The Narendra Modi government has largely ignored the Tibetan leader, who lives in exile in India, but the country’s military leaders now say support for the iconic monk could be the perfect way to push back on China.
Month: August 2020
Argentines were hoping Alberto Fernández would be autonomous from his VP and former president Cristina Kirchner. But he’s beginning to look like the puppet that former Russian President Dimitri Medvedev was to Putin.
Platforms like Tinder have a reputation for facilitating quick hook-ups. But their impact on society is far more profound than that, argues a French economics professor.
A chocolate museum nestled in Spain’s small town of Astorga reveals how an exotic delicacy became a veritable ‘opium of the masses.’
BERLIN — Over the past two weeks, since the allegations of election rigging in Belarus, there have been calls for Germany to open a dialogue with Russia. As if the country with the world’s largest nuclear arsenal and a permanent seat in the UN Security Council is nothing more than a wayward child that Germany […]
On the Italian island’s Emerald Coast, the summer lifestyles of the rich and famous ignored the threat of a new coronavirus breakout. Now hundreds are testing positive, including Billionaire nightclub owner Flavio Briatore.
The opponents of ‘Europe’s last dictator’ are trying to avoid loss of life and focusing new energy on labor strikes.
The ‘feminist free marketeer’ is an oxymoron, when the free market is a bastion of the socioeconomic inequalities feminism opposes.
Forced into exile in Lithuania after the contested Aug. 9 Belarusian presidential election, Tikhanovskaya is not giving up the struggle to push strongman Alexander Lukashenko from power.
A self-described American aesthete has no good answers for her French friends aghast at the reality show in the White House.
Joblessness is soaring in the western Asian nation, particularly among women, who are far more likely than men to be cut loose by employers.
BERLIN — Germans are feeling the heat. For almost a week now, temperatures have been over 86 °F (30 °C) in most of the country, and every day a local council pleads with its residents not to fill up their paddling pools again. Last weekend, authorities asked residents of Lauenau in Lower Saxony to buy […]
The coronavirus outbreak has changed our relationship with work, health and… cash. The fear of contamination while handling coins and banknotes has accelerated a trend that had already been growing for years: contactless payments. Both consumers and businesses that may have been previously reluctant to go digital are changing their preferred payment methods. Does this […]
After the Aug. 18 coup d’état in Mali, a growing popular protest movement that emerged in June may be quickly forgotten.
Mexico’s socialist president is fanning class resentments and threatening Mexico’s fragile social peace, while delivering little of the welfare he promised in 2018.
In two very different parts of the world, seemingly impenetrable authoritarian regimes suddenly appear under siege by popular democratic uprisings. But as protesters take to the streets in Belarus and Thailand — and garner widespread international support — it still remains unclear if they’ll be able to turn their mass demonstrations into tangible change. Flawed […]
Desperate for a chance to boost the economy and create some much needed jobs, Buenos Aires is ready to sign off on what environmentalists call a ‘pandemics factory.’
As borders closed and lockdowns were rolled out around the world, the steady flow of illegal immigration that has plagued southern Europe for years was also temporarily halted. But new arrivals are now accelerating again, and some of the countries hit hardest by the pandemic are now also forced to deal with a worsening refugee […]
There’s been plenty of finger-pointing during the pandemic. But does calling someone out for being ‘reckless’ and ‘irresponsible’ actually effect positive change?
Social distancing, disinfecting common areas and accessing health care: All three key tactics for curbing the spread of coronavirus are particularly complicated inside jails and prisons. While it might seem like an already self-isolating bubble, life inside prisons has changed dramatically since COVID-19 arrived. In an effort to keep healthy, many have lost their rights […]
Whenever Iran’s revolutionary regime feels the heat, it stirs more trouble in the Middle East. It has even brought the exasperated Arabs closer to Israel.
A Russian political analyst asks whether it is in Moscow’s interest to send military forces into Belarus in support of embattled leader Alexander Lukashenko.
Unless we question the socio-economic structures associated with the production of waste and waste management, we’ll never dig out of the waste crisis.
I’ve worked from home long before the coronavirus outbreak forced the rest of the world to go remote. When I used to talk about my job as a freelance writer and video editor — and the fact that virtually all my working hours were spent alone in my apartment, on my computer — my friends […]
Consumer habits shifted dramatically as people sheltered in place. In-person shopping is picking up again, but everything’s still in flux for sellers, who will have to adapt or say ‘adios.’
In the early 1900s, the tuberculosis crisis inspired an outdoor-oriented education model that may be just what the doctor ordered in this new period of pandemic.
French President Emmanuel Macron is among those demanding that an eventual vaccine be available to all. But there’s also money in play, and a market guided by a whole different set of priorities.
Violent clashes continue to rock Belarus after opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya was forced to flee the country, following President Lukashenko’s reelection.
For a long time, urbanization has been one of the defining features of our societies — a tendency that has accelerated with the growth of the information economy, with now half the world’s population living in cities. But some believe that we may have reached a peak, as COVID-19 has not only paused the trend […]
What the country needs now is more targeted measures and clearer priorities from its politicians, as well as more effective communication.
The world found out quickly that COVID-19 would be a major interruption to the way we worked. By now, there is little doubt that the health pandemic — and resulting lockdown measures and travel bans — will leave permanent traces in company policies, employee behavior and our relationship with work spaces and technology. Yet it […]
Eight months after the initial warning signs, we still know very little about how the coronavirus works. Decision-makers will have to play by ear for many more months.
PARIS — Last week’s explosion at a port warehouse in Beirut, which killed at least 200 and caused a minimum of $5 billion in damage, should serve as a sobering wake-up call for countries that have equally (or more) dangerous chemical reserves. Beyond the human toll and material consequences, the catastrophic event has also triggered […]
Artist Balvir Singh and his murals of revolutionaries like Che Guevara and Lenin have helped rekindle socialist ideas in his home state of Punjab.
In developed countries, this long period of self-isolation has caused waistlines to bulge — a serious matter, especially since obesity is a clear COVID-19 risk factor.
As the novel coronavirus races its way around the world, we are also witnessing a rush of changes in the delivery industry. No longer just an option, delivery has all but become a necessity during the pandemic, and the sector as a whole has proven itself extremely adaptive. From creative innovations to corporations venturing into […]
The powers that be responded to the pandemic with an array of life-altering directives that, to an astonishing degree, people quietly accept. So what happens next?
Owing, it would seem, is a part of the human experience, and not just in modern times … and so is debt forgiveness.
COURMAYEUR — When the alarm sounded last year, it was because the ice on the Mont Blanc, on the border between Italy and France, was moving too quickly. Its front had broken away from the rest of the ice lobe, separated by a huge crack, and descended three meters per day. Experts feared that 250 […]
In the rush to vilify ‘irresponsible’ young people, we too often overlook the efforts they’re making every day to help us through the pandemic and make the world a better place.