Brussels is not just the European capital - it's also a major crime center. Even members of the European parliament have been robbed and beaten in the middle of the city. Criminals know that many people carry a laptop, a pricey cell-phone and a full wallet. The police, poorly equipped and paid, feel they're fighting a losing battle.

• 11/19/09
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Wolfgang Joop is one of Germany's best known fashion designers and entrepreneurs. He may be celebrating his 65th birthday. but he doesn't have any plans to take things easy.

• 11/18/09
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Germany is celebrating the 250 th anniversary of Friedrich Schiller's birth this year. He's one of the country's Great Writers, but nowadays he tends to be overshadowed by his older contemporary, competitor and collaborator, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. So who is the greater of Germany's two Greatest Writers?

• 11/17/09
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It's a well known fact that singing is good for your health and brings down stress levels. Those are just two of the reasons why high-powered managers like to give their vocal chords a work-out from time to time. One way they can do so is by joining the Leader Choir, which is a special project of Berlin's Radio Choir. All their working lives, the executives are pushed to perform; in the choir they perform in a completely different way.

• 11/17/09
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Parents who care for small children at home instead of putting them into nursery schools or kindergartens are supposed to receive an extra 150 euros ($223) monthly. At least that's the new center-right government's plan, and it's evoked a storm of criticism. One key objection is that parents could use the money for things other than their children's welfare.

• 11/16/09
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Tweeting - normally, that's a verb you might associate with cartoon birds - but it's also a term describing the act of writing a Twitter status update. It's one of the most popular internet trends. All around the globe, people are tweeting their news on the World Wide Web - even US President Barack Obama tweets. But if you want to stand out from the 44 million Twitter users, you either have to be famous - or creative. German artist Michaela von Aichberger is one of the latter, she has found a unique way to create portraits of her fellow Tweeps, or Twitter users.

• 11/16/09
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He grew up in East Germany and after the fall of the Berlin Wall, he became enamored in electronic music, which was gaining popularity in Berlin's club scene. Van Dyk soon began deejaying at the legendary techno club "Tresor" and from there he shot onto the international scene.

• 11/16/09
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Swiss-born Martin Schlaepfer is now the ballet director at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Duesseldorf and has now been nominated for the renowned Faust Prize. But winning awards is old hat for this choreographer, whose prize shelf is getting pretty full.

• 11/13/09
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Born in communist East Germany, Evelin Senarclens de Grancy fled to the West after facing increasing harassment from the secret police, the Stasi. But the author also faced repression in the West. Her second husband was a spy and as a double-agent he was passing information on to her former persecutors - the Stasi.

• 11/13/09
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Belgians like to get their shellfish from the Dutch province of Zeeland. But now politicians have called on the nation to boycott the delicacies to protest the Netherlands' refusal to dredge the Western Scheldt estuary. The Netherlands says its refusal is based on environmental concerns. But to the Belgians the real reason is to prevent competition with the Dutch port at Rotterdam. Only if the estuary is deepened can the next generation of heavy container ships dock in Belgium's port at Antwerp.

• 11/13/09
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Does the sight of a metal garage door offend your aesthetic sensibilities? You're not alone, apparently. A German Internet firm has found the answer: photo tarpaulins that will spruce up any monochromatic garage door and give your house a whole new look.

• 11/13/09
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Peter Floriancic is an elder in the field of innovation. The 90-year-old Slovenian invented practical gadgets like the plastic zipper, slide frames or mini perfume bottles with pumps. Floriancic is not a shy and retiring inventor. He socializes with film stars and maharadjas. He is still bubbling with ideas - one of his last inventions was a fitness bed.

• 11/13/09
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Sugata Mitra works at NIIT, an Indian educational-software company. NIIT's headquarters in Delhi borders the Kalkaji slum, and the two worlds are divided by a simple wall. Ten years ago, Mitra came up with the idea of putting a hole in the wall, and installing a computer in it, with an Internet connection. It soon became clear that children who had never seen or operated a computer could figure out all on their own how to surf the Net.

• 11/13/09
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Antje von Dewitz has her sights set high. The executive director of sporting goods maker VAUDE, von Dewitz is profiting from the global boom in rock climbing and mountaineering. Just 36, she took over the top job at the family-owned business last spring.

• 11/13/09
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Germany is experiencing a soft drinks revolution, with 80 new flavors hitting the market. Among the fresh flavors are cranberry, mango-lime and pine-tree-root. We look at the growing popularity of these drinks. The new range of thirst-quenchers is part of a craze set in motion by Bionade, which is manufactured in southern Germany.

• 11/13/09
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On Monday, Germany celebrates the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and will host a number of prestigious guests: EU heads of states and government, US Secretary of State, and the Russian president are among those to attend. If you happen to be in Berlin in front of the Brandenburg Gate, you will see a wall like you would have 20 back then, but this wall, unlike that one, was built simply to be knocked down…

• 11/13/09
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The iron curtain divided not only East and West Germany, but also wound through the center of Berlin. After the Wall came down, the fortifications were swiftly dismantled and the former border zone opened up. DW talked to a man who was part of the restoration of the wonderful parks between Berlin and historic Potsdam; parks that lie just beyond a bridge that played a cloak-and-dagger role in the Cold War.

• 11/13/09
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It’s a dying profession, but legal writers are still in demand in Turkey. Rain or shine, they sit at the side of the street with folding table and portable typewriter and offer their services, typing witness depositions, applications for guardianship, and legal complaints.

• 11/13/09
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As a child in West Berlin, DW-TV reporter Oliver Glasenapp believed that every city in the world had a wall, and a border that was watched over by armed soldiers. So when the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989, it was the beginning of a new stage of life for Glasenapp and many like him. At last, people could travel from East to West … and the end of a divided Germany was in sight.

• 11/13/09
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Swiss-born Simon de Pury is one of the world's top auctioneers - and widely considered the most entertaining. His showmanship has become legendary. But he's also a talented photographer with an eye for detail. Now an exhibition of his photography work has gone on display in a Berlin gallery.

• 11/13/09
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Norman Foster's futuristic yacht, which was three years in the making, has raised the bar in luxury boats. Eight co-owners, which include the world-renowned architect, pitched in to cover the costs of their 1.85-million-euro ($2.69 million) timeshare. Foster says he was inspired by creatures of the sea.

• 11/2/09
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Some European vintners place great emphasis not only on wine, but also on design, with innovative architecture catching on in many of Europe's better winegrowing regions. In Germany's Franconia region in northern Bavaria, vintner couple Ludwig and Sandra Kroll have given their facility a decidedly modern edge.

• 11/2/09
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In mid-October, the world-famous bust of the beautiful Egyptian ruler Nefertiti will be moved to its new home in the Neues Museum on Berlin’s Museum Island. A week before the grand opening on October 16, Deutsche Welle takes a look at what visitors to the museum can look forward to.

• 11/2/09
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Oyster fans spend hours plodding through Danish mud flats to pluck the pricey delicacies. The point is not merely culinary enjoyment; it's also about inspiring people to recognize the importance of environmental protection.

• 10/29/09
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Until now renewable energies were considered one of the great hopes of German industry. State subsidies also guaranteed healthy profits for solar energy firms. But a slump in sales along with fears that the new government may not follow through on pledges to continue to invest in renewable energies have sent shockwaves through the industry.

• 10/29/09
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Illustrators Olaf Hajek and Martin Haake are hardly known in their native Germany, while in the US, they're thought of as artists. Their design work is sought after by global companies and media groups. Now the two are working hard to finally make a breakthrough at home.

• 10/29/09
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Despite the bad fortunes of the book industry as a whole, cook books are so popular that the world's biggest book fair, which runs from October 14 to October 18 in Frankfurt, has put a special focus on the subject. Food and drink guides and cook books are selling better than ever and are a force to be reckoned with. Food photographer and publisher Thomas Ruhl takes Deutsche Welle around the fair.

• 10/23/09
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Berlin's New Museum is the best proof that architecture is increasingly a tourist magnet, attracting locals and visitors alike. It's no longer just the exhibits that have pulling power - but also the buildings that house them.

• 10/23/09
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