Worldcrunch
By the start of the 1970s, some new technology had made it to the bottling line of this cognac distillery in southwestern France. Nevertheless, production was still very much a traditional affair: The famous brandy must be distilled twice in copper pot stills and aged at least two years in oak barrels.
TRUMP, SANDERS ROLL IN NEW HAMPSHIRE Republican billionaire businessman Donald Trump and Democratic Senator and self-described socialist Bernie Sanders notched impressive wins in yesterday’s New Hampshire presidential primary. GERMANY TRAIN CRASH BLACK BOXES RECOVERED Two of three black boxes from the two trains that collided head-on in yesterday’s deadly crash in southern Germany have been […]
Republican billionaire businessman and television celebrity Donald Trump and Democratic Senator and self-described socialist Bernie Sanders notched impressive wins in the New Hampshire presidential primaries on Tuesday. The Union Leader daily in the small northeastern state featured the two winning candidates on the top of its front page Wednesday, with further coverage on Hillary Clinton’s […]
Oia church, on the Greek island of Santorini, is a one-picture summary of the surrounding Cyclades islands, with its whitewashed walls and its blue dome.
STOCKHOLM — If you’re not careful, the so-called “sharing economy” can turn your home into a temporary brothel. Swedish police report a growing number of pimps and prostitutes in Stockholm using long-term rentals on the home-sharing website Airbnb without the owner’s knowledge.”We estimate that there are currently about 200 apartments in Stockholm that are used […]
The surface of Emerald Lake, in Canada’s Yoho National Park, was so still that it took me a couple of seconds to figure out whether this slide was upside-down when I came across it last week.
SEVERAL KILLED IN GERMAN TRAIN CRASH At least eight people were killed and more than 150 injured this morning when two passenger trains collided near the southern German town of Bad Aibling, Süddeutsche Zeitung reports. According to the train operator Meridian, both trains had partially derailed. Emergency teams reportedly freed all casualties by midday. “The […]
Look no further than fried chicken for signs that American influence is returning to Iran in the wake of the deal to end sanctions in exchange for limits on the Iranian nuclear program. That was the message from influential Republican Guards General Mohammad Hossein Sepehr, who cited the opening of a Kentucky Fried Chicken in […]
Thinkers, writers, popular wisdom: your Quote of the Day from around the world.
TWO SURVIVORS FOUND AMID TAIWAN RUBBLE Photo: Zhang Guojun/Xinhua Taiwan rescuers have found two survivors in the rubble after Saturday’s magnitude 6.7 quake in which at least 37 people were killed, Xinhua reports. The two rescued victims were both found today, the beginning of the Chinese New Year. One of them, a woman, was found […]
This kite looked a bit lonely, flying on its own in the gray skies above Tiananmen Square.
The Denver Post, Feb. 8, 2016 “What a rush!” the punny front page of Monday’s Denver Post reads featuring a picture of outside linebacker Von Miller whose rushing of the Carolina Panthers quarterback helped the Denver Broncos to a defensive-minded 24-10 win to claim the team’s third Super Bowl title. “Denver’s dominant defense” was key […]
HAMBURG — Few will deny that the influx of migrants in recent months, mostly coming from Syria and other Arab countries, has shaken up German society. Reactions have ranged from pride in Germany’s ability to welcome refugees to outrage at the New Year’s Eve attacks against women by mobs of mostly North African men. But […]
SYRIANS FLEE ALEPPO AMID FIGHTING Up to 70,000 Syrians may be heading north to Turkey as a consequence of heavy fighting near the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the figure was more likely around 40,000. “Now 10,000 new refugees are waiting in […]
This Indian camel (or dromadaire, as we call them in French) had just been for a refill at the watering trough, drinking its usual 20 gallons at a time. Just so you know, contrary to popular belief, the water is not stored its hump, but in its bloodstream.
Drinking from a traditional Catalan porró wine pitcher is rather challenging: Imagine drinking wine from a watering can, and your lips are never supposed to touch the pitcher … ¡Salud!
SYRIA TALKS COLLAPSE Opposing sides in the Syrian conflict have accused each other of being responsible for the collapse of peace talks in Geneva yesterday. French French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that the Syrian government’s offensive near Aleppo, backed by Russia, had “torpedoed the peace efforts.” The head of the Syrian delegation, Bashar al-Jaafari, […]
Australia’s controversial policy of diverting immigrants to tiny Pacific Islands dominated the Australian media Thursday, after country’s highest court ruled it was legal for the government to fund and participate in offshore detention. The Sydney Morning Herald juxtaposed a photograph of an immigrant baby with the faces and votes of the High Court’s seven justices […]
PARIS — When Iranian President Hassan Rouhani made his momentous visit to Paris last week, an unlikely resident of the French capital was watching his every move. Farah Pahlavi, the 77-year-old widow of the Shah of Iran, told the Persian-language Kayhan newspaper she noted the irony “sitting hundreds of meters’ away from the Elysée palace […]
North Korea says it has been granted access to pursue commercial activities on Svalbard, the Arctic archipelago under the sovereignty of Norway but governed by a century-old international treaty. Norwegian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Ane Lunde told the Oslo-based daily Aftenposten on Wednesday that Norway has not yet been notified of North Korea’s access to the […]
OUED EL MA — High tensions persist in Algeria, a week after police and security forces violently cracked down on protests in the impoverished central town of Oued El Ma. Algiers-based daily El Watan reports that the violent crackdown laid waste to houses and businesses and left the town largely devastated, and what the daily […]
JAPAN THREATENS NORTH KOREA TO SHOOT DOWN ROCKET Japan deployed destroyers in the Sea of Japan and missile batteries on land today, warning it would shoot down a satellite set to be launched soon by North Korea, The Japan Times reports. Pyongyang told United Nations agencies yesterday it would launch an “earth observation satellite” some […]
Die Tageszeitung, Feb. 3, 2016 “Right is the New Center,” writes Berlin-based daily Die Tageszeitung on the front page of its Wednesday edition, with a picture of a garden gnome giving the middle finger. The German daily, known for its tongue-in-cheek humor, features an analysis of a new political force to be reckoned with in […]
There was no wholesaler, no packaging and no shipping between producer (these K’iche” vendors, of Mayan descent) and consumer (me) of bananas on the famous Guatemalan market of Chichicastenango.
BUENOS AIRES — A battle over prized parliamentary office space for Maximo Kirchner, son of former Argentine presidents Néstor and Cristina Kirchner, has become a symbol of the defeated Kirchner forces’ bid to hold on to the last remnants of power. The younger Kirchner won a seat in the December general elections, but his leftist […]
IT’S CRUZ IN IOWA, CLINTON BY A HAIR In a humiliating upset for Donald Trump, evangelical Tea Party hero Sen. Ted Cruz won Iowa’s all-important GOP caucus with 28% of the vote last night, to Trump’s 24%. On the Democratic side, major media outlets are still characterizing the Hillary Clinton/Bernie Sanders matchup a “virtual tie.” […]
DAKAR — A cartoon of an early 20th-century Senegalese Muslim leader has sparked a nationwide uproar, with the vignette criticized by civilians and political leaders alike. The Paris-based African news magazine Jeune Afrique published a cartoon of Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba, founder of the Mouride Brotherhood, last week in which a passing Westerner asks why the […]
Daily News, February 2, 2016 New York’s Daily News labeled Republican candidate Donald Trump a “dead clown walking” on its photoshopped front page Tuesday, as the New York billionaire came in second after Ted Cruz in the Iowa caucus. “In the end, bombastic bozo Donald Trump’s predictions of an Iowa victory were all a big, […]
Before going there, I imagined Iceland“s roads to be in a rather rough state. But its main ring road was actually in good condition: Not a dot was missing from its center line.
SWEDEN — Stockholm-based daily Aftonbladet has identified and mapped an extensive list of Swedish citizens who have traveled abroad to support the terror group ISIS. “The Swedes Who Wanted To Die For Terror,” reads the front page of Scandinavia’s most read daily. Aftonbladet said it chose to publish the list, complete with names and photos […]