Berlin

Berlin

Officially, the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989. Demolition would take more than four years, and a few sections remain for memorial purposes, but it was on that date that passage between East and West Berlin - and thus East and West Germany - opened to all citizens of both countries. To say that it came as a surprise would be a serious understatement. Earlier that year, even the best informed observers were predicting that the wall would stand for at least a few more decades.

Over the years, cinema architecture has continually reinvented itself. From cinematic experiences that engage multiple senses to material technologies that reinterpret the aesthetics of past eras, the concept of the movie theater has enabled the recovery, revitalization, and renewal of numerous obsolete, ruined, or even historically protected spaces. Just as the Majestic Cinema reflects an important community function in Zanzibar, Tanzania, many twentieth-century buildings have found in adaptive reuse an opportunity to restore and preserve cultures, memories, and traditions that remain meaningful to their communities.

“Stay where you are, don't f***ing push in on me,” Crowe said. “I'll come to you. Give everybody space.” To reiterate his seriousness, he added: “As soon as somebody is a d***, I'm gone. You got me? We clear?” Crowe can then be seen signing portraits of many of his old films, including Gladiator.

For Nicholas Bouliane, a software developer who runs the site All About Berlin, the prospect of Google answering users' questions directly feels close to an extinction-level event already. Bouliane - a Canada-born resident of Berlin whose website helps newcomers navigate German bureaucracy and everyday life - told his followers on X in the aftermath of Google's search announcements that his website visits are down 70%. "I had to divert significant effort from maintaining (All About Berlin) to making sure I'll still have an income next year," he told me.

Bukhara, a city on the famous Silk Road, steeped in over 2,000 years of history. Its madrasas, mosques, turquoise tiles and domes, dating as far back as the 9th century, make it one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Central Asia. Its original urban fabric has been so well maintained that it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993.

One by one, the visitors descend through a tight tunnel cut through volcanic rock into the damp foundations of the Teatro Romano buried beneath Herculaneum, with the weight of 2,000 years of city above them. This is a time machine, the guide says, and we are going back. It is pitch black as film-maker Gianfranco Rosi's camera finds torchlight catching the tourists' transparent waterproof capes, making them appear like ghosts.

My favourite word is RESILIENCE. It means not only overcoming crises, stress, or setbacks, but also emerging from them stronger - in other words, inner resilience, adaptability, and mental fortitude.

Buildner has announced the results of its competition, the Last Nuclear Bomb Memorial No.6. This competition is held each year to support the universal ban on nuclear weapons. In 2017, on the 75th anniversary of the 1945 bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, which claimed the lives of over 100,000 people, the United Nations adopted the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

A new partnership between Norway's national railway Vy, Denmark's DSB and Germany's Deutsche Bahn means there will be a direct line between Berlin and Oslo for the first time in 20 years. The new service will run a twice-daily round trip from summer 2028, through Hamburg, Copenhagen, Malmö and Gothenburg. Ticket prices and departure times will be shared at a later date.

The case involved a family who booked an 11-night package holiday at the Grecotel Kos Imperial, a premium resort on the Greek island of Kos, in August 2024. The plaintiff paid about $8,500, the court said. The hotel had signs posted at the pools prohibiting guests from reserving sun beds with towels for more than 30 minutes without actually using them, according to a document describing the verdict.

The movie confronts Germany's post-World War II trauma in a family road movie centered on three characters: the Nobel Laureate novelist Thomas Mann (Hanns Zischler), his daughter and assistant Erika (Hüller), and his son Klaus (August Diehl). The movie kicks off with a bravura five-and-a-half minute locked off single take of Klaus in Cannes, sitting naked on the floor by a bed with a sleeping young man.

At least eight people were killed and 32 others were injured in Thailand after a freight train struck a bus at a rail crossing in Bangkok, rescue officials and a deputy transport minister said. Firefighters and rescue crews were dispatched as flames engulfed the bus and nearby vehicles close to the airport rail link's Makkasan station, officials said, adding that the collision also involved cars and motorcycles. Preliminary reports showed the bus had stopped on the tracks at a red light, preventing crossing barriers from closing, the deputy transport minister Siripong Angkasakulkiat told reporters.

The setting is 1949 and the celebrated German novelist and Nobel laureate Thomas Mann who fled the Nazis before the war for California exile and US citizenship has returned home, first visiting Frankfurt (now in West Germany) to receive an award named after Goethe, whose birthplace this is. It is Goethe's enlightened civilised wisdom and apolitical artistry Mann will pointedly evoke in his many elaborate speeches.

WHEN WORDS FALL SILENT, CINEMA SPEAKS announces a giant sign. CINEMA AS A WEAPON is among the slogans pinned to a board. So it is clear from the start that Zineb Sedira's exhibition at Tate Britain is intended as a manifesto as much as an aesthetically pleasing arrangement of films and sculptures. And these phrases raise questions: if art is a weapon, then who gets to use it, what war is being fought, and is it any longer effective? What silence is being maintained, and who is speaking out against it?

And while the city is known for its food, fashion, and design, I think part of what makes Copenhagen feel so special is how closely connected it is to nature and open space-something worth keeping in mind when planning a visit here.

The shared amenity spaces at Berlin's C1 office building draw on the warmth and ease of the home office comfort, domesticity, and informality while embracing the energy of a shared workplace.

“You have neo-Nazis here who want to assert their dominance on the streets, who want to project symbols of their control of the streets, who use stickers or graffiti to show: 'We are here and this is our neighborhood,'” Anne told DW during a tour of the district.

As the train pulled out of Istanbul's Bakırköy Station in the general direction of Paris, our cabin steward Eduardo poured the first of what would be many glasses of Champagne over the next six days. Crystal flute in hand, I settled into one of the plush (and firmly anchored to the floor) upholstered seats across from my mom and raised my glass.

Opening today, Hotel Corduroy is a new 29-room boutique stay taking over the former Sunset Montauk on West Lake Drive-and instead of relying on the usual glossy Hamptons minimalism, this one is going full nostalgic surf shack energy. Think sun-faded tones, vintage furniture, weathered textures and interiors you might see in a 1960s surf film shot on Super 8.

Berlin's concept, known as BERLIN+, aims to utilize existing sports centers in the city and surrounding areas as Olympic venues, with 97 percent of the required venues already in place.

Villinger noted that Naumann grappled with the question of whether her role as a representative of Germany made her a 'state artist,' akin to her grandfather, who faced reprimand for his work.

Sung Tieu's work summons a form of bureaucratic realism, using sculpture, text, and found objects to examine the exclusions imposed by systems of statehood and administrative control.

The swastika and eagle holding an oak wreath were taken as a symbol, and the Hitler salute was adopted, along with the all-important 'Sieg Heil'.

The Shiretoko Peninsula feels markedly different from the rest of the country, with winter drift ice and summer wildflowers, preserving its raw, unpolished character.