In the Balkans, developers are rushing to install hydroelectric plants on Europe’s last untapped river systems. Activists — including an unlikely group of Bosnian villagers — are fighting back.
Month: May 2019
Economists say it’s worse than the Great Depression. Money is worthless in the ruined South American country, and too many are going hungry.
In this martial arts where competitors are in knight armor, the athletes beat each other with axes and swords — until someone falls.
-OpEd- TAIPEI — It was back on May 24, 2017 that Taiwan’s Constitutional Court ruled that the constitutional right to equality and freedom of marriage also takes into account same-sex couples. Yet it took two years until the moment earlier this month — after layers of difficulties, including three homophobic referenda led by conservative and […]
Migration was a hot-button topic in last week’s EU elections. But deeper demographic issues are shaping the region’s future and economic wellbeing.
CAIRO — Using sign language, Aya Mohamed, an ambitious secretary in a government-owned institution, explains that she is verbally bullied when she pursues simple daily activities, such as buying something. Mute and deaf, the 29-year-old has only her lips and hands to use to communicate her needs to a seller, and is often met with […]
NEW DELHI — The great Indian electoral war of 2019 ended with Narendra Modi securing a historic mandate to rule India for another five years. The divided opposition should not have expected anything better as it had no national narrative, no credible agenda and no alternative leadership to contain a colossal opponent like Modi. It is ironic that in a parliamentary democracy like India, people have voted for the “leader” Modi, rather than members of parliament. No doubt, the president of his BJP party, Amit Shah displayed a shrewd strategy that helped secure this victory. Yet he still has a […]
People in Asia already trust robots enough to let them take care of their loved ones and deliver the evening news. Meanwhile, a hitchhiking robot’s world tour successfully passed through Germany, the Netherlands and Canada, but the American leg of the journey was cut short when it was decapitated and beaten to death in Philadelphia. […]
Rather than fear the so-called Middle Kingdom, European companies should recognize its rapid ascent as an opportunity.
Categories
What If Warren Buffett Were Peruvian?
In the race to succeed, talent can certainly play a role. But not everyone competes on the same playing field.
The Norwegians have a mixed history of conflict mediations in recent decades. Can their dubious track record lead to any success in Venezuela?
Opposition to the planned Nord Stream 2 gas project had been limited to Europe. But now the Trump administration is challenging it too — with possible sanctions.
Categories
Spanish Depth Of Field
When I recently pulled out this shot of the Spanish countryside in the 1960s, it reminded me of my childhood when I would watch farmers work in the fields of Burgundy in eastern France. In case you’re counting, that was the 1930s.
Blockchain may be the technical solution, as companies, international institutions and NGOs long for a global system that authenticate anyone’s identity, no matter where they are.
In the absence of qualified staff, grandmothers from the Friendship Benches program offer free listening and advice to patients suffering from depression.
Chancellor Kurz deserves credit for trying to work with the populist FPÖ. But he’s also right to end the relationship in the wake of the damning scandal
BUENOS AIRES — “I’m in the literary gang and Borges is my godfather…” Serhiy Borschevsky is the “last remaining” translator in Ukraine of the works of the 20th-century Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges. Speaking to Clarin on his first-ever visit to Argentina, Borschevsky noted that “Borges is very popular in Ukraine. His books sell out […]
Shifting questions of belonging and identity in the shadow of Brexit and EU elections.
Machines replacing us humans: Depending on where you stand (and where you work!), this may sound like a dream or a nightmare. Societies have long been fascinated by the idea of handing over difficult jobs to robots, but individuals quickly start to fear what that may entail for their futures. For all the talk about […]
The 1948 neo-realist cinematic masterpiece can be a key to understand Italian society today. With a digital twist.
Spaniards born of Latin American families are running for the first time in the European Parliament elections. They have a unique agenda.
With his untruths, bad choice of friends and unwillingness to apologize, India’s prime minister is everything our parents taught us not to be.
Love them or hate them, electric scooters are changing the very ways we think about mobility and transportation in a city.
French managers are trying to transition from assessing attendance to assessing results, the American tradition. But their are drawbacks.
The 2019 Cannes film festival will celebrate legendary French actor Alain Delon with an honorary Palme d’Or. At the age of 83, Delon continues to attract a generous dose of controversy for his homophobic views, accusations of domestic abuse and longtime friendship with founder of France’s far-right party National Front, Jean-Marie Le Pen. But in […]
There are now 1.2 million Venezuelan migrants in Colombia. How they are treated may help determine a post-Maduro future.
Should schools add new subjects every year to keep up with the times? Or is their job simply to help students become critical thinkers? A new mother’s musings.
Opinion shapers have a habit these days of disregarding facts, be they scientific or economic. Opinions matter, of course, but shouldn’t supersede well-founded knoweldge.
Categories
Save The Last Bulgarian Dance
In the lobby of my hotel on the shores of the Black Sea, locals in full folkloric attire were dancing to traditional tunes. It felt strangely familiar, having had my own experiences preserving the music and folklore of my local traditions.
“In Japan, white is the color of mourning.” So wrote Samuel French in his play All the Way Home. Or at least that’s the line as I remember it from my high-school theater days. White is also the color that the Brazilian national soccer team was wearing in the infamous “Maracanazo” match, a decisive showdown […]
The self/other theory of immunology rests on the xenophobic assumption that ‘others’ are always dangerous and need to be removed.
The Mexican president’s overhaul of public life is riding roughshod over interests, including those of the poor, his own voters, and a ‘defenseless’ middle class.
Long before Uber’s multi-billion-dollar IPO, the ride-hailing app has been shaking the economic and legal foundations of the dozens of countries around the world where it’s landed. Not only has it disrupted the transportation sector, but the San Francisco-based digital taxi service has introduced a whole new way for companies to deliver their services and […]
It is telling that parents in Silicon Valley, who would know, are restricting and even banning screen time for their children. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has just released a new set of guidelines on how much time parents should allow young children to spend with screens: Kids younger than 1 year old should have […]
How would you deal with Steve Rogers, a.k.a. Captain America, if you were his boss — or colleague?
The country faces dramatic debt levels among small-scale coffee farmers, as prices fall on world markets. Some have suggested a fixed minimum price for this key Colombian export.
Someone who is terminally ill and wants to die faster does not ‘commit suicide,’ says this German palliative medicine physician. Words matter.
The question ‘If not Modi, then who?” points to a worrying lack of understanding of how a parliamentary democracy works.
With its abundant raw materials and growing digital economy, Latin America has real potential for national investment funds.
A collective called Les Morts de la Rue keeps tabs on the deaths of homeless people, and tries to reach out to families that are in many cases estranged.