Worldcrunch
ANKARA — Turkish foreign policy is having a serious identity crisis. The Turkey that had largely achieved an equilibrium in its relations with the West and the East, a shining star in the international arena between 2003 and 2010, unfortunately no longer exists. The high morale and sense of moral superiority of being a country […]
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s outright prohibition of the practice of aging cheese on wooden boards has sparked strong reactions, revealing a newfound interest for traditional, fermented food.
At Al-Ahram, Egypt’s largest daily, moveable type doesn’t cut it for major historical events such as Arab springs and presidential elections. That’s when they call in the calligrapher.
The feluccas of Aswan, Egypt, with their huge triangular sails, are used to ferry visitors to Elephantine Island, to visit their rich pharaonic ruins — and where we were able to walk in two Nubian villages that a guide guaranteed were “genuine.”
The less-than-helpful attitude of post office clerks in France (and elsewhere) has been known to get a rise out of customers. Well this French woman takes it to a whole other level. Her rage toward the ever so blasé postal staff appeared to start after she was denied a transaction because she’d arrived too late […]
In a gloomy new book, two French economists argue that the current state of global finance make conditions ripe not just for regional conflicts, but for a new world war.
MOSCOW — Finally, an engagement that Vladimir Putin could enjoy. Wearing dark aviator glasses against the bright sun, the Russian president attended the Russian “Navy Day” parade last Sunday at the Norwegian sea port of Severomorsk. A warship recently put into service fired some salvoes, and sailors responded to Putin’s greeting with three cries of […]
Taranto’s ILVA steel plant, Europe’s largest, emits toxic pollution that doctors believe has long been causing cancer in young victims and sky-high infant mortality. Yet it still operates.
Israel’s supporters have responded to criticism of the Gaza intervention by asking why similar anger isn’t directed at the toll in Syria. It’s a bogus comparison, for many reasons.
I can’t say we always knew for sure what was on our plate when we toured China in the mid-1990s. Grilled scorpions, grasshoppers, we tried it all — probably one of these big rodents too, on sale for consumption in Guangzhou’s street market.
Designers in Poland are giving religious T-shirts and other products a hipster makeover, mixing pop culture with the Bible to create a uniquely 21st-century look.
When you think of a wild cat (i.e. a lion, tiger or panther) you often assume they live on rolling plains, or wild jungles. A few hundred meters outside of Bogotá is not the first place that comes to mind. The woolly margay — an Ocelot-like creature described as the American continent’s smallest feline — […]
YEREVAN — There used to be trains that connected Moscow and Armenia’s capital of Yerevan. But for different reasons, mostly an array of regional tensions in former Soviet republics, Armenia is no longer connected to Russia by rail. To get to Yerevan from Moscow, you can either drive for 48 hours through the North Caucasus […]
Who’d have thought Lebanon’s cedars could actually root out loud for their own preservation? The country’s Ministries of Environment and Education have helped a team of bioacoustic engineers extract the natural sounds emitted in the Barouk Forest by a cedar tree, the endangered national symbol of Lebanon. They then let Beirut-based DJ ESC work his […]
The news in quotes, and quotes making news…
The island was a German colony until 1914, which was once a source of pride and income for many. A century later, this part of its history is deepening Samoa’s economic and social woe.
BUENOS AIRES — They lived in the same building in the Argentine capital — two couples, one on the ground floor and the other above them. Their dispute began 10 years ago, when the two women began bickering constantly. They argued over who would sweep the patio, their barking dogs — they both had poodles, […]
Four years into Syria’s conflict, cannabis has become an unlikely key source of financing for a number of groups in the opposition-held north. It’s used mostly to buy weapons. Jabal al-Zawiya in the province of Idlib is a mountainous area close to the Turkish border. Once famous for growing olives, it is now used to grow pot. Farmers here say the plant grows quickly, and yields higher revenues than olives. Most villages in Idlib province are living off the spoils of goods smuggled between Syria and Turkey, and many basic commodities available for purchase here now come from Turkey, too. […]
Up on Moscow’s Sparrow Hills, newlyweds take pictures and tourists buy souvenirs. Grand-Mère (a.k.a. babushka) was contemplating a vast array of matryoshkas; we brought a couple of these Russian nesting dolls back — they don’t take much space in your luggage!
Current privatization proposals for the telecom and energy sectors suggest Mexico has learned little from the partial, and failed, liberalization processes of the past.
TEL AVIV — Last February, a court in Jerusalem ordered a seven-year prison sentence for Kifah Sarhan, a senior Hamas official based in Jerusalem, on charges of membership in a terror organization and dealing with property for terrorism. A resident of East Jerusalem and member of the organization’s advisory council, Sarhan had a key position […]
BEIJING — What is holding back trade expansion with Southeast Asian countries? And why are they always turning to the U.S. whenever something happens? These two questions capture Chinese central concerns as voiced at the recent “China-ASEAN-East Asia: Cooperations and Challenges” forum, an event held by the think tank on China’s public policy Anbound Consulting. […]
MAASTRICHT — The worst thing about it, says Marina Smirnova, is that people won’t tell her directly to her face what they think of her. When the 27-year-old Russian, a linguist, joins a discussion with colleagues at work about the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, and points out that responsibility for the tragedy has […]
EICHSTATT —Camillo the cat nearly missed his TV appearance. The one-year-old feline belongs to the Auer family in the this Bavarian town of 14,000, but he is anything but a house cat. No, Camillo spends his days and nights attending parties around town, visiting art galleries, and catching a cat nap in a comfortable chair […]
Jihadists destroyed 14 of the 16 sacred mausoleums of the “city of 333 saints” two years ago. Local and international efforts are restoring the sites, an encouraging a more tolerant Islam.
KINGMAN — The road to Seligman, Arizona, carries a famous name — the roadside sign reads Historic Route 66. This is the right moment to slide the CD into the Harley-Davidson Electra Glide’s music player. “Well, it winds from Chicago to L.A., more than 2,000 miles all the way. Get your kicks on Route 66,” […]
Parallel portraits in the making of a civil war: one man is fighting for Kiev, the other is a Russian separatist.
BEIJING — Since Chinese President Xi Jinping took office at the end of 2012, at least 23 high-ranking local officials have been fired because of corruption. What is most striking — though not surprising — is the stark contrast of these officials’ images depicted in the media before and after their fall. Last month, for […]
Palestinian Authority President Abbas surprised some by backing Hamas. But it is growing protests among youth in Ramallah that may have the real power to make a change.
Clychau Dibon is a one-of-a-kind album. The first collaboration between Welsh classical harpist Catrin Finch and Senegalese kora player Seckou Keita, the album brings to life an extraordinary combination. The two instruments have actually a lot in common. Originally from the same musical family, they play central roles both in Wales and Senegal, where oral […]
Can you spot the Russian women lounging under umbrellas? A (male) German writer says he can. British, French and, yes, Germans too.
Blaming French Jews for Israel’s actions in Gaza is just the latest vile expression of a rising wave of anti-Semitism that has resurfaced in the heart of Europe.
MATADI — Diabetic patients in the Bas-Congo province, in the western region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, have had enough with traditional practitioners. They insist they won’t be conned again by those who claim they can cure everything from AIDS to hypertension and even diabetes, which some 1.5 million people suffer from in this […]
Driving through southern Algeria in the early 1970s was quite an adventure — and I’m not sure the state of roads has gotten any better since. Which means that the “Cape Town” direction on that sign in Ouargla was mostly for fun.
It took more than five years to build Prague’s gigantic Stalin Monument, which was eventually unveiled in 1955. And only seven years later: BOOM, the Soviets dynamited what they thought was an outrageous display of Stalin’s cult of personality. We were lucky enough to see it in all its might when we went to then […]
The country’s old imperialist ambitions are back. If you are inside or outside, and trying to understand Vladimir Putin’s 21st century Russia, keep that in mind in making your calculations.
No Iron Dome here…
GAZA — A dramatic video has emerged that captures — in a very different way — the horror of Gaza parents facing the death of their children in the ongoing assault by the Israeli military. In this video, (SEE BELOW) posted late Wednesday by al-Quds news in Jerusalem, a Gazan mother finds her young son, […]
A Russian settlement in remote Norway has impressive roads, schools and monuments. But not a soul lives in this ice-preserved community, after its residents mysteriously left one day in 1998.
TEHRAN — “Indecent dressing,” or “bad hijabi” in Persian, isn’t worse than before in Iran, according to a deputy-governor of the Tehran province. Shahabeddin Chavoshi, who is responsible in the capital province for social and political affairs, chided critics who accuse the government of Iran’s moderate President Hassan Rouhani of neglecting public morals. “Studies show […]