Worldcrunch
In Cappadocia, these fairy chimneys date back to the 4th century, drawing curious tourists from around the world. But some of the ancient troglodyte structures still serve as people’s homes.
BUENOS AIRES — It’s a dinosaur battle of titanosaurian proportions. Argentine paleontologists announced last week the discovery of remains of what they termed the Notocolossus gonzalesparejasi — a dinosaur likely to dwarf another sauropod found in Patagonia in May 2014, whose cast skeleton has just made its debut at New York’s American Museum of Natural […]
FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF EGYPT’S ARAB SPRING Photo: Amr Sayed/APA/ZUMA Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has warned against protesters using today’s fifth anniversary of the Jan. 25 revolution to disrupt the country. Al Arabiya reports that security forces were on high alert and the streets of Cairo were mostly calm this morning, five years to the […]
Jornal de Noticias, Jan. 25, 2015 “Marcelo crowned,” Portuguese daily Jornal de Noticias writes on its front page Monday, as center-right candidate Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa won Sunday’s presidential election with 52% in the first round, a resounding victory otherwise marked by a low turnout of just 48.8%. “The people command, and the people chose […]
Five years after the revolution that overthrew the Mubarak regime, Egypt’s security forces raided apartments and closed public space to send a very clear message
We all have one in our lives, someone who is constantly grumbling about this or that, complaining without searching for solutions. How did they get this way, and what do we do about it?
French scientists have developed a new technology to read the long hidden portions of the French queen’s correspondence with Swedish royal Axel von Fersen, long rumored to be her lover.
-Analysis- BEIJING — Over the last week, Tieba, an online forum of Baidu, China’s largest search engine, has sparked a new kind of online controversy that should be a warning around the world. One of the Tieba bulletin board forums, which had originally been created by patients with hemophilia — a genetic blood disorder — […]
In recent months the Taliban has destroyed three radio stations in Kunduz province. But it hasn’t stopped 28-year-old Maryam Durani, who remains determined to continue broadcasts for women.
Though the technology now exists to clone humans, and mercenaries are at the ready if allowed, most of the mainstream geneticist community points to other ways to get life-saving stem cells.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel had been immune to crisis, so far. But now that the government coalition is divided about the country’s open-door policy, things are about to change.
TOLIARA — The heat and the years have taken a heavy toll on Rebokane Mahatsanga’s frail, scaly-skinned body. Squatting, almost prone, among a few bad-looking ears of corn on his patch of land, he doesn’t quite know his age anymore. “I think I’ll be 100 soon,” he says, his eyes half-closed. People don’t really celebrate […]
MIGRANTS DROWN OFF GREEK COAST Eight children were among at least 21 migrants who drowned early this morning after their boats sank off the Greek coast, AFP reports. Dozens more are reported missing, but 48 survivors managed to reach the shore. The tragedy comes amid renewed debate about the European Union’s borders. “If Europe is […]
PARIS — Invited on French radio Europe 1, British actress and Oscar-nominee Charlotte Rampling has weighed in on the controversy over the lack of diversity this year among Academy Award nominees, saying that filmmaker Spike Lee’s call to boycott the ceremony was “racist against whites.” The 69-year-old English-born actress, famous for her movies in three […]
This big plant we came across in Guadeloupe is nicknamed “traveller’s tree,” supposedly because its sheaths can hold rainwater. But the murky and foul-smelling water this one held made me glad I never was that thirsty.
The Nordic country’s annual sheep transfer is a generations-old tradition that has returned to fashion since the financial crisis, a chance to discover the Jökulgil River canyon and its surreal landscapes.
-Op-Ed- ISTANBUL — Anyone who has ever visited a toy store with a child who doesn’t really know what he wants can understand Turkey“s technological predicament. There is the mad run from shelf to shelf, listening to the child explain why he desperately needs toy after toy. And then, in the end, there is the […]
OSLO — Global oil prices are falling again this week, having dipped below $30 for the first time in 13 years. In oil-dependent economies from Russia to Saudi Arabia to Venezuela, the crisis continues to spark panic and weigh on national budget deficits and unemployment rates. And yet another major oil producer, Norway, is looking […]
Even as Belgium has emerged as a hub of Islamic terror networks, a Belgian Muslim is the theatrical toast of the town as he tackles jihad, racism and culture wars with humor.
PUTIN “PROBABLY” APPROVED MURDER Russian President Vladimir Putin “probably approved” the 2006 assassination of Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian spy who later fled to Britain and worked for the MI6, a public inquiry in the UK has found. The report on the years’ long investigation was published this morning, saying that Litvinenko’s murder “was probably […]
Austrian daily Salzburger Nachrichten poses the question “Sealed border?” on its front page Thursday, after the government announced plans to limit the number of migrants allowed in the country. An estimated 90,000 asylum seekers registered in 8-million-strong Austria last year, with tens of thousands more crossing the country for Germany. Austrian authorities revealed plans Wednesday […]
This procession of trucks loaded with sugar canes was on its way to the processing plant. Belize, the tiny country in Central America, still relies heavily on its sugar and rum exports.
-Essay- NEW YORK — In searching for an image that could help to illustrate the dreadful, complex and totally out-of-control situation in Syria, I stumbled upon an article in the Marginal Revolution that compares the events in Syria to the civil war in the former Yugoslavia. Since Yugoslavia and Syria were both multinational countries, and […]
More than 50 cities have canceled or drastically cut traditional Carnival extravaganza due to public cutbacks. But some say killing the party will only make things worse.
GUNMEN STORM PAKISTAN UNIVERSITY, DOZENS FEARED DEAD A group of gunmen killed at least 21 people and wounded more than 50 as they stormed the Bacha Khan University in Pakistan’s northwestern Charsadda District this morning, The Express Tribune reports. A security official quoted by Reuters said the death toll could rise to 40. Police have […]
Researchers across the globe are trying to understand what drives the sense of martyrdom to which terrorists aspire. Complicating the explanations is the fact that these killers have a wide range of psychological profiles.
“But there is no money,” reads the front page of this week’s edition of Moscow-based magazine The New Times, alongside a caricature of Russian President Vladimir Putin as an empty-handed, pants-less joker whose socks need mending. Russia is facing a deepening economic recession, caused notably by the low international oil price. And though Putin has […]
In the barren plains of Hungary, one of these csikós wranglers was getting ready to perform the “Puszta-five”: riding five horses at the same time while standing on their bare backs.
As nationalist groups around the continent take on the Pegida brand name, a mass European-wide rally is planned in at least seven cities for Feb. 6.
If you ever get lost in London, you can always turn to a member of the local police force — or as they call them, “bobby.”
LYNCHBURG — Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. stood before more than 10,000 of his students and some visitors on Monday morning and laid out the case for why conservative evangelicals like them should support a presidential candidate like Donald Trump – the cursing, self-promoting, thrice-married billionaire who bungles Bible references. It’s not that Trump is the most religious or pious of the candidates, Falwell said, although he described Trump as a “servant leader” who “lives a life of helping others, as Jesus taught.” It’s that Trump is a savvy businessman who “speaks the truth publicly, even if it is […]
BOGOTA — Bogotá”s new mayor, the technocratic Enrique Peñalosa, wants to remove some of the Colombian capital’s abundant graffiti — those deemed to be “non-artistic.” But the move is being perceived by some as a reversal of the socially oriented policies of his predecessor, leftist Gustavo Petro, who essentially considered all such street art socially […]
LIBYA ANNOUNCES UNITY GOVERNMENT As part of a UN-backed plan signed last December, Libya announced the formation of a unity government today to reconcile the country’s warring factions. In the process of negotiation, there were disputes over the distribution of ministerial posts, Al Jazeera reports. Two rival governments, one based in the capital of Tripoli […]
In Italy, between 5,000 and 7,000 priests have given up their robes. Some ex-priests re-enter lay society with a female companion, others struggle to build a new life from scratch.