A new study from Shell shows that changing behavior among younger generations of Germans will eventually lead to fewer cars on the road – and more women behind the wheel.
Month: November 2014
Amid the mayhem of civil war, huge money is to be made from stealing and selling archeological treasures from Iraq and Syria. ISIS ambitions are fueling an already huge black market.
More and more Chinese are going under the knife for cosmetic reasons, and many admit that they do it for a very specific quest for a spouse or job.
MACENTA — Just a few months ago, people would queue outside the shop of Jean Segbé Bavogui, 41, a tailor in Banizé, a neighborhood outside the Guinea town of Macenta. But the small workshop is now empty. Bavogui hasn’t seen any clients or received any orders for over a month. Even the well outside his […]
The U.S. President has shown a mix of political pragmatism and historic vision in pushing forward in the face of a backward-looking Congress.
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Worldcrunch’s Weekend Staff Playlist #2
It’s not only Friday, it’s Black Friday! If you’re planning to go berserk this weekend like these people above in London, listening to our weekend staff playlist might help. It puts together, among many other more or less acceptable musical favorites, One Direction, Primus and Bob Dylan.
TURIN — How many times have you shopped at a market and found yourself admiring a bag or wallet, wondering whether it was really made by the famous brand displayed on its label? Thanks to the camera on your smartphone and a forthcoming app, it soon will be possible to verify, in real time, whether […]
The so-called congestion charges that have been levied in London and other major cities are being closely considered in the Chinese capital, which has serious pollution and traffic issues.
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Surprise Sign
We arrived in our Los Angeles hotel at night, happy to rest after a long trip. The next morning, Easter Sunday, we got a nice Easter egg: This was the view from our hotel room!
TEL AVIV — Olive branches are a symbol of peace, but Palestinian olive production has become a sign of the economic troubles that come with Middle East conflict. The approximately 500,000 hectares (1.2 million acres) of olive groves represent around 45% of Palestinian agriculture land, with most centered in the West Bank’s mountainous territories. With […]
MUNICH — For people driving through Germany in a normal car, things couldn’t be easier. With just a single debit card, they can refuel everywhere at anytime. That is not, unfortunately, the case for people who drive electric cars. To travel, let’s say, from Wolfsburg via Stuttgart and Munich to Berlin and back, that person […]
Words that made news …
The Louis Vuitton Foundation is a new high-profile cultural offering for the city of lights, but art’s higher calling becomes just a tool of luxury promotion for the ultra-privileged.
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Venice Of The East
Here is a view from a boat trip we took on the khlongs, the canals that crisscross Bangkok. Traffic is so bad in the Thai capital that locals still rely heavily on these water routes to go from one place to another. The many khlongs earned Bangkok its nickname of the “Venice of the East” […]
Russian doctors often push mothers to abandon disabled newborns to the state. The result is growing numbers of orphans, two years after Russia imposed a ban on American adoptions.
Auberta, the bear cub abandoned by her mother in April in the Catalan Pyrenees, was found dead earlier this week in her 5,000-square foot enclosure. The 10-month-old cub was going to be released into the mountainous region, where there are believed to be just 30 other brown bears. CCTV cameras in the enclosure had captured […]
In a reversal of economic fortunes, Sweden’s under-25s are leaving the high unemployment of their home country to seek more money and secure jobs in Norway.
The news quantified…
BUENOS AIRES — Cycling is catching on in this bustling city of taxis, buses and cars, especially since the bike-lending program EcoBici was launched in 2010. In fact, it’s currently one of the few systems in the world in which the stations are operated by trained personnel and the service is free. But the differences […]
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Freedom Skyline
Five years after Latvia’s independence was recognized by the Soviet Union (one of the last things the dying Union got to do), we toured the Baltic states, still then in the early stages of painstaking de-Russification. But from above, Riga, the largest city in the three Baltic republics, looked as beautifully Latvian as ever.
KOBANI — Sardar is a 26-year-old fighter in the ranks of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, known by its Kurdish acronym, the YPG. A former blacksmith, he has taken up arms for the past five years, since he first became involved with the militant group. In his eyes, it is the core of a Kurdish army that will someday represent the future state of Kurdistan. His priority now is to defend the city of Ain al-Arab, also known by its Kurdish name Kobani. The city has been under attack by ISIS since September. “Compared with the weapons used by ISIS, […]
Japan has slipped into recession, the ultimate mark of failure of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ambitious but misguided efforts to turn around the nation’s economy.
The current series of kissing protests in India are indicative of a country and a culture in transition.
Thankfully, Indonesian band Navicula’s nickname “the green grunge gentlemen” refers only to their environmental nature and not to a type of radioactive dirt. They are one of Indonesia’s most successful rock bands, having just returned home to their island of Bali after touring the U.S. and Australia. Their name “Navicula” refers to a type of […]
The ISIS terror group believes that if it is Allah’s will, the organization will take over much of the world. But at the moment, Allah doesn’t seem to be on their side.
Searching for a quiet public space in Cairo sets you up against unscrupulous police and leering neighbors, oppressive moral codes and an eternal maze of streets. One woman’s failed hunt for tranquility in the Egyptian capital.
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Mourning Has Broken
Back in the 1960s, many Greek widows, like these two in the northern Pindus mountains, still chose to dress in black for the rest of their lives after the death of their husbands. Nowadays the mourning period tends to be somewhat shorter, although traditionally not less than 40 days.
Chinese public and private enterprises are looking abroad, and expanding ever more into higher technology industries. It will reshape the future for China, and the world.
Nestled in between Poland, Lithuania and the Baltic Sea, far from mainland Russia, Kaliningrad feels much more like Europe, and its residents are proud of its Western-like values.
The Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Puerto Princesa is known as the “prison without walls,” because even violent convicts here can work and live on this vast land with relative autonomy.
News in images…
KAAFU ATOLL — The Maldives are slowly sinking, as coral reefs off the coasts of the islands have been destroyed and washed ashore because of warming water temperatures, all of which means sand isn’t propagating as it should. That’s why Thomas Le Berre is dragging an iron frame along the beach of Kuda Huraa. With […]
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NEW MOON – Nov. 24-30, 2014
(March 21 to April 19) The New Moon in Sagittarius turns on your innate desire for conquest. There are no limits, you sail in the same wind that sustained the Columbus caravelle toward the discovery of the new continent. You are launched into the new with a confidence and enthusiasm that you have not felt […]
Chile has the largest Palestinian population outside the Arab world. This neighborhood in Santiago is bound by a singular mix of history, soccer and headlines coming out of Gaza.
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Promenade Des Francais
Time to share a little vintage family portrait. This was my daughter Cécile’s first trip outside of her native Franche-Comté; here she’s with my wife and my father, walking along the Promenade des Anglais on Nice’s Bay of Angels. In the background you can catch a glimpse of the world-famous Hotel Negresco.
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O Luna Mia
We all share the same sky, but each of us gazes up from a unique place on earth. Now you can follow “O Luna Mia, the weekly horoscope of Simon, Italy’s most trusted astrologer, translated for the first time into English. His unique perspective comes from Rome, The Eternal City. Che fortuna! Learn all about […]
After Latin America and Europe, the Middle East and Africa want to bury their dictatorships. But it is an arduous and often twisted process of political revolution.
Beijing wants to control nearly half the world’s robot production by 2020, but the plans to get there have some fundamental flaws. There may still be time to reprogram it all.
MILAN — The International Highrise Award enjoys great prestige because, unlike other similar competitions, it is granted neither for a building’s height nor form. Instead, the prize — bestowed by the German Architecture Museum, the city of Frankfurt and Deka Bank — honors criteria such as sustainability and innovation. And this year’s winner, Milan’s Bosco […]
Considered history’s worst industrial accident, having killed thousands in a Dec. 3, 1984 gas leak at a Union Carbide plant in India, the health effects in Bhopal can still be felt today.