In Buenos Aires, young adults buy tickets to bogus weddings, with hired bride and groom, the way others might pay to enter a disco. It’s an odd concept … ripe for export?
Month: July 2015
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Extra! New Earth-Like Planet Found
“The Earth has a cousin!” writes Canadian daily newspaper La Presse on the front-page headline of its Friday edition after NASA announced the discovery of Kepler-425b, one of the most Earth-like exoplanets identified so far. The planet was named after Kepler, the space telescope whose data enabled the discovery. Described as “Earth’s bigger, older cousin” […]
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Far From The War
The fishermen of Nazaré and their wives seemed far away from the turmoil their country was experiencing: A mere eight months before we visited the remote seaside village, the Guinea-Bissau War of Independence between Portugal and its colony broke out — an 11-year-long war during which thousands of soldiers and civilians on both sides would […]
Sports are among the world’s most compelling forms of entertainment. But they can also be a way for communities to carry on culture and traditions. Such is the case of calcio storico fiorentino, a centuries-old ball game that was developed — and lives on — in Florence, Italy. Recently, the city’s mayor, Dario Nardella, submitted […]
BEIJING — Wang Lin is one of China’s best-known (and self-proclaimed) qigong masters, drawing in the rich and famous with his spiritual healing methods and such proclaimed feats as chopping off snakes’ heads and bringing them back to life. This figure who many believe to be a simple charlatan has attracted senior public officials, movie […]
With the agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear program and end sanctions, a look at the energy economics of this new world order. With politics everywhere, as always.
Photo: Aubrey Gemignani/Zuma GREECE APPROVES CRUCIAL REFORMS The Greek parliament today approved new reforms that will allow negotiations on an EU financial rescue deal worth 68 billion euros to begin, Greek daily Kathimerini reports. EXTRA! “Sorry, Panama,” the front-page headline in Mexican newspaper Récord reads today after Mexico’s chaotic and controversial 2-1 victory over Panama […]
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Extra! Mexico Beats Panama In Soccer Chaos
“Sorry, Panama” reads Mexican newspaper Récord on the front page of its Thursday edition, after the chaotic and controversial 2-1 victory of Mexico over Panama in the semifinals of the Gold Cup soccer competition. Mexico’s plea for forgiveness comes after it was awarded what clearly seem to be two undeserved penalty kicks late in the […]
As the U.S. President visits his father’s homeland, an exclusive encounter with the now 94-year-old woman who raised Barack Obama Sr.
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Back To New France
In the northeast of Canada“s New Brunswick province, the Village Historique Acadien depicts life as it was between the late 18th and early 20th century in Acadia, the area settled by French colonizers in North America. Dressed in period costumes, the village’s actors brought ancestral trades to life, allowing us to travel back through time, […]
STUTTGART — Very few topics are taboo in our society these days, but there is at least one subject people are reluctant to discuss: domestic violence against men. A Stuttgart pilot project known as “Save Men from Violence” is meant to offer much needed help to victims in this German city of 600,000. According to […]
HOLON — “The Bible is great raw material — an eternal soap opera …” The most famous story ever told is the latest subject matter for one of Israel’s best-known satirists, 52-year-old Israeli artist and illustrator Ze’ev Engelmayer. With the opening of his exhibit at Holon’s Israeli Cartoon Museum, Calcalist spoke with Engelmayer about his […]
TEHRAN — She could be the future of Iran. It has been a long parade of investors and foreign CEOs in the office of Nazanin Daneshvar, a young female engineer who founded the e-commerce company Takhfifan (Persian for “discount”). She welcomes such visitors, and foreign journalists, who have come to Iran to discover a country […]
Photo: Ai Weiwei via Instagram TSIPRAS FACES SYRIZA REBELS As Greek deputies prepare to vote for a second time on a set of reforms needed for bailout talks to continue, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has lashed out at critics within his own ruling party. In comments to colleagues, Tsipras reportedly accused Syriza dissenters of “hiding […]
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SEOUL — Young Chun is hardly the only U.S. citizen working as an English language teacher in South Korea. But he may the only one who landed the job after being forcibly recruited by the South Korean armed forces — and then shipped off to Afghanistan. Chun, 36, was born in the United States and grew up in Seattle, Washington. As one of the only Asian-Americans in his school, he remembers being bullied and discriminated against. “When I was in the States, I thought if I go to Korea, I’ll fit in,” he recalls. “But once I got to Korea, […]
Turkey is mourning the victims of this week’s suicide bombing in the city of Suruc, along the border with Syria. “Turkey cried,” Turkish daily newspaper Milliyet headlined in its Wednesday edition, along with heartbreaking images from the funeral the day before of 28 of the 32 people who died during a meeting of young Kurdish […]
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Mobile Crocodile
No, this Nile crocodile didn’t get lost all the way down in South Africa’s Kruger National Park. This scary predator can be found throughout much of the African continent, and is best photographed with a telephoto lens.
BRUSSELS — Moved by the dramatic situation of the Christian population in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, a group of Belgian activists, with support from the government, orchestrated a remarkable rescue operation to save nearly 250 Syrian Christians. In Aleppo, the Christians were under continuous assault by ISIS, the al-Qaeda-aligned al-Nusra front and the Assad regime. […]
President Barack Obama is restoring United States influence on the American continent, a reminder of the importance of neighbors.
In Ain Shams’ side streets and clandestine mosques, diehard members of the Muslim Brotherhood are ready to battle police.
Photo: Li Jing/ZUMA TURKEY TO BOOST SECURITY POST ISIS ATTACK The Turkish government is set to bolster its security along the border with Syria after a suspected ISIS bombing in the town of Suruc killed 30 people, mostly students, yesterday. At a news conference, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said “measures on our border with […]
This week, we shine the spotlight on Niger: FRENCH AMBASSADOR SENT HOME The French ambassador in Niger Antoine Anfré was discreetly removed from his position and sent back to Paris last Thursday. His forced departure — a first for a French ambassador in Niger — was demanded by Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou, according to Jeune […]
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Extra! First Case Of Long-Term HIV Remission
Libération, July 21, 2015 What is being hailed as the world’s first known case of long-term remission from HIV, in an 18-year-old French woman born with the virus, is featured in today’s Paris-based newspaper Libération with the headline, “Curing HIV.” The girl, who was born in 1996, contracted the virus that causes AIDS from her […]
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Heart Of Stone
Many shapes hide in the pink ganite of the calanques de Piana, on the French island of Corsica. Given the right angle, you may see a monk, a lion, a devil’s head — or in this case, a heart.
There are plenty of good reasons Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa shouldn’t be flaunting his affair with a Madrid socialite. But if it’s really love, none of that really matters.
PARIS — Some figures will make your head spin. Since the end of World War II, the number of inhabitants on the planet has increased nearly three-fold. And in that time, people used more resources than were consumed during the entire history of mankind prior to 1945. Even more alarming is how quickly consumption continues […]
A key component of the growing “Chinese-style” international capitalism.
GREEK BANKS REOPEN Photo: Marios Lolos/Xinhua/ZUMA Greek banks reopened today for the first time in three weeks, marking the return of some semblance of normalcy for the bankrupt country. VERBATIM “The conditions of the agreement, however, are positively alarming for those who still believe in the future of Europe,” former International Monetary Fund director Dominique […]
Discovering new methods and habits to help us become a little happier every day has become a veritable science. And big business.
Three-time winner of the World Surf League Mick Fanning had a lucky escape after he had to fend off a shark in the middle of Sunday’s final in Jeffreys Bay, in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. South African daily Cape Times put the incident on its front page Monday, with pictures of the […]
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Le Corbusier, Measure Of A Modern Man
PARIS — It has been 50 years since the death of Le Corbusier, the Swiss-born architect, artist and writer considered by some to be the most influential force in the way modern cities are designed and built. To mark his life and work, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris has dedicated an entire exhibition to […]
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The Pyramids’ Potters
A stone’s throw from the Great Pyramids, these traditional potters used a peculiar, ancient technique: While we’re used to seeing the clay turn on a wheel, the man here used a kind of crank to carve the inside of his bowl.
Among the families in war-ravaged Syria are many being held together by women alone, as their husbands have left to try to cross into Europe and prepare a life for their families. The wait is long, and often futile.
The world’s second-largest economy is now Brazil’s top customer for oil, but also its most important buyer of soybeans, iron ore and cellulose.
PARIS — It’s the time of year when bike dealers are all smiles. For three weeks, the Tour de France provides the best advertising possible. But it’s a different story this year and both wholesalers and shopkeepers look a little glum. They fear that cyclists from the Movistar or Katusha teams might win too many […]
From launching new air routes to studying Mandarin, Egypt’s tourism industry isn’t just standing idly by while post-revolution problems keep American and European visitors away.
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Being Gay And Muslim In France
MARSEILLE — Saïd* carries the dishes to the living room table as guests arrive in dribs and drabs with more food in their arms. The atmosphere is cheerful as greetings, kisses and the latest family news are shared with smiles. Earlier in this just-concluded holy month of Ramadan, the members of the Homosexual Muslims of […]
In the wake of the showdown over the Greek debt crisis, Germany has wound up in the role of European bad guy. Germans ask if there’s a way to make things better.
Mexico’s top drug kingpin manages to break out of jail again, likely with the complicity of junior officers. It’s hardly surprising when he is so unbelievably rich, and they are paid so little.