Worldcrunch
There’s a waterfall on the French island of Réunion that flows directly from the mountainside onto the road. Hence its, well, original name. And it looks like this tourist took it quite literally.
5 DIE, MILLIONS EVACUATED IN CHILE QUAKE Chile has been walloped yet again, this time by an “8.4-magnitude earthquake in the central-north zone” of the country, Santiago daily La Tercera reported this morning. It happened last night near the city of Illapel. The government’s National Emergency Office (ONEMI) has so far confirmed five deaths, three […]
Chile has been walloped yet again, this time by an “8.4-magnitude earthquake in the central-north zone” of the country, Santiago daily La Tercera reported Thursday. The offshore event struck Wednesday night at 7:54 p.m. local time near the city of Illapel. The government’s National Emergency Office (ONEMI) has so far confirmed five deaths, three from heart attacks and two from fallen debris. Another person is reported missing. ONEMI estimates that one million people have been evacuated in coastal areas in response to a tsunami alert that authorities issued for the entire length of Chile’s extensive Pacific shoreline. Tsunami waves did […]
In the provinces of Northeast China, the planned economy of the Mao Zedong era are still firmly in place.
Gadgets that make it possible to spy on spouses, children, clients and bosses are more popular than ever. Few realize it is rarely legal to do so.
A Russian embargo bans imports of French cheese and other Western products. But one farmer has the answer: bring in French cheesemakers to teach him to make his own.
SIDI ALI BEN AOUN — Ali Chadli opens his eyes wide, incredulous even now. No, he had no idea his sons were planning to leave for Syria, where they eventually died. “They were praying as usual,” he says. “I hadn’t noticed anything particular.” The aging man invites us to take a seat next to the […]
Until the Berlin Wall was built, just six years before I took this picture, people could walk freely under the Brandenburg Gate. It would be 22 years before Berliners and tourists were able to get closer to the triumphal arch again.
U.S. WORRIED OVER RUSSIAN BUILD-UP IN SYRIA U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov that Moscow’s continued support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad “risks exacerbating and extending the conflict” amid growing concerns over reports of Moscow’s military build-up in Syria. Reuters reports that the Tuesday phone call between Kerry and […]
An Argentine writer unfurls his summer diary from a sweltering visit to the Iranian capital.
BOGOTA — The World Wildlife Fund has sounded the alarm across the planet’s sea and oceans. “In just one generation, human activity has seriously harmed the ocean by catching fish faster than they can reproduce, while destroying their feeding zones,” the director general of World Wildlife Fund International Marco Lambertini declared, as the WWF publishes […]
A new proposal in Germany to move to a later school starting time is backed by many scientists, even if it runs against entrenched social norms that rising early is virtuous.
BODRUM — When the photograph of Alan Kurdi’s lifeless body spread around the world, the plight of Syrian refugees suddenly came into focus like never before. Yet Kurdi was just one of many who have died making the perilous journey to Europe, where they hope to attain asylum as the ongoing Syria civil war in their homeland continues to claim countless civilian lives. Turkey, which currently hosts some 1.8 million exiled Syrians, has increasingly become a departure point for a perilous sea journey toward Greece in flimsy rafts and ill-equipped boats to get inside European territory. Sayeed, a construction worker […]
Though the Egyptian military is still mum, new details are emerging in the deadly air strike in the Western Desert that mistook a group of Mexican tourists for Islamist terrorists.
Google is at the Frankfurt auto fair for the first time. What does this mean for German car industry? Will the Silicon Valley giant position itself as a partner or competitor?
HUNGARY CLOSES BORDER TO REFUGEES Photo: Geovien So/ZUMA Things are only becoming more difficult for refugees fleeing war in the Middle East. After Germany closed its border Sunday, Austria dispatched its military to control the influx of refugees and several other countries imposed stricter security checks at their borders. And starting today, tough limits on […]
A new virtual reality video of a war-ravaged Syrian city offers an unprecedented 360° interactive view of the destruction left by the country’s ongoing civil war. French daily Le Parisien reports that the video was filmed in the northwestern city of Jisr ash-Shughur with a six-camera system that allows the viewer to look in all […]
After spreading in the U.S. in the wake of the financial crisis, food trucks are arriving in Brazilian cities such as Sao Paulo, which are eager for culinary adventure at a low price.
Meet Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s new — and smiley — Prime Minister. A multi-millionaire, former lawyer, investment banker and tech entrepreneur, Turnbull deposed the growingly unpopular Tony Abbott “in a lightning coup after declaring the country needed new leadership and a clear economic vision,” The Courier-Mail wrote on Tuesday’s front page. Turnbull, backed by Australia’s Foreign […]
Christmas decorations? Firelighters? I have no idea why anyone would want to dry that many pine cones …
From local politics to the the battle against polio to a banned prostitution film, here’s a quick tour of what has been happening in Morocco in recent days.
Japanese women are challenging the three-year-old Shinzo Abe government with “constitution cafes” and street protests.
GERMANY REINSTATES BORDER CONTROLS In an unexpected reversal of Germany refugee policy, the country has introduced temporary controls on its border with Austria and halted all cross-border train traffic with its neighbor. The decision to temporarily exit the Schengen open-border system comes after German regions said they could no longer cope with a record influx […]
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Sept. 14, 2015 Germany introduced temporary controls at its border with Austria Sunday in an attempt to slow down the influx of refugees into the country, as the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote on its front page Monday. Shortly after Berlin’s unexpected move, border control officers started conducting passport checks near Austria. […]
Arriving in Germany every day, Syrians who have fled civil war are now the targets of the Salafi movement, radical Muslims who include those who espouse Islamis jihad.
I took this photo of the Vienna State Opera only seven years after it was reopened, having been badly damaged by a U.S. bombing raid toward the end of World War II. Still, Austria’s singular standing in the world of classical music was as strong as ever back then, with genius conductor Herbert von Karajan […]
When Rio de Janeiro won its Olympic bid back in 2009, Brazil was hailed as a nation on the rise. Now, it is the wrong place at the wrong time to host the 2016 Summer Games.
Some adults between 45 and 55 years old act more like they’re 25 or 30. At least one sociologist says they may be onto something.
A vacation destination in western Turkey is now at the center of the human trafficking of Syrian refugees and other migrants trying to make the perilous sea journey to Europe.
As the lifting of sanctions appears to move closer to reality, business and government leaders from leading economies are eager to restore trading ties with Tehran
Honest judges and popular protest combined to topple a president, setting a bold precedent in an age when news travels fast.
Under a repressive regime that outlaws independent lawyers, Laritza Diversent is blazing a trail for victims of Cuba’s harsh judicial system.
Fears are rising in Japan that a large-scale gang war could erupt, following a major schism in the yakuza organized crime syndicate. Cyber-crime might be making headlines today, but this is a reminder that “traditional” organized crime is still strong. And scary. Here’s a look at what’s happening in five criminal networks around the world. […]
ISIS MAKING CHEMICAL WEAPONS U.S. officials believe that ISIS has a specific cell dedicated to making chemical weapons, and they’ve identified at least four occasions when the terrorist group used them, the BBC reports. “They’re using mustard. We know they are,” an unnamed official said. Yesterday, the BBC reported about new evidence showing that all […]
The Star, Sept. 11, 2015 “One Giant Step,” Friday’s Johannesburg-based The Star reads, celebrating the discovery of Homo naledi, a new human-like species, in a South African cave. A team led by Kansas-born paleontologist Lee Rogers Berger (pictured here kissing a skull replica of a skull of the Homo naledi) dug up more than 1,500 […]
SAN SALVADOR — Crime-ridden El Salvador is having a particularly bloody year. Facing the power of the “Mara” street gangs, the Central American country has already counted a “record” 4,427 homicides from January to Sept. 8, the country’s Institute of Legal Medicine, or state coroners, has reported. The figure was expected to top 5,000 by […]
Weddings in Canada’s New Brunswick province get really colorful when the groom is a “mountie,” a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
You can’t blame the Taliban anymore.
A pregnant Chinese woman must abort her baby, or see her husband fired. After first changes to family planning laws, sweeping reform is now urgently needed.
Humanitarian, demographic and economic reasons have been cited by much of the German establishment for welcoming migrants. But what’s the real end game?