A recent study shows overwhelming agreement that it’s unnecessary to offer pre-school children digital training. And nearly all parents agree on strict limits to screen time as kids get older.
Month: December 2014
SAFED — Two unarmed UN peacekeepers stand beside a rusty telescope observing the Syrian border from the Golan Heights on the Israeli side of the 1974 ceasefire line. The air is cold and wintery. Nearby, in the Coffee Anan store (anan, meaning cloud in Hebrew), an Israeli intelligence officer points down towards the bottom of […]
BRAGANÇA PAULISTA — Brazilians are very serious about their Christmas trees. And the different fortunes of two unusual ones is proof of just how strict the standards of what is and isn’t acceptable as decoration can be in this festive Catholic country. A few weeks ago, the city of Rio de Janeiro started the holiday […]
If nothing else, the United States and Cuba stand to earn plenty of cash with a future end to sanctions feeding booms of American exports, Cuban tourism and infrastructure development.
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Worldcrunch’s Weekend Staff Playlist #5
Well, well, well, could it be Friday again? Time for our fifth weekend staff playlist, then. Can you guess this week’s theme? Quick hint: It involves going around people’s houses, hiding stuff, and a fair amount of arguments. No, it’s not the NSA.
Nicknamed the “atheists’ cafe,” police say there was evidence of devil worship at the shop. Twitter users are now mocking Cairo authorities, asking when the war on vampires begins.
GUANGZHOU — It has been three days since Zheng Yuling gave birth. Her breasts are as hard as stone and she is in great pain. She wishes she could breastfeed her baby. But the child is no longer there. And her husband, Chen Dafu, was arrested the day before for the crime of abandoning the […]
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Vintage Washing
I’ve already shown you how the Mayans’ colorful traditional clothes were made — now you can see how the local women and girls wash them, on the shores of the beautiful Lake Atitlan.
Aware of the profound effect Christmas has on people, researchers have studied our reactions to everything from supermarket music to gender-specific gifts and delayed gratification.
CASABLANCA — Jews in Morocco stand in front of 2,000 years of history, and some more recent events. Seventy years ago, some 300,000 Jews lived in the country, which was then the largest Jewish minority in the Arab world. Today only about 5,000 Jews live here – the others have migrated for a variety of […]
The decision by the United States and Cuba to restore diplomatic ties looks like good news for now: for Cuban families, for regional democracy and for peace in war-torn Colombia.
The United States and Cuba stunned the world by ending more than a half-century as sworn enemies. The presidents of the two neighbors Barack Obama and Raúl Castro announced Wednesday a deal to exchange prisoners on the road to restoring full diplomatic relations. This is how the Western Hemisphere and the wider world reacted: Cuba […]
A quick roundup of who has been saying what around the world.
The French may never abandon the notion of mealtime as sacred, but it seems they love their crumpets and chips. France is now the second-largest importer for British food products.
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In The Middle Of The World. Almost
Welcome to Ciudad Mitad del Mundo, the city in the middle of the world, about 30 kilometers north of Quito. My wife Claudine and I were standing on each side of a line symbolizing the Equator. Modern equipment has since shown that the Equator actually lies about some 240 meters north, but this stays between […]
BEIJING — “Innovation” has become a favorite word for Chinese headline writers. From individuals to private firms and even public institutions, everybody and everything aims to be an innovator. Though the OECD Economic Outlook 2014 predicted that China will probably become the country in the world which invests most in Research and Development (R&D) within […]
Images that made the news.
As Pakistan began to bury its children Wednesday, the world reacted to one of the most horrifying terrorist acts in recent years: the Taliban’s methodical assault on a school in Peshawar. The death toll in Tuesday’s attack stands at 141 people, including 132 children, as survivors recounted point-blank-range elimination of one student after another. The […]
In Russia’s capital, environmental protection is victim of manufacturers who don’t want to reform and a government that won’t challenge them. The result is there for all to see…and smell.
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Beheaded Saint, Decapitated Church
The Arbore church in northern Romania was built in the early 16th century and dedicated to St. John the Baptist — the martyr beheaded by Salome. Coincidentally, the Orthodox monastery itself suffered a comparable fate when marauding Cossack troops melted the lead roof to make bullets.
RIO DE JANEIRO — The sign outside this modest hair salon in the Rio das Pedras favela, or shantytown, of Rio de Janeiro reads “Belos Fios” (“beautiful hair”). Inside, customers can find Matrix hair color products stacked behind the salon’s two only chairs. This is just one of some 30 small salons, most of them […]
Madina, a British artist and designer, has launched a collection of stamps featuring hip hop artists of the golden era of the genre, in the 1980s-90s. All photos: Madina For a very long time — until 2005 in fact — stamps in the United Kingdom only depicted members of the Royal Family. Except for a […]
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has done great harm to Israel’s reputation, and the early elections he’s called for March are a perfect chance to end his hold on the nation.
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2014: The Year In 57 Seconds
It was a year of far too much bad news for the history books, crunched here into one minute. And there’s more (not always so grim) history to cover. We are launching a daily video feature that squeezes all of world history — well, almost — into less than a minute each day.
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On This Day
Your 57-second shot of history.
A recently discovered species of deep sea snail, the Alviconcha strummeri, has been named by scientists in honor of the Clash frontman Joe Strummer. Why? “Because they look like punk rockers in the 70s and 80s and they have purple blood and live in such an extreme environment, we decided to name one new species […]
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How China’s Corrupt Are Making Macau Rich
Ahead of the anniversary of Macau passing under Beijing’s control, and a delicate visit from Xi Jinping, a closer look at the troubling formula of the former Portuguese colony.
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Bilingual Symmetry
Funny how a picture without any people in it can still illustrate a city’s dual heritage, both linguistically (French/English) and demographically (Acadian/Creole).
Though the country’s major scouting associations say the practice of “Pflocken,” in which children are tied down, isn’t acceptable, the timeworn practice continues.
Gender, virility, violence and fear: warmaking has long been thought to have a very specific and masculine identity. But a French researcher has shown that it’s not so simple.
BERLIN — As the price of oil continues to fall, share prices on the Gulf region’s stock markets have plummeted in parallel. The price of oil reached a yearly low of $60 a barrel on Friday, and we’re now looking at a possible $50, which would create a truly bleak outlook for economic prospects in […]
SARAQEB — Zaytoun and Zaytouna relies on games, stories and illustrations to make life in Syria’s war zone a bit more bearable for kids. Launched in July 2013, the four-page magazine started as a modest project with a team of three people using a small printer and circulating it to a limited number of children. Today, says magazine director Sumar Kanjo, the team includes over 10 writers and 10 illustrators, and Zaytoun and Zaytouna has become a cultural pillar in Saraqeb and other areas under opposition control. In addition to the paper edition, the magazine is launching a website and […]
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LAST QUARTER MOON – Dec. 15-21, 2014
(March 21 to April 19) The Final Quarter of the Moon will test your patience and perseverance. You can get just about anything, just as long as you manage to get an organized system in place — this requires patience. This is your “challenge” for the last quarter, and if you embrace it you will […]
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Two Little Mermaids
I told you we were going to publish this slide soon, didn’t I? As you read this, my grandson may be taking pictures of the same statue of the Little Mermaid before which his mother, my daughter Cécile, was posing 47 years ago: He’s in Copenhagen today.
Four decades after abortion became legal in France, too often women face moral judgment and physical pain, not to mention unsympathetic health care professionals.
After opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez was jailed, the Maduro government is now targeting another political nemesis, Maria Corina Machado. The world must take notice.
SLUPSK — One of the first things journalists wanted to know after the recent mayoral election in Slupsk, a small city in northern Poland, is what the winner planned to do with the Pope John Paul II portrait hanging in his mayor’s office. Will he remove it? Does he plan to rid the office of religious symbols? Obviously irritated, Mayor-Elect Robert Bierdron fired back with some queries of his own. “What are you even asking me about?” Bierdron responded. “Why don’t you ask me about my plans for Slupsk?” Already known throughout the country as the first openly gay member […]
Despite strong opposition, Egypt has just approved the contruction of coal-fired energy plants that are still years away from operation. Meanwhile, it’s nowhere on harnassing wind and solar energy.
BEIJING — Beginning in January, China will abandon harvesting organs from executed prisoners, and organs needed for transplants will all come from donations, authorities have announced. Many Chinese don’t necessarily understand the profound meaning of this reform. Five years ago, I was personally involved in developing a report entitled, “Where Do Organs Come From?” published […]
After World War II, it was SS prisoners in Germany’s Landsberg prison. After 9-11, it was Guantanamo. The U.S. repeats its sins, but also repeats its repentance.