Islamism is gaining ground on the island historically dominated by Christianity and traditional religions by offering free Koranic education in exchange for conversion.
Month: December 2017
Cuba is restoring its colonial architecture in Havana and beyond, and promoting the national heritage among young Cubans, ahead of the 500th anniversary of Havana’s foundation.
An already razor-thin margin in the Senate becomes even more tenuous for the Republicans. The mid-term 2018 elections are not so far away.
Mountains are as integral to Switzerland as beaches are to Tahiti. But that doesn’t mean every Swiss person likes the rising surroundings.
-Analysis- Donald Trump won’t be in Paris on Tuesday. Following his decision to unilaterally withdraw the U.S. from the 2015 Paris climate agreement, French President Emmanuel Macron didn’t invite him to the two-day One Planet Summit opening in the French capital. Gathering 50 world leaders and dozens of international business leaders, the conference coincides with […]
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Tip Of The Balinese Hat
Conical hats are not limited to China. In Indonesia, where they are called caping, they protect workers from the sun — and make colorful souvenirs in the stalls of Bali“s markets.
NEW DELHI — The impact of the 19th Communist Party of China congress and affirmation of President Xi Jinping as China’s ‘most powerful” leader in decades matters for India — especially on the ‘Tibet Issue,” which also intersects with longstanding conflicts over the Chinese-Indian border. Tibetan leader Dalai Lama’s well-known desire to return home has taken on new urgency, following this November 23 statement: “The past is past, Tibetans want to stay with China,” he said. These words carry a serious political overtone, coming as it does immediately after the 19th party congress and amid the current Doklam border standoff […]
Salary caps, financial compensation, and transfer preferential rights for weak teams level the playing field in the NFL and MLB. While Europe’s top soccer salaries spiral out of control, and the same teams always win.
On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Brussels, the de facto capital of the European Union, to discuss his own country’s de facto seat of power, Jerusalem. His visit to the city, the first by an Israeli prime minister in 22 years, comes just days after President Donald Trump’s announcement that he was moving […]
JAKARTA — While Western countries grapple with the question of what to do with militants returning after fighting alongside the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Indonesia has launched a deradicalization program that helps former fighters open their own businesses, according to the Indonesian magazine Tempo. The program aims to help returning militants and their […]
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Elvira Sastre, When A Poet Goes Viral
The 25-year-old Spaniard is a millennial literary star, thanks to her deep culture, her talents and — naturally — her social media skills.
RIYADH — In the span of a few months, Hind al-Zahid’s life has changed for the better. “My dream turned into reality,” the 38-year-old Saudi says. She’s become the first woman to enter the board of directors of one of the kingdom’s airports, in the eastern city of Damman. And soon, like millions of other […]
Exhibitions in the U.S. are held specifically to allow visitors to take pictures of themselves. European museum curators cringe, but competition for the attention of the social-media generation is real.
Recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is the surest sign that President Trump wants to dismantle the entire international relations system that the U.S. helped build after World War II.
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A License Plate My Mother Could Love
Over the years, I took pictures of license plates — they’d help me remember where I went without having to write things down in a notebook. But there was a different, more personal reason for photographing this motorbike plate on the Greek island of Corfu: “Ety,” short for Etienne, was what my mother called me […]
Women have intrinsic qualities that can help them in the fluid, digitalized labor markets of the future. But first they must have equal access to technical education.
Brutal evictions of poor migrants in Beijing’s outskirts are part of a long history of cynical control of the populace.
ABIDJAN — Jumping and dancing to the rhythm of the popular urban music zouglou, they snap pictures on their smartphones of their idols performing onstage. Always smiling and never sitting still, Ivory Coast’s millennials have been nicknamed the “génération pressée pressée,” the generation that is always in a rush. Young Ivorians are dynamic and curious, […]
Is the American in good faith? Why now? What’s next? Questions pile up in the wake of a decision that reverses 70 years of U.S. diplomacy in the Middle East.
-Analysis- PARIS — The whole world has been talking about it for over a week, and yet, — admit it — you still don’t quite get what all the Bitcoin fuss is about. You know it’s a virtual currency. But what is the point of having a currency you can barely use to pay for […]
The recent disappearance of a navy submarine reveals some persistent traits from Argentina’s dictatorial past: lessons from the ocean’s victims and Jungian wisdom.
ANDORRA LA VELLA — Perched in the Pyrenees between Spain and France, Andorra — with fewer than 80,000 inhabitants — is as small as it is remote. And yet, the European micro-nation is playing a big part these days in the field of urban studies, the Andorran daily El Periòdic reports. Researchers with the City […]
KARACHI — A Turkish family is rushing out to a weekend protest in this populous Pakistani city; outside the Karachi Press Club, Turkish residents release doves as a sign of peace; 25 Turkish teachers plea for safety in Pakistan. These Turkish families have lived here for over two decades, teaching at a network of international schools led by Fethullah Gülen, a moderate Islamic cleric from Turkey, who currently lives in the United States. In the last 16 months, 28 Gülen schools and colleges across Pakistan have been shut down under pressure from the government in Ankara. Staff members now face […]
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Relaxing With The Indian Maidens
The Courtyard of the Maidens is one of the most popular destinations in Udaipur, in the Indian state of Rajasthan. With its marble elephants and its lotus fountain, the garden was a perfect oasis of peace and quiet in the middle of the bustling city. For maidens and thirsty travel photographers alike.
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O Mandela, Where Art Thou?
-Analysis- Exactly four years have passed since Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid icon, died at the age of 95. Over the course of his remarkable life, the South African became the embodiment of moral political leadership, forgiving his jailers and rising to the nation’s presidency. Sadly, Mandela’s successors, most notably current South African President Jacob Zuma, […]
In Stockholm and around the country cash has disappeared from businesses and banks. Everyone, except the elderly or those without digital access, pays with credit cards or mobile apps.
Sure, there is a gray continuum from seduction to annoyance to harassment to assault. But if limiting assault requires limiting sex that is the necessary price for change.
-Analysis- After running into some trouble at the end of last week, the virtual currency bitcoin has hit a new high and is now approaching the $12,000-mark, just days after passing $10,000 for the first time. Countless experts are warning that this bubble, like the dotcom bubble before it, will inevitably burst. But until it […]
The Islamic State (ISIS) is facing defeat on the battlefield. Can it be eliminated from hearts and minds of young Syrians?
-Essay- PARIS — Growing crops without the herbicide glyphosate is probably a good thing. Or maybe not. I admit that I have no idea. I’m no doctor, no farmer, nor do I possess any technical competence that would enable me to have an informed opinion on the matter. On the other hand, I do have […]
Cleared by the Central Board of Film Censors on appeal, top Pakistani director Shoaib Mansoor’s ‘Verna’ is a flawed film, but a wake-up call for a nation obsessed by patriarchal honor.
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Ostrich-And-Egg Arithmetic
It took 14 tourists — including my wife and I — to eat a gigantic omelette made with a single ostrich egg. But when it came to riding one at this South African farm, I thought better to let my fellow travelers make fools of themselves!
PARIS — With breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence promising to revolutionize all aspects of our lives, the field of medicine is far from immune. Radiology will be one of the first medical fields to be transformed by AI, French daily Les Echos reported earlier this month, with algorithms on the verge of being able to establish […]
Turkish schools are taking steps to cultivate a ‘pious generation’ by rewriting history and placing a greater emphasis on religion.