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Second Turkey Attack, Obama To Cuba, Moka Maker

TURKISH TROOPS HIT AGAIN IN DEADLY ATTACK Photo: Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua/ZUMA A Turkish military convoy in southern Turkey was targeted by a roadside bomb this morning, an attack that killed at least six soldiers and wounded another, Hürriyet reports. It came just hours after a car bomb in Ankara also targeted military personnel yesterday, killing 28 […]

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blog

‘Islamic Rape Of Europe’ Cover Sparks Outrage

Critics have lambasted the cover of Polish newsweekly wSIECI (The Network), which depicts a screaming white woman wrapped in the European Union flag being pulled at and fondled by six dark and hairy arms. “The Islamic Rape Of Europe” reads the cover line. In the lead article of the widely read magazine, writer Aleksandra Rybinska […]

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blog

Palmyra Gone

In the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, tourists can no longer take photographs or roam under the 3rd-century Arch of Triumph. The terrorists of the Islamic State blew it up in October last year using dynamite.

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Future Society

In Switzerland, Melting Glaciers Reveal Buried Treasures

Retreating glaciers are liberating bodies and objects lost thousands of years ago and revealing much about the people who once lived in these mountains.

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blog

February 18

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blog

El Nino Forces Water Rationing In Medellin

MEDELLIN — Colombian meteorologists blame weather phenomenon El Niño for unprecedented weather changes, bringing both extreme drought and rapid evaporation of water to the South American country. Water supplier Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM) has announced that citizens in the Colombian city must reduce their water consumption by 10% if local water supplies are to […]

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Ideas Society

Zika Shouldn’t Legitimize Abortions Of Imperfect Babies

Science and medicine have yet to demonstrate exactly how and when Zika affects the brain of a fetus, yet people are rushing to conclude that abortion is the logical choice. A journalist with his own physical limitations weighs in.

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blog

Report: Microcephaly Outbreak Blamed On Pesticide, Not Zika

PARIS — A report says the use of an anti-mosquito pesticide in drinking water could be the cause of the mass outbreak of microcephaly cases in newborns Latin America, and not the Zika virus, as the Brazilian government and the World Health Organization (WHO) have been saying. French weekly magazine Paris Match cites a report […]

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blog

Syrian Aid, Chinese Missiles, Romance Scams

NEW AID TO REACH BESIEGED SYRIAN TOWNS The Syrian government has granted aid convoys access to seven besieged towns, the United Nations announced today after talks in Damascus. The aid is due to arrive “within days,” Al Jazeera reports. The areas concerned are Deir ez-Zor, an eastern city under siege by ISIS, Foah and Kefraya, […]

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Ideas

The Niqab And Us — A Fateful Bus Ride In Frankfurt

FRANKFURT — It’s a Thursday morning on the No. 39 bus in Frankfurt, Germany. Suddenly, a migrant woman with an accent begins to complain loudly and aggressively about a woman wearing a niqab. “I don’t feel safe next to her,” she says to no one in particular. The other passengers remain silent, though one eventually […]

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blog

Bamboo & Sugar

On the western Indonesian island of Sumatra, this man was using a bamboo ladder to harvest sap from a tree, which would then be processed into sugar at the local refinery.

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Economy Future

Electric Future, Taking On Tesla In The South African Bush

LETAMO GAME FARM — After the depressing outskirts of Johannesburg, with its paved-over shopping centers, garages and the smell of greasy chicken, the countryside isn’t all that much better. At the local gas station, there are men in bush hats and shorts, all khaki and autumn-colored, looking like they’re either going for a friendly day […]

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blog

February 17

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Eyes on the U.S. Geopolitics Ideas

Plan Colombia, A 15-Year Scam Of Yankee Imperialism

Plan Colombia was never the aid program touted by leaders in Washington and Bogota. But it proved to be excellent business for arms dealers and other shady characters.

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blog

Syrian War Crimes, Imelda’s Jewels, Bucking Zuck

“WAR CRIMES” ON SYRIAN HOSPITALS, SCHOOLS France and Turkey have denounced the bombing of five hospitals and two schools in Syria, labeling them as war crimes, the BBC reports. At least 50 people were killed by yesterday’s strikes in the Aleppo and Idlib provinces, the UN has said. Different warring parties are blaming one another. […]

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Economy Geopolitics

Universal Income, A Utopian Ideal Or Economic Pragmatism?

Given our growing concerns about ‘traditional’ employment, some say paying people a basic living income should not be linked to work. The idea is appealing, but requires a leap of faith few politicians are willing to take.

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blog

Singing ‘Without A Permit’ In Mexico, Metaphor For Police Corruption

SALTILLO — An alleged “illegal singing” case last week this city in northern Mexico might have wound up as a light source of laughter in the pages of a local newspaper. But when police in Saltillo tried to arrest a man for singing as he walked on the street, telling him he had no permit […]

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blog

Trompe-L’Oeil

Although it’s close to Petra, one of humanity’s architectural wonders, this pyramid in Wadi Rum was actually carved by Mother Nature.

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Geopolitics Syria Crisis

The Tragedy Of Madaya Explained

The siege of Madaya began in July, but global pressure on the Syrian government to allow humanitarian access didn’t begin to build until nearly 30 people had died of starvation. Why did it take so long?

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blog

February 16

[dailymotion https://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/x2v2v8r expand=1]

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Future Ideas

India To Zuckerberg: We Don’t Believe Facebook’s Big PR Lie

Anti-colonialism’s echo: India balks at Mark Zuckerberg’s plans of offering free but limited Internet access, which is ultimately aimed at boosting Facebooks’ numbers. Will the rest of the world follow?

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blog

This Is How IKEA’s Tax Scheme Works

LEIDEN — Over the years, several journalists have dug into the corporate structure of Swedish furniture giant IKEA and the business dealings of founder and CEO Ingmar Kamprad. But the probes have turned up little dirt. But now, the European Parliament’s Green Party group say they have managed to map out IKEA’s complex revenue scheme […]

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blog

Syrian Chaos, Nikkei Soars, John Paul II’s Special Friend

PRE-CEASEFIRE, SYRIA FIGHTING ESCALATES Fighting has intensified in Syria just days after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov announced that an agreed ceasefire would begin by the end of this week. According to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an airstrike on a Doctors Without Borders hospital 70 […]

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War And Planes: Russian Weekly’s Ominous Cover

“If War Comes Tomorrow,” read this week’s edition of Moscow-based magazine The New Times, quoting the title of a famous 1938 Russian propaganda movie on a very Soviet-looking cover, as it wonders what the consequences a new “big war” would be for Russia. The weekly magazine focuses on the dangers of what it calls “the […]

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Geopolitics

Europe Set To Bring Belarus In From The Cold

MINSK — Belarus’s President Alexander Lukashenko has been dubbed “Europe’s Last Dictator,” and ties between Brussels and Minsk have been virtually frozen since a new series of sanctions were imposed in 2010. But now, it appears, Lukashenko and his country will be welcomed back into the continent’s fold as the European Union is set to […]

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blog

Buddhaful

Not only is the Great Stupa, in the ancient Sri Lankan capital of Anuradhapura, considered an architectural marvel, but it is one of the holliest places for Buddhists, as the shrine is believed to contain relics of Buddha.

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Geopolitics Society

Tehran Is A Poem — Art And Uncertainty In The Iranian Capital

TEHRAN — Repeating something Ayatollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic, said years ago — long before Iran’s latest clash with Saudi Arabia — Moussa reveals much about the current mindselt in the streets and cafés of the Iranian capital: “With the Great Satan we could forgive and forget,” he says. “But with the Ibn […]

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blog

February 15

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Migrant Lives Syria Crisis

How War Is Redrawing Syria’s Demographics Map Forever

GENEVA — War is reshaping Syria, causing massive displacements of populations that, even more than the rising casualty numbers, have shifted the roles played by the country’s principal ethnic and religious communities. Some groups have emerged strengthened, others weakened, now and perhaps forever. These demographic gains and losses will carry more weight in the long […]

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Food / Travel Society

The First Ghetto, Lost Beauty In Venice’s Jewish Quarter

A visit on the eve of the 500th anniversary of the neighborhood where Jews were forced to live, giving the world the culture, confinement and indignity of the ghetto.

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blog

February 14

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Geopolitics Green Or Gone

Colombia’s Illegal Mystery Road Destroying The Amazon

A new surge in deforestation can be traced to an unauthorized road connecting La Macarena to San Jose del Guaviare. What is the origin? What will be done?

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blog

Aggressive Russia Makes Sweden Rethink Military, NATO

Gotland is Sweden’s largest island, home to some 57,000 people and a popular tourist destination during the short Swedish summers for its many beaches and hiking trails. During the Cold War, the island also served as a key military base in Sweden’s defense against the Soviet threat, which loomed just 80 miles away to the […]

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Geopolitics

Putin’s Next Ambition: Calling The Shots In A Post-Merkel Europe

There’s nothing the man in Kremlin wishes for more than Angela Merkel’s fall, which could give him plenty of leverage to play with and mould Europe.

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blog

February 13

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Eyes on the U.S. Trump And The World

U.S. Election 2016: Trump On Paris, Iran On Beltway, Spain On Sanders

Donald Trump has met his egomaniacal match in Serbian nationalist politician Vojislav Seselj, who boasted that his far-flung support for Trump could be decisive in the U.S. presidential campaign. “I am convinced that all Serbs who live in America will vote for him, also many other Americans who appreciate my political views and the ideology […]

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Geopolitics Terror in Europe

Drinks For Five, Three Are Gone — A Tale Of Surviving In Paris

Maya and Mehdi were seriously injured at Le Carillon café during the Paris attacks. Three of their friends (including Maya’s husband) were killed in front of them. Three months later, moving on is almost impossible.

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blog

Syrian Truce, Pope In Mexico, Columbine Mother Speaks

HOW FAR CAN SYRIAN TRUCE REACH? Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, announced this morning that they had agreed on the rapid delivery of desperately needed aid to besieged Syrian cities. Talking to reporters in Munich, the two top diplomats expanded on yesterday’s announcement of what amounts to an extremely […]

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blog

Mexico Says Bienvenido! To Pope Francis

La Prensa, Feb. 12, 2016 “Welcome!” reads Friday’s front page of Mexico City-based daily La Prensa, greeting Pope Francis as he’s set for an afternoon arrival in Mexico for his first visit as pontiff. Ahead of his five-day trip, which includes a visit to a prison in the crime-riddled city of Ciudad Juarez, the Pope […]

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blog

Trump Bravado On Paris Attacks, In French Magazine Exclusive

“Trump Tells All,” reads the cover of this week’s edition of French right-wing magazine Valeurs Actuelles, which nabbed an exclusive interview with real estate mogul and 2016 Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump. “If I’d been at the Bataclan or one of the cafés, I would have opened fire,” Trump told the French magazine, when asked […]

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