Suffering heavy losses, the Russian army is undertaking an intensive recruitment drive. We take a look at the heavy-handed adverts and offers that encourage men to go to war.
Month: April 2023
The Vatican may soon canonize the Mama Antula, an Argentine woman who started a spiritual movement at a time when religious intellectualism was strictly the domain the men.
The Freedom of Russia Legion consists of Russian army defectors who are fighting against their homeland, outraged that Vladimir Putin has destroyed the moral standing of Russia by invading its neighbor. Still, it’s a delicate “double-life” on the front line.
Turkey holds key elections next month. Many who were exiled over the years have returned with optimism, only to be jailed. Turkish journalist Ece Temelkuran says from now on, she will only go back on her own terms.
On this day in 1999, two students at Columbine High School in Colorado, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, carried out a mass shooting. They killed 12 students and one teacher, and injured 21 others before taking their own lives. What was the motive behind the Columbine High School shooting? There is no clear motive for […]
The Madan Sara provide a vital service by collecting farmers’ produce and selling it in urban communities. But natural disasters and growing insecurity have threatened their way of life.
This week’s high-profile court cases, from the 25-year sentence of opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza to the prosecution of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovic, look like a shift to totalitarianism. But they may also be a sign of a nation set to implode.
Gen Z, those 26 and younger, are entering the workforce. Their lives and values differ drastically from older generations, forcing employers to rethink how they work.
The Ukrainian and Russian presidents made separate visits to the frontline recently, in closer physical proximity than anytime since the war began. It was a sign that we should not expect negotiations anytime soon.
A special counter installed in Venice shows that places to sleep for visitors will literally outnumber those for locals in Venice for the first time in the coming weeks or months. Housing activists hope it will finally be a wake up call for the city.
Last week, Myanmar’s armed forces bombed a gathering in a village in Sagaing Region, killing scores of innocent victims. It was not an isolated incident.
The African tech ecosystem is bouncing back after a slowdown during the pandemic, with local innovation fueled by increasing investment from foreign tech giants.
In the parts of eastern Ukraine liberated by Ukrainian forces’ lightning counteroffensive six months ago life is bittersweet, including a constant lack of electricity and water — and the constant risk of shelling.
Convincing coca farmers to plant legal crops is better than spraying poisonous pesticides to wipe out the plants. And yet it turns out these crop substitution programs are problematic, disrupting livelihoods and unintentionally causing violence and deforestation.
Vladimir Kara-Murza was handed the heaviest prison sentence since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Putin is making an example of the rare few who dare to speak out against him, evoking the reign of Joseph Stalin.
Facing 14 million cubic meters of contaminated soil collected during the cleanup of fields and villages near the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant, the Japanese government promised residents it would remove the soil, but now finds itself in a deadlock, despite the tens of billions of dollars spent..
Poland’s unilateral decision to ban imports of Ukraine’s agricultural products, in violation of EU agreements, has caused shock among Ukrainians. Nazar Bobytsky, head of the Ukrainian office of the Polish Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers, says Brussels must show Kyiv it is serious about Ukraine joining the EU.
More than a decade after the Arab Spring gave hope of a wave of democracy in North Africa and beyond, the violence that has erupted in Sudan squashes hope in that troubled nation of a democratic future.
Crossing Sicily by train can take as long as flying from Rome to New York. The tracks and carriages are outdated, the trains rarely leave on time. Meanwhile, the country’s high-speed train lines are state-of-the-art and decidedly punctual. It’s a metaphor (and more) for Italy’s two-class society.
GPT-4 and other artificial intelligence systems can pass complicated exams, but this says more about how we conduct tests. Artificial intelligence shouldn’t lead us to despair — instead it should spur us to rethink our learning and education systems.
Hygge dreams and happy extended families are increasingly fading away.
The Brazilian president, back in power after more than a decade later, has not lost his vision of a post-Western world in which the BRICS would occupy a central place. Lula’s visit to Beijing puts such a vision front and center on the global agenda.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, Ukrainians have begun a radical revision of their cultural habits and beliefs, casting off the relics of Russian colonialism. How Ukrainians see themselves and their country’s past will directly affect how they fight for the future.
April 15-16 OUR WEEKLY NEWS QUIZ What do you remember from the news this week? 1. Which world leader is visiting Xi Jinping in China this week? 2. What anniversary did U.S. President Joe Biden mark in Belfast? 3. Iconic fashion designer Mary Quant has died at age 93. What garment is she associated […]
Portunhol is a hybrid language spoken on the borders of Portuguese-speaking Brazil and its Spanish-speaking neighbors. The author’s time learning it was a reminder that language is so much more than just a means of communicating.
Categories
All Insurance Scam Roads Lead To Turin
Of financial hardship, staged accidents — and calcio rivalry.
The Viberti Barolo winery in the Piedmont region of Italy employs cutting-edge solutions to preserve tradition and craftsmanship regardless of severe climate change.
Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom has lost access to the European market and is rife with inefficiencies. Still, it isn’t going anywhere soon. The engine of Russia’s vast resources are fed into Vladimir Putin’s system for maintaining power.
President Biden finishes his much-publicized trip to Ireland today in my tiny hometown. We’re enjoying the pomp, but it’s a reminder that the glory days of Irish America are well and truly gone.
Brazilian President Lula da Silva is sticking to Brazil’s favored policy of diplomatic non-alignment while visiting China, hoping to win his country all the business and export deals he can sign.
Confronted with a significant security breach, the U.S. is learning a brutal lesson about modern warfare.
The law gives authorities unlimited opportunities to impose travel bans, prohibit foreign travel, grant loans, execute real estate transactions and block driver licenses of those who don’t show up for conscription. But will it be enough to supply Moscow’s military with the trained forces it needs?
For safety reasons, the mayor of an Italian village struggling with overtourism has banned tourists stopping in certain areas. It is not the only Italian travel hot spot trying new ideas to counter the effects of mass tourism.
Cases of transgender people deciding to re-identify with the gender assigned at birth are very rare, but regularly cited as so-called “detransitioning” to support anti-trans arguments around treatment for youth suffering from gender dysphoria.
Even as Ukraine struggles to hold onto the last remaining bits of the eastern city, military experts say the official Russian military apparatus may have decided to rid itself of the Wagner mercenaries and bury them all in Bakhmut.
Top chefs in Bogotá and other big cities in Colombia are rediscovering and updating the country’s traditional fare to celebrate local ingredients.
The war in Ukraine has been going on for a year. Many have died, fled or been traumatized — day after day and night after night. Such harrowing experiences leave deep wounds. But there are ways to overcome traumatic experiences.
The remarkable power of ChatGPT on the cutting edge of artificial intelligence took Beijing by surprise. As China rolls out its own version, it remains to be seen how the country will balance the need for control with technological development and innovation
After a decade of conflict, once-popular Syrian comedies have lost their shine. New shows are trying to revive the country’s golden era of TV, but comedy is a tough sell in a country still living under a brutal dictatorship.
The Chinese military’s encirclement of Taiwan is above all a political move, not a tactical one. War is unlikely for now: Beijing still has other cards to play in the crisis. But if these fail, anything is possible.