Wednesday’s front page of Icelandic-language daily Fréttablaðið shows Iceland’s embattled Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson being asked questions by journalists in Reykjavik’s Althing, the national parliament, as the future of the ruling coalition is uncertain in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal. Gunnlaugsson had apparently resigned yesterday amid the uproar of the Panama Papers […]
Month: April 2016
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Long Before The Quake
Exactly seven years ago, a powerful earthquake killed hundreds and devastated parts of L’Aquila, in central Italy. And though the facade of the Santa Maria di Collemaggio remained intact, I feel lucky to have visited the basilica before the disaster: The cupola and several arches collapsed inside.
CRUZ’S BIG WIN OVER TRUMP, SANDERS TOPS CLINTON The Republican party’s improbable presidential frontrunner Donald Trump suddenly looks vulnerable after a stinging double-digit loss to Texas Senator Ted Cruz in the Wisconsin primary. The New York Times reports that by early today Cruz had received 48% of the vote to 34% for Trump. Wisconsin also […]
ISTANBUL — The country is at a dead end, and everything is a mess. The main Turkish opposition, if such a thing really exists, is still unable to clearly express where it stands on the Middle East, foreign policy in general, a new constitution and the debates about the presidential system. Certain opposition groups still […]
Paralyzed by scandal and the threat of the president’s impeachment, Brazil can only be governed successfully with new — and irreproachable — leadership.
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Kid Math Problem — Video Quote Of The Day
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Post-Panama Probes, Zuma Vote, It’s Nova
COUNTRIES LAUNCH POST-PANAMA PAPERS PROBES After yesterday’s first reports into the massive leak of confidential documents from law firm Mossack Fonseca, known as “the Panama Papers,” several countries have launched investigations into allegations of money laundering and tax fraud, the BBC reports. Among those countries are Australia, Austria, France, Spain, the Netherlands and even Panama. […]
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Charlie Hebdo Cover: “Je Suis Panama”
“Fiscal Terrorism,” the front page of this week’s satirical French weekly Charlie Hebdo reads in the wake of the Panama Papers leak, which implicates heads of state and other wealthy notables in a global money laundering and tax avoidance scandal. In parodic reference to last year’s Charlie Hebdo terror attacks, after which “Je suis Charlie” […]
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La Paz Prayer
A couple of streets away from La Paz’s eerie Witches’ Market, complete with llama fetuses, this man praying at the Metropolitan Cathedral was relying on some slightly more conventional beliefs.
MUNICH — Over a year ago, an anonymous source contacted Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) with the following exchange: Hello. This is John Doe. Interested in data? SZ: We’re very interested. JD: There are a couple of conditions. My life is in danger. We will only chat over encrypted files. No meeting, ever. The choice of stories […]
In Japan, the yakuza traditionally controlled vice businesses and demanded shakedowns. But as their dwindling numbers are hunted down by the authorities, the mobsters are trying to reinvent themselves to survive.
MUNICH — What would become far and away the largest leak of information in newspaper history began more than a year ago, when an anonymous source contacted Munich-based daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. The leak consisted of encrypted internal documents from Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca, which sells offshore shell companies to clients around the world who […]
JALALABAD — Shah Zaman, 11, spends his days carting people’s luggage to earn a few cents. His mother died during his birth and soon after, his father remarried. “I wish my mother had been taken to the hospital,” he says. Shah lives in Jalalabad, in eastern Afghanistan, where war and internal conflicts have weakened the local economy and health system. Like in so many parts of the country, health facilities lack trained staff. In more remote areas, health facilities can also be hours away, making it difficult for pregnant women to reach them in time. This, in a country where […]
PANAMA PAPERS SET OFF GLOBAL REACTION A massive leak of more than 11 million documents has exposed an immense network of offshore shell companies, many of them illegal. The documents — dubbed the “Panama Papers” — were obtained by German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung and reveal the involvement of 72 current and former heads of state. […]
Argentine companies are adding to the international trend to open up workspaces and make them transparent and fun.
GIBRALTAR — There is a troubling side story jutting into the Brexit debate from this tiny British territory at the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula. Madrid-based daily El Mundo reports that in Gibraltar — affectionately known as “the Rock” — locals and the government alike are opposed to “Brexit”, a British exit from the […]
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Vanilla Siesta
The secret of the French island of Réunion“s vanilla lies in its drying stage: the beans are laid out in the sun and intermittently put to rest in the shade.
Joachim Gerhard’s two sons joined the terror group ISIS, severed ties with home and may very well be dead. None of that will stop this German father’s quest to bring his boys home.
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Age May Be Just A Number, But Which One?
Age can be measured in more ways than one, say both sociologists and biologists. There is of course chronological age, but there is also cellular and social aging. The search for new definitions of old — and young!
The dangerous sea and land crossings that Syrian refugees are making to Europe have been well-documented. Less well known are the equally perilous journeys people take to leave Syria itself.
Japanese baths, Indian massages and other alternative care methods — along with old-fashioned babysitting — help families in Brazil facing the illnesses caused by the Zika virus.
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Quick Prayer — Video Quote Of The Day
PARIS — Does the Arab world party? The answer is yes. That’s also true in France, where the North African community doesn’t deprive itself of pleasures or amusements, and where raï music — contrary, perhaps, to the general public’s perception — is alive and well, albeit in a sphere of its own. The music used […]
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Snows Of Yesteryear
It’s a two-hour drive between my hometown and this picturesque village of Morat in Switzerland. On our way home through the still white-capped Jura mountains, my then 10-year-old grandson and I got into a merciless snowball fight. That’s the kind of warm memory that sticks far more than any quaint village scenery.
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April Fools’ Day Is No Joke In China
BEIJING — This is not a joke. Chinese citizens who’d like to lay some harmless April Fools’ Day pranks are hereby warned: “This is illegal.” Such is the official message published by Xinhua Viewpoint, the Chinese government’s microblogging account. “April Fool’s Day does not conform to our country’s cultural traditions and core socialist values. We […]
Why this time it’s different — and maybe much worse.
DEATH TOLL FROM DAMASCUS AIR STRIKE NOW AT 33 The death toll from airstrikes carried out yesterday in the Deir al-Asafir district southeast of Damascus has risen to 33, mostly women and children, Reuters reports this morning. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the strikes were carried out by Syrian aircraft and […]
“What now for Zuma?” asks Cape Town-based, Afrikaans-language daily Die Burger on its front page Friday, a day after South Africa’s highest court ruled that President Jacob Zuma breached the constitution by upgrading his private home with government money. The embattled president still has 60 days to repay the estimated $23 million, but the verdict […]
New studies show teenagers in Europe and North America are consuming less alcohol and cigarettes than they did even a few years ago. But other problems have worsened.
BEIJING — China’s copycat culture is so deeply ingrained that along with the mock mobile phones, counterfeit clothing and faux food packaging, there is also an abundance of supposedly civic minded NGOs that are also effectively counterfeit knock-offs. Last week, the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs published a list of 203 illegitimate civil society organizations. […]