Author: DW

It starts in a child’s first months of life, and it’s well-documented: A landmark study in 2005, for instance, showed that babies perceived differences in race and exhibited preferences for their own race as early as at three months of age. In a 2017 study, children associated adults of their own race with happy music, and adults of a different one with sad music — when the kids were aged just six to nine months old. While children showed a “weak racial bias” at seven years old, by the age of 10, their bias had become “strong and reliable” in a 2014 study. White…

Germany and Real Madrid defender Antonio Rüdiger and the German Football Association (DFB) have launched legal proceedings against a former newspaper editor who accused the player of making a gesture of support for Islamic extremism in a Ramadan-related social media post. On March 11, at the start of the Muslim month for fasting, prayer, community and reflection, Rüdiger posted an image of himself kneeling on a prayer map in a white robe with his right index finger pointing upwards, along with the caption: “Ramadan Mubarak to all Muslims around the world. May the almighty accept our fasting and prayers.” Two…

03/28/2024March 28, 2024Germany to provide Ukraine with over 10,000 artillery shells, military official saysThe German Bundeswehr (armed forces) will hand over 10,000 artillery shells from its own stocks to Ukraine in the coming days, Major General Christian Freuding told DW.  Speaking to DW on Wednesday, Freuding said the handover is the first part of a German three-stage plan for ammunition deliveries. The Czech Republic has pushed through the purchase of up to 800,000 pieces of artillery ammunition for Ukraine. The initiative began at the end of February. Since then, 20 EU and NATO states have joined the campaign, including Germany,…

China’s and Australia’s ties as trade partners look to be improving after China announced on Thursday it would lift punitive tariffs on Australian wines.  A spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Commerce He Yadong called the two countries “each other’s important trade partners.” Before the tariffs were introduced, China was Australia’s top wine export destination. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday, before China made the announcement, that he expected trade to resume soon and that he anticipated higher volumes of trade, as seen with other reintroduced products. “China wants good high-quality wine and Australia produces it,” Albanese said in the visit to a winery located…

Politicians in France are debating on a bill that would ban hair discrimination.The draft law would extend pre-existing measures to explicitly outlaw discrimination over texture, length, colour or style – particularly those with curly, coiled or no hair at all. If passed, it would make France the first country in the world to recognise hair discrimination at a national level, according to Olivier Serva, a politician from the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe.”This is not a community whim but a real injustice that certain populations experience,” Mr Serva, who proposed the bill, wrote on X.”Let us not minimise this suffering…

“Somebody tells you ‘God, you look terrible, are you going to be sick?’ and then suddenly you are,” said Charlotte Blease, recalling a recent bus trip in Ireland, from Belfast to Dublin. “You have this expectancy and it ramps up the symptoms.” Blease ― a health researcher at Uppsala University, Sweden, and one of the authors of “The Nocebo Effect: When Words Make You Sick” ― was feeling nauseous with motion sickness.  She was trying to distract herself with any other thought, and knew that if someone interrupted her, it would trigger the nocebo effect.  “The nocebo effect [is] negative health outcomes that arise from negative expectations,”…

Colombia has ordered the expulsion of Argentine diplomats after President Javier Milei called his Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro a “terrorist” and a “murderer.” “The Argentine president’s comments have deteriorated the trust of our nation, in addition to offending the dignity of President Petro, who was democratically elected,” Colombia’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. The ministry did not give details on how many diplomats would be asked to leave the Andean nation but said the expulsion would be communicated to Argentina through “diplomatic channels.” Milei made the remarks in a recent interview with CNN which has not yet…

Daniel Kahneman, an American-Israeli psychologist whose insights into the often troubled process of human decision making won him a Nobel Prize in economics, died on Wednesday at the age of 90. Kahneman and his longtime collaborator, Amos Tversky, did much to dispel the assumption, previously widely held in the field of economics, that people are capable of taking most decisions on a rational basis. Princeton University, where he worked until his death, confirmed his death in a statement on its website. “Many areas in the social sciences simply have not been the same since he arrived on the scene. He will be greatly…

“Putin resign!” This chant rang out in 2018 after a fire broke out at a crowded mall in Siberia, just a week after the last Russian presidential election, which gave Vladimir Putin a second consecutive term as president — and his fourth overall.  But after the deadly attack at the Crocus City Hall concert venue in Moscow on Friday, it’s instead the slogan “We mourn” that has blanketed the city as Russia grieves the loss of at least 139 lives. Just five days after the 2024 presidential election, in which Putin extended his term by another six years, gunmen dressed in camouflage gear stormed the hall, shooting people…

A potential trade deal between the European Union and South America’s Mercosur bloc is “very bad” for both sides, French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday during a visit to Brazil. Speaking at a business forum in Sao Paulo, Macron said the Mercosur-EU agreement was outdated and needed to be revised to take climate change into account. “The trade deal with Mercosur as it is being negotiated now is a very bad deal. For you and for us,” Macron said. “It was negotiated 20 years ago. We need to rebuild it.” Macron’s comments were a reaffirmation of his opposition to the…