Worldcrunch
Step aside, Rudolph — your red nose is no longer en vogue. This season, apparently, it’s all about the glow-in-the-dark antlers. Breeders belonging to the Reindeer Herders’ Association have started spraying the animals’ antlers with reflective paint. But it’s not really about winter style, but rather traffic safety. Every year in Finland there are 3,000 […]
The battle at hand on the streets of Caracas and beyond may be more fractured than it first appears.
A German court case’s impending verdict is poised to create a controversial precedent in this aging country, where a child is asked to finance elder care for a father who had cut him out of his life.
On the road from Batna to Laghouat, we overtook these Berbers with their camels slowly making their way through the Aurès — an eastern continuation of the Atlas Mountains — in northeastern Algeria. It was in this region that the Algerian War of Independence was started by Berber freedom fighters in 1954.
A new, particularly scary version of an automobile ‘break-in’.
JERUSALEM — Three hundred kilometers by high-speed rail between the cities of Eilat and Ashdod, connecting the Red Sea coast to the Mediterranean: They call it the “Red-Med” Project. Financed by Beijing and launched from Jerusalem, China has revealed its strategy for “West Asia” — the term that the China Shipping Container Lines company uses […]
Stories making news, photographs turning heads…
-OpEd- The Western world felt safe in the illusion that nothing would happen in Ukraine until the end of the Sochi Olympic Games. But it woke up on Wednesday to terrifying images of the bloody battlefield of central Kiev, literally ablaze. After a three-month-long face-off between a pro-European opposition, which hasn’t weakened despite the cold […]
Demographically and economically, Africa is well poised for success. But it needs to find new forms of growth and governance – and an end to bloody conflict – to realize its potential.
A bit of a mystery, this one: The pond, with its water lilies, looks nothing like a rice paddy field — which is what you would expect in southern China. So what are they all looking for, bent over like that? My back hurts just looking at this picture.
BEIJING — Chen Dongsheng has amassed a fortune with attention to both the mundane of insurance and the glamour of fine art. He is the founder of three completely divergent enterprises — China Guardian Auctions, the first Chinese auction company to specialize in the sale of Chinese artwork; Kangtai Life, one of China’s largest life […]
ALEPPO – It’s been three months since the Syrian government launched its offensive on this city’s opposition neighborhoods, using barrels packed with explosives. After a two-week lull during harsh winter weather, President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have reportedly resumed – and even increased the intensity – of the raids. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that more than 400 people have been killed in the country’s largest city by these makeshift “barrel bombs” since the beginning of February, even as Geneva II peace talks were under way. Most rebel-held areas in Aleppo have turned into a no-man’s land as residents […]
Post-Gaddafi Libya is a mix of newfound freedom and political instability. The latest news includes worries of an impending coup d”état after a top general suggested that the way forward for the country was to suspend Parliament. Still, Libyans celebrated – or at least were free to acknowledge – the third anniversary of their 2011 […]
LONDON — The storms and flooding in the UK over the past few weeks hasn’t just damaged homes and cars, but also wildlife and ecosystems too. Bumblebees, beetles and caterpillars are at risk of dying at greatly elevated rates through drowning and disturbed hibernations, while earthworms, snails and beetles along the River Thames will be […]
The English chose to build their towns next to rivers. The French instead built on the ruins of Roman cities. A look at how these centuries-old decisions have impacted today’s economy.
The singular story of a Somali restaurateur who left the sweet life in the UK to return to his war-ravaged homeland, where he has survived multiple attacks on his restaurant.
Lake Atitlan, in the Guatemalan highlands, is surrounded by villages in which Mayan culture is still prevalent, and traditional dress is still worn. This old woman, winding yarn on her doorstep, is wearing a hat made with a long band of embroidered textile rolled tighlty aound her head. The weavers in the villages nearby produce […]
Skiing isn’t the only winter sporting activity that can give you snow, speed and the beauty of nature. Follow an amateur in France as he tries to harness the wild icy power of dog sledding.
NEW YORK — There is no German-style “works council” for employees at Volkswagen USA. Then, last week, 1,500 workers of the Volkswagen Chattanooga Assembly Plant, in Tennessee, voted by secret ballot against being represented by the United Auto Workers (UAW). Without membership of that union, setting up a works council is not possible under American […]
A failure of the American peace initiative in the Middle East could cause a severe political crisis that will undermine both the economy and the stability of the Palestinian Authority.
In 1972, Germany was divided in two — between the Soviet-occupied German Democratic Republic (GDR) in the east and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) in the west. Being on the “good side” of the fence, we were able to drive there and see the ominous Iron Curtain with its barbed wire and threatening miradors. […]
The Chavez-Maduro regime has corrupted democracy and impoverished the nation in a perfect storm of political strong-arming, cheap oil, and public apathy. The time is now to react.
Japanese artist Hiroshi Sunairi has a personal connection with Hiroshima. Apart from growing up in the city, his mother and grandmother were exposed to radiation when the atomic bomb dropped on the city in 1945. Many years later, while working with the Hiroshima museum, Sunairi attended a lecture by botanist Chikara Horiguchi who spoke about Hibaku trees, some of the so-called “silent survivors’ of that fateful day. “I was really moved by his work and philosophy. He talks about trees and nature not having an ideology, but they can symbolize a lot of things if we think about them alongside […]
Some hotel chains have moved beyond just adult-only accommodations to cater directly to women, including such options as man-free zones and champagne pajama parties.
To understand the Maidan protesters in Kiev, just go to Prague, Warsaw and beyond. While other post-Soviet bloc economies have emerged, Ukrainians know too well that their leaders have failed them.
The world of news in seven quotes – Seven quotes making world news.
A boat filled with mostly Afghan immigrants was stopped and towed away by the Greece’s Coast Guard. But when the boat eventually sank, 11 people ended up dead. Survivors recount.
(And why that’s a good thing)
Since soon after the conflict began in 2011, Turkey has always been fiercely opposed to Damascus. Now opposition elements of al-Qaeda across the border may be another reason to act.
GARDONNE — A French family have won the right to keep their pet fox, Zouzou. Under French law foxes are considered wild animals and, therefore, cannot be kept as domestic pets. After a nearly three year legal battle, a court last month gave Zouzou the right to remain in the Delanes family care for the […]
Here are some of the songs topping the charts from music hot spots around the world. Worldcrunch Pick: The American singer Beck is set to release his 12th studio album, Morning Phase, on Feb. 25, after more than five years since his last record, Modern Guilt. The Californian musician, specialized in blending folk and hip […]
Quality matters even if you want to eat-on-the-go, and pay less. Paris is putting its touch on fast food by improving offerings like kebabs, as well as handing out haute cuisine for the masses.
Torn T-shirts, dead remote controls and jammed DVD players aren’t necessarily doomed for the junk heap. Sustainability is the watchword at these special German locales.
These unfriendly marine iguanas, found only on Ecuador’s uninhabited Galapagos Islands, are actually quite harmless: They are vegetarian and dive into the water to feed on seaweed. But they don’t like to be disturbed, and should you go too close, you expose yourself to powerful bouts of spitting …
Natural reproduction and the adaptability of genes will always outperform the machinations of multinationals like Monsanto, accused of wanting world domination with GMO crop production.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, a crackdown on trafficking rings is not enough – there is also the question of parental responsbility. And extreme poverty.
MUNICH — The Israeli General Consulate in Munich has finally found permanent premises that sources say is likely next door to the former Nazi Party headquarters. The building’s location is virtually back-to-back with the so-called Führerbau that the Nazis built as a representation venue for Adolf Hitler, sources tell Süddeutsche Zeitung. Directly next door, built […]
The neighborhood in Seoul known to Westerns from Psy’s mega-hit single is also the place status-conscious South Koreans go to get married. But something is lost in all the ritz.
Seven months after he was sold to a new owner, a camel in Saudi Arabia recognized his previous owner, Mohammed bin Shouishan al-Sabaii, at a parade. The camel came up to al-Sabaii in the crowd of onlookers and wrapped his neck around him in an embrace. The touching image has begun circulating on Arabic social […]
HAMBURG — Georgios Titokis is actually too old for the remote-controlled car he’s holding in his hand. But the toy interests him. Cautiously, the Greek-born Titokis removes the beach buggy from its box and checks to see if any parts are missing. Then he checks the batteries and looks for any sign of wear and […]