020, the acclaimed novelist has finally been acquitted. The Booker Prize nominee calls for justice for those mistreated by the law.

After years of court cases, author Tsitsi Dangarembga can finally breathe a sigh of relief: On May 8, Zimbabwe's High Court judges found the 64-year-old writer innocent of charges stemming from a peaceful anti-government protest she staged in July 2020 with her friend, the journ
ABC News •

30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, right-wing extremism is on the rise as the East lags behind

BERLIN -- In the evening hours of Nov. 9, 1989 the world watched as East Berliners climbed over the wall for the first time, celebrating a newfound hope and freedom.

The wall came down peacefully -- and in Germany, the date is celebrated as the Peaceful Revolution. British historian Timothy Garton Ash called 1989 "The best year in European history" in a podcast released with the German Marshall Fund last week. It was, as he said, "the almost entirely peaceful dissolution of a nuclear armed post
dw.com •

'ORFEAS2021' is dedicated to a LGTBQ activist – DW – 01/28/2022

The 2018 brutal beating and death of activist Zak Kostopoulos aka Zackie Oh in Athens brought homophobia in Greece into the spotlight. The opera film 'ORFEAS2021' examines a political struggle.

In 2018, 33-year-old Zak Kostopoulos, a Greek artist and political activist for HIV-positive people such as himself, was brutally beaten on a street in central Athens and died. Zak, who also went by his drag stage name Zackie Oh, has since become a symbol of the queer community's fight for recognition.
ABC News •

Protests in US shine light on Germany's struggle with racism and police violence

BERLIN -- Six years ago, Jeremy Osborne moved to Berlin to pursue a career as a professional opera singer. When he's not using his velvety baritone to perform in concerts and choirs, the black 33-year-old Arkansas native closely follows German and U.S. politics.

Along with 10,000 fellow protesters, Osborne attended the large demonstration in central Berlin on June 6 to protest racism and police brutality in the U.S. in the wake of the death of George Floyd. With an estimated 150,000 people atte
dw.com •

Turkey's weak lira affects the tourism industry – DW – 12/08/2022

Tourism in Turkey made a comeback in 2022. The low value of the Turkish lira has attracted tourists, yet citizens are struggling due to inflation.

In the Istanbul neighborhood of Kadikoy, even a tourist can't help but notice the price of a cappuccino has gone up 25% from one early November morning to the next due to the country's high inflation. But it's still affordable for many tourists from abroad, considering the Turkish lira has taken a nose dive in the last year. In September 2021, $1 was
dw.com •

How to avoid the crowds on Santorini – DW – 04/19/2023

As one of the most popular Greek islands, Santorini is known for being overcrowded and expensive. But is it any different during the off season? DW's Sarah Hucal reports.

"Sarah, I want to go to one of those islands with the white buildings," my dad told me as we pondered Greek destinations to visit with my Michigan-based parents a few weeks prior. Although I prefer Greece's lesser-known islands — there are 227 inhabited Greek islands, after all — we decided on Santorini.

Although many will sa
Mongabay Environmental News •

From slave to student: Myanmar migrants find abuse, opportunity in Thailand

This is the third piece in a three-part series on recruiting aboard Thai-run slave boats in the country’s fishing industry. Read the first two here and here.

As soon as he saw men wielding guns, he knew he was in trouble. Dressed in a stylish checkered shirt and speaking fluent English, a 29-year-old Burmese man who asked to be referred to as “John” for his safety, describes his arrival into Thailand nine years ago. “It was a nightmare,“ he said of his 10 months spent slaving with dozens of his
The Guardian •

The Italians fighting against an 'invasion' of palm oil

Mozzarella, ciabatta, Parma ham … when considering Italy’s culinary landscape, palm oil is unlikely to feature high on the list – if at all. Yet the Mediterranean country is the EU’s second largest (pdf) importer of the oil, which some estimate is found in 90% of biscuits and baked goods in Italian supermarkets.

Not everyone in Italy is happy about this, with critics voicing concerns over the health impacts of an ingredient high in saturated fat as well as over the commodity’s links to deforest
Curbed •

Designart Tokyo, in second-annual event, shows promise

Like many of his peers in Japanese design, Baku Sakashita received his education abroad—at the prestigious Swiss design school ECAL. Shortly after graduating, he debuted his first pieces in Milan at SaloneSatellite—the annual design fair’s showcase for young designers. Yet, when it came to putting down his roots, returning to Japan was a must.

“For me, it’s very important to work in Japan because there are a lot of craftsman who are making things by hand like ceramics and glass,” the 33-year-ol
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