Berliner Tageszeitung - News from Berlin, Brandenburg and the world

Virgin Galactic, which last year flew its flamboyant founder Richard Branson to space, will re-open ticket sales to the general public starting Wednesday, for the sum of $450,000.

France's top court on Tuesday confirmed that a probe should be closed into the shooting down of a presidential plane that triggered the 1994 Rwanda genocide, ending a two-decade legal saga.

Emiliano Sala felt under "a lot of pressure" to complete a transfer to the Premier League shortly before he died in a plane crash as he headed to his new club, an inquest heard on Tuesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met Bahrain's king on a landmark visit Tuesday to the small, oil-rich Gulf country, 17 months after they ended decades of tensions to normalise ties.

Imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny said Tuesday he would keep challenging Russia's leadership during the opening of a new fraud trial that could extend his jail term by more than a decade.

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk, considered the richest person in the world, has donated 5.04 million shares of his company to unspecified charities, according to a securities filing.

Western leaders said Tuesday they were seeing positive signs that Russia was looking to ease tensions over Ukraine, after Moscow announced it was pulling back some of the troops deployed on its neighbour's borders.

Honduran ex-president Juan Orlando Hernandez, accused by Washington of ties with drug traffickers, vowed Tuesday to cooperate with domestic justice in a US bid to extradite him.

A Palestinian was killed by Israeli fire in the occupied West Bank Tuesday, both sides said, during what witnesses described as a confrontation between protesters and Israeli troops.

Matthias Jaissle says his Red Bull Salzburg side are preparing for "a storm" to hit them in the shape of German giants Bayern Munich who are bristling after losing 4-2 to Bundesliga minnows Bochum on Saturday.

At 80 years old, Kyiv retiree Yuriy Mykhailin has seen Ukraine battle through a lot to forge its own path in the world, and he's not going to let Russian pressure daunt him now.

Norwegian nordic combined athlete Jarl Magnus Riiber has had a Beijing Olympics to forget.

Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson has been passed fit to travel to Italy for the first leg of the club's last-16 Champions League tie at Inter Milan on Wednesday.

Russia's Kamila Valieva placed top in the Olympic figure skating short programme Tuesday, after being allowed to compete despite testing positive for a banned substance before the Games.

France winger Gabin Villiere will miss this month's Six Nations visit to Scotland with a facial injury, sources told AFP on Tuesday.

Russian teenager Kamila Valieva skated at the Beijing Olympics for the first time on Tuesday since sport's top court cleared her to compete despite failing a drugs test, bursting into tears at the end of her performance.

Talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz began in Moscow Tuesday, the latest meeting in weeks of diplomatic efforts to defuse tensions over Ukraine.

Olympic figure skaters up against Russia's Kamila Valieva, who was competing Tuesday despite testing positive for a banned substance, are determined not to let the scandal ruin their own Games.

Wales centre Uilisi Halaholo has been given a chance to prove his match fitness ahead of next week's Six Nations trip to England by being released for club duty, the Welsh Rugby Union said on Tuesday.

Wales centre Uilisi Halaholo has been given a chance to prove his match fitness ahead of next week's Six Nations trip to England by being released for club duty, the Welsh Rugby Union said on Tuesday.

French President Emmanuel Macron this week will announce that French troops will be withdrawn from Mali and redeployed elsewhere in the Sahel following a breakdown in ties with the country's military regime, concurring sources say.

Mikaela Shiffrin got a boost Tuesday in her hunt for an elusive medal at the Beijing Olympics when she had an invaluable run-out in the downhill.

Next month's Oscars will be hosted by three doyennes of comedy, Wanda Sykes, Amy Schumer and Regina Hall, it was confirmed Tuesday, as organizers amp up efforts to lure viewers back to the ceremony.

Italian prosecutors on Tuesday issued an international arrest warrant for former Brazil forward Robinho and asked for his extradition following confirmation of his conviction for gang rape, news agencies reported.

The Taliban on Tuesday declared February 15 a national holiday to mark the anniversary of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan -- six months after they stormed into Kabul to topple the US-backed government.

South Africa director of cricket Graeme Smith has said a first Test in over eight years for the Proteas women represented the "cherry on top" of a tour of England in June and July.

Footballers around the world have given a resounding red card to FIFA's proposal to hold the World Cup every two years, according to a survey by players' global union Fifpro.

European stock markets rebounded and oil prices tumbled Tuesday on hopes that Ukraine and Russia would avoid a full-blown conflict.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida spoke Tuesday with Ukraine's president to back the country's territorial integrity in the face of a possible Russian invasion and urge a diplomatic resolution to the stand-off.

Czech rider Jan Hirt took the overall honours in the Tour of Oman on Tuesday after Colombian sprint specialist Fernando Gaviria won the sixth and final stage for his second win of this year's race.

Glenn Maxwell slammed 39 off 25 balls as a dominant Australia thumped Sri Lanka by six wickets to win their third straight Twenty20 clash and seal the series in Canberra on Tuesday.

Russian teenager Kamila Valieva was set to take centre stage at the Beijing Olympics on Tuesday after being cleared to skate despite failing a drugs test, as snowboarder Su Yiming claimed an "insane" gold for the hosts.