SPOTLIGHT: PARIS-TO-CAIRO FLIGHT CRASHES An EgyptAir passenger jet has disappeared over the Mediterranean Sea during an overnight flight from Paris to Cairo. Greek aviation authorities believe the plane crashed off the Greek island of Karpathos in Egyptian airspace. Search and rescue operations are ongoing to try and find the wreckage and potential survivors. There are […]
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Vanguard, May 19, 2016 Newspapers in Nigeria on Thursday reported the bittersweet good news of the rescue of one of the 276 schoolgirls abducted by Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram two years ago. Amina Ali, now 19, was found wandering in the Sambisa Forest near the Nigeria-Cameroon border Wednesday with a baby girl she gave […]
TEHRAN — The humble water pipe — that traditional contraption often found in the Middle East, designed to ensure a cool and smooth smoke — has been having a tough time in Iran. Whether that’s due to its association with traditional tea shops, which Iran’s Islamic authorities frown upon for encouraging idle socializing, or to […]
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Russian Doping, Tunisian Women, Free Coding
SPOTLIGHT: DOPING, FROM SOCHI TO RIO The terminology itself is telling: “State-sponsored doping” is the accusation that the The New York Times reports the U.S. Department of Justice is now pursuing against Russian athletes and officials, linked to the use of banned substances at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, and other competitions. “The inquiry […]
La Prensa, May 18, 2016 MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has announced a proposal to Congress to legalize same-sex marriage across the country. Tuesday’s announcement, which took place during an event in celebration of the National Day of the Fight Against Homophobia, dominated Mexico’s front pages on Wednesday. “Gay Wedding, OK!” was […]
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Maduro Pushes Venezuela To The Brink
With his recent “state of emergency” declaration and decision to put the army on high alert against the threat of hostile “interventions,” Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro continues to show that he has no intention of being either pushed or voted out of power. Since opposition parties won a parliamentary majority in December, Maduro and his […]
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Pope Francis: No Fear Of Islam In Europe
La Croix, May 17, 2016 VATICAN CITY — In a rare interview, Pope Francis told French Catholic daily La Croix that there is no “fear of Islam” in Europe, and that the freedom to practice religion must be protected “not outside, but inside society.” The wide-ranging interview, published Tuesday, covered the Pope’s views on the […]
SPOTLIGHT: TRUMP AND THE ‘SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP’ It was 1946 when Winston Churchill coined the term “special relationship” to describe the uniquely close ties between the U.S. and UK: diplomatic, military, cultural, linguistic, economic… and yes, historic. The transatlantic amity dates back to the mid-19th century, when the two countries — one the world’s dominant empire, […]
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Parrot Wants A Kiss — Video Quote Of The Day
Uber may have global ambitions, but the Mexican city of Guadalajara offers an example of how local resourcefulness can still hard to beat. By welding on extra features, including passenger seats, some Guadalajara entrepreneurs are turning electric rickshaws and scooters brought in from India and Italy into bike taxis that are giving Uber a run […]
SPOTLIGHT: CHINA’S SILENT ANNIVERSARY It was 50 years ago today that the Chinese Communist Party and its leader Mao Zedong released a circular that was bound to unleash a decade of violence that would kill more than 1.5 million people. It would come to be known as the Cultural Revolution, and the history books consider […]
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Call For A Fight — Video Quote Of The Day
SPOTLIGHT: FACEBOOK, POWER + HEAT By virtually any measure, Facebook appears to be an unstoppable force of both business and culture dominance. Not only has quarterly income nearly tripled to $1.5 billion, but Mark Zuckerberg’s company can now boast that its record 1.65 billion users spend an average of 50 minutes a day on the […]
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Luxembourg, From Tax Shelter to Animal Haven
LUXEMBOURG — This tiny country has long been known for its unsavory status as a tax haven. But now Luxembourg may be on its way to forging a new title: as animal rights capital of the world. A new government bill aims to protect the “security and dignity” of animals, and recognizes that they possess […]
SPOTLIGHT: DEATH IN IRAQ As the attacks in Paris and Brussels have shown, ISIS is a very real threat to daily life in the West. But as unacceptable as the toll paid by innocent European victims may be, it’s always worth remembering who bears the brunt of Islamic terrorism: innocent Muslims. The latest case is […]
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Honest Art — Video Quote Of The Day
SPOTLIGHT: D-DAY FOR DILMA’S IMPEACHMENT After weeks, months even, of political chaos, the Brazilian Senate will vote to impeach President Dilma Rousseff later today. That is the scenario Brazil’s top media outlets are predicting, barring any last-minute twists. Of course in the mess that has become the impeachment process and criss-crossing corruption probes that have […]
Tempo, May 11, 2016 In the first public act after his apparent victory in this week’s presidential election in the Philippines, populist candidate Rodrigo Duterte paid a visit his parents’ tomb in his hometown of Davao. Images of the 71-year-old long-serving mayor sobbing at the tomb were on many front pages of many national newspapers […]
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Just 38 Granted Refugee Status In Poland
WARSAW — Of the nearly 4,000 foreigners who have applied for international refugee protection in Poland since the start of the year, just 38 have received refugee status. Though the majority of those granted the refugee protection (21) were from Syria, the largest number of applicants were from Russia, and other former Soviet countries, which […]
TEHRAN — Talk about a life in crime. Iranian police recently busted — or re-busted — a thieving gang consisting mostly of middle-aged and older men who have been in and out of prison since the 1979 Islamic revolution. The gang’s head is believed to be around 63 years old, and is known to law […]
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Greek Squeeze, Shifting Kim, AXL/DC
SPOTLIGHT: GREECE REDUX It’s that time of year again: Greek anger and economic strife are making headlines: general strikes, bailout reviews, anti-austerity reforms. But a recent study looking to the recent past, published in Handelsblatt, a business newspaper from Germany (of all places), shows the Greeks have every right to be angry. Berlin-based economists found […]
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Greek Austerity Back On Front Page
Ta Nea, May 9, 2016 As a three-day general strike that paralyzed large parts of Greece ended Sunday, the leftist government of Alexis Tsipras won a Parliamentary vote to bring about tough austerity measures. “Hostages of Syriza’s austerity,” headlines Athens-based daily Ta Nea in its Monday edition. Over the weekend, outside the Parliament in Athens, […]
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Greek Break
Like me before him, my grandson (who’s been translating my comments into English for this here blog) is taking his spring break in the Greek Cyclades archipelago. Wishing him well on his journey — who knows, he may also stumble upon a Crete-shape cloud? During this two-week hiatus, take a look back at all the […]
SPOTLIGHT: ANKARA INTRIGUE, GLOBAL IMPACT Turkish politics comes with no shortage of intrigue. Before Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced his resignation yesterday, the first word of the depths of his rift with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came via an anonymous blog post succulently entitled The Pelican File. Meanwhile main opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu described Davutoglu’s […]
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Guatemalan Marimba
Some things never change. If you stay at the Posada de Don Rodrigo in Antigua, Guatemala, it looks like you will still be treated to the sound of a traditional marimba band, as I was 27 years ago.