WorldcrunchToday, the top United Nations human rights official declared that the targeting of eastern Aleppo in Syria constituted war crimes rarely seen before. “The violations and abuses suffered by people across the country, including the siege and bombardment of eastern Aleppo, are simply not tragedies; they also constitute crimes of historic proportions,” Zeid Ra’ad al […]
The failure of the Western allies to weigh on the situation in Syria is a humanitarian disaster. It’s also a sign for Putin that he can also have his way elsewhere.
The black-on-pink drawing of a wide-eyed girl covering half her face with an open hand seems, at first glance, to be too cute, too pretty to convey the horror implanted in so many people’s minds by the ghastly gang-rape and murder of an Argentine teenager. And yet in recent days, the stylish image and the […]
SPOTLIGHT: ON PUPPETS AND PUTIN There was a third politician on stage at last night’s final U.S. presidential debate: Vladimir Putin.The two candidates have taken very different approaches to the prospect of dealing with the mercurial Russian leader, with Hillary Clinton painting Putin as an avowed enemy of American democracy and Donald Trump saying he’d […]
Sorry, ladies: When Frenchmen like me talk of “une belle Américaine,” they’re most likely thinking of cars like this Pontiac Star Chief parked in front of Disneyland in California.
-OpEd- WASHINGTON — Donald Trump showed a bit more self-control in the third and final presidential debate Wednesday night than he had in the previous two. His back and forth with Hillary Clinton was more substantive, thanks in part to firm guidance from moderator Chris Wallace. But all of that was overshadowed by Trump’s breathtaking […]
SPOTLIGHT: THE WORLD TUNES IN TO VEGAS It’s a favorite trope in U.S. presidential campaign coverage to say “the world is watching.” In this campaign, it comes with a heavy dose of close-the-shades embarrassment, between Donald Trump’s treatment of women and Hillary Clinton’s treatment of her emails. But as the two candidates prepare for what […]
Flowers and clothes drying are regular features of backyards bordering the khlong canals of Bangkok. This picture, taken from a boat, also shows what is probably a Buddhist shrine of sorts — but definitely looked like a fancy birdhouse to me.
In southern Italy, mob clans have entered into an unlikely alliance with the Islamic terror group, exchanging Kalashnikovs for ancient artifacts pillaged in war. One reporter went undercover looking to make a deal.
-Analysis- MEXICO CITY — Republican nominee Donald Trump’s continuing tirade against Mexicans have set off alarms on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. But are his prejudices rooted in any fact? Not at all, if you consider recent studies that measure contributions made by Mexican immigrants in the U.S. One study by Mexican economist J. […]
When I visited the prehistoric site of Stonehenge in southern England, it was still possible to walk among, and even touch, the megaliths. Not for long, though: A year later, the damage to the standing stones caused by erosion forced the authorities to start keeping visitors at a safe distance.
-Essay- BUENOS AIRES — Exploiting architectural masterpieces as props for so-called ephemeral art is starting to become something of a permanent habit. Perhaps the first example that comes to mind is what happened to Philip Johnson’s iconic Glass House. Alongside the Farnsworth residence — designed by Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe and completed in 1951 […]
Among the many memorable lines from Rodrigo Duterte’s run for the presidency was this colorful threat to Chinese leaders: If elected, he would personally ride a jet ski across the South China Sea to plant the Philippine flag on the Spratly Islands that are claimed by both countries as their own. Just past 100 days […]
Women usually get custody of the kids. But not always. One woman tells the story of losing her children, and how she’s begun to piece her life and relationships back together.
The controversial new Filippino president, who arrives in China today, has mostly garnered attention for his brutal crackdown on drug dealers. But his ambitions go far beyond.
For decades the village of Cirompang in West Java has been self-sufficient when it comes to food. Residents rely on ancestral wisdom to grow and harvest rice.
It has finally begun. More than two years since ISIS conquered Iraq’s third-biggest city, a coalition of local ground forces, supported by U.S. air power, has launched a coordinated attack to recapture Mosul. “The time of victory has come and operations to liberate Mosul have started,” Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a televised […]
Taken from the window of my hotel room, in Ghardaïa, in northern Sahara’s M’zab region.
-Analysis- WASHINGTON — Donald Trump is not really running a campaign for president anymore. Instead, he is involved in an extended revenge plot or is simply following the politics of grievance to its natural, unseemly end. See, campaigns have a message. They have strategy and tactics. They show restraint and coordination. Trump, in the 10 days since the release of a hot-mic tape of him making lewd and sexually suggestive comments about women, has done none of those things. Literally none. The Washington Post”s Jose Del Real counted more than 20 different messages from Trump during a five-minute span of […]
PARIS — How can we surf the web without using Google, Amazon or Facebook? French group Framasoft, which promotes the use of open-source software, offers a way. Under the “De-google-ify internet” initiative, the group uses decentralized software solutions to design tools that allow consumers to retake control of their data. Members of Framasoft are strong […]
For famed Colombian artist Doris Salcedo, sewing a vast sheet with the names of victims of the country’s civil conflict is a sprawling but humble attempt at some form of salvation.
The town in Indiana of Terre Haute is a mix of organized labor and university students, traditional values and growing immigrant communities. It has picked the president the last 15 elections.
TRUJILLO — The mayor of the northwestern Peruvian city of Piura was shot dead last week by a masked hitman as he left a restaurant, making him the latest victim in a wave of violence directed at Peru’s embattled local officials. Lima-based daily El Comercio reports that the death of Piura Mayor Ronald Javier Navarro […]
The Syrian government’s recent tourism videos of beautiful scenery and nightlife look ludicrous to Westerners who know the brutal truth about Aleppo, but the West isn’t the intended audience for this publicity blitz.
PARIS — Bob Dylan has long inspired musicians around the world, professional and otherwise, to sing his songs — and write their own. Some have done a bit of both, translating and singing versions of his masterpieces in different languages. With the Nobel Academy awarding the 2016 Literature prize to Mr. Bob, it seemed times […]
Manipulation and violence, animus and hypocrisy: Such is the stuff of politics on almost any given day, in any corner of the world. But, on our best days, politics holds out the possibility of actually making things better and solving our problems. These are not our best days. In the war-torn country of Colombia, a […]
LES CAYES — As you move through the Haitian cities that stood on Hurricane Matthew’s destructive path, a disturbing question strikes you: What was destroyed in the recent storm and what was damaged from before? You can see scrap metal and zinc sheets that were used as roofs. You can glimpse children bathing in and […]
The 1960s was a momentous period for the French island of Corsica, caught between opening up to tourism and dealing with a growing nationalistic movement. But in Ajaccio on that sunny spring day, it was just fishing business as usual.
“The King is dead,” writes the Post Today on its black-and-white front page Friday, a day after Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej died in Bangkok at age 88. Having spent 70 years as head of state, King Bhumidol was the world’s longest-reigning monarch, as well as the longest-reigning monarch in Thai history. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha […]
The newspapers, they all went along for the ride …
Swedish hospitals are a model for a more natural, less clinical approach to caring for newborn and premature babies.