Worldcrunch
Welcome to Tuesday, where the final U.S. soldiers have left Afghanistan, a snap lockdown in New Zealand looks to be working and Nike employees get a “mental-health week.” We also visit the French capital to hear what local residents really think about the filming of the Netflix show Emily in Paris in their chic neighborhood.
The fall of the Afghan national government may be a calamity for the Afghans but not for the world’s big-money interests, which prefer to deal with ruthless, incompetent regimes that will sell out their countries.
Welcome to Monday, where U.S. defense systems intercept missiles fired at Kabul’s airport, Hurricane Ida leaves New Orleans in the dark and researchers find you don’t want to mess with your octopus lady. Meanwhile, Italian daily La Stampa takes the (extreme) temperature of farming as recurring droughts hit the country.
European media is failing to state the obvious about electric scooter reality: Our cities have to adapt.
CERVERE — It hasn’t rained in two months. The corn has not grown. Six out of ten hectares of this plain field are completely parched. “It’s late now,” says Giovanni Bedino, running his dark fingers through the dry leaves of the corn. The farmer, now 59, has been working the land since he was 15. […]
The first season of the Netflix show Emily in Paris was a boon for some businesses in the French capital’s 5th arrondissement, where it takes place. But with production returning for Season Two, many local residents are exasperated.
Welcome to Friday, where evacuation flights resume at Kabul airport after yesterday’s deadly attack, dozens of kidnapped Nigerian students are freed, and female hummingbirds evolve so that males get off their feathers. We also boldly explore the surprising crossroads between science fiction and real-life military strategy.
The German leader’s aloofness on the collapse of Afghanistan has surprised many. For the past few months, her government has taken the issue too lightly and failed to debate it properly. This could prove a big mistake in her last weeks as German chancellor.
Welcome to Thursday, where an explosion rocks Kabul airport, Alexei Navalny gives his first interview since his March arrest, and the search for life beyond our Solar System gets a potential big boost. Meanwhile, French economic daily Les Echos offers a deep dive in the world of TikTok’s finance gurus — the so-called “finfluencers”.
The year is 2056. Decades of war have resulted in constant advances in weapon technology — including one such novelty dubbed the “hypervelocity missile.” Moving at six times the speed of sound, these weapons have changed the rules of combat. In order to protect themselves against attacks, armies have designed a sophisticated shield that can […]
“He loves me and I love him. Why would you take that away?”
Welcome to Wednesday, where tensions build between Algeria and Morocco, WHO reports that global COVID cases plateau, and Rolling Stones lovers mourn the passing of drummer Charlie Watts. Meanwhile, New Delhi-based daily The Wire looks at the patriarchal prejudices still surrounding motherhood and so-called “non-custodial mothers” in India.
When it comes to food, the fears linked to globalization must be put into perspective. They must also be weighed against the negative effects that Belgian protectionism could have on our economy.
Anne-Claire Bennevault, founder of consulting firm BNVLT and think tank SPAK.fr, weighs in on the rise of the so-called “finfluencers”.
Welcome to Tuesday, where G7 leaders meet to discuss Afghanistan, Kamala Harris accuses China of “coercion” and the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games open. Meanwhile, Hong Kong-based media The Initium reports on the pressure still put on unmarried women in Chinese society.
In Mali and elsewhere in northern and western Africa, al-Qaeda factions have been held back with the help of the French military. Fears are rising of a future pullout after watching the debacle in Kabul.
Welcome to Monday, where chaos continues at Kabul airport, flooding kills at least 22 in Tennessee, and Taiwan hisses at the culling of smuggled cats. Meanwhile, Les Echos invites you to mind the gap and hop on Europe’s rekindled love for overnight rail travel.
The global warming we have been warned about is here, and it will, with its calamities, change so many ideas about what we need to live well.
A stand-up comedian in China recently used the term “single panic” to describe fears among women about being alone, and the words have since resonated in online discussions. The “panic” is a product, the female comedian pointed out, of pressure and prejudices in Chinese society against single women. The only way for single women to […]
Discriminatory comments and practices still reign supreme in wine cellars. But the women of the French wine industry are determined to break down old barriers.
After years of letting overnight rail travel fade into oblivion, France and other European countries are rushing to reverse course. Doing so will be easier said than done, however.
The stigma around so-called “non-custodial mothers” has prevented us from expanding our own imagination of what motherhood can, or does, look like when it is practiced by non-residential mothers
Political philosophy sheds some light on the United States’ moral responsibility in Afghanistan
BERLIN – Now, in the opera, there are Black people portraying Germanic gods, Russians appearing as Chinese people, and Don Giovanni may even be played by a trans woman. If ethnically correct casts are required to be politically correct, this would mean the end for many classics and several would become unemployed. Trinidadian-born soprano Jeanine […]
The products originally of America’s tech industry, Bitcoin and other digital currencies have since been adopted around the world. Nigeria, Vietnam and the Philippines now have some of the highest rates of cryptocurrency use, and many local entrepreneurs and governments are trying to cash in by building their own domestic coins. Not all of these […]
Keen to revive the 2015 nuclear pact, Washington and its allies are turning a blind eye to what’s really taking place in the Islamic Republic.
HIV health and support groups in LGBT neighborhoods offered COVID-19 testing and other community services during the pandemic.
In the western part of the Afghan capital, inhabitants live in fear, but they are still not prepared to accept Taliban takeover.
The legendary soccer star of FC Barcelona has signed up with the Parisian club, owned by the Emirate since 2011…and just in time for the World Cup slated next year in Qatar.
Welcome to Friday, where China blocks the WHO on COVID origins, the Taliban capture Kandahar and a Russian politician makes a deadly bear error. We also have a Die Welt article on the tiny country that isn’t afraid to take on China.
No other European state strikes a more confident tone toward China than Lithuania. Vilnius is resisting all the usual means of pressure — and has a clear demand that Europe and Germany defend their values.
While the rise of European right-wing populism is becoming a pan-continental phenomenon, we seem determined to miss its one common driver.
L’Oréal and other French cosmetic brands are delving into the creepy realm of printing the equivalent of human flesh.
Welcome to Thursday, where the Taliban have taken control of Ghazni, a strategically important city, Google tightens its remote work policy and a Japanese mayor gets the medal for post-Olympic bad taste. We also feature an Initium reportage on the lives and competing identities of Chinese adoptees in the United States.
Over the past 30 years, more than 170,000 Chinese-born children have been raised by U.S. families. Most of the parents are white and many live in areas where Asians are almost nonexistent.
Putting New York Governor Cuomo’s delayed departure in light of the #MeToo movement.
Salento, the very southeastern tip of Italy, is a flat and shrubby land of farmers, stunning beaches and simple rural villages built around Baroque churches. Thousands of Italians and foreigners flock to this part of the Puglia region on the heel of the Italian boot every summer, lured by its promise of a rustic, idyllic […]
Welcome to Wednesday, where wildfires turn deadly in Algeria, New York state will have its first ever woman governor and there’s a Messi landing in Paris. We also have Livy Bereg’s report from the “Zone” around Chernobyl, as Ukraine looks to revitalize the areas contaminated 35 years ago by the worst nuclear accident in history.
In the midst of an ecological crisis, the octopus has become an object of fascination. This animal, once terrifying to the human imagination, is now recognized for its intelligence and ability to live in symbiosis with nature.
Ukraine’s leaders face toxic land-use challenges 35 years after the world’s worst nuclear accident.