Author: DW

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…

Countless clips of heroic dogs rescuing humans are circulating on social media. But do dogs really have a magical sixth sense, or are their “superpowers” simply biology that’s being given outsized significance by their human owners? Spectacularly staged rescue videos get millions of clicks on social media, whether they are real scenes, cleverly edited clips or AI illusions.  Psychologically, this is confirmation bias at work. People remember conspicuous dog behavior before an accident but forget all the times the dog reacted similarly without incident. The desire to believe in a special bond with one’s own pet and its unique abilities makes belief…

For Greg Steinmetz, the Augsburg, Germany-born Jakob Fugger was “the first person to conduct trade on a truly global scale.” Steinmetz, a former correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, profiled Fugger in the 2015 biography The Richest Man Who Ever Lived. Jakob Fugger was the first merchant to conduct his trade on a global scaleImage: gemeinfrei/Narziss Renner/Wikipedia Speaking with DW, Steinmetz said global commerce barely existed at the time, until German Emperor Charles V extended European control into South America during his reign as Holy Roman emperor and king of Spain in the 16th century. There wasn’t much of a globe to…

Do you enjoy solving puzzles? What would you do if given a foreign code to decipher but no guide to grammar and no dictionary? That is exactly the problem faced by archeologists and linguists with regard to a number of ancient writing systems that remain a mystery to this day, despite technological advances. They tell of advanced civilizations whose writing we cannot understand.   Svenja Bonmann is a specialist in historical-comparative linguistics at the University of Cologne in western Germany. Her research involves trying to decipher ancient languages and reconstruct their structures. “I find it very appealing to be faced with an intellectual…

Lionel Messi’s visit to India, called “The GOAT Tour,” is just the latest promotional solo jaunt by a sports star in 2025. It didn’t go entirely to plan, with fans storming the pitch in Kolkata, but the number in attendance was proof that interest in sports stars remains sky-high.  Earlier in the year, NBA stars LeBron James and Steph Curry were in China on solo tours, with James’s trip done with main sponsor Nike and labeled “The Forever King Tour.” Brands in sports are not new. Fred Perry clothing was created by the British tennis player in the 1950s. Air Jordan entered the picture with basketball…