Features

  Kabul / / DPA Slowly, slowly the portrait of a girl takes shape on the crumbling, mud brick wall, the round, smiling face of a young girl wearing a head scarf in shades of red, green and white. The girl’s name is Mursal and she’s 12 years old. A couple of years ago she survived a serious attack on ...

  DPA A bridge reflected in the water below. A young man standing on a rocky ledge. Maximilian Muench took both photos. He published them on his Instagram page. What’s not to like there? At first glance they might look like ambitious holiday snaps, but in fact Muench was paid for them by the government of a German state, Saxony, ...

  Berlin / DPA Music lessons for babies? Nope, it’s not a school for over-achievers in which 1-year-olds sing their scales. In Louise Watts’ classes it’s mainly the parents who sing and the babies bounce along to the beat. Music, says Watts, should just be part of life. In Thursday’s class in the trendy Berlin district of Prenzlauer Berg, 12 ...

  Hanover / DPA Last night, Yanga slept for three hours at a stretch. As far as Klaus Meyer is concerned, this is cause for celebration. Normally, she wakes every hour during the night and wants to be entertained with hugs and tickles. Meyer is not a new dad, but a keeper at Germany’s Hanover Zoo, and he currently has ...

  Soure / DPA After only a minute, sergeant Vitelli Cassiano’s patrol comes to an abrupt stop. There’s nothing he can do but wait. A huge, black cowpat splatters onto the sandy red track. Once his Asian water buffalo has relieved itself, however, it immediately returns to duty. For the last 23 years, the Brazilian policeman has been a proud ...

  Stade / DPA When David Betker left the army, he wondered what to do next. The corporal had spent eight years in the German military, including time in Kabul, Afghanistan. Then he came across a newspaper article about training as a butler in England. That might sound like a drastic change of career, but as Betker, 29, says of ...

  Wittenberg / DPA You might have thought disposable cups were a modern invention, but in fact they’ve been around for hundreds of years – and back in the day they had a lot more style than today. Archaeologists at Wittenberg Castle in eastern Germany found layers of broken cups at a recent dig, which they believe were simply thrown ...

  Dusseldorf / DPA An empty, dimly lit railway station somewhere out in the suburbs, in the middle of the night. Safe or not? “It’s a classic example of a place that can make people feel anxious,” says Udo Diederich, who spent 41 years in the German police. Despite being retired he’s still keen to help people. The 61-year-old is ...

  New York / DPA Tourists Rob and Mary Ann Gorlin are delighted. Ignoring the many attractions that New York City is famous for, they have come early to 72nd Street Station, the newly opened subway station on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. “It’s immaculate and beautiful inside,” says Mary Ann, who hails from Detroit. After inspecting the new network diagram ...

  Geneva / DPA For more than 60 years, scientists from all over the world have been coming to CERN, the high-tech laboratory that straddles the Franco-Swiss border. You might not know this, but studious CERN is also a kind of playground for brainy people who work hard and play hard. The fun side makes it easier for particle physicists ...