This small Eastern European country is the Wild West (good guys and bad guys) of the fight for Internet security.
Month: April 2015
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Eurovision Contestants 2015: Latvia
Latvia ran in 15 editions of the Eurovision Song Contest since its first participation at the turn of the millennium. The former Soviet satellite failed only to qualify in 2004 with this song — we have no idea why it didn’t work, people probably forgot what real rock’n’roll was at the time. But Latvia also […]
Why do so many modern couples find it difficult to work out division of labor within their households? After all, even Paleolithic people had it figured out.
TWO NEPAL CHILDREN RESCUED Photo: Qin Qing/Xinhua/ZUMA A 15-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl were rescued alive from the rubble in Nepal earlier today after being trapped for five days following Saturday’s devastating earthquake, Reuters reports. FRENCH SOLDIERS ACCUSED OF CHILD RAPE French daily Le Parisien reacts to the revelation of accusations that 16 French […]
Le Parisien, April 30, 2015 “The French military at the heart of a scandal” reads the front page of French daily Le Parisien, following the revelation of accusations that 16 French soldiers sexually abused children in the Central African Republic between December 2013 and June 2014. The allegations were kept secret until The Guardian published […]
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Not Ruined For Everyone
Melrose Abbey, in southeastern Scotland, has a troubled history, having been destroyed and rebuilt numerous times since its founding in 1136. It seems to be holding up better since authorities understood that the lavish ruins of the Cistercian abbey were best used for tourism rather than religion.
For the past 50 years, religion has been a key element in Moroccan diplomacy with its African neighbors. Now it’s part of the fight against Islamic terrorism on the continent.
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Across Siberia, Across Time
An online series of photographs brings the writer back to his first great journey, via the Trans-Siberia rail, from his native Yugoslavia to post-Mao China.
The French son of an Auschwitz victim and German daughter of a Hitler supporter spent their lives confronting Nazi crimes, from capturing Klaus Barbie to a symbolic slap of a German Chancellor.
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Eurovision Contestants 2015: Italy
Italy has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 40 times since making its debut at the first edition in 1956 — it was actually one of only seven countries that competed the very first year. It has won the contest on two occasions, with Gigliola Cinquetti in 1964 and Toto Cutugno in 1990. This year’s […]
NEPAL ADMITS POST-QUAKE MISTAKES Nepal officials are acknowledging that the response to Saturday’s devastating earthquake that took at least 5,000 lives has been too slow for survivors in remote villages, who are still waiting for aid to reach them, Sky News reports. INDONESIA EXECUTIONS SPARK ANGER Photo: Sijori Images/ZUMA Australia has recalled its ambassador to […]
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Extra! Army Rescues 293 Boko Haram Hostages
Vanguard, April 29, 2015 Nigerian troops fighting against Islamist group Boko Haram announced the rescue of 293 girls and women held hostage by the jihadists, newspaper Vanguard reports on Wednesday. It’s unclear how many, if any, of those rescued were among the 200 girls abducted in a school in Chibok in April 2014 that captured […]
-Analysis- PARIS — As pharmacists look to the future, the first thing they should bear in mind is that the health market is growing as it never has before. But it’s also just as true that consumer habits are changing. People are better informed, more demanding and more prone to self-medication. All of those are […]
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Ceramic Status
The number of ceramic figures decorating the roofs of Beijing’s Forbidden City is proportionate to the status of the building: Only the Hall of Supreme Harmony at the Imperial Palace Museum boasts 10 such mystical beasts. The person who lived in this building must still have been pretty important, as 8 is also a lucky […]
Families of certain social standing in Egypt often educate their children in English. Publishing houses too are getting in on the Anglo influence, publishing literary works and texts written directly in English.
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Eurovision Contestants 2015: Israel
Nadav Guedj, Israel’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2015, is only 16 years old. Although he looks like a 28-year-old financial strategy advisor, his age makes him one of the youngest contestants this year. And, as heard in our office, he might well get some older ladies in trouble. Especially when the “Middle Eastern […]
As the European Commission targets Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom for antitrust violations, tensions between Europe and Russia over Ukraine are only bound to rise.
Bags, pouches and purses are among the world’s oldest fashion items, used through the ages for carrying seeds, weapons and eyeliner. A history of this most indispensable adornment.
At the border between Serbia and Hungary, the number of illegal arrivals has increased dramatically over the past few months. Syrians and Afghans who take the road in the Balkans cross paths with migrating Kosovars.
NEPAL DEATH TOLL COULD REACH 10,000 As the Nepalese continue digging through rubble in search for survivors four days after its deadliest earthquake in decades, Prime Minister Sushil Koirala said today that the death toll could reach 10,000, Reuters reports. Confirmed figures this morning put the number at 4,349 people killed and more than 7,000 […]
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Extra! Fear And Looting In Baltimore
“RIOTS ERUPT” Tuesday’s front page of The Baltimore Sun reads, above images of clashes and burning cars as the city descended into chaos Monday after two weeks of tensions over the alleged police killing of Freddie Gray. Violence started erupting just hours after the funeral for Gray, the 25-year-old Baltimore man who died April 19 […]
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Sweet Switzerland
Living a stone’s throw from Switzerland has its perks. People can go for a swim in the beautiful lakes — such as Lake Brienz here — but I’m more interested in Fendant, a dry and fruity white wine that’s particularly refreshing on a hot July day.
Syria Deeply met with some young Syrians who have recently made it to Europe to seek asylum. With so much at stake, no two viewpoints are quite the same.
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Eurovision Contestants 2015: Ireland
Ireland rocks at Eurovision. With seven wins since the birth of the most over-the-top singing contest, the country is actually the most successful at it. So, congrats…? But Ireland has lost its Euro-mojo, as it’s failed to reach the top five since 1997. Will this year’s contestant Molly Sterling — at 16 years old, the […]
KATHMANDU — It’s 4 p.m. in Durbar Square, the iconic piazza in the middle of Nepal’s capital, and a group of volunteers is digging through the rubble of the Hindu Kasthamandap Temple which, according to legend, was built with the wood of a single tree in the 12th century. Suddenly, there’s an explosion of joy […]
NEPAL CONTINUES TO DIG OUT Photo: Pratap Thapa/Xinhua/ZUMA Rescue operations continue to find survivors in Nepal after Saturday’s 7.8-magnitude earthquake. The latest official figures number the dead at 3,726 with more than 6,000 injured. Dozens are also believed to have died in neighboring China and India. The death toll is likely to rise as rescue […]
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NEW MOON IN LEO – April 27-May 3
Your little black book is busy, and someone has recently managed to close a deal. On Monday, a moment of strength will present itself; the downside is that you may feel constrained by other people’s choices — and for a sign like yours, this is particularly frustrating. Look ahead to the weekend: You will be […]
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Extra! Death Toll Climbs After Nepal Quake
Monday’s front page of Nepalese newspaper The Himalayan Times shows the picture of a house that collapsed in the outskirts of Kathmandu, following Saturday’s 7.8-magnitude earthquake. The official death toll climbed overnight, as rescuers are struggling to reach remote villages. There are also scores trapped, and many feared dead, from an avalanche on Mt. Everest […]
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How Did The Monk Cross The Road?
The month of March in Thailand is usually rather hot and dry. Still, you can sometimes run into monsoon-like weather, and be as powerless as these monks trying to cross a flooded street in the center of the country.
SEALAND — The marine wind gusts slide against Michael Bates’ slightly balding hair. His calloused hands buried in a fleece jacket, the fisherman crosses the 500 square meters of his kingdom. At 62 years old, Bates looks like the typical fishing captain from Leigh-on-Sea — a small English town from Essex where the River Thames […]
In our always plugged-in era of uber immediacy, some of us are willing and eager to wait ages to buy the latest smartphone or eat a certain hamburger from a truck.
Though a shadow of its former self, the Ku Klux Klan has registered a small uptick since Barack Obama’s election and the Ferguson riots. Here’s how it looks from one senior member who lives in a Tennessee trailer.
NEW YORK — He spent his youth surfing on the beaches of Leblon, Rio’s most affluent neighborhood. He also had a certain talent for tennis, having been crowned national champion five times, participated in Wimbledon and two Davis Cups. This could have been the accomplishment of a lifetime — but for Jorge Lemann, it was […]
Argentina may be at the forefront of high-tech farming, but a growing number of the country’s urban dwellers want food produced by organic, local farmers.
CHUBUT — Through cunning techniques used in hunting seals and smaller whales, killer whales reveal they are one of the most intelligent of sea mammals, explains Argentine daily Clarin. Every season killer whales return to the Valdés peninsula in Chubut, southern Argentina, for their seal hunting ritual. Here they display their ingenuity using the particular […]
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Eurovision Contestants 2015: Iceland
In this year’s edition of the Eurovison Song Contest, Iceland will be represented by the 22-year-old singer and actress María Ólafsdóttir. In 2009, María played the role of Louisa von Trapp in an adaptation of “The Sound of Music”, one of her favorite plays. She will perform “Unbroken”, a song about — we think so […]
SHANGHAI — The Ford Motor Company is taking a notably bling-bling approach to this year’s Auto Shanghai 2015 exhibition, leaving the peppy-sporty market to competitors like Toyota and Volkswagen as it angles instead for China’s high rollers. As part of its push for the Asian giant’s upscale markets, the U.S. auto manufacturer debuted its Taurus […]
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Patriotism Has Its Price In Russia
ARMENIA REMEMBERS Ceremonies are being held in the Armenian capital of Yerevan in remembrance of the Armenian genocide by Ottoman Turks, which began 100 years ago today. “I am grateful to all those who are here to once again confirm your commitment to human values, to say that nothing is forgotten, that after 100 years […]