Author: DW

The global economy has weathered a whirlwind of challenges in 2025, including sharp trade tensions, uneven yet moderate growth, and rising concerns over elevated inflation and debt levels in many parts of the world.   As the year draws to a close, many of these problems are expected to continue into 2026. Global growth will moderately slow, from 3.2% in 2025 to 2.9% in 2026, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimates. The organisation, comprising the world’s 38 most advanced economies, says the world economy has proved resilient this year but remains fragile. US President Donald Trump shocked the world…

There is certainly no lack of good ideas for 2026: eating healthier, drinking less alcohol, meditating more often, and so on and so forth. Wait a minute! Aren’t the resolutions you had this past year, and the year before that (and before that, and before that) amazingly similar to the new ones? Indeed! Perhaps they’re even exactly the same. No surprise there. The enthusiasm with which we start each new year is a bit like the fireworks on New Year’s Eve: After a loud bang and bright flash, everything soon fizzles out. Eventually, the inner culprit takes control again. And so it goes year…

British former boxing heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua was injured in a car accident in Nigeria that claimed the lives of two people, his promoter and police both said. The 36-year-old boxer suffered minor injuries as a result of the crash, local police said, adding that they are investigating the accident’s cause. “We are trying to contact Anthony and in the meantime we don’t want to speculate on how he is,” his promoter told British newspaper the Daily Mail, adding that the 36-year-old “appears OK” from the pictures circulating online. Lanre Ogunlowo, police commissioner for Ogun State, told the Associated Press that Joshua…

Lufthansa Airlines, the flag carrier of Germany, takes great pride in its aviation heritage spanning almost a century. Images from the 1920s and 1930s — including Junkers Ju 52 aircraft used by the Luftwaffe — feature prominently in Lufthansa’s marketing, alluding to the “pioneering spirit” of the brand and its place in aviation history. But the story of Lufthansa’s role in the Third Reich war machine, one that includes the large-scale use of forced labor, remains largely under the radar. In fact, Lufthansa is just one of many companies that collaborated with the Nazi regime, big-name brands and business dynasties that continue…

Becoming a euro area member demonstrates how the Bulgarian economy has improved over the past decade. But political turmoil and rising public anger over economic mismanagement and corruption pose a serious challenge.

Whether it’s virtual assistants on our phones or chatbots on government websites, the large language models (LLMs) that power AI tools such as ChatGPT are almost everywhere online. But growing evidence suggests these LLMs are judging dialect speakers harshly. In 2024 researchers from the University of California, Berkely, tested ChatGPT’s responses to several varieties of English dialects from places like India, Ireland, and Nigeria. Compared to American or British English, responses to dialects showed increases in stereotyping (18% worse), demeaning content (25% worse) and condescending responses (15% worse). Some models also simply cannot comprehend dialects at all. In July 2025, an…

An icon of French cinema and one of the country’s most famous stars, Brigitte Bardot has died at the age of 91. Often referred to simply by her initials, BB was considered both a feminist and a femme fatale — but controversy also became a recurring theme of her life. Born the daughter of an industrialist in Paris on September 28, 1934, Brigitte Bardot was discovered as a model at the age of 15. She became even more sought-after once she had dyed her brunette hair blonde, making her one of the most famous “blondes” of the 20th century, not unlike Marilyn…

What’s the story behind the sawed-open goat skulls that frequently turn up in the ground beneath Berlin? It’s often small things that reveal something about times gone by, said Eberhard Völker, archaeologist at the State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments. He and his colleagues suspect that goat brain was a popular snack in medieval times. Völker leads excavations at the Molkenmarkt in the historic center of Berlin, digging down into the past with a shovel, trowel and brush. At a depth of 4 meters (13 feet), researchers reach the Middle Ages. Atop fire debris and rubble, Berlin’s ground level has…

When you move house in Germany, you need to register your new address with the authorities. That often means calling city hall, waiting weeks for an appointment, and showing up in person with paper forms. Yes, in 2025! And if you forget your health insurance card at the doctors? Some apps can help — by sending a fax. “Around three-quarters, 77%, of German companies still use fax machines,” Felix Lesner from Bitkom, Germany’s IT industry association, told DW. “And 25% use it often or very often.” Why? “Most of the companies state that it’s essential for communication with the public authorities,” Lesner said.…

Jolene Foo’s route to Chinese drama fandom happened after she moved from her native Malaysia to Norway in her late 20s. Foo, who grew up as a “third-generation Chinese kid,” was looking for a way to reconnect with her homeland. Her friends recommended Chinese dramas, or C-dramas for short.  “What really drew me in was the cultural dimension,” she told DW. “As someone who is of the Chinese diaspora, watching C-dramas became a way of reconnecting with my roots.” Tanvir Khan had just finished his secondary school exam in 2018 and was surfing Facebook. He came across a short video…