Sectarian differences have long created problems for some marriages among Shia, Sunni and others. But with the death and hatred of war, romantic tragedies abound.
Month: August 2014
As disturbing as it is, what’s happening in Ferguson, Missouri, is simply evidence of American police becoming increasingly militarized, a trend that’s been building for years.
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Checkered Mosque
Perched on the summit of Cairo’s Saladin Citadel is the Great Mosque of Muhammad Ali Pasha, also known as the Alabaster Mosque because of its white courtyard. It’s one of the first features of Cairo visitors see when they travel into the city.
Since Indonesia transitioned to democracy in the late 1990s, life for the long-suffering ethnic Chinese population has gradually improved. It’s about to get even better.
It isn’t just the Ukrainian military defending the country against pro-Russian militias in eastern Ukraine. Voluntary fighters, many of them intellectuals, have left their jobs to help the cause.
SAJE — Father Kriakosmi, the priest of the village Saje outside Dohuk, doesn’t complain about the inconveniences caused by masses of displaced people arriving here. As he undoes the top button of his black shirt, revealing his white collar, it’s not a sign of fatigue or defeat, simply a reaction to the suffocating heat in […]
The news in quotes, and quotes making news…
Top executives and even ordinary folks use the skills of the French company Net Dating Assistant to pose for them online and woo would-be lovers.
As part of a plan that sounds almost like a movie plot, 500 white rhinos will be evacuated from South Africa’s Kruger National Park and secretly taken to new homes to protect them from poachers. Although international trade in rhino horns has been illegal since 1977, demand remains high in some Asian countries, the BBC […]
Turkey is a NATO ally of the United States, but American officials have summarily dismissed its input about airstrikes in Iraq, even with Turkish lives on the line. Why Turkey needs to clarify itself in so many ways.
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The Nun And The News
This nun walking under St. Peter’s Square’s colossal colonnades was looking at copies of L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican’s official newspaper founded in 1861. Zooming in, I was able to see that the front page was about Pope John XXIII’s encyclical Mater et Magistra on the topic of Christianity and social progress — written four years […]
The “black market” accounts for a quarter of Mexico’s GDP and employs more than half its workforce. The numbers illustrate a failure of public policy and raise a red flag for the future.
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Duke The Dog Elected Mayor Of Minnesota Town
CORMORANT — A 7-year-old dog named Duke has been elected honorary mayor of the small town of Cormorant, Minn. Winning just 12 votes, he is said to have won by a “landslide.” Local residents hope the furry pol, who will officially be sworn in Saturday, will continue guarding the town, making the community safer and […]
A Thai psychedelic band called Khun Narin Electric Phin Band is set to release its first album Aug. 26, on Innovative Leisure records. But who are the people behind this obscure name? Not much is actually known about the musicians apart from what’s told on the band’s record cover. And this story is a special […]
The U.S. has a poor record on Iraq, but it’s optimistic that cooperation with the country’s new prime minister can help him win the war against terrorists and restore regional stability.
Why are Poles such a gloomy and miserable lot, always assuming the worst and refusing to love thy neighbor? It turns out, cheerlessness here has deep roots.
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Mayan Market
“Chichi,” as it is affectionately called by visitors and Guatemalans alike, has become one of the most-visited destinations in the country. The colorful blouses these K’iche” women were selling at the city’s market contrasted nicely with the dark hair they inherited from their Mayan ancestors.
Presented as a peaceful power for the past decade, China is now seen as a potential military aggressor by many. Amid the tug of economic and political interests, China keeps rising.
-OpEd- It’s anything but a surprise, given the weakness of the opposition and an election played out in advance: Recep Tayyip Erdogan won after the first round of voting in Sunday’s presidential election — the first ever in Turkey by direct universal suffrage. Erdogan thus perfects a political career marked, for 20 years, by one […]
Berlin-based American musician Anton Newcombe posted a demo of his band the Brian Jonestown Massacre performing a cover of the French composer William Sheller“s “Philadelphia Story” Tuesday. Although he explains that on Twitter singing in French is difficult and that he plans to have a woman perform it for the recording, we at Paris-based Worldcrunch […]
Despite a seven-year blockade, Israel’s control of movement and goods in the Gaza Strip has only strengthened the enemy Hamas and exposed Israel to global criticism. Time for a new policy.
A five-year economic agreement in the works between Russia and Iran signals efforts by both countries to protect themselves from global isolation. Of course, it’s mostly about oil.
It’s a … trio! Three bundles of giant panda joy were unveiled in Guangzhou’s Chimelong Safari Park, and are said to be the world’s first surviving set of panda triplets. They were born July 29, though the zoo delayed the announcement until they were sure that all three would survive. Proud mamma Ju Xiao, 12, […]
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Watch Your Step
I’m not a big sports fan, but I do watch the Tour de France every year. These guys were about a whole other kind of cycling, racing like madmen down the stairs of Dalt Vita, Ibiza’s old town.
Since their country’s 2011 revolution, cynical Tunisians say a laundry list of ills have plagued them: an incompetent president who refuses to wear ties; a self-interested Constituent Assembly that is charged with creating a new constitution; high inflation and a rapidly devaluing currency; and a deeply uncertain security situation. But Al Jazeera has recently reported […]
As Islamic terrorists press forward in Syria, female fighters and commanders now make up a third of Kurdish forces. “Women can fight better than men,” one says.
Bring your togas and laurel wreaths, just watch out where you snap your ancient selfie.
ISTANBUL — What does voter turnout in Sunday’s Turkish presidential election tell us about the popularity and ambitions of President-Elect Recep Tayyip Erdogan? So far, we know the number of Turks who went to the polls for the country’s first direct presidential election in history was about 13% lower than the number who turned out […]
President Barack Obama’s decision on the limited U.S. intervention in Iraq seems to have no long-term strategy behind it. Even Obama seems to know that.
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Change Of (Marine) Life
The owners of SeaWorld San Diego bought Los Angeles’ Marineland of the Pacific in early 1987 before suddenly closing it. That meant all the animals had to be transferred to San Diego. A year later, when we went to see them, Corky the killer whale had been renamed “Shamu.”
Known as the “household registration” system, hukou has denied certain basic rights to millions who have migrated from rural to urban areas. This may be set to change radically.
–Commentary– BERLIN — There are photographs of Afghanistan’s capital city Kabul, taken in the 1960s, that show elegantly dressed women sitting in street cafés. There are similar photos from the period shot in Ankara, Cairo, Damascus and Karachi. A half-century later, comparable scenes are nowhere to be found in many of these cities. Ankara is […]
Russian travel agencies are going bankrupt as the Ukraine crisis clips the wings of tourism and keeps Russians at home. Many who have ventured abroad have found themselves stranded.
An antitrust investigation by Beijing authorities into the U.S. software giant was many months in the making, and may signal the end to a two-decade relationship built on billion-dollar deals.
ROME — These are the kinds of lives that appear like ships at the mercy of a storm, where salvation will seem like a surprise — if it actually arrives. These are the stories of Eritreans with Italian roots trying, sometimes with the most desperate means, to make it to Italy. First, the history. Italy […]
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Melbourne’s Musical Commutes
Inspired by the Black Cab Sessions in London and the Take-Away shows in Paris, the Australian project Tram Sessions puts bands on Melbourne trams for the pleasure of commuters. Since 2010, the small team, equipped with cameras and recording devices, brings various musicians and bands such as Vance Joy or Passenger onto public transportation to […]
-Analysis- WASHINGTON — It was almost as a spectator earlier this week that the United States welcomed Egypt’s announcement of a 72-hour ceasefire in Gaza between the Israeli army and Hamas, which has since ended. The clearest sign yet of how Washington has begun to lose control over events came Aug. 1 when U.S. President […]
Environmental activists the world over are breathlessly indignant that the popular Rainbow Loom wristbands are neither degradable nor recyclable. But are they overreacting?
KABUL — It took me eight days to convince 37-year-old Gul Rukh to let me conduct this interview. The Afghanistan woman living in Kabul feared talking openly about her waitress job at the Mumtaz Mahal Wedding Hall. “I earn $200 a month at the hotel,” she says. “I am very happy doing my job, but I am treated very badly by society, my relatives and neighbors for doing it. They scoff at me and believe working as a hotel waitress is not a good job for a woman. But when my husband became disabled, I had to find work to […]
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Dressed For A Brawl
What’s most interesting about this shot is not the Swiss wrestlers (or Schwingen) in the foreground — meaning no disrespect, guys — but instead the rapt audience in the background, all wearing their Sunday best.