Author: DW

Imagine wearing a virtual reality headset and being shown moving avatars of human-looking faces, some of which appear to be sick with an infection. Would you expect your immune system to kick into action? About 250 people apparently did just that during a study conducted by scientists at the University of Lausanne and University of Geneva in Switzerland. And it appears their immune systems reacted to the mere sight of an infection. The participants were shown artificial images — avatars — some of which had rashes, others had a cough. Some looked healthy. Bear in mind, the participants were not presented with…

Tadej Pogacar entered serenely into Paris on Sunday to wrap up his fourth Tour de France title, while Wout van Aert celebrated a famous final stage win as three circuits of the hill of Montmartre were added to the traditional finish on the Champs-Elysées for the first time. Slovenian star Pogacar entered this year’s Tour as clear favorite and lived up to expectations from start to finish, ultimately finishing with a comfortable lead of four minutes and 24 seconds over Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard. Germany’s Florian Lipowitz finished third, some 11 minutes behind Pogacar, riding for team Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe and marking a successful Tour entry…

March 12: Trump imposes sweeping 25% steel and aluminum tariffs The announcement echoes US President Donald Trump’s previous moves from his first time in office. The European Union (EU) immediately starts preparing countermeasures on US imports. They specifically target staple American products like bourbon and motorbikes, and were originally planned to target € 26 billion worth of American goods. The EU keeps insisting that the US tariffs are unjustified. In a statement on March 12, Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said: “EU-US trade relations are currently well balanced, as well as hugely profitable to both sides”. Trump seems particularly triggered by what he calls “a nasty…

At least 30 people have died in the outskirts of Beijing after intense rainstorms battered China’s north, state media reported on Tuesday. “The latest round of heavy rainstorms has left 30 people dead in Beijing as of midnight Monday,” state news agency Xinhua said. Over 80,000 people have been evacuated from the Chinese capital, according to state broadcaster CCTV. 28 deaths were reported in the hilly district of Miyun and two in Yanqing, both of which are on the outskirts of the sprawling city, far from the downtown. Torrential rain causes floods and landslides in northern China Intense rainfall lashed northern China over the weekend, including in the provinces of Hebei,…

European governments and firms breathed a collective sigh of relief after the US-EU trade deal was sealed on Sunday, following nearly four months of tariff uncertainty. Markets reacted positively: shares in European automakers jumped as much as 3% at Monday’s opening, while broader EU stock indices reached four-month highs. European bond yields fell, signaling investor optimism that transatlantic trade tensions may be easing. Under the agreement, a 15% US tariff will be levied on most exports from the European Union, and the bloc will commit €514 billion ($600 billion) in investment to the US — its largest trading partner. Tariffs on some sectors…

1. From provincial festival to international affair The Wacken Open Air festival, also known as W:O:A, began in 1990 as a small festival with just 800 rock fans and a few local metal bands. The initial venue was a former gravel pit on the outskirts of the village of Wacken northwest of Hamburg. Today, the four-day event is one of the biggest and best-known metal festivals in the world, attended by around 185,000 fans from over 80 countries. The festival usually sells out within hours, although tickets are getting more expensive — €333 this year — and the event is…

Somehow it all felt familiar. Spain were in control, England chasing shadows. Just as it had been for the country’s men at Euro 2024 and women in the World Cup the year before that. But it turned out it was another old tale that was to be repeated, Chloe Kelly coming off the bench to win the Euros for England. Just as she had in Euro 2022, when she broke German hearts by scoring in extra time at Wembley, so it was in Switzerland, as Kelly hammered home the penalty that retained the trophy for her country. Earlier the two…

The confessions of a man who spent decades working at Dharmasthala, a famous pilgrimage center in India’s southern state of Karnataka, have unveiled a scandal involving allegations of hundreds of murders and rapes. On July 3, the former sanitation worker made a statement to police.  “I am filing this complaint with an extremely heavy heart and to recover from an insurmountable sense of guilt … I can no longer bear the burden of memories of the murders I witnessed, the continuous death threats to bury the corpses I received, and the pain of beatings — that if I did not bury those…

The disruption is now in full swing, with more and more African countries, particularly in the Sahel region of northern and western Africa, rejecting the so-called Francafrique policy by their former colonial power, France. The term refers to a complex and controversial network of political, economic, social and military ties between France and its former African colonies, describing a kind of special relationship characterized by ongoing French influence in these nations. Often described as neocolonial, France’s Africa policy is under massive political and popular pressure, and the fight against it is openly challenging Paris’ military, diplomatic and economic footprint in Africa. The…

Skin cancers, of which more than 300,000 new cases are diagnosed each year, are preventable. And yet cases continue to rise, particularly in regions of the world where numbers have previously been low.  As well as avoiding direct sunlight and wearing protective clothing such as hats, long-sleeved shirts and pants, effective sunscreen products have been available for years. But as genuine concerns about product safety mix with myths and falsehoods on social media and elsewhere online, some people may move away from these cancer-preventing products. “The most important thing that I always want to emphasize in any of the research I’m doing is the importance…