WorldcrunchPhoto: David Muir Although Santa Claus is not coming to town quite yet, it’s time for music website Stereogum’s Cold Hard Facts On The Year In Pop, which looks at the stats and charts to find out which artists were the most popular on Spotify, Vevo, Shazam, and other music sites. And if figures aren’t […]
A heated national debate in Germany over raising the retirement age is posing the wrong questions. A German writer in the U.S. sees a different solution.
The second edition of the Worldstock festival, an event that aims to break the barriers of genres, started this week in Paris. The motto remains the same as last year’s successful inaugural edition: search for that universal je-ne-sais-quoi that somehow gives music from anywhere the possibility to touch anyone. Until Dec. 13, artists from all […]
The former chief of Israel’s elite intelligence unit addresses a technology conference, waxing on privacy, cyber war and a new generation used to documenting and sharing everything.
For Renaud Laplanche, it all began with a credit card statement that seemed all wrong. Now, after helping to bring banking into the digital era, it’s time for a major IPO for his SF-based firm.
BOGOTA — Authorities in Bogota are banning road and building construction across 14 square kilometers (5.4 square miles) in the Colombian capital, in a bid to create the largest urban nature reserve in Latin America. New restrictions will turn a sector of the existing Thomas van der Hammen Reserve into a “biodiversity corridor” spanning Guaymaral, […]
The Bay of Brest, in northwestern France’s Brittany region, has been an important military port for centuries. I walked a hundred meters or so on a forbidden but unguarded path overlooking a naval base to take a picture of this fine example of our glorious French fleet.
AL-HALBOUNI — Adel, a teenager, worked with his father at their small shop near al-Halbouni, not far from Damascus. By age 17, he had dropped out of school to support his family, as their financial situation grew desperate after years of war. Adel wasn’t a supporter of Syria’s government, but that didn’t prevent him from being forced to fight on its behalf. He was arrested at one of the army checkpoints in the town of Qudsaiya in the Damascus countryside, then sent off to battle. “We were on our way to work,” Adel’s father recounts. “We got stopped at a […]
Groundbreaking on the much heralded Central American project is said to be imminent. But huge doubts linger, including the bankrolling of the project by a mysterious Chinese businessman.
Yes, the Google ‘monster’ is too big and too powerful. But EU politicians imposing a breakup of the U.S. tech giant is not the solution. A mix of arm-twisting and open competition can do the trick.
A 17-year-old recording of a freestyle battle between Eminem and a local rapper named A.L. has been released online. The two-part recording features a 25-year-old Marshall Mathers in his early rapping career displaying an already impressive talent for freestyle. The battle took place when Eminem visited New York’s Baruch College’s Solo Vibes radio show for […]
If snake skin and dried llama fetuses are your thing, then La Paz” El Mercado de las Brujas (The Witches’ Market) is a must-see.
France knows the place, China has the money, and now a major joint investment fund for Africa is in the works between Paris and Beijing to help drive the continent’s economic expansion.
The young Turkish-German woman was killed after defending others, and in death has become a symbol of how immigration is central to Germany’s modern history.
They moved to Israel from Argentina, or are the descendants of those who did. Despite the insecurity and fading hopes of peace, Argentine Israelis refuse to pack their bags in despair.
NEW DELHI — Archana, who is just 15, is desperately trying to put her 3-month-old brother to sleep. He’s crying out for his mother, who died last week after going to a government-run sterilization camp. At least 15 others suffered the same fate, and scores of others are seriously ill after undergoing tubectomies at two Indian sterilization “camps.” Ongoing investigations point to contaminated drugs given to the women as a possible cause of death. But a dirty operating room and surgeries performed in a matter of minutes with unsanitized instruments have raised serious questions about India’s approach to population control […]
A Swiss NGO convenes representatives of 35 rebel groups in Geneva to talk about the mechanics, and great difficulties, of respecting humanitarian laws when fighting civil wars.
An American artist uses pastels and polka dots to transform the Egyptian capital’s tangled rooftops.
Can fish get sore scales? Without a doubt, says the Federal Ethics Commission for Non-Human Biotechnology domaine (CENH), in a report released this week. It found that there is “no reason to conclude that fish are insensitive” to pain. Until the 1980s it was commonly believed that fish behaved more or less like machines and […]
Romania was one of the largest automobile producers in Central and Eastern Europe during the Communist period. But that doesn’t mean horse-driven carts were entirely discontinued, especially on a traditional wedding day like this one.
“What is a DJ if he can’t scratch?” Sims asks in his bio. The answers to this question may not be crystal clear for us at Worldcrunch, but at least one thing is certain: Sims can scratch and sample, and is therefore a DJ. He proves it on Instagram, where in a series of short […]
SHANGHAI — Every summer, the little town of Yulin in southeastern China celebrates the summer solstice by tasting local dishes: lychees (a Chinese fruit) in alcohol, for example, and, perhaps the favorite main course delicacy, dog meat. Dog carcasses are visibly displayed on street stalls — for now. But last year, animal rights activists began […]
-OpEd- DOURADOS — Large imposing walls and fences have become a compulsory part of construction plans for the luxury gated communities mushrooming all around Brazil. But there is one particularity about the Ecoville Residence in Dourados, in the southwestern state of Mato Grosso do Sul. On the other side of its three-meter electric fence sits […]
(March 21 to April 19) The week starts with an unusual sense of melancholy. The First Quarter Moon in Pisces shows you the challenges you’ll face in order to learn the teachings of the month. It’s a lesson of independence and an exploration of new territories. The downside may be a sense of loss and […]
When snow falls on Monesi di Triora, a ski resort in the Alps, it can seem like a perfect winterland paradise. But any kind of winter sports activity has now been prohibited — just because of a big bird. The black grouse in question, say naturalists, could be bothered by excessive human presence, because during […]
As the 20th UN Climate Summit begins in Peru, one faster way to fight global warming is to steer investors away from oil and gas, and bet instead in clean energy. The planet depends on it.
Last December, amidst dramatic protests in Kiev, few imagined that the Maidan protests would lead to land grabs and open warfare. The symbols and substance of Ukraine’s iconic square.
Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers in Rome’s Piazza Navona, with its four allegorical statues representing the Nile, the Ganges, the Rio de la Plata and the Danube, contains one of the most comical pieces of sculpture I’ve ever seen. Actually, Nile’s head (center) is covered with a piece of cloth because at the time […]
Referred to as ‘sponsored content,’ it is the Internet’s way of blurring lines between information and advertising – and Outbrain is leading the charge ahead of a reported $1 billion IPO.
Bidding farewell to those who died this past month.