Author: DW

For many of us, the day often starts with a swipe. Before getting out of bed, we might scroll through TikTok, Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts. A few clips become a few dozen. Minutes become an hour. Then, later in the day, we return for more. Researchers at Germany’s University of Bayreuth examined the phenomenon, especially in children and adolescents. The review, published in the journal European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, analyzed 42 studies involving nearly 30,000 participants, most of them adolescents and young adults. Importantly, the authors examined something often overlooked in public debate: The mechanics of the platforms themselves.…

And then, all of a sudden, Deniz Undav disappeared into a sea of Germany shirts. The striker was lost in the jubilant crowd of his teammates celebrating after the Stuttgart forward scored an injury-time winner for Germany against the Ivory Coast in Toronto, Canada, on Saturday. At first, it seemed as though Undav himself hadn’t quite grasped what he had just accomplished. “How do I do it? No idea. I’m just in the right spot,” the 29-year-old said afterward, showing off that now familiar smile of his. Head coach Julian Nagelsmann, who showed a knack for making the right substitutions at the right time, was full…

France is soaking up the sun, with annual music festivities set to take over Paris and the rest of the country on Sunday, even as the national weather service warns of dangerous temperatures. The prime minister’s office announced in a statement that it is banning the consumption of alcohol during nationwide Fete de la Musique (Music Day) festivities in regional departments placed under the red heat wave alert from noon on Sunday. “For all events organized by the state and its agencies, instructions have been given not to offer alcohol,” the statement said following a crisis meeting called by Prime…

Germany’s bench emptied after Deniz Undav scored the winner in the 94th minute. Julian Nagelsmann roared with delight. The Germany fans behind the goal threw themselves in all directions, lost in the joy of an injury-time winner. For the first time since they won the World Cup in 2014, Germany are headed to the knockouts. Moments like this make it easy to believe that something special is happening with this team. This was a victory for head coach Julian Nagelsmann, who got his substitutes spot on. But more than that, it was a win for the new guard. Unaffected by…

France is soaking up the sun with annual music festivities set to take over Paris and the rest of the country on Sunday, even as the national weather service warns of dangerous temperatures. The Prime Minister’s office said in a statement that it was banning the consumption of alcohol during nationwide Fete de la Musique (“festival of music”) festivities in regional departments placed under the red heatwave alert from noon on Sunday. “For all events organized by the state and its agencies, instructions have been given not to offer alcohol,” the statement said following a crisis meeting called by Prime…

Silicon Valley executives and global policymakers are scratching their heads at US President Donald Trump’s latest crackdown on Anthropic, the artificial intelligence (AI) company behind the powerful Claude models. Just days after the release of its most powerful upgrades — Claude Fable 5 and the even more powerful Mythos 5 — the Trump administration imposed strict export controls on Anthropic’s tools on June 12. Washington cited national security risks from so-called jailbreaking — clever prompts that bypass AI safety rules — which the San Francisco-based tech giant said were minor, overblown and also present in rival AI platforms. Yet with the US Commerce Department effectively banning…

Bisphenol A (BPA) is an industrial chemical that has been banned from baby bottles and thermal paper receipts in the EU. Now, it will also be banished from food packaging. From July 2026 onwards, food wrappers and containers made with BPA or other bisphenols will no longer be allowed to be sold in the EU. Bisphenol A is a chemical used to manufacture polycarbonate, a hard, transparent plastic, as well as epoxy resins. Such resins can be found in the interior coating of food or beverage cans, for example. They are designed to prevent the metal from rusting and leaching…

Most of the news about Germany’s World Cup squad was around the return of Manuel Neuer. But beyond the headlines lies another story. Eight of the 26 players representing Germany this summer have roots in Africa: Jonathan Tah (Ivorian father), Antonio Rüdiger (Sierra Leonean mother), Leroy Sane (Senegalese father), Felix Nmecha and Jamal Musiala (both Nigerian fathers), Assan Ouedraogo (both parents from Burkina Faso), Malick Thiaw (Senegalese father) and Jamie Leweling (Ghanaian father). In fact, if you look at the last year of Germany’s squad selections, there have been a total of 17 players with African roots called up. The connection Germany’s footballers have with…

Can the music of Johann Sebastian Bach encourage dialogue? Absolutely, says Burkhard Jung, lord mayor of Leipzig and former president of Eurocities, a network of major European cities. In his opening address at the 2026 Leipzig Bachfest, he cited the fast-paced nature of our modern lives, where so much happens simultaneously. “The world is full of voices, but they don’t really talk to one another,” Jung emphasized. Bach’s music is polyphonic; layers of distinct voices with their own melodies, all given equal importance as part of the piece as a whole. Sometime these voices take turns in a kind of…

Access to artificial intelligence (AI) models is not only a matter of economic autonomy but also of national security. For any doubters, this was made clear in mid-June when Anthropic announced that, on US government orders, it would deny all foreign users access to its top AI software, citing national security concerns. These AI models — Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 — are considered particularly effective at identifying vulnerabilities in software. Germany, for one, must urgently catch up in artificial intelligence, says German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt. In the current situation, it is essential to help shape technological innovation, he…