Worldcrunch
This picture made me smile when I rediscovered it — not so much for the image of these strolling Danish sailors, but for the slide that came up just before: two ducks, similarly side-by-side, heads in the water and bottoms up. (When your last name is Mallard, you see ducks wherever you go.)
Syria’s longtime foreign minister has shown no sign of opening during the Geneva peace talks, which resumed this week. But Walid Muallem may be the world’s last best hope.
Patriotism over tolerance, says the military-minded ethnic population helping to ensure (though unarmed) Olympic security as Cossacks reassert their historic role.
GENEVA — A team of German and Swiss zoologists have discovered an imposing new large-fanged frog species in West Africa. The batrachian’s anatomy and genetics are very different from its cousins of the same region, according to the report published in the periodical Frontiers in Zoology. The frog, named Odontobatrachidae, has the notable characteristic of […]
A round-up of news around the world, with numbers that caught our eye.
As the Castro reign lives its final phase, the future of Cuba is uncertain. This is not necessarily good news for Mexico.
BEIJING — Wang Jianlin, chairman of Dalian Wanda Group, calmly states that he has set a goal of $99 billion (600 billion RMB) in revenue by 2020 for his real estate development company. Just as calmly, he then adds that he’ll retire that year to write his memoirs. In mid-December, in front of dozens of […]
A first-of-its-kind study last year found that one in 15 pregnant women is anorexic. Gaunt women are even posting cringe-worthy photos of their baby bumps on pro-anorexia forums.
I couldn’t necessarily see what this painter found so picturesque in that particular scene. But the light was nice, and it was considerably less crowded than the touristy Kremlin or Saint Basil’s Cathedral … As for my choice of when and what to shoot, I’ve always enjoyed taking photographs from both on and off the […]
An unofficial market of “seat saving” is reportedly making waves in Saudi Arabia: female faithful are paying good money to women who can save them spots for prayer at the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Mecca. The “seat savers” technique is to use clothing, purses, and even their own children to save seats […]
Do Sao Paulo’s public transport woes bode badly for this year’s World Cup?
French President Francois Hollande is as popular in official circles in Washington as he is unpopular with the citizens of the country that elected him. Story of a unique alliance.
During the country’s civil war in the 1980s, countless children were abducted and sold off into adoption. Some in Europe are now joining the hunt to know their origins.
BEIRUT — Iran’s ambassador in Lebanon said he was confident the Islamic Republic would soon improve ties with longtime regional rival Saudi Arabia. Speaking at a Beirut conference to mark the 35th anniversary of Iran’s 1979 revolution, Ambassador Ghazanfar Roknabadi acknowledged that Iran’s calls for better ties had yet to receive “echoes” from Riyadh, but […]
The tiny estacion in Aguas Calientes was the closest you could get to the famous Machu Picchu site when you didn’t feel like walking the 80 kilometers from Cusco on the Camino Inca (the Inca Trail). With just a few trains per day, merchants would set up shop on the tracks, moving their wares temporarily […]
In Suo-Oshima, nearly half the residents are over the age of 65. Increasingly, the city’s destiny looks to be a sign of what’s to come across a Japan that is aging far too fast.
What’s that? Something happening over there? Welcome to Zoo’d – Worldcrunch’s brand new international blog about all things animal. Arf! Photo by amyfarrar via Instagram
Dane Dennis Aabo Sorensen lost his left hand and lower arm during a fireworks accident nine years ago. Now a new type of prosthesis has made it possible for him to feel sensation in his hand for the first time since then. “When I hold an object, I can feel if it’s hard or soft, […]
A national referendum to limit new immigrants shows Swiss society split along political, geographic and linguistic lines. It also leaves the nation isolated from its EU neighbors.
Since its inception, Israel has exempted ultra-Orthodox Jews from military service and offered them a host of subsidies. But as demographics change, many say the policy must end.
Iran’s top atomic official says the country would not “retreat” over its nuclear technology and could reverse its commitments to suspend high-level uranium enrichment “within hours” if the West violated its own pledges, the official IRNA agency reported. Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, was speaking Monday to a gathering of Iranian […]
Pure happiness was radiating from this old man, whom we met during a trip in southern China. I don’t remember why he was so cheerful — but we learned a Chinese proverb somewhere in our travels: “If you are not a fish, how can you know if the fish are happy?”
In Ivory Coast, the world’s biggest source of cocoa beans, illegal cultivation has spread into Mont Péko National Park, threatening both wildlife and the well-being of children.
CAIRO – From the popular upheaval of the Arab Spring to bloody wars to expanding global trade relations, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu faced no shortage of challenges in his 10 years at the helm of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation that ended last month. On the most basic bureaucratic level, Ihsanoglu can point to the rebranding of […]
Nostalgia, illness and the pain of missing loved ones pushes some to try to ‘re-defect’ back to North Korea. But Seoul won’t allow it, and the risk of punishment upon their return is huge.
False visions of political concepts thrive in Argentina, where dictatorships past and spin doctors present employ their own forms of double speak.
BOR — Apart from the birds of prey gliding in the hot air, everything is as motionless as the corpse with the mummified face. It is a man, judging by his clothes, and he had curled up in a hole no bigger than a basin, hoping to be invisible in the grass. He had clearly […]
Olympics kick off in Russia, protests continue in Ukraine, and other recent events captured by photographers around the world, in conjunction with ZUMA photo agency.
Here are some of the songs topping the charts from music hot spots around the world. Worldcrunch Pick: On Feb. 21 and 22, rare recordings by British bands The Stone Roses and Oasis are set to be auctionned in Stockport, U.K. The auctions will include some of the two Manchester bands’ first-ever recorded demo tapes […]
RIYADH – Amna Bawazeer, a student at an all-women’s university campus in Saudi Arabia, had lived and studied for years with a heart condition. But activists say that her death from a heart attack on campus Thursday was the fault of Saudi Arabia’s strict gender segregation laws. After Bawazeer collapsed suddenly while attending school, female […]
Waste nothing. Think creatively…And always be polite to the beast that you’ve slaughtered.
SOCHI – For those around the world watching the Olympic Games on television, the location of the event is not, in the end, what matters. The important thing is who is skating faster, spinning better and winning golds and silvers. And then, before we know it, they ski away – in just a couple of […]
A popular street food in the mountainous regions of Ecuador is hornado — a slice of roasted pig usually served with potatoes. If that doesn’t make your mouth water, you can still settle for a bottle of Coke. We’ve found the ubiquitous brand even in the most remote corners of the world.
The capital’s unique harbor has driven Cuba’s economy for centuries. But with Brazil’s help, the building of a new commerical port of Mariel marks a turning point in the island’s history.
After the Arab spring, the way people put each other down has evolved with events on the streets. Here’s a glossary of all you need to know to verbally smack down your adversary.
PARIS — Elegance is the watch word here, as a young model walks down the aisle, wearing a pair of astonishingly shaped stilettos, its complex patterns reminiscent of certain architectural constructions. The graceful shoes, created by French designer Pierre Renaux, were made entirely with a machine that is on the verge of changing the world, […]
MAKHACHKALA — A woman is standing near the police cordons, looking into the dark space where the Golden Empire restaurant stood until a few moments earlier. First came the grenades, and then a car exploded in front of the entrance. All that’s left now is debris. When the woman repeatedly tries calling her sister, a […]
BIZERTE — Tunisia’s youth are posting videos on social networks of themselves dancing to Pharrell William’s song “Happy” as a kind of gleeful response to post-Arab spring tensions that the country still faces. The first video appeared in early January, and was approaching 200,000 views on YouTube. “We’re happy in spite of everything,” said Fairouz, […]
While northern Iran has been hit by record snowfall in recent days, snow has also covered for the first time in living memory, the district of Shahdad in southeastern Iran, which typically has desert conditions and scorching temperatures. The head of the Shahdad district, Mohammad Mo’meni, told Iran’s Mehr news agency snow began to fall […]
The Moroccan sun was strong on the market place in Larache, a small harbor on the Atlantic coast between Tangier and Rabat. Unfazed by the heat, this vendor was selling herbs, spices and … a giant turtle shell, whose scales he also used to make trinkets and jewels.