Portrait of Yar Yar Kan, one of the many Rohingya Muslim minority rejected by the Burmese — and shunned by other Asian countries in an attempt to emigrate.
Month: August 2015
CHINA STOCKS RESUME SLIDE AMID CRACKDOWN Chinese equities fell again today despite ending higher on Friday, following a devastating week for the country’s stock markets. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.8%, and although the Shenzhen CSI 300 ended up 0.7%, both fell by as much as 4% at one point, Reuters reports. This came […]
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Extra! Bangkok Post On New Bomb Supect
“Thai woman sought for bomb attack,” reads the front page of Bangkok Post‘s Monday edition, following the weekend arrest of a suspect of unknown nationality. In the widening investigation into Bangkok’s deadly bombing two weeks ago, authorities are hunting for a Thai woman who left bomb-making materials in a rented apartment in Min Buri District […]
Rich in counterintuitive observations, the study of evolution is often misunderstood. We focus here on widespread ideas that happen to be patently false.
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Scandinavian Scene
From the park adjacent to Stockholm’s City Hall, we had one of the best views on Riddarholmen, one of the very picturesque islets that surround Gamla stan, the Old Town.
Tunisia is building a wall along the border with Libya to defend itself against terrorist infiltrations, but it is stirring up hostility from locals on both sides.
Despite huge amounts of food still being wasted every day in the world, initiatives in various countries demonstrate growing public awareness about this modern-day abomination.
NEW YORK — I am one of those privileged people who live in New York and have the chance to escape from the city on occasion. No matter how many loops a person bikes around Central Park, riding across the George Washington Bridge, and biking along the Hudson River, it’s not until you get out […]
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An Egyptian Novelist’s Passion For Hebrew
“It would have been more fitting for us to speak either Arabic or Turkish in this gathering today, especially given the common cultural heritage we share. There should have been someone present today to translate to Turkish. It is a shame really that we have to communicate in English.” — Orhan Pamuk at the 2007 […]
The U.S.-based Seasteading Institute is pursuing the notion of “startup governments” and the opportunity for like-minded people to live in shared offshore communities. Could man-made island colonies be our future?
Sea lion and Buenos Aires Zoo trainer — Photo: Laura Gravino/Zoológico de Buenos Aires BUENOS AIRES — Zoo and aquarium shows may make kids smile, but some animal rights activists say it basically amount to slave labor. The debate returns after two sea lions recently died in the Buenos Aires Zoo within three days of […]
As part of 2011’s uprising against Assad regime, Alaa Arsheed fought for his country’s freedom before he was forced to flee to Beirut. Now safely in Italy, he plays to forget.
MIGRANT BOAT SINKS OFF LIBYA More than 200 people are feared to have drowned off the Libyan coast after two boats sank early Thursday, the BBC reports. The Libyan coast guard said it had rescued some 200 from the two separate boats carrying some 450 people in total . The victims are said to include […]
“Dead refugees in parked truck — Only profit matters to smugglers” reads the front page of Austrian daily Salzburger Nachrichten“s Friday edition, following the discovery of 71 migrants found suffocated to death in a truck along a main highway in the country’s eastern Burgenland province. Chief of police Hans Peter Doskozil revealed at a news […]
A visit to the hill tribes near Chiang Rai, in northern Thailand, usually ends up with tourists buying crafts or taking picture of locals posing in traditional costumes. I did both, bringing back one of these colorful hats — though I tried to snap a more candid shot.
Of all the milestones along the road to human civilization, none is more profound than the advent of reading and writing. But in the name of interactivity, the 21st century is marked by the shallow language of social media that risks burning all our acqui
After last week’s foiled Thalys train attack, citizens must get used to playing their part in the fight against the jihadist threat, a former French intelligence agent warns.
The so-called Silicon Age of IT may soon give way to an era of see-through clarity to help usher in ever more wearable technology and the Internet of Things.
VIRGINIA KILLER A “HUMAN POWDER KEG” A man claiming to be Bryce Williams, the assumed name of the gunman who killed Virginia journalists Alison Parker and Adam Ward during a live broadcast yesterday, sent a fax to ABC News afterward in which he described himself as a “human powder keg.” Williams, whose real name was […]
Wednesday’s killing of TV station WDBJ reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward by fired station employee Vester Flanagan, left Virginia in a “state of shock,” as described by local daily The Roanoke Times Thursday, alongside a picture of a community vigil for the slain journalists. The live, on-camera shooting, together with its immediate diffusion […]
As vegetable wholesalers around Buenos Aires ignore government calls to moderate prices, angry shoppers may resort to their last weapon.
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Best Buddha
Sri Lanka has hundreds of reclining Buddhas, but the 30-ft-long one at Isurumuni Temple in Anuradhapura, with its vibrant colours, really stands out.
With ISIS terror reigning in Palmyra, where treasured Roman ruins are at risk, reflections on a fascinating if less ancient part of its history: the Zenobia Cham Palace Hotel.
A visit to Kenya’s training site after media revelations about performance-enhancing drugs cast a pall over the country’s storied long-distance running team.
StopFake, established by Kiev journalism students, analyzes media coverage in both Russia and Ukraine, fact-checking reports — and separating fact from prolific fiction.
MORE VOLATILITY IN CHINA Chinese stocks continued to fall for a fifth consecutive day, despite the People’s Bank of China cutting its key lending rate in a bid to restore calm to the stock markets. A volatile Shanghai Composite index eventually fell by 1.3%, after rising by as much as 4.3% and dropping 3.9%. After […]
Animals rights group in India are boycotting the state of Kerala over the government’s new policy that they say encourages individual citizens to kill stray dogs for cash.
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Post-Soviet Spire
Strange to think that only five years before we toured the Baltic states, the spire of St. Olaf’s church — which ranks among the tallest in the world — was still used as a radio tower and surveillance point by the KGB in the Estonian capital.
Though deep historical rivalries between Saudi Arabia and Yemen have little to do with Egypt, it has been drawn into the anti-Houthi confict. Having given initial support to the Saudi coalition, how far Cairo will go is the source of intense speculation.
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Why Women Are Fleeing Eastern Germany
Auf wiedersehen — Photo: Sascha Kohlmann BERLIN — Where have all the women gone? That is the latest question in some parts of the former East Germany, which a new study shows to have Europe’s lowest ratio of women to men. German demographers and economists have already noted that after the Wall came down in […]
PARIS — The suspected terror attack thwarted by American and British passengers aboard a high-speed European train has brought railway security sharply into focus. The alleged gunman, believed to be a 25-year-old Moroccan named Ayob El Khazzani, boarded the Amsterdam-to-Paris train equipped with an assault rifle, automatic pistol, nine cartridge clips and a box-cutter. More […]
A Latin American take on the rise of the Republican frontrunner finds a similar freedom with the facts and exploitation of the dispirited working class as the late Venezuelan strongman.
Guangming Daily, Aug. 25, 2015 Even as it dominates headlines around the world, the Chinese stock market crash is getting notably scant coverage at home. After a record drop in share prices at week’s opening, the front page of national state-run newspaper Guangming Daily made no mention at all of the stock exchange and accompanying […]
CHINA MARKETS CONTINUE DIVE The Chinese stock market continued to crumble today, with the Shanghai Composite index closing down 7.6% at 2,964.97 points. Japan also saw more sharp falls with Tokyo’s Nikkei index falling 4%, Reuters reports. TYPHOON GONI HITS JAPAN Photo: Yuan Jing/Xinhua/ZUMA Typhoon Goni has made landfall on Japan’s main island of Kyushu, […]
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Stairway Song
“The stairways up to la Butte / Can make the wretched sigh / While windmill wings of the Moulin / Shelter you and I,” so goes the song. But if you ask me, going up the stairs to Montmartre can make anyone sigh.
From the SARS health crisis and high-speed train crash to the latest explosion in Tianjin, Chinese officials don’t understand damage control or how to communicate with the public.
Paris-based big data whiz Rand Hindi wants to put his technology savvy to work to free us from our growing enslavement to the digital masters.
BLACK MONDAY IN CHINA Photo: Zhang Yixi/Xinhua/ZUMA Chinese stocks plunged 8.5% today after their worst trading day since the beginning of the 2007 financial crisis. What Xinhua described as “Black Monday” saw the Shanghai Composite index’s entire gains for the year wiped out after weeks of free fall, despite strong government intervention. The crisis intensified […]
China’s recent currency devaluations have set off a series of economic consequences, both intended and otherwise. And the reach is more global than ever.
Jamaican running legend Usain Bolt defended his 100-meter title Sunday at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing, finishing in 9.79 seconds. Bolt crossed the line just 0.01 seconds ahead of American competitor Justin Gatlin, prompting Jamaican daily Jamaica Observer to characterize the winner of the 2008 and 2012 Olympic golds in the 100 as the […]