El Mercurio April 6, 2015 Chilean daily El Mercurio featured Pope Francis’ Easter address on its front page Monday. The Argentine-born pontiff made his plea for peace Sunday in St. Peter’s Square after last week’s shocking massacre of Christian students by Islamic militants at Garissa University in Kenya. “We ask Jesus, the victor over death, […]
Month: April 2015
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Coastal Gem
Our first trip to Tunisia was more focused toward the interior of the country, driving our Peugeot 404 down to Tozeur near the Sahara, but we still saved time for a detour to catch a glimpse of the beautiful island of Djerba in the Gulf of Gabes.
The West’s accord with Iran was not just about a nuclear threat. The U.S. has bigger plans to recalibrate the region’s balance of power among Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt and beyond.
ROUEN — Coming out of the train station, the rue Jeanne d’Arc, a wide street along the river Seine in this northern French city, leads us straight to the Jeanne d’Arc bridge. And between the two, we pass many signs evoking the young warrior’s name: a cafe named “Jeanne d’Arc,” a church, of course, even […]
Time for a major ecological awakening in the world’s most populous nation. The planet is at stake.
Mexico is struggling to move past almost a century of semi-dictatorship to become a liberal democracy. But it is plagued by a shared and absolute rejection of the ideas of others.
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-Editorial- PARIS — The deal reached in Lausanne on Iran’s nuclear program is a historic breakthrough. Or at least it will be if it leads to a “final” agreement by the June 30 deadline, which is by no means certain. For the first time in 12 years, when the West’s talks with Tehran began, the […]
Taifa Leo, April 3, 2015 “Terrorists make the earth shake again,” reads the front page of Kenya’s Swahili-language newspaper Taifa Leo, alongside a picture of a wounded student being evacuated after the Thursday attack on Garissa University College in eastern Kenya. At least 147 people were killed and 79 were wounded when gunmen claiming to […]
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A German Fix For The Over-50 Unemployed
Job hunting gets harder the older you get, right? A program in Germany is showing that it may just require the right training, and the right candidate-job matching.
-Analysis- BOGOTA — Cuba, in its effort to loosen the economy and move toward a partially free market system, may be borrowing a page from the history of another communist country, Vietnam. Starting in 1986, Vietnam implemented a series of economic reforms known collectively as Doi Moi. The changes were inspired by the industrialization drive […]
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Eurovision 2015 Contestants: Azerbaijan
Since Azerbaijan first participated in Eurovision in 2008, the country has basically gone crazy for the contest. It has become the country’s most watched program on local broadcaster Azeri TV. So popular it doesn’t matter that the three-hour long show starts airing after midnight. After winning the contest in 2011 — with a record-low average […]
KENYA IN SHOCK AFTER MASSACRE“Terrorists make the earth shake again,” reads the front page of Kenya’s Swahili-language newspaper Taifa Leo after yesterday’s attack on Garissa University College in eastern Kenya. At least 147 people were killed and 79 were wounded when gunmen claiming to belong to the Somalia-based militant group Al-Shabaab stormed Garissa University College […]
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Meet The Italian Eclipse Chaser
You’ve heard of storm chasers and tornado hunters who travel far and wide to capture extreme weather. Carlo Dellarole will go anywhere anytime that the moon and sun cross paths.
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Part-Time Guard
They may look dignified and dedicated, but it seems that the guards of Quito’s Carondelet Palace, in the city’s centro histórico, are not doing a very good job: Over the years, the presidential palace has been looted several times.
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The World Reacts To Iran Nuclear Deal
After prolonged talks, the P5+1 group (U.S., Russia, China, U.K., France and Germany) and Iran agreed Thursday on a “historical” framework agreement for Iran’s nuclear program. “Important implementation details are still subject to negotiation, and nothing is agreed until everything is agreed,” the White House warns. But the main points of the preliminary deal are […]
BEIJIJNG — On March 12, Britain applied to join the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as a founding member. It was the first major Western country to do so. Other European countries including France, Germany, Italy, but also Luxemburg and Switzerland have since followed suit. Not only has the AIIB attracted more than 20 […]
TEL AVIV — After the final breakdown of the election results were confirmed, it was clear who sent Benjamin Netanyahu back for another term as prime minister: the people of the so-called “periphery” of Israel, far away from the urban centers in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa. Support from small towns and distant suburbs had […]
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Eurovision 2015 Contestants: Austria
After winning last year’s show with Conchita Wurst’s performance, Austria has the pleasure of organizing this year’s Eurovision. According to Oikotimes, a website on which “Eurovision becomes a passion,” it will cost Vienna a total of €35 million to host the event, for a revenue of €10 million for the host broadcaster ORF. So much […]
Photo: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Lausanne — Brendan Smialowski/Prensa Internacional/ZUMA IRAN AGREEMENT “A FEW METERS AWAY”Iran nuclear talks resumed today in Lausanne, for a second day since the March 31 deadline. A deal seems within reach, as Iran officials hint at more flexibility over the UN lifting economic sanctions on the country, […]
Studies show that complaining to colleagues creates a large share of office stress. Two writers recently tried to abstain from sharing their woes for a whole month.
-Editorial- PARIS — During the nail-biting four days of an election that many warned would be too close to call, Nigeria was in a collective state of high anxiety. Then, in a twist for Africa’s most populous nation, a presidential election that had threatened to end in a bloodbath instead concluded peacefully with the incumbent […]
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Roger Moored
Casually parked on a street near the port of Nice, on the French Riviera, was this a James Bond-like amphibious car?
When Patricia started hearing voices, she was fascinated. Within a year, she would wind up in the hospital. She now tries to cope with her illness, refusing medicine, opting for church and yoga.
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Eurovision 2015 Contestants: Australia
When we first saw Australia would be competing in the 2015 edition of the European Song Contest, we simply thought the organizers misspelled “Austria”. But no, it turns out Aussies really enjoy the ESC. In fact, the public broadcaster SBS has been airing the show for more than 30 years. In 2014, 3 million dedicated […]
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A Russian Quest For The ‘Patriotism Gene’
Russian researchers have been doing a rather unusual study that compares DNA across countries with political affinities. A patriotic take on the old nature v. nurture question.
DEADLINE PASSES BUT IRAN NUCLEAR TALKS CONTINUETehran and the six world powers gathered in Lausanne, Switzerland failed to reach an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program before yesterday evening’s deadline but talks have resumed this morning for a seventh consecutive day. According to Iranian news agency Tasnim, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif was hopeful the leaders could […]
The death toll after Cyclone Pam hit the South Pacific nation was notably low thanks to new warning systems and ancient shelters. But saving the local economy may be harder than saving lives.
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Extra! Peaceful Handover Of Power In Nigeria
The victory of challenger Muhammadu Buhari in the presidential election in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest and richest country, was making big headlines around the world Wednesday. At home, the daily Nigerian Tribune covered the results and reactions of Buhari’s victory over incumbent president Goodluck Jonathan. Buhari polled a total of 15.4 million votes, according to the […]
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Evening Cleansing
The sun setting on Varanasi’s Dashashwamedh Ghat added a certain majesty to these Hindu pilgrims’ ritual ablutions in the Ganges.
He may be a genius, but the legendary physicist is using his renown to hock an outlandish idea that humans must go to space to survive, a notion that only betrays Hawking’s own arrogance.