Author: DW

Turkey’s Environment Ministry said meteorologists had registered a reading of 50.5 degrees Celsius (122.9 degrees Fahrenheit) in the southeast of the country, setting a nationwide record. The record temperature was registered on Friday at Silopi, the ministry said in a post on X on Saturday. Silopi is 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Turkey’s borders with Iraq and Syria. The previous heat record, registered in August 2023, was 49.5 degrees Celsius. How hot is it in Turkey? Turkey is sweltering under a heat wave that has hit much of the eastern Mediterranean since Monday and is expected to last several more…

The German economy has been shrinking for more than two years, and 2025 offers only a slight glimmer of hope for an economic recovery. Surprisingly, the so-called shadow economy — encompassing all economic activity happening off the books — is surging. So what’s behind the fact that the share of undeclared work has jumped to more than 11% of Germany’s overall economic output in just one year? According to labor market expert Friedrich Schneider, who calculated this figure, the volume of undeclared work in 2024 was worth a total of €482 billion ($562 billion) — more than the entire government budget, and…

The German Federal Network Agency received almost 23,000 complaints in the first half of this year concerning the German postal services — that’s up 13% on the same time last year, which was also a record. Almost 90% of complaints relate to market leader Deutsche Post/DHL.  Up to 2022, people in Germany were largely happy with their mail service, but then jobs were cut, prices raised and complaints began piling up. Damaged parcels, mail delivered to the wrong house — or not at all — and disastrous delays have been sending blood pressures soaring across the country. Almost 90% of complaints related…

It is perhaps the last place you would expect to find a generational divide, but even in mental health, we (those of us of a certain age) are told, “We [those of us of a younger age] are more aware of mental health than you” — as if awareness alone could remedy depression. There is actually some truth to this. “There are shifts in younger generations and also in older generations. But unfortunately mental health is still very stigmatized for older adults,” said Pascal Schlechter at the Institute of Psychology, University of Münster, Germany. “It’s quite a big step [for some…

Europe “better get [its] act together” on immigration, US President Donald Trump said as he landed in Scotland on Friday evening, local time. Speaking to reporters after disembarking from Air Force One, Trump said: “On immigration, you better get your act together. You’re not going to have Europe anymore.” Immigration, he claimed, was an “invasion” that was “killing Europe.” Trip mixes golf and meetings During his five-day visit, Trump will play golf at two golf resorts he owns — one in the small village of Turnberry in South Ayrshire on Scotland’s southwest coast and the other in Menie in Aberdeenshire. In Menie, Trump is…

Demi Vollering can handle disappointment. The Dutch rider lost last year’s Tour de France Femmes to Poland’s Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney by just four seconds — never before has the Tour de France been decided by such a close margin. But the 2023 Tour winner is troubled by a bigger issue, namely that of inequality. Women’s cycling beset by prize-money gap In general, female professional cyclists earn far less than their male counterparts. At the spring classic Milan-Sanremo, Vollering said the fact that the prize money was “only 11% of that for the men” represented “a huge difference, and that’s very disappointing. There’s still a lot to do.” This difference…

A bus traveling from Lima to the city of La Merced crashed on Friday, killing at least 15 and injuring about 30 others, authorities said. Health director Clifor Curipaco from the Junin region in Peru, said the bus went off the road and fell into a ravine in the district of Palca.  Authorities were in the process of identifying 15 bodies, said Aldo Tineo, a health official from the central city of Tarma. A double-decker bus belonging to Expreso Molina Líder Internacional had been carrying more than 60 people when it crashed and landed on its roof next to a river.  Local television broadcasted videos…

The scandal regarding so-called Cum-Ex and Cum-Cum tax schemes first broke in 2001, and still to this very day exact figures about financial losses are hard to calculate. However, the sums must be enormous given the magnitude of the fraud and what’s already been uncovered by the tax authorities of various countries. According to calculations by University of Mannheim in Germany, between 2000 and 2020 alone Germany lost nearly €29 billion ($34.1 billion) due to Cum-Cum fraud  — the “little brother of Cum-Ex” as the university’s top financial researcher Christoph Spengel once called it. Globally, the revenue loss is estimated at more…

There’s something about the shimmer, tinkle, and graceful arc of water in motion.  From ancient Minoan courts and Persian gardens to Roman aqueducts and modern plazas, fountains have been more than just ornamental — they’ve been sacred, social, symbolic, and of late, cooling-off spots in sweltering cities. From the practical to the divine With a history spanning almost five millennia, fountains first served practical needs. Around 2,000 BCE on Minoan Crete, water from springs was channeled through terracotta pipes into stepped basins at palaces like Knossos and Zakros. These weren’t just for washing — they were integrated into religious sites for purifying rituals. Picture…

A new study has found that living through the COVID-19 pandemic aged people’s brains, regardless of whether people were infected. The research adds to growing data about the pandemic’s long-term impact on global health and brain development. The study showed that the pandemic accelerated brain aging by 5.5 months on average. Changes were most noticeable in older people, men and in those from more disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds. Brain age relates to cognitive function and can differ from a person’s actual age. Someone’s brain age can be delayed or advanced by diseases like diabetes, HIV and Alzheimer’s disease. Premature brain aging can affect memory, sensory function and…