Not even the first Latin American Pope! Studies show fewer Catholics in Latin America, and more people identifying as atheist or secular. Now non-believers are fighting for a true separation of church of state.
Month: February 2015
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Song Du Jour #1, Saturn’s Pattern
It’s only a snippet, but it’s a good way to start the week. Paul Weller has released a teaser of his upcoming album “Saturn’s Pattern”, which will be released next spring. The former frontman of The Jam said this album “is one of the best things I’ve done,” according to this month’s issue of Uncut. […]
NEW HOPE FOR UKRAINEGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to meet U.S. President Barack Obama later today in Washington for talks that will focus primarily on a ceasefire for eastern Ukraine. This comes after emergency meetings Friday and Saturday in Kiev and Moscow to negotiate a possible agreement ahead of a four-way meeting Wednesday in […]
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Extra! SwissLeaks In The Spotlight
Geneva-based daily Le Temps features on its Monday front page an ominous-looking photo of HSBC’s Geneva headquarters together with the headline “What the Falciani files reveal,” referring to the latest developments in the giant tax evasion scheme led by the world’s second largest bank, HSBC via its Swiss subsidiary, HSBC Private Bank. According to a […]
Turns in the war in Syria, as well as shifting resources and alliances across the Muslim world, mean tensions are easing between Israel and both Hamas and Hezbollah.
In Beijing alone, more than 1,000 acres of historical areas have been lost since 1990. As rural Chinese move to cities, the country must figure out how to preserve its heritage.
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Mighty Piton
Don’t let it fool you: The roads that lead to the Reunion Island“s Piton de la Fournaise (in the background) may be barren and stunningly quiet — but the volcano is one of the most active in the world. Just two years before we went there, the March 1998 eruption lasted 196 days, and le […]
Yes, an open mind in Europe is necessary, but debt reduction isn’t even in the Greeks’ own interest. It’s time to change the way Greece works.
Once a backer of the Free Syrian Army, a harsh reality caught up with this father of three near Aleppo.
This was the week that Greece’s newly elected Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras took his case to other European leaders in a push to renegotiate the massive Greek debt. His charisma and no-apologies leftist politics got the world talking.
A trial public work program for German drug addicts promised modest hourly wages and optional bottles of beer. The results have surprised social workers.
One month after the nation-changing attacks on the French satirical magazine, a look at the daily life of a Muslim religious leader of good faith.
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Worldcrunch’s Weekend Staff Playlist #6
Our staff playlist for this weekend involves an interesting mix of Brit rock’n’roll, Mandapop, Brazilian samba and some sort of Russian techno. Enjoy!
The Netherlands, a major consumer of sustainable coffee, is helping to make production in Colombia more environmentally friendly for the benefit of grower and drinker alike.
WARRING UKRAINE PARTIES CALL TRUCEPro-Russian rebels in Ukraine have reached agreement with government forces on a humanitarian corridor to allow the evacuation of civilians out of Debaltseve, a key railway hub in the heart of the latest fighting, AP reports. A rebel spokesman said 1,000 civilians would be evacuated today, though it’s not clear where […]
The fallout from the Petrobras scandal continues to consume Brazil. A former head of the energy giant has alleged that the governing Workers’ Party had received between $150 and $200 million in kickbacks from 90 of the biggest contracts Petrobras signed with major companies from 2003 until 2013, O Globo reports Friday. According to the […]
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Song Du Jour #5, Gang Of Four
Gang of Four, the emblematic post-punks from Leeds, released a video yesterday featuring The Kills’ Alison Mosshart for their track “England’s In My Bones”. The song will appear on their upcoming 9th studio album What Happens Next, which will be released on Feb. 24 in the U.S. and on March 2 in Europe.
Australian colleague Peter Greste has been deported, and Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy is expected to be released to Canada. But Baher Mohamed, the third Al Jazeera prisoner, is being treated differently for what appears to be a very simple reason.
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Appointed Chairman
Who needs a moving truck?
The dynamics of social networks have established a climate of caution for young people, whose sense of fun is more narcissistic and less political than previous generations.
Governments in Latin America and Africa are scrambling to build so-called “stategic trading partnerships” with China. But is it really a win-win situaiton?
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Cristina Kirchner’s 11 Worst Gaffes Ever
Argentine President and faux pas expert Cristina Kirchner graced us with yet another verbal woopsie Wednesday, when she tweeted, while on a state visit to China seeking investment: Más de 1.000 asistentes al evento… ¿Serán todos de “La Cámpola” y vinieron sólo por el aloz y el petlóleo? … — Cristina Kirchner (@CFKArgentina) February 4, […]
Argentinian President Cristina Kirchner came under intense criticism after she mocked Chinese pronunciation on Twitter while on a state visit to China seeking investment. But there was no mention of the diplomatic faux pas in the Thursday edition of Chinese newspaper People’s Daily, which instead chose to feature a picture of a friendly, if slightly […]
From the capital to the native village of the pilot who was burned alive by ISIS, Jordanians of all tribes and places may mark the first major national Arab movement against the jihadist group.
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Song Du Jour #4, Polycat
The synth-pop band Polycat is currently topping the charts in Thailand, its home country. Produced by the Bangkok-based record label Smallroom, the quintet was voted new artist of the year 2012 by the Thai radio station Fat Radio.
JORDAN VOWS “HARSH” WAR VS. ISISJordan’s King Abdullah II has vowed to wage war against terrorist group ISIS. He explained that his country’s response to the killing of a Jordan pilot, shown in a video that has shocked the world, “will be harsh because this terrorist organization is not only fighting us, but also fighting […]
Though the Pakistan Taliban was responsible for the murders of 130 students in Peshawar, the local government believes some of the country’s longtime Afghan refugees harbor terrorists. Deportation and confinements have begun.
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Spanish Steps To French Church
The Italian Renaissance Trinità dei Monti church, at the top of the famous Spanish Steps in Piazza di Spagna, was a little bit like a home away from home for us French travellers. “La Trinité-des-Monts,” as we call it, was built by a French king and has been under French responsibility ever since — together […]
Soil-free gardens, pollution-free factories moving back to town. City dwellers will see dramatic changes to life and work. Some bumps for sure, but overall good news for urbanites.
An old cinema in Rome’s Trastevere neighborhood was abandoned until a group of students refurbished it to give new life to masterpieces of the past. But they never anticipated what would happen next.
Technology has transformed the world of prosthetics. But are all the bells and whistles, and the hefty price tags they require, really what ordinary patients need?
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Song Du Jour #3, Lust For Life
British film director Toby Tobias told Metro today that Iggy Pop, who will star in his upcoming movie Blood Orange as — guess what — a rock’n’roll legend, was “such a gentleman” that he saved an injured stray cat while on set in Ibiza. We thought this deserved a few spins of his “Lust For […]
In Chad, savage accounts from the first wave of refugees after reported massacres in Nigeria. Meanwhile, forces Wednesday have begun to step up the military response to Boko Haram.
JORDAN EXECUTES TWO PRISONERS AFTER PILOT BURNED ALIVEJordan hanged two Iraqi prisoners Wednesday in retaliation to the killing of a Jordanian pilot by the terrorist group ISIS. Sajida al-Rishawi, a female jihadist involved in a 2005 bombing that killed 60 people in Amman and whose liberation had recently been requested by ISIS, and Ziyad Karboli, […]
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Down By The River
Same brand, different technique: These Ecuadorian women were washing their clothes using Ariel, a brand of laundry detergent popular both in Latin America and Europe. Their washing machine was just slightly bigger than ours — the Ambato River, a stream that ultimately empties into the Atlantic Ocean via the Amazon.
Novelist and Nobel laureate J.M.G. Le Clézio welcomed the resolve of millions of his fellow Frenchmen uniting against terrorism. But he’s ready to ask the uncomfortable questions.
BRASILIA — Not so many months ago, pollsters were saying she’d be Brazil’s next president. But now, three months after failing to make it to even the second round of the election, former Sen. Marina Silva is nowhere to be seen. The once high-flying candidate seems to have lost more than just a presidential race. […]
The world’s canals can attract all sorts of old indestructable items, from plastic bags to styrofoam cups. But if you’re in Egypt that can apparently include your occasional floating sarcophagus. Madr Masr reports that Egypt’s Antiquities Ministry has launched an investigation into the mysterious discovery last Friday of three ancient wooden coffins carrying sarcophagi drifting […]
STOCKHOLM — Tove likes math because it’s so logical, the sixth grader says. If she doesn’t understand a question, the boy who sits next to her, Viggo, repeats it for her. Tove is deaf and wears a hearing aid, though it’s not visible under her long blonde hair. But it’s the reason that during class […]
Thanks to the French-language website Hip Hop We Trust, created by the collective of graphic designers We.ch, religious hip hop devotees can sample audio recordings of texts from the Bible, the Torah, the Koran or Buddhist scriptures with top French and U.S. rappers such as 2Pac, Eminem, RZA, IAM or NTM. “”This is my sound, […]