Features

  Bento Rodrigues / DPA The earth is a reddish colour, practically orange, and on deserted streets the soil, a kind of dry clay, is turning into a very fine dust. “The scene of the crime” – these are the words used by a former resident of Bento Rodrigues to describe the tiny community in south-eastern Brazil, which is now ...

  WASHINGTON / AP Even infants can have conversations with mom or dad. Their turn just tends to involve a smile or some gibberish instead of words. That’s a key lesson from programs that are coaching parents to talk more with their babies — and recording their attempts. At issue is how to bridge the infamous “word gap,” the fact ...

  Nuremberg / DPA In the old days, people used to complain that children were glued to the television. Now they worry that they’re even more under the spell of their smartphones and tablets. The toy industry first exploited tech and used apps to build out their business. But now they’re also looking to take advantage of the counter trend. ...

  Ibiza / DPA Victor Jordan is lacking a certain enthusiasm when he talks about his island. “When it comes down to it, it’s like any other rural property, only surrounded by water,” he says. Alegranza sits in the Chinijo archipelago, a nature reserve in the Canary Islands. In Spain, a few dozen families own islands. Most are not multimillionaires ...

  Washington / DPA He may have been all alone on the Red Planet at Christmas but NASA’s robotic Curiosity rover said he didn’t “feel lonely.” At the beginning of the year, he wished everyone a “HappyNewYear from Mars!” And though he had a small problem with his drill just before the holidays, he was quick to reassure his Twitter ...

  Muenster / DPA The hulking grey war machine resembles a ship’s upturned hull, with one stumpy barrel protruding above the Iron Cross insignia. It’s a far cry from the Tiger and Panther tanks that ravaged WWII battlefields, but a sombre testimony to the start of a terrifying new chapter in modern warfare. The first German tank, the A7V, was ...

  Karlsruhe / DPA uck. Terrifying creatures are crawling all over his hands and face – humongous snails, huge cockroaches, gigantic moths. It’s all in a day’s activity on the internet for a German 19-year-old named Adrian Kozakiewicz. The setting is not some tropical jungle in Brazil, but rather a nondescript middle class duplex house of a German suburb. There, ...

  London / DPA Finding love is never easy, and it’s even harder to find someone who shares your values – especially for young British Muslims. But many are starting to take control with a do-it-yourself approach to arranged marriage. Run-of-the-mill apps will display the name, age, photos and maybe the profession or music preferences of potential partners. Muzmatch, however, ...

  Domsuehl / DPA “Colours are trendy. ” So goes the succinct explanation of Michael Gronwald, a 47-year-old light-show artist in the northeastern German state of Brandenburg. With about 30 other “bright guys,” his company are – literally – in charge of the visual highlights at events, rock festivals and city festivities all around Germany. In Parchim, 150 kilometres northwest ...

  DURHAM, NC / AP The National Museum of African American History and Culture was a long time coming, but for architect Phil Freelon it was right on time. “It seems like I was preparing for that my whole life,” Freelon said in an interview at his office in Durham. “It came along at a time when I was prepared. ...