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Russia's team players pose for media with their gold medals and a trophy during medal ceremony after their victory at the 2012 IIHF men's ice hockey World Championship final game with Slovakia in Helsinki May 20, 2012.

Russia world champions

Leaders take part in the NATO Summit meeting in Chicago, May 20, 2012.

Missile shield moves forward

Tomislav Nikolic, left, the nationalist Serbian Progressive Party leader and presidential candidate, and his wife, Dragica, center, cast their ballots at the presidential run-off elections in Belgrade, Serbia

Serbian nationalist ahead

A British Crown Office photo showing Megrahi

Lockerbie bomber dead

The crumbling wreck of the Rocca Estense in Finale Emilia

Aftershocks follow deadly quake

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Yukiya Amano of Japan speaks during a news conference after a meeting of the IAEA's board of governors at the International Center, in Vienna, Austria, on Monday, March 5, 2012.

IAEA chief in Iran

Arab flags held by figures running, with Libya first, Egypt second and Tunisia third. Two outstretched hands, representing Syria and Yemen

Salafists rally in Tunisia

Lebanese security forces guard the car in which anti-Syrian cleric Ahmed Abdul-Wahid and his bodyguard were shot dead.

Syria spillover into Lebanon

Thematic image showing the Twitter logo

Pakistan tweets again after ban

Chelsea players celebrate during London parade. Drogba speaks into microphone

Chelsea cheer, Bayern glum

Elections

Economy trumps religion in Egypt's election

Candidates' campaign posters

Egyptians head to the polls to elect a new president this week. Unlike last year's parliamentary elections, economic issues - not religious ones - are foremost on voters' minds.

Algeria now 'anchor of stability' in region

Nationalist Nikolic wins in Serbia

Tomislav Nikolic is Serbia's new president. What does his victory say about the country's direction?

Immigration

Nearly a million new immigrants in Germany

Polish worker at a German construction site

Germany has been looking for skilled workers, and last year saw the highest rate of immigration in more than 15 years. More and more people are coming from crisis-wracked EU countries.

Turning brain drain into brain gain

Climate

cassava roots showing the brown exterior and grey interior

Fighting climate change

Cassava is seen as a way to combat climate change as it thrives in poor conditions.

Health

Safer deliveries

Experts call for specialized clinics to care for high-risk pregnancies and newborns.

Language

Excuse me, do you speak Chinglish?

There are more speakers of English in Asia than anywhere else. Once the language of the colonials, it has become the neutral language of business, a lingua franca for a vast continent whose economic might is growing.
Banner 2012

Global Media Forum

DW's annual conference focuses on shaping a sustainable world with culture, education and media.

Global Media Forum
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Study in Germany

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Study in Germany

Editor's Choice

Cities gird themselves for climate change

Auschwitz survivor historian Arno Lustiger dies

Using barn owls instead of pesticide

Vintage airplanes take to the skies over Lake Constance
  • Beautiful, but deadly

    Safely disposing of mercury

    Beautiful, but deadly

    Humans have been using mercury since ancient times. In the Middle Ages, mercury was used in alchemy and medicine. Only in modern times did it become clear that mercury is highly poisonous.

  • The paradox of energy-saving bulbs

    Safely disposing of mercury

    The paradox of energy-saving bulbs

    There's also mercury in fluorescent lighting. Although they save energy, disposal can be a problem. Energy-saving bulbs should not be thrown away with regular waste, due to the tiny amount of mercury they contain.

  • From the shredder ...

    Safely disposing of mercury

    From the shredder ...

    A fork-lift operator at the DELA recycling company in Essen, Germany, dumps a load of compact fluorescent tubes into a shredder. In order to prevent mercury from escaping, a filtering ventilation system sucks the air away.

  • ... to the silo ...

    Safely disposing of mercury

    ... to the silo ...

    The shredded compact fluorescent tubes are stored in a silo until a spiral conveyor carefully carries them to a glass-washing area.

  • ... and in the washing machine.

    Safely disposing of mercury

    ... and in the washing machine.

    Workers wash masses of broken glass from the shredded lamps to recover luminescent material and mercury from the glass shards.

  • Pure glass

    Safely disposing of mercury

    Pure glass

    Glass from light bulbs is considered valuable in industrial processes, since it can withstand high temperatures and varying levels of pressure. But producers need the purest possible material.

  • Vacuum drying

    Safely disposing of mercury

    Vacuum drying

    The glass-washing process leaves behind sludge with high mercury content. Mercury is distilled from this, like in a liquor distillery.

  • Valuable illuminant

    Safely disposing of mercury

    Valuable illuminant

    The pure illuminant is returned to the light bulb producers. They gladly pay for it, because it contains the rare earth elements yttrium and europium.

  • Distillate

    Safely disposing of mercury

    Distillate

    Pure mercury also comes out of the vacuum dryer. Since mercury is quite dense, it weighs 1.7 times as much as the same volume of iron. The amount shown in the jar here comes from 500,000 compact fluorescent light bulbs.

  • Detox

    Safely disposing of mercury

    Detox

    Sulfur is directed to the left part of this machine, and from above, liquid mercury. The combination produces mercury sulfide, which has a very stable composition and is no longer poisonous.

  • Red mercuric sulfide

    Safely disposing of mercury

    Red mercuric sulfide

    The mercury sulfide can be disposed of by storing it in old mines. This, along with rock filling, stabilizes the old mining shafts.

  • Disposal - as art

    Safely disposing of mercury

    Disposal - as art

    This piece of modern art, made from mercury sulfide, hangs on the wall at the DELA recycling company in Dorsten, Germany.


    Author: Fabian Schmidt / sad | Editor: Andreas Sten-Ziemons

Politics

A soccer ball in front of the soccer stadium in Kyiv

Boycott burden

Politicians say they will consider not attending Euro 2012, though players should participate.

Sports

People set off smoke bombs in a soccer stadium

Ruining soccer

England could show Germany how to deal with a shocking rash of violence on the soccer pitch.

Champions League

Chelsea win thrilling Champions League final

Chelsea's Didier Drogba (C) celebrates with team mates after scoring a goal against Bayern Munich.

Chelsea have won European soccer's top club competition, the Champions League. Playing at home in Munich, Bayern dominated the 120 minutes of open play, but Chelsea came through in the penalty shootout.

Afghanistan and missile defense top of the agenda in Chicago

Religion

Catholic conference: many problems, no message

Bei einem biblischen Impuls in der Jugendkirche Samuel in Mannheim beim 98. Katholikentag lesen Gläubige eine Katholikentagzeitung. Der 98. Katholikentag mit seinen rund 1200 Veranstaltungen findet vom 16. bis zum 20. Mai in Mannheim statt. Foto: Uli Deck dpa/lsw +++(c) dpa - Bildfunk+++ pixel

Modern church conferences frequently say they want to address modern political and social issues, but the 98th Catholic Conference in Mannheim lacked any vision or coherent message.

Eurovision Song Contest

Azerbaijan: autocracy in an oil paradise

The sun rises behind the oil derricks on the Caspian Sea near Baku, Azerbaijan, Friday 07 October 2005. More than 1,500 floatable oil derricks extract oil from Caspian's seabed in Azerbaijan. In 2005 Azerbaijan extracted 19,5 million tons of oil.

Oil is central to Azerbaijan. The former Soviet Republic, in which the Eurovision Song Contest is due to take place at the end of May, is one of the richest countries in the region - but it is also an autocracy.
Education for all

Education for All

DW takes a critical look at the state of global education in this blog and multimedia series.