Worldcrunch
BUENOS AIRES — A new map of the Argentine capital shows 50 Art Nouveau buildings, a style of art and architecture popular from 1890 to 1910, putting the city at the forefront of early 20th century architecture. Some are impressive at first glance, like the Casal de Cataluña in the heart of the San Telmo […]
Here are some of the songs topping the charts around the world. Worldcrunch Pick Former Blur frontman Damon Albarn has released a new video and track, “Lonely Press Play,” from his upcoming album Everyday Robots. Shot by Albarn himself using just a tablet, the clip shows brief images of his travels around the world, from […]
-Commentary- OSLO — In Oslo, where snow falls abundantly, visibility is virtually nil. But what this white desert suggests is not melancholy à la Ibsen or a metaphysical Munch Scream. On the contrary, deep satisfaction and hope dominate here. In other words, unlike the French, Norwegians are happy people. They claim to feel no remorse, […]
CAIRO — He might as well already be president. His photo is on every wall in Cairo. His constant television appearances, broadcasts of his speeches and video clips glorifying the army eclipse the presence of interim leader Adly Mansour. Even Field Marshall Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s mention of his night visions from 35 years ago, in […]
The central Portugese town of Batalha was built to celebrate the Kingdom of Portugal’s victory over King John I of Castile’s army at the Battle (Batalha) of Aljubarrota in 1385. Things had calmed down 578 years later, although a different kind of “invasion” was happening, as in many other places we’d visit. The town is […]
Accusations of conflicts of interest surround the consortium whose role it is to determine what are the real Parmigiano-Reggiano cheeses and what are the poor knock-off ‘parmesans.’
A German-Spanish startup has created technology it says is so effective turning light into energy that it can also utilize moonbeams and office building windows.
In the capital of Ukraine’s Crimea region, where ethnic Russians and otherwise pro-Russian citizens hold sway, dissenters are holding a countermovement to the pro-EU Maiden protests.
When we toured India almost exactly 20 years ago, we got to see some pretty desolate hamlets — especially near the Pakistan border, in Rajasthan’s Thar Desert. Despite the region’s ruthless aridity, the nomadic and sedentary tribes living there have a rich (and colorful!) culture.
The media criticism heaped on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has prevented an objective assessment of the protesters, who may not be quite as democratic as they’re portrayed.
BEIJING — China’s central government has imposed new requirements to severely limit the population in the country’s “mega-cities.” In the booming capital, whose population has topped 20 million, the focus has been on using economic regulations to stem the rising number of inhabitants. “Controlling the population by controlling business categories” is one of the key […]
The number of HIV infections in Iran has increased nine-fold over the past 12 years, and in stark contrast with previous decades, most infections were now through sexual intercourse not use of infected needles, the country’s official IRNA news agency reported on Feb. 26. A lecturer at Tehran’s Medical Science University, Mohammad Hossein Ayati, told […]
As it turns out, elephants don’t just have good memories, but are also able to sense when others are in distress and console them — by cuddling them. According to a new study, their version of a snuggle and a “shh, don’t worry, I’m here,” are chirping and a trunk hug, Le Temps reports. Just […]
The financial crisis has seen middle-aged French increasingly returning to their family nests. For many, it can be a special kind of shame to move back in with elderly parents.
-OpEd- MUNICH — When the Winter Olympics ended Sunday evening, the second part of the Ukrainian revolution began. Now the country’s cohesion and its chances of economic survival will be decided. After a dramatic week in Kiev, a civil war was avoided when the Ukraine Parliament removed the president from power. And now even Ukrainians […]
Even in the middle of April, when Venice is consumed with its annual carnival stravaganza, priests remained dignified and serious. Unless these two were actually Venetians in disguise, walking past the Doge’s Palace on their way to the festival?
The Swiss are training the first generation of Mandarin-speaking ski instructors, part of a campaign to lure newly rich from China to come play in the snow — with help from Bollywood.
Following its 2011 revolution, Libya has struggled to establish a democratic rule of law as it navigates the political divisions sowed through the decades-long bloody reign of Muammar Gaddafi. Religion, per se, had not been seen as a major source of conflict in a country that is 97% Sunni Muslim. Roaming jihadist groups, however, would […]
-OpEd- BERLIN — Among the rituals that North Korea’s young dictator Kim Jong-un has embraced is saber rattling. And in the run-up to annual military maneuvers between South Korea and the U.S., he was at it again. He threatened an “unimaginable holocaust” or “catastrophe” that would destroy inter-Korean relations if the traditional army operations went […]
The average man spends a year of his life waiting on women — outside bathrooms, in cars, beyond changing-room curtains. It may be the truest modern measure of gender politics.
In Eastern Ukraine, near the Russian border, the scene – and sentiments – and not exactly like those in Kiev.
Saqqara, some 30 kilometers south of modern-day Cairo, served as the necropolis for the ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis. The burial ground features several pyramids, including the world-famous step pyramid of Djoser — the oldest stone building complex known in history, built during the 27th century BC for the burial of Pharaoh Djoser. We were lucky […]
A recently opened McDonald’s franchise in Ho Chi Minh City is the first in Vietnam. Symbolism aside, the ubiquitous U.S. fast food chain also raises health questions for Vietnamese.
The world was surprised, and very likely pleased, by this past weekend’s capture of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, head of the Sinaloa drug cartel and one of the world’s richest and most powerful drug traffickers. Pleased for good reason, because “Shorty” Guzmán, who was on the run for 13 years after a prison escape, is believed […]
China has its fashionista culture, and it is increasingly original rather than a knock-off of someone else’s city chic.
-Analysis- PARIS — Is this 1989 all over again? One generation after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the protests in Ukraine instinctively bring to mind the revolutions that swept away the dying communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe. The images of crowds, initially peaceful and festive in Kiev’s Independence Square, are similar to […]
Contrary to what the name suggests, Panama hats are actually made in Ecuador; there are several explanations for the misleading moniker. In Cuenca, in the country’s highlands, we visited a factory where they made these traditional brimmed straw hats, weaving hundreds of plaited leaves together. There are various degrees of quality, but the superfino ones, […]
Two French teenagers, aged 15 and 16, organized their journey in just a few days, via the Internet, to set off on Jihad in Syria. Once there, they were soon disillusioned.
Polls show most Americans want U.S. ties with Cuba normalized, even as the forces still hold strong among those who prefer the status quo. Time may have come for change.
Much more freedom is allowed in Lithuania than across the border in Belarus, where strongman Alexander Lukashenko shut down top universities.
DALOA — The Ivory Coast was on the verge of losing its last forest elephants. It is a risk with some bitter irony, as elephants are the emblem of the nation. So a rescue operation like those already carried out in Zambia and Malawi, but unprecedented in West Africa, was launched at the end of […]
For the Greek philosopher Diogenes, self-control and self-sufficiency were the essential values. He lived a life with no possessions, except for a cloak, a purse and a barrel made out of clay in which he would sleep. Intrigued, the emperor Alexander The Great went to visit him. “I’m the most powerful man in the world. […]
One of Iran’s senior clerics today chided people he said were “surreptitiously” trying to build ties with the United States, warning they would get “nowhere” without broad Iranian support. Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, secretary of the Guardian Council that vets and approves all elections, candidates and parliamentary bills in the country, said during Tehran’s nationally broadcast […]
Here are some of the songs topping the charts from music hot spots around the world. Worldcrunch Pick This week, British heavy metal band Motörhead announced they will organize a festival cruise setting off from Miami next fall. Named “MotörBoat,” the rock ’n’ roll cruise will also hit Key West and Cozumel before returning to […]
After last weekend’s terrorist attacks that left four dead, Tunisia’s Interior Ministry has taken to Facebook to announce that it is cracking down on the niqab. Proponents of heightened surveillance suggest that jihadist men use the full-body garment and face veil to disguise themselves while traveling, especially when being pursued by police. One alleged male […]
SIALKOT — Mohammad Idrees walks slowly, with the help of his crutches, to the factory where he works in Sialkot, Pakistan. The 35-year-old has been stitching soccer balls here for more than 17 years, earning $3 a day to support his wife and six children. “I don’t have any other skills to earn a living, so I would have ended up roaming around the city or begging on the street if it wasn’t for the football factory in our village,” Idrees says as he sits on a low chair with some 30 other workers inside the factory. “I work for […]
MOSCOW — While the barricades in Kiev were still smoking, while the dead were being identified and the wounded were being treated, EU foreign ministers publicly declared for the first time that they held Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych responsible for the bloodshed. In Moscow, however, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov stuck to Russia’s traditional […]
In the 1950s, the Costa Brava — northeastern Spain’s coastal region — was identified by the Spanish government and local entrepreneurs as suitable for substantial development as a holiday destination. In the 1960s, though, we were still able to catch a glimpse of how peaceful life was, before they basically covered everything in concrete.
KIEV — After a brief respite in clashes, the Ukraine capital exploded again Thursday, with scenes of urban warfare and photographs of corpses lining Kiev’s central square. Death tolls Thursday range from several dozen to more than 100 victims, according to various sources. Hundreds of injured were also reported as videos and testimonies of snipers […]