The Economist, Oct. 16, 2015 London-based weekly The Economist warns against the growing risk of “the reluctant European” as it calls the UK facing the spectre of a so-called Brexit from the EU. As part of a special report for the weekly, writer John Peet argues that it would be a mistake for the UK […]
Month: October 2015
Brazil has utterly failed to find an environmentally friendly response to waste disposal. The struggling economy makes change unlikely, meaning ever more garbage “pickers” making modest livings sifting through the dumps.
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Almost There
Estaing in southern France is one of the most picturesque villages in the country. Typiquement français. It’s a favorite stop among Christian pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela — still some 700 miles away in northern Spain.
Born around the time of the 1993 Oslo Accords that were supposed to usher in Middle East peace, these young people are well-informed, disillusioned and very, very angry.
VANCOUVER — James Hankle, a software engineer in his 50s sporting bluejeans and a Green Party T-shirt, is explaining his fix for Vancouver’s runaway property prices when he’s interrupted by an eavesdropping passer-by: “Stop allowing people from China to buy our houses and leave them vacant,” she says and walks away. Despite British Columbia’s aversion to pipelines and affection for pot, housing affordability has pushed both aside as the No. 1 issue raised by area residents in the run-up to Canada’s election this month. It’s not completely surprising given that Vancouver has become North America’s most expensive city. Surging purchase […]
SAO PAULO — The mess that is Brazilian politics right now would make for a fantastic television drama series. Its intricate plots, combining power disputes and alliances concluded behind closed doors, would easily match those of Game of Thrones, except that the omnipresent blood would be replaced with dirty money. Ever since her reelection for […]
PARIS: French civil engineering firm Colas has launched the world’s first “photovoltaic roads,” capable of withstanding the weight of cars and bicycles and producing electricity by exposure to sunlight. Known as “Wattway,” the concept could revolutionize solar energy production. Colas says that covering just 2.5% of France’s road and highway network would be enough to […]
TOKYO — It’s a bit further away from the bigger stores in Tokyo’s Ginza district. Between the sake bars, along the tall towers that watch day and night over the Sumida River, a quiet art gallery hosts large, abstract paintings. And across the street from a shop for urban bikes with monochromatic frames is a […]
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EU Migrant Meeting, VW Recall, Boorish Boris
EU LEADERS TO DISCUSS REFUGEE SOLUTIONS EU leaders are set to meet in Brussels today to discuss measures that could help stem the flow of refugees, with a focus on countries outside of Europe such as Turkey, Euronews reports. In a speech to German parliament this morning, Chancellor Angela Merkel said providing more support to […]
MOSCOW — Russian intelligence services are pursuing a network of Islamic State (ISIS) militants operating in Russia as the country faces an increase in terrorist activity, in response to Moscow’s recent air campaign in Syria. Kommersant has learned that a group of terror suspects, said to be trained in Syria, were detained after a raid […]
Paris Match, Oct. 15, 2015 In an exclusive interview with glossy French magazine Paris Match conducted at his modest apartment in the Vatican, Pope Francis bemoaned greed and the “idolatry of money” that’s driving the world to ruin. The magazine, whose covers more commonly feature celebrities and royals, was invited to the Casa Santa Marta, […]
This article is part of sponsored series from the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity EL BRECHOUA — A small but significant revolution is underway amidst the golden wheat-covered hills of the Moroccan municipality of El Brechoua, 60 kilometers from the capital of Rabat. The fields of wheat extending as far as the eye can see […]
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Just One Foot
Four shoeshiners for one foot. That’s how fierce competition was in Turkey, at a time when tourist feet were not as plentiful as today.
Church leaders believe Christian missionary work is endangering civil peace as ever more Muslims emigrate to Germany. Limiting proselytizing is a radical break from 2,000 years of practice.
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Behind The Missing Obama-Rouhani Handshake
TEHRAN — Iranian legislators questioned Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif about why he had shaken hands last month with U.S. President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. The gesture was viewed by many as another positive sign of Iran’s thawing relations with the West, but has irritated the country’s conservatives opposed […]
Pursuit of free trade may be at an all-time high as Washington seals the TPP deal and Beijing pursues its New Silk Road. Here’s how it all looks from Bogota.
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Hillary Holds, Dilma Sinks, Sodom Found
U.S.-RUSSIA TALKS OVER SYRIA CAMPAIGNS U.S. and Russian officials are expected to meet today for a third round of talks to discuss safety procedures in their respective Syrian campaigns after what the BBC describes as a “near-miss” on Saturday. American and Russian warplanes were reportedly in visual contact and within miles of each other. According […]
De Tijd, Oct. 14, 2015 “Belgians remain in control of big beer,” and “The biggest pint in the world is Belgian,” Flemish-language business daily De Tijd proudly writes on the front page of its Wednesday edition, a day after the world’s second-largest brewer SABMiller accepted a takeover proposal from Belgium-based No.1 beer giant Anheuser-Busch InBev. […]
ROME — Bordeaux or Borolo? Burgundy or Chianti? Yes, please! Though some have distinct preferences, most wine lovers around the world wish nothing but success to French and Italian winemakers alike. Still, the two European nations have something of an ongoing rivalry, both about the quality and quantity of the wines they put on the […]
MATADI — Elie Luemba says her youngest son fooled her and her husband for far too long. “We used to give him a little money every morning to buy himself donuts at school,” she says. “But he was actually using the money to bet on sports results with his classmates.” The irony is that Luemba […]
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Victims Of Communism
There are several statues, monuments and informal crosses thoughout Prague that commemorate the death of 21-year-old Jan Palach and 19-year-old Jan Zajíc. The two students set themselves on fire in 1969 to protest the end of the Prague Spring, brought on by the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Soviet-led armies.
With writing and then printing, man had already externalized a part of his memory. But those transformations pale, in both speed and breadth, with the current digital revolution.
Is capitalism coming to Kim Jong-un’s North Korea? According to South Korean daily Chosun Ilbo, North Koreans who got rich thanks to state-backed monopolies are being encouraged by the regime to open small banks across the capital in a bid to boost the free economy. Some of the money-lenders even have installed ATMs, though these […]
BEIJING — Like others, as a child I used to daydream about taking a shovel and hunting through our yard for priceless treasure buried from ancient times. What I never would have imagined is that such an act can get you into serious trouble — even if it’s done on your own property. It’s a […]
Salty-snack junkies, the lactose-intolerant and lovers of Asian food are providing an economic boost for farmers in the war-torn northern provinces of Ivory Coast.
China’s state-run People’s Daily has accused the United States and Russia of using the conflict in Syria as a proxy for reigniting a Cold War. In a commentary signed “Zhong Sheng” (“Voice of China”), the daily called for a peaceful diplomatic settlement to the crisis. “The United States and the Soviet Union employed a variety […]
IRAN LAWMAKERS APPROVE NUCLEAR DEAL Iran’s parliament today approved the nuclear agreement reached in July with six world powers, clearing the way for its implementation, state news agency IRNA reports. The deal was passed with 161 votes for, 59 against and 13 abstentions. It authorizes lifting sanctions against Iran in exchange for Tehran limiting its […]
JAKARTA — When Indonesian President Joko Widodo was elected last year on a platform to clean up rampant corruption in the nation of 250 million, no one thought it would be easy. Well, it’s proving to be even harder than that. The country’s powerful Anti-Corruption Commission (KPK) has targeted members of the Indonesian parliament, with […]
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Stone Giant In Sun Door
At equinoxes, the sun shines on the Pre-Columbian Ponce monolith through the Kalasasaya main door. In what is today western Bolivia, the effect no doubt left quite an impression on inhabitants of the Tiwanaku settlement near Lake Titicaca, then on Spanish conquistadors — then on French tourists.
VATICAN CITY — A letter delivered to Pope Francis, reportedly signed by 13 Roman Catholic cardinals, questions whether the pontiff has organized the ongoing Synod on the Family in such a way that ensures “predetermined results on important controversial issues,” Italian weekly magazine L’Espresso has reported. The magazine’s longtime Vatican correspondent Sandro Magister reported the […]
Typically reliant on solid argument and logical persuasion, Merkel is now turning to the humanity of Germans on the refugee crisis. It’s a revolutionary approach for the world’s most powerful woman.
Chile was struck last month by an 8.6-magnitude earthquake that killed 13 people and forced thousands to evacuate their homes. The tremor, followed by a tsunami, was the most powerful recorded since the beginning of the year in the world’s most earthquake-prone country. But what was perhaps most notable was the contrast between the quake’s […]
Grim accusations from a United Nations probe that Brazilian police use extrajudicial murder to clear out youth gangs in Rio de Janeiro ahead of next year’s Olympics.
BEIRUT — American antitank missiles supplied to Syrian rebels are playing an unexpectedly prominent role in shaping the Syrian battlefield, giving the conflict the semblance of a proxy war between the United States and Russia, despite President Barack Obama’s express desire to avoid one. The U.S.-made BGM-71 TOW missiles were delivered under a two-year-old covert program coordinated between the United States and its allies to help vetted Free Syrian Army groups in their fight against President Bashar al-Assad. Now that Russia has entered the war in support of Assad, they are taking on a greater significance than was originally intended. […]
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TURKEY BLAMES ISIS FOR DEADLIEST TERROR ATTACK No group has claimed responsibility for Saturday’s bombings in the Turkish capital of Ankara, the deadliest terror attack in the country’s history, but Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu says the prime suspect is ISIS, Hürriyet reports. The attack is believed to have been executed by two suicide bombers outside […]
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Ankara Bombings: ‘The Cost Of Peace’
Milliyet, Oct. 12, 2015 “The cost shouldn’t be so high,” Turkish daily Milliyet writes on Monday’s front page, quoting and featuring a picture of Ä°zzettin Çevik, the blood-covered school teacher who became one of the symbols of the toll of Saturday’s deadly bombings in Ankara. Çevik, who was photographed by Reuters amid the carnage, lost […]
Saturday’s bombings in Turkey’s capital may be the worst in the nation’s history, with a toll approaching 100 dead. Some point the finger at President Erdogan’s ruling AKP party.
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The Remnants
Slowly, the sands of time eat away at the concrete bunkers on Utah and Omaha beaches. The half-buried structures still bear witness to the German efforts to repel the Normandy landings.
While officials in the Argentine city of Bariloche insist it was never a “Nazi refuge,” a tidy little tourist business is growing around visits to local sites associated with Nazi war criminals like Mengele and Eichmann.