Worldcrunch
Behavior psychology, first introduced in the U.S. during the 1960s, is now a widely accepted part of criminal investigation tactics. A French special unit handles some 40 extreme cases a year.
Argentina and Venezuela are again trying to wiggle their way out of spending deficits by devaluating their currencies. It’s a short-term fix with long-term consequences.
SEOUL — South Koreans undergo more plastic surgery per capita than anywhere else in the world. Some surveys show that one in five women there have undergone a procedure or received Botox injections. All around the Apgujeong subway station in Seoul, for example, there are advertisements for plastic surgery clinics, showing before and after images of women who have gone under the knife. Images like these are among the reasons why 19-year-old Woori had some work done about a month ago. But she says pressure from friends and family was an even stronger influence. “Whenever I saw pictures of my […]
BARRANQUILLA — A four-year-old boy died this week in the northern Colombian city of Barranquilla after he was run over by a taxi, which was being driven by a 12-year-old. The victim had been in intensive care for several days before being pronounced dead on April 5, Colombia’s El Espectador reports, citing local newspapers. The […]
Looking at slides of the 15th anniversary parade at Walt Disney World in Florida, it occurs to me that change is often for the best. Flashy tracksuits, visors and the hair. And yes, that’s a keytar.
KABUL — Boxing is Shigofa Haidari’s passion. But in Afghanistan, that means practicing three days a week in Kabul’s Ghazi Stadium, where the Taliban used to organize public executions. Haidari is wearing a light headscarf today. An injury prevents her from training, but she is happy to watch her friends go through all the basic […]
The two Nordic countries, one of which shares a long border with Russia, have so far been carefully neutral as Moscow flexes its muscles. Could NATO membership be the answer?
As the world’s largest democracy goes to the polls for national elections, a closer look at India’s struggle to improve its schools through privatization. Even for the poor.
ISTANBUL — “I was 13,” said Nezihe. “He had been following me on my way to school and back. One day, he forced me into his car while I was leaving school and kidnapped me. He was somebody I had never seen before. They had made a deal with my family that very evening. A […]
Not everything famous French architects build is tasteful. Jean Nouvel, the Pritzker Prize winner behind the Arab World Institute in Paris and Barcelona’s Torre Agbar, is also responsible for this “colorful” Las Boas complex on the Spanish island of Ibiza.
GHENT — When the Volvo factory in the Belgian city of Ghent hosted China President Xi Jinping last week, along with the Belgian king and queen, the facility was covered in red Chinese knotting, a decorative Chinese folk art. It was a festive touch meant both to welcome the Chinese leader and to celebrate the […]
Photographs that have caught our eye and captured events.
There are medically proven explanations for why our minds and bodies generally feel better when the season changes. So, goodbye Winter Blues, and hello Spring Euphoria!
MOSCOW — During a recent meeting with a who’s-who of Russian retailers and grocery chains, Moscow’s regional investment minister was talking wine. The idea is simple: to urge such companies to promote Crimean wine as a way to boost the economy of Russia’s newest region. Such measures are necessary because Ukraine has blocked Crimean wines […]
Even as diplomats look to push the peace process, a movement of ultraorthodox Jews is demanding the right to pray at the Temple Mount, home to the Dome of the Rock.
On March 18, hundreds of Taiwanese university students stormed and occupied the Legislative Yuan, the island nation’s parliament. Five days later, they joined other civic groups and invaded the Executive Yuan, before being evicted forcibly by the police. In technical terms, the demonstrators were protesting the unilateral decision of Taiwan’s ruling party to pass the […]
-Op-Ed- SAO PAULO — Brazil’s military rule, which began 50 years ago with the coup on April 1, 1964, and lasted until 1985, has since been the target of well-deserved and widely-shared aversion. The solid establishment of a modern democracy over the last three decades helped shine a light on all that was wrong with […]
Below are some of the songs currently topping the charts around the world. But first, our Worldcrunch Pick A previously unheard song by cult singer-songwriter Nick Drake, entitled Reckless Jane, has appeared online, almost four decades after the English musician’s death. Drake began writing it with his friend Beverley Martyn two months before he died. […]
A French reporter is the first Western journalist to get inside the village of Lukqun where in June 2013, 27 people were killed under unclear circumstances before access was shut off.
They must look good and know how to…shop.
An Armenian-born American businessman has been paying to book Europe’s finest concert halls so he and his orchestra can play for tiny, unimpressed audiences. Who is this mystery man?
MILOVE — This town located 900 kilometers from Kiev and Moscow is unwittingly embroiled in the bitter, and at times deadly, dispute between Russia and Ukraine. The border separating the two countries divides the town of Milove in half, and Ukrainian residents in this poor region vitally need to trade with the richer Russia to […]
When you’re in Transylvania, you really can’t help but think about vampires. So you can imagine how it felt to suddenly see a funeral procession approach…
Turkey’s Prime Minister warns his enemies, Condi Rice warns her friends, Rob Ford rides again, and other notable quotes in the news.
BERLIN — “You’re the ones who created this mess I’m in…” Mohammad points his finger at me, and doesn’t even want to tell me his real first name: “Call me Mohammad, we are all the same to you racist Italians anyway.” His age, though, he does tell me: He’s 47, but looks a bit younger […]
Did you know that city life is good for bees?
BEIJING — Since Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, two dozen nations have joined in the search and demonstrated a true spirit of international cooperation. But absent the timely release of information by certain countries — because of profound fear of compromising national security data — cooperating countries haven’t been able to wholly […]
Fishing often makes for nice pictures, no matter where in the world you may be. Here in Southern China we learned about the ancestral and peculiar art of cormorant fishing, where the “rod” stays in place and birds are cast off to do the work.
ROME — A prominent Turkish journalist said she has been fired as payback for her Italian husband’s recent interview in La Repubblica with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s arch nemesis, Fethullah Gülen. In an interview published Thursday in La Repubblica, where her Italian husband Marco Ansaldo is a veteran correspondent, Yasemin Taskin confirmed that she […]
CAIRO — The Egyptian military, with its recently announced Complete Cure device, is hardly the first to claim unproven cures for diseases that have ravaged millions of lives. Since the discovery of HIV/AIDS, false claims of cures have been advertised and often endorsed by governments all over the world — especially in Africa, the continent […]
L’AQUILA — In this city in central Italy, there is an entire generation of children who ride in cars and go to restaurants like other Italian kids, but still have never gone to a proper school. These are the kids from L’Aquila, hit by an earthquake five years ago — on April 6, 2009 — […]
Have you ever heard a peacock’s cry? It kind of sounds like a cross between an angry cat and a hungry baby. Now, imagine that video’s audio on an endless loop – for four years. That’s what a couple in Marseille had to listen to, only interupted by the cry the bird makes when it’s […]
An Argentine couple struggling to afford rising housing prices went down to the dock and took matters into their own hands.
Tough on crime and blatently ambitious, Valls was plucked by President Hollande to lead a new government after Sunday’s disaster in local elections. It’s a risky choice, for many reasons.
The Maidan protests were driven by public disgust with corruption, more than picking sides between the EU and Russia. But ousting Viktor Yanukovych has not ended the dirty business woven into the fabric of Ukrainian life.
My wife Claudine was asking our daughter Cécile to guess which architect built the Garabit viaduct we were looking over, in France’s Massif Central region. Does the wrought iron structure look familiar? It should: The railway bridge was constructed by Gustave Eiffel, 10 years before a certain Parisian tower made him famous worldwide.
President Dilma Rousseff’s once widespread popularity is sinking. But if Brazilian protests reignite when the World Cup begins, it could have major consequences on her October reelection bid.
As Wittenberg, Germany, prepares to celebrate the 500-year anniversaries of two major historic events, it has invested millions to transform itself into a world-class venue.
I find it amazing, in hindsight, that over the 300,000 miles or so I’ve driven during my lifetime, I’ve only had two flat tires — one in France and one in Czechoslovakia. That’s it. No accident, no bumping into a hippo in South Africa or a camel in Algeria.