Worldcrunch
Welcome to Tuesday, where Biden calls for Gaza ceasefire, 6,000 refugees reach Spanish shores in a day, and a Sicilian Mafioso takes grandparenting to a new low. We also tune in to Hong Kong-based digital media The Initium for some *strait talking* about the stakes in Taiwan. • Biden calls for Israel-Gaza ceasefire: The U.S. […]
Germany has the resources to weather the storm, but not everyone in Europe is convinced that’s a good thing.
Welcome to Monday, where Gaza shelling intensifies, Bill Gates is under fire for a relationship with staffer and the Titanic is spotted in China. We also ask why Italy lags behind others in Europe in protecting LGBTQ from violence. • Israeli air strikes hit Gaza as calls for ceasefire intensify: Israel conducted dozens of air […]
Colombia is a prime example of how overspending and indebtedness leave little room for error, and why it’s important to take a new approach moving forward.
Beyond public support for medical workers, the French are very critical of the management of the pandemic by their leaders compared to other countries.
Viruses spread, mutate and then become deadly because humans destroy the areas where wild animals live. We must learn from this, once the coronavirus pandemic is contained.
It is, of course, inevitable that governments’ stay-at-home orders and other emergency measures to contain the novel coronavirus would generate differences of opinion. And yet, even a few weeks ago, it was hard to imagine that it would take as ugly a turn as what’s happening right now in the U.S. state of Michigan, where […]
The coronavirus pandemic has been both a boost and a challenge for delivery services like Chowbus, which specialize in Chinese fare.
Humans have been greeting each others with handshakes for thousands of years. Are we witnessing the end to pressing the flesh, and giving some skin? “I don’t think we should shake hands ever again,” declared Dr Anthony Fauci, one of the key members of the US coronavirus task force, in a Wall Street Journal podcast. […]
As COVID-19 lingers, protective masks are recommended and even mandatory in certain places. But our faces are also our windows to the world, and covering them creates serious new obstacles across our societies.
Whether or not they were looking for it, the COVID-19 crisis has given epidemiologists bonafide public power. “At this point, if Drosten says it is too early, that carries as much weight as Merkel saying it,” quipped German economist Marcel Fratzscher about his country’s top epidemiologist Christian Drosten and top politician Angela Merkel. There is […]
The novel coronavirus currently sweeping the globe can, of course, infect any of us. But it poses particular dangers for indigenous and forest-dwelling communities attempting to live isolated from the modern world, and who in some extreme cases fear for their very survival. History is littered with tragic episodes of exposed communities decimated by imported […]
Latin American countries are, for the most part, appreciative of Beijing’s donations of much needed medical supplies. But the goodwill isn’t guaranteed to last forever.
Across the globe, swamped hospitals and shelter-in-place measures have impacted people’s access to healthcare for any number of non-COVID-19 issues. One of them is abortion, a time sensitive procedure that is also — even the best of times — both emotionally and politically charged. Now, in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, some countries have […]
We have all, at some point, thought about the very first thing we’d do once lockdown restrictions start to lift. Going for a cup of coffee, dining out, meeting friends in the flesh (not on Zoom). But there’s one item on our list of mundane things we took for granted that we’re reminded of each […]
Welcome to Thursday, where Israeli troops are massing at the Gaza border, Elon Musk undermines Bitcoin and a New Zealand politician performs a protest Hakka dance in Parliament. We also have a warning from Latin America about the environmental risks of trading with China. • Israel gathers troops along Gaza border amid rocket fire and […]
PARIS — Nothing illustrates the current need for brand dexterity like the “The Quarantine Whopper,” a joint campaign led by Burger King, Carrefour and Uber Eats, and with backing from the Buzzman agency. Amid the lockdown, the fast food giant has kept its doors closed, even for deliveries. But it’s still working to stay relevant […]
The word krisis was coined by the Greeks three millennia ago, meaning “turning point in a disease.” The meaning of course has evolved and expanded since, even if our pandemic has brought the word full circle to its ancient ramifications. In Greece’s more recent history, turning points have come in different forms, at rapid-fire pace […]
Every fictional plague has an origin story, and an ending — happy or otherwise. We hereby issue a pandemic spoiler alert!
Egyptian students won’t attend in-person classes again until September. In the case of most private schools, there won’t be any refunds either to the mostly middle-class families.
As the new pandemic reality requires radical rethinking about how we live our lives, one hint of where we may be going could appear this summer in a neighborhood near you. The re-opening of bars and restaurants coinciding with warm weather is pushing city officials to reallocate the space that diners and motorists can occupy. […]
Today, you may read about lockdowns being loosened in COVID-19 hotspots like France or Spain or the U.K. But you may also discover that Germany, widely lauded for keeping infection rates relatively low, has seen an uptick in their number of coronavirus cases since they relaxed certain social distancing restrictions. Turn farther to the East, […]
Welcome to Tuesday, where deadly warfare erupts in Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Indian COVID variant is “cause for concern,” and NASA gets its hands on some seriously old space dust. Le Monde“s Joan Tilouine also explains how the initial excitement surrounding Beijing’s so-called “Stadium Diplomacy” in Africa has turned. • Israel responds to Palestinian rockets with […]
The pandemic is prompting changes in politics, culture and personal conduct. Could these shifts be glimpses of a better, post-pandemic society?
PARIS — The rate of transmission and death toll of the coronavirus finally seem to be slowing, and various national and local lockdown measures are beginning to loosen. In a best-case scenario, both commerce and public confidence pick back up and social distancing measures help the virus to fade away by the summer. But even […]
Welcome to Monday, where fresh clashes rock Jerusalem’s mosque, death toll in Kabul school bombing tops 60, and Dracula sinks his fangs into COVID. We also look at the risks that go along with all the gung ho talk of the New Space Race. • Clashes escalate in East Jerusalem: A new round of clashes […]
Nature has its ways, and in the end, the pandemic will pass. But will humankind be able to return the favor and save that planet that still nurtures us?
One effect of the global pandemic has been to push perennial ethical dilemmas from the comfortable confines of university campuses and philosopher parlor games into the cold reality of everyday life. Facing a global shortage of respirators and ICU beds, medical workers are forced to make hard (impossible) choices on the fly about which patients […]
Last year 1.5 billion international tourist arrivals were recorded globally. In 2020, with borders closed and airplanes grounded, the tourism industry has been decimated and its recovery could take years. The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development anticipates a 45% to 70% decline in the tourism economy — amounting to losses between $295-$430 billion for […]
Ageism at its most inhumane.
Tucked away in a isolated corner of Germany, the owners of a rural restaurant have somehow managed to make ends meet for 17 years. But that was before the coronavirus outbreak.
Welcome to Friday, where a shooting at a favela in Rio kills 25, the Pfizer jab shows promising results against COVID variants, and pizza vending machines arrive in Rome. We also look at how central banks are finally starting to take an interest in cryptocurrencies. • COVID-19: Pfizer vs. variants, pandemic Olympics: Two different studies […]
Known as UBI, Universal Basic Income has been a dream of progressive economists. Now it is effectively written into many COVID-19 relief packages. But it may turn out to have staying power well beyond.
After weeks of denial and manipulation, China wanted to play the role of a caring superpower. But something about its soft-power push went awry.
Charles de Gaulle was the first world leader to truly understand the power of television, using regular presidential broadcasts as a way to circumvent French legislators, labor unions and other levers of democratic influence.
PARIS — For each passing day, as a perfect storm where both demand and supply plummet together across the world, the 2008 crisis starts to pale in comparison. Economists are thinking hard behind the scenes, with some pondering post-War recovery plans and others looking to earlier pandemics, like the 1918 Spanish flu, for guidance. But […]
The pandemic and the response to it threaten to exacerbate entrenched economic and social disparities.
Welcome to Thursday, where Washington calls for suspension of COVID vaccine patents, Philippines President regrets getting a Chinese jab and Europe’s biggest bear is dead. Germany daily Die Welt, meanwhile, looks at the perils of cops who want to be internet famous. • U.S. to support vaccine patent waiver: The Biden administration has come out […]
Not surprisingly, early indicators point to a less bleak future for Sweden’s still-open economy than for that of its European counterparts. A recent study by Swedbank shows that private consumption in Sweden shrank 17% between April 6 to April 19 compared to the same period last year, while revenue from hotel and restaurants was down […]
We talk about how the COVID-19 pandemic is upending so many aspects of our lives, yet it is foremost a story about death. Every day in this strange new normal, death counts close to home and around the world are updated, displayed, analyzed; figures are given, curves are drawn, graphs are made, allowing all of […]