Trade unions and employers in Germany have started collective bargaining negotiations for public-sector employees in most federal states with seemingly irreconcilable differences. The aim is not only to achieve inflation compensation, but also a real wage increase, said Verdi trade union boss Frank Werneke immediately before the start of talks in Berlin on Wednesday.

Though jellyfish don't have brains, they react to light and when presented with food, scientists found.

Excavations of an ancient construction site in Pompeii have revealed the process of how Romans mixed their self-healing concrete.