If the López Obrador government really wants to restore the state oil firm’s status as a cash cow, it needs to stop treating it like a sacred cow.
Month: July 2020
The pandemic is putting the squeeze on hospitals and clinics, and making things particularly difficult — and dangerous — for pregnant women.
The super rich are buying residency papers and passports from places like Cyprus and Vanuatu to be able to travel — despite quarantines — for health reasons, business or pleasure.
The Islamic Republic foreign minister made a series of trips recently to shore up support among his country’s few remaining allies. He returned empty handed.
Welcome to Friday, where China sees its largest COVID-19 outbreak since Wuhan, the International Space Station is (briefly) thrown out of control, and a meme-related 80s hit passes the 1-billion-views mark. Meanwhile, pan-African weekly news magazine Jeune Afrique looks at the hurdles in the way of vaccination across the continent. • Hong Kong conviction, crowd […]
Even if researchers’ quest for the coronavirus vaccine concludes quickly — and that’s a big if — the solution would still need to me manufactured, packaged, paid for and distributed.
Summer is normally the time for France’s immigrants or their descendants from Algeria, Senegal and other African countries to head back to the home country. This year? Not so much.
Real estate markets are starting to stir from their Covid-induced slumber. After months of plummeting listings and frozen transactions, new deals are finally being made and prices have begun to recover. But the extent to which real estate will share the longer-term pain of a global economic downturn is still unclear, with some predicting that […]
Welcome to Thursday, where a Chinese official meets with Taliban leaders, an earthquake triggers a tsunami alert in Alaska, and rock fans mourn the death of a bearded icon. With the Tokyo Olympics finally underway, Hong Kong-based digital media The Initium also asks a tough question: Do we even still need this sporting event? • […]
PRAGUE — Such a little thing, such a little thing, but the difference it made was grave. As so often happens, a line from Morrissey sums it up best. Back in my native Britain, that “little thing” of having to wear a face mask in shops has been met by no shortage of fear and […]
The Amazon jungle provides benefits that extend well beyond the river basin itself. It stands to reason, therefore, that countries like Colombia be paid to protect it.
Welcome to Wednesday, where North-South Korea ties keep improving, the investigation on U.S. Capitol riots is off to an emotional start and a Fiji politician is delighting Twitter users. Meanwhile from Germany, Die Welt”s Marlen Hobrack helps us deconstruct the twisted logic behind the feminist defense of prostitution. • North-South Korea rapprochement continues: A day […]
In the race to to find a cure, scientists are rushing to release their study results. There are dangers in skipping the standard peer-review procedures, but they may be outweighed by the benefits.
Welcome to Tuesday, where the first person charged under Hong Kong’s national security law is found guilty, the final victim of the Miami building collapse is identified, and Tesla reports skyrocketing profits. Meanwhile, The Conversation offers a deep dive into the Australia vs. UNESCO spat over the decision to list the Great Barrier Reef as […]
Synthetic meat is on the rise— and this shouldn’t just be big news for vegans. Philosophers and activists agree that closing slaughterhouses is vital for our animals, our planet and ourselves.
How is the pandemic panning out in the world’s second most populous country? Science editor for The Wire, Vasudevan Mukunth, offers some statistical insight.
Welcome to Monday, where Tunisia’s prime minister is sacked over handling of pandemic, U.S.-China talks are off to a rocky start and a 13-year-old skateboarder wins the first Olympic gold medal. German daily Die Welt also looks at the geopolitics behind the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline deal between Russia and Germany. • Tunisia PM […]
Protests, slumping economies and the clear erosion in some countries of democratic institutions plagued the region even before the pandemic hit. So what now?
Normally, the so-called ‘Pearl of the Adriatic’ would be teeming with tourists right now. Instead, the Croatian coastal city is strangely — but also wonderfully — empty.
In the movie version, the contagion would lead to lawlessness and chaos. But in reality, institutions are encouragingly resilient.
PARIS — It was only back in May that experts palmed off the 12-month goal post for a COVID-19 vaccine as wishful thinking. Now, with more than 140 candidate vaccines being developed, including three already in the final phase-3 trial, it seems we may be sprinting towards a new speed record in medical development. “The […]
Welcome to Friday, where the 2020 Olympic Games finally kick off, Xi Jinping makes a historic trip to Tibet, and there’s some beef (or rather, chuletón) between Spain and the EU. We also take an exclusive look at how the so-called “salvage grocery stores’ popping up around the world are finding commercially viable ways to […]
London generously opened its doors to Hong Kongers fleeing Xi Jinping’s regime, which stands in strong contrast with the closed-minded attitudes driving Brexit. Where does it power lie now?
Throwback ideas and the next big thing are working for some, even as many other parts of the economy slide into recession.
The European Union has reached a historic accord, de facto unifying as one state by agreeing on a common debt. The EU now is a new form of society, in which sovereignty is shared reciprocally.
Welcome to Thursday, where China rejects WHO’s plans to look into its “Wuhan lab leak” theory, U.S. & Germany reach a deal on Nord Stream 2 and two Swedish hostage takers have the weirdest ransom demand. Hong-Kong based media The Initium also explains why young people in China are still drawn to the prospect of […]
The jury’s still out on whether COVID-19 can be transmitted sexually. But there’s no doubt that it has made many people more cautious about intimacy.
So far there’s been little obvious effort to hold authorities accountable for the rising number of people — especially Muslims, Dalits and other minorities — who die while in police custody.
COVID-19 makes us think about things we should’ve been thinking about anyway. And since the beginning of the outbreak, we’ve all been keeping a closer eye than usual on the hard truths of statistics: From daily global emissions (down by 17%) to the number of precarious workers in the world (1.6 billion), as well as […]
Welcome to Wednesday, where heads of state find out they were Pegasus spyware targets, floods in central China kill trapped subway riders and not everyone is happy to see Jeff Bezos safely back from space. Just two days before the opening ceremony of Tokyo Games are set to begin, Olympics chief, Toshiro Muto, won’t rule […]
There are some signs that China may be gaining economic concessions from Iran in exchange for giving it diplomatic, and perhaps military and security, backing against regime opponents.
Slovenian-born writer Andrej Mrevlje tries once again to get a read on the fiercely reserved first lady, this time with the help of new book called The Art of Her Deal.
Welcome to Tuesday, where Peru’s contested election finally gets a winner, the Olympics bubble system is broken and another billionaire is blasting off for space. German daily Die Welt also explains why Asian countries, which were previously considered successful COVID tamers, are now struggling with new waves of infections. • Pedro Castillo declared winner of […]
For some, France’s strict shelter-in-place period sank their relationships. Others say it helped. Either way, couples in the would-be land of romance found themselves at a real crossroads.
There are important lessons to be learned from how the world mobilized to contain the novel coronavirus.
Welcome to Monday, where an international probe reveals spyware has been used to target thousands of journalists and activists around the world, South Korea’s president is protesting the Olympics after a diplomatic spat and a Slovenian cyclist wins the Tour de France for the second time in a row. The Initium also looks at how […]
PARIS — Grandioso, say the Italians. Kolossalt for the Swedes. The Berkeley student newspaper called it monumental, while a Buenos Aires daily was stamping it patrimonio de la humanidad. The world’s popular music critics and other sundry writer types (wink!) have spent the past few weeks trying to size up something that is much more […]
Face mask policy has been a moving target since the COVID-19 pandemic hit. With some countries and localities facing shortages, and the World Health Organization itself initially suggesting that masks were not effective in containing the spread of the virus, governments were reluctant to implement rules to force people to wear face coverings. But since, […]
Latin America can do a lot more to right history’s wrongs than topple the bronze effigies of its conquest-era villains.
The South American nation has the second highest number of coronavirus fatalities in the world (after the United States), and with ICU beds in short supply, the death toll will continue to rise.