Category: blog
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Lone Wolves, Bad Nutrition, Berlin Brothel
SPOTLIGHT: LONE WOLVES OF ISIS The Islamic State terror group (ISIS) has claimed responsibility for two terrorist attacks in the past two days: a mass shooting at a gay nightclub early Sunday in Orlando, Florida, and a targeted stabbing of a police officer and his wife near Paris late last night. But while the attacks […]
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Hanging On
If you visit northern China’s Xuankong Temple, the famous “Hanging Temple” built into a cliff some 75 meters above the ground, believe me: You won’t let go of the hand rail.
Chitosan fiber in the making — Photo: U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration At first glance, the thread looks like a run-of-the-mill material. But the glossy white, strong and elastic strand is anything but ordinary. This antibacterial material can stop the flow of blood and dissolves naturally within the human body. It can be used […]
SPOTLIGHT: WHY ORLANDO IS DIFFERENT After every horrific attack on the innocent, the press and public take stock of what has been wrought by turning to the past. And so it is with the cold-blooded killing of 50 people early Sunday in a nightclub in Orlando, Florida. We recall mass shootings in places like Columbine, […]
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Hard To Process
The penitent on the right-hand side of this picture was having a hard time breathing under his capirote, during Easter processions in southern Spain.
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Registration officials in Iran supect there has been an increase of late in the number of informal and “unregistered” relationships. People are experimenting more with Western-style affairs of the heart, in other words — “shacking up” rather than rushing into marriage. And they’re not even going through the bother of entering a “temporary marriage,” a […]
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SPOTLIGHT: SOCCER & THE STATE OF FRANCE “Everything I know about morality and the obligations of men, I owe it to soccer,” French philosopher Albert Camus once said. And there’s definitely more than sports at play in the Euro 2016 soccer championship that kicks off tonight in France: There are heightened security fears around the […]
Le Parisien, June 10 “It’s time to party!” reads the front page of French daily Le Parisien Friday, which features a photograph of supporters celebrating the opening ceremony of the 2016 UEFA European soccer championship at the Eiffel Tower. The tournament kicks off on Friday with Romania facing France. The latter could do with a […]
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At The Crossroads Of Continents
The Þingvellir rift valley, in southwestern Iceland, marks the the separation between the Eurasian and North American Plates, clearly visible in the canyon-like Almannagjá fault.
China’s National Higher Education Entrance Examination (commonly known as Gaokao) is a two-day, nine-hour, monumentally stressful examination that the country’s 9.4 million graduating high school students took earlier this week. The grade on this test is the only qualification many Chinese universities consider for admittance, so for the many ambitious Chinese students and their families, […]
SPOTLIGHT: MIGRANT RISKS Whether fleeing war or poverty, migrants from Africa and the Middle East continue to risk their lives to reach Europe for what’s been advertised as just one dangerous leap away from a much better life. The latest grim report comes this morning from Morocco where one migrant died attempting to reach the […]
El Nacional, June 9, 2016 Venezuelan daily El Nacional on Thursday features front-page clashes linked to the country’s ongoing food shortages. “Local Supply and Production Committees (CLAP) will control 70% of food staples,” reads the lead headline of the Caracas daily that is close to the opposition. The headline refers to the policy touted by […]
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Haute Couture
It must be tricky for the Bigouden women to wear their traditional lace bonnets — some of them 35 centimeters in height — in windy Brittany.
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Hillary History, Zoo Lessons, Fake Victim
SPOTLIGHT: HILLARY HISTORY Hillary Clinton has held a long list of impressive titles: U.S. first lady, senator, secretary of state. And now she’s added another one to the list — Democratic Party nominee for the Oval Office. By virtually every count now, Clinton is set to be the first female candidate of a major party […]
French daily Le Figaro reports Wednesday that a 24-year-old woman will be prosecuted for posing as a victim of the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris in order to get a 20,000-euro compensation (about $23,000). The police started having doubts after the woman presented forged medical certificates, saying her arm had been wounded from an explosion […]
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Sitting In History
My wife was sitting in the opulent mansion of the Madewood plantation, near New Orleans — its antebellum elegance in stark contrast with its troubled history of slavery.
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Inside A Church — Video Quote Of The Day
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Istanbul Attack, Clinton Close, El Bronx
SPOTLIGHT: EURO 2016 ON EDGE The Euro 2016 soccer tournament starts Friday in France. By some accounts, it is the world’s third biggest sporting event, after the World Cup and Summer Olympics. This year’s contest will last for a month around the country’s biggest stadiums and is expecting to bring 2.5 millions fans to attend […]
Renmin Ribao, June 7, 2016 Tuesday’s front page of the Chinese state-run daily Renmin Ribao features President Xi Jinping in front of American and Chinese flags as he spoke at China-U.S. bilateral talks in Beijing. The 8th round of China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Development and the 7th round of China-U.S. Cultural Exchanges and High Level […]
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Dental Work
The Mayan site of Copán was hard to reach. But when we did get there, we were rewarded with remarkable examples of Mayan sculpture — some with very peculiar dentition.
SPOTLIGHT: THE MEANING OF MUHAMMAD ALI Today marks the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Later this week, the man who for decades was the world’s most famous Muslim, and arguably its most famous person of any religion or race, will be laid to rest in an Islamic ceremony in the heartland of […]
El Comercio, June 6, 2016 “Vote by vote” reads the front page of Peruvian daily El Comercio Monday, as ballots are still being counted after Sunday’s presidential election, the second-round vote being too close to call last night. The front page features a painting of the two main candidates, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski from the center-right […]
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Helping The Spanish Miracle
In our own modest way, we contributed to Spain’s economic boom in the 1960s, back when the country, then led by Gen. Francisco Franco, opened up to tourism. This is Toledo’s wonderful Alcázar, with the Tagus River in the foreground.
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Clown Show — Video Quote Of The Day
SPOTLIGHT: ISRAEL-PALESTINE TALKS IN PARIS, A “USELESS CONFERENCE”? The headlines in France on the new Mideast conference are hardly inspiring. “The French initiative will fail,” declared right-leaning daily Le Figaro. Newsmagazine Le Point was more succinct: “A useless conference,” it noted. As is often the case with Israel-Palestine peace talks, expectations are low at the […]
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French Floods On Le Parisien Front Page
Le Parisien, June 3, 2016 “France Wades” is the front-page headline splashed across Friday’s national edition of the Paris-based daily Le Parisien, accompanied by the image of military vehicles struggling to drive on a national highway, near the city of Orléans. Last month was the wettest May since the 1880s, and the resulting floods across […]
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Go Up Moses
In the Bible, Moses ascended Mount Nebo in Jordan, and from this ridge on the King’s Highway, he was granted a view of the Promised Land. Unfortunately, like Moses, I never made it there.