The current and past Minister have both been women (not to mention Chancellor Angela Merkel). But that’s apparently not enough…
Month: May 2014
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Big Bay, Small Statue
We once spent a month in Brazil, which allowed us to see many areas of different cities — including, here, Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro. On top of the highest mountain in the photo is the tiny statue of Christ the Redeemer. It is actually about 30 meters high, which gives you a fair […]
The number of Syrian refugees in Turkey has reached 900,000. They are our new poor. How we treat them is the great test of a new democracy.
Like the rest of the Internet, we too at Zoo’d have become momentarily obsessed with that video of the cat running into a French bakery’s glass door. If you haven’t seen it yet, here it is just below. If you’re like us, you’ll probably watch it again… and then three more times after that. Meowch!! […]
As evangelical hostility to proposed same-sex civil unions demonstrates, Peruvian society has yet to embrace its own government’s rhetoric of tolerance and social inclusion.
The social network measures up worse than other Internet sites. Part of the problem is that people’s expectations are unrealistically high that Facebook can improve their lives, for real.
SHARM EL-SHEIKH — Abu Saleh (not his real name) used to earn his money giving camel tours to tourists. But now the Egyptian Bedouin farms his 340-square-meter opium field. It’s not legal, which is why he covers his face, although he notes that the police are looking the other way. When Saleh took his camels […]
History of toilets? Inner workings of the kiwi? Lawnmowers? More than you ever wanted to know about things you might not even want to know anything about. Unless you do…
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Redundant Dunes
The road to El Oued is paved with good intentions! We’ve seen our share of strange road signs over the years, but being told to beware of sand while you’re driving in the middle of the Algerian desert definitely takes the cake.
BEIJING — Ancient Chinese erotic drawings have been well-documented throughout history — in the Book of Han, for example, a classical Chinese history finished in 111 AD of the Han dynasty between 206 BC to 25 AD. Numerous well-respected classical artists have also been painters of erotic art. The most famous is Zhou Fang, the […]
The world in numbers travels far and wide, and still counting…
A 19-year-old has died from machete injuries in north-central Colombia, after trying to stop a drunken man who appeared set to decapitate a dog with the same machete. The alleged killer has been arrested. The attack occurred Saturday night when Miguel Ángel Palacio Montoya and his brother approached a man taunting a dog with his […]
Using rumors and references to the Soviet past, the Russian media propaganda bears a clear responsibility in the Ukraine crisis.
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Zen And The Temple Of Motorcyle Mania
An Indian shrine built in memory of a dead traveler and his motorbike has attracted prayerful followers who credit the unusual temple for all manner of good tidings.
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Something Pretty In The Kingdom Of Denmark
Helsingor’s Kronborg Castle, in the background, is perhaps more famous as “Elsinore,” where most of Shakespeare’s Hamlet takes place. Maybe this is where our braided 8-year-old daughter Cécile got her love for all things English?
ANTARCTICA — Researchers have detected a new kind of bird flu in Adelie penguins for the first time, yet the virus does not seem to make them sick. File photo: Gerard LACZ-VWpics/VWPICS/Gerard LACZ The report published Tuesday in mBio, an online journal of the American Society for Microbiology, said that this virus (H11N2) is unlike […]
China is set to supplant the US as Latin America’s preeminent outside economic power: it remains to be seen if that is a good thing.
In Switzerland, famous and infamous for its secretive banks, the digital currency Bitcoin is already arriving in the real economy.
Turkey’s current prime minister has big plans, both for himself and the very way his country is governed.
A professor at the London School of Economics argues that the free market and everything we thought we knew about economics are now irrelevant.
Since Crimea became part of Russia, China is the first foreign country looking to invest. In light of Moscow’s standoff with the West, this is about much more than money.
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A Champion’s Demise
This may not be the Tour de France, but the atmosphere was definitely comparable. One of my best friends (on the right) and I were watching this unfortunate cyclist struggle with a flat tire, right on the street where I lived then, which is just one block away from where I live now.
MUNICH — Surely vegan offerings are healthier, and easier on the figure. More natural in any case. Many consumers have even become moralistic about the vegan products they put into their shopping baskets. But a survey by a Hamburg consumer group, the Verbraucherzentrale, shows that these attitudes and expectations are often wrong. They tested 20 […]
CAIRO — A student in a pre-kindergarten classroom at one of Cairo’s suburban schools is anticipating her impending birthday. When asked how old she will be, the girl begins to count up to four on her fingers, but then looks at her hand in dismay and quickly puts it down. Only “bad people” make that […]
Iran is facing the risk of “critical” water shortages if the country does not dramatically cut water use, Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian declared in a speech to the Iranian parliament. Citing several years of drought, climate change and increased population, Chitchian told legislators on Sunday that usage needed to drop by by 40%. Average annual […]
Newsmaking images that caught our eye…
The recently botched execution in Oklahoma is the just the latest sign that this ‘quaint and cruel’ form of American justice is not worthy of a democracy.
Since insecticides have killed most bees in China’s Sichuan province, local farmers are forced to fertilize the flowers themselves. But the “bee-men” may now be a dying breed.
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Custodians Of Style
At the height of Greece’s economic crisis, Syntagma Square was the site of mass protests, but it is also where the presidential Evzones perform their peculiar changing of the guard. Watching their exaggerated movement as they marched around in kilt-like fustanella and red shoes with black pompoms was indeed a treat.
MOSCOW — Russia’s deteriorating relationship with the West could lead to a complete restructuring of Internet policy in the country, Kommersant has learned. The Kremlin is currently holding internal discussions about instituting complex methods for tightening the control over Internet access providers. This means filtering content at all levels of content, forbidding the registration of […]
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The Fashion Education Of The Chinese Male
BEIJING — The other day I read Hou Hongbin’s article entitled, “Why are Chinese men so ugly?’ It harshly criticizes the generally unkempt appearance of Chinese men. I can’t help but admire the author’s mastery of words in describing Chinese men’s singular neglect of their looks. Naturally, it also left me feeling like crying for […]
Here’s what words have been making news…
A decade after Poland became part of the European Union, Gazeta Wyborcza sent a reporter on a train from Warsaw to Berlin to take stock of the transformation among Polish passengers. WARSAW — “There are only two vivid and well-maintained places in my native Wloclawek (a city in northern Poland with a population over 100,000): […]
The St. Varena Hermitage is trying to recruit a new hermit to oversee see its chapels, but the job description raises a dilemma: how to find a recluse who can schmooze with visitors.
A military pact between Manila and Washington sealed on Obama’s trip to Asia is giving Beijing the jitters.
In Portugal, crisis or no, value is measured one can at a time.
Below are some of the songs currently topping charts around the world. Worldcrunch Pick On May 19, the American band Brian Jonestown Massacre will release their 14th studio album, Revelation. After an almost 25-year career in shoegaze, folk and even experimental music, Anton Newcomb and his crew haven’t finished exploring and playing with the 1960s […]
SÂO PAULO — The Chinese government is already making its first plans to celebrate the centenary of two momentous events in the country’s history. Seven years from now, in 2021, the nation will mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. Then in 2049, the country will celebrate the creation […]
Hive hustlers stung a beekeeping club in Australia when they stole 12 hives that contained more than 480 kilos of honey, not to mention the 240,000 bees inside them. The haul potentially netted the thieves more than $1,800, but the theft has left the Ipswich and West Moreton Beekeepers’ Association devastated, as they use their […]
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Looks Can Be Deceiving
These conical hats, or capirotes, and white robes were worn by Spanish penitents during Easter celebrations long before the white supremacist Ku Kux Klan began donning them. But they’re still spooky.