Features

  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. ...

  New York / DPA It’s a challenge for war reporters to get information as conflicts rage in remote parts of the world, making it hard or even impossible for civilians to get there and file news reports. Another dilemma is the opposite predicament – having too much information. Conflicts like the Syrian war have produced a flood of YouTube ...

  WILLIAMSVILLE, NY / AP Teachers from elementary school through college are telling students how to distinguish between factual and fictional news — and why they should care that there’s a difference. As Facebook works with AP, FactCheck.org and other organizations to curb the spread of fake and misleading news on its influential network, teachers say classroom instruction can play ...