A Syrian activist from the northern countryside talks about keeping alive the anti-regime, non-Islamist revolution amid the constant threat of shelling and the spectre of ISIS.
Month: October 2014
DALLAS — Greg Lucas wasn’t feeling at the top of his game. He’d gained weight, and the machines at the gym filled him with apprehension. “Sex wasn’t tops, but that wasn’t the problem,” he says. “I felt tired. I was dragging myself around.” Lucas was then 25 years old. He decided to go and see […]
Smartphones and iPads, we all know, can be pretty cool. We also know they can suck. Take music concerts, when the other fans in front of you form a view-blocking field of little blue lights in their own private attempt to take home a digital souvenir of the show. Filming performances has even been encouraged […]
Images that made the news and caught our eye…
-OpEd- BOGOTA — The crucial question in Brazil’s presidential elections, set for Sunday, is whether or not the country will remain the political and economic third way it has become. Will this “alternative socialism” – distinct from various offerings from both the traditional political Right and Left – keep its standing in the world established […]
-OpEd- CAIRO — The record of police violations is extensive, ranging from murder to extortion and illegal bribes. While some claim these are individual incidents and that the situation should not be generalized, tedious accounts of numerous violations reveal the dysfunctional role of police in daily Egyptian life. Within the old structures of authority under […]
MUNICH — Tobias Fröhlich no longer wears a suit and tie to work. The former BMW salesman dons a white polo shirt and blue trousers for his job at a new branch of the Munich firm where he greets customers with a smile, iPad in hand. Fröhlich is a “product genius” and as such is […]
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Good News For Ireland’s Farting Cows
Ireland’s gassy cows emit so much methane gas that the country wants to be treated as a special case when it comes to greenhouse gas levels. EU leaders met overnight Thursday and agreed to cut emissions 40% by the year 2030, compared with 1990 levels. Between 10-12% of greenhouse gas emissions come from global agriculture, […]
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Silver Lining
You can’t tour the world for nearly 60 years without a few rainy days. Sure, rain is annoying — but it also makes for interesting, if gloomy, pictures.
Mario Vargas Llosa sits down with Clarin in the Nobel laureate’s home to explore why the hopes at Communism’s fall have been replaced by deep religious hatred and a secular cynicism.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sees enemies everywhere: Assad, Kurds, but not the murderous Islamist radical group just across the border in Syria.
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Why World Hunger Won’t Go Away
Two new books and a docudrama ask hard questions about how so many can still go hungry in a world of technological advancement and economic growth.
Learning Mandarin is just part of the Facebook founder’s ambitious but subtle strategy to return to the Chinese market. Huo Yuanjia (and Ang Lee) would be proud.
Increasingly, the general American public and even anti-Castro businessmen now seem to agree that less hostility toward Cuba is the best road to take.
A Turkish immigrant playwright in Germany explores the meaning and theater of a religious rite that divides modern society.
LIMA — When Dolores Guzman was contacted by investigators, it became clear to her that all of her efforts over the past 30 years to overcome the deaths of her family and fellow townspeople had been futile. She agreed to leave the Lima street stand where she sells hard-boiled eggs and return to Paccha — […]
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Monumental Indeed
It doesn’t matter how many pictures of the Taj Mahal you’ve seen before, or how often you’ve seen the Iguazu Falls on TV: Seeing the world’s wonders in the flesh will always leave you awestruck. Same goes for Monument Valley’s gigantic sandstone buttes — yes, this speck of dust in the foreground is a car.
DNIPROPETROVSK – Last week, in this central Ukrainian city, a public farewell was bid to 21 soldiers, even if their names were never determined. The coffins, draped with Ukrainian flags, were brought to the the square between the Opera and Ballet Theaters on Karl Marx Avenue in Dnipropetrovsk, the country’s fourth-largest city. “The soldiers who […]
Some 70% of prisoners in India’s jails are still awaiting trials, or verdicts of trials long passed. In some cases the wait goes on for decades. For around 100,000 prisoners, the wait may end.
As China holds its 18th CCP Fourth Plenary Session with the theme of the “rule of law in China,” it is clear that the corrupt system that fueled the country’s economic boom is bankrupt.
A German expat in California explains why American microbrews get it all wrong.
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The Meanings Of Bigouden
The Breton word “Bigouden” was first used to designate the very distinctive, sugarloaf-shaped lace bonnet traditionally worn by the women in the southwestern tip of the French region of Brittany. Then the meaning expanded, and “Bigouden” was used to identify the women themselves, then all the inhabitants of the region — then the region itself! […]
Despite the fanfare of the huge financial commitments from Arab and Western countries to rebuild Gaza after the latest Israel offensive, collecting the cash is a whole different story.
Looking to build their branding and attract a more global audience, Chinese companies are increasingly eyeing the major European soccer leagues.
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The 6 Sexiest Sax Songs
Photo: Roy Anderson/Family handout A sad note in the music world today with news of the death of Raphael Ravenscroft, the British saxophonist who worked with some of the best artists of his generation. He died at age 60 after an apparent heart attack on Sunday in Exeter, UK. Ravenscroft is best known for penning […]
A Syrian refugee living in a tent near the border with Turkey has lost his home, but he is preserving the family business of creating beautiful works of traditional mosaic art.
It gets harder to feel the weight of history’s most brutal hours when you’re surrounded by tourists soaking in the sun and thinking about lunch plans.
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Same Scene, Different Place And Time
My grandson, who’s just got back from his honeymoon in Brazil, tells me he could have taken a very similar picture there, today. From the cotton candy to the still ubiquitous VW Beetle and Camper, it looks like 1989 Mexico City and 2014 Rio de Janeiro have a lot in common.
Even as President Sirleaf is criticized by some, one opposition parliament member has decided to donate his own time and money to work directly with those affected by the outbreak.
Argentine President Kirchner’s recent praise for the way Vladimir Putin handles the press signals a broader shared view on leadership, which does not bode well for liberal democratic values.
In the late 1990s, a group of Russian physicists settled on the Greek island of Gavdos. With the idea that they can program themselves not to die, they believe themselves immortal.
A somewhat unusual event was held over the weekend in a park in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, called “I want to touch a dog.” The idea was organized through Facebook in order to introduce Muslims to dogs, and more than 800 people attended, Asia One reports. Many came to see and be near the dogs, and […]
German wildlife authorities worry about the rapid spread of contagious diseases along the North Sea, especially since seals lie so close to one another when they rest on sand banks.
BEIJING — According to Beijing Youth Daily, soap made from breast milk is one of China’s latest fads. Just type in “breast milk soap” on Taobao, China’s biggest e-commerce site, and 88 pages of breast milk-related products are in display. Apart from those selling soaps made with the breast milk of new mothers — at […]
More than three years since the Jan. 25 revolution, and with much having returned to the past, signs are everywhere of a shell-shocked nation. Analysis of an Egyptian psychiatrist.
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After The War, Living In Harmony
Only five years after the end of Word War II, the mayor of Montbéliard (my hometown in eastern France) and the mayor of Ludwigsburg in western Germany started talking about making “sister cities” out of their respective localities. The choir of traditional folk singing I ended up conducting played a significant role in this local […]
Carmen Tulia Ortega recently came face-to-face with a former paramilitary chief responsible for some of the deaths of her loved ones. No, she did not forgive him.
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Is Bigger Beautiful? The Rise Of XXL Art
Wider, higher, heavier: A taste for oversized art is spreading around the world, among artists, collectors and the public (at large).
-Analysis- PARIS — A decade after development began in earnest on the “continent of lions” — the result of vast riches in raw materials, and of Africa embracing globalization — the countries from the northern sub-Saharan Sahel region and large parts of central Africa are facing a double threat. Over the past few weeks, panic […]
The only way to eradicate the destructive lionfish, non-native to the Atlantic Ocean and now endangering prey species along the U.S. coast, may be to eat it. But mind the venom.