My grandson has quite the collection of exotic instruments that I’ve brought to him from my travels. That includes this Chinese wind instrument called sheng, made of several reed pipes.
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The Gift Of Music
Category: blog
BANGKOK BOMBER STILL AT LARGE Bangkok police are still looking for a man in a yellow T-shirt who was shown on CCTV footage dumping a backpack Monday at the scene of the Bangkok Erawan shrine bombing that killed at least 20. VERBATIM “Is it even possible that four men can rape a woman? It’s not […]
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Extra! Food Prices Soar In Venezuela
El Tiempo, August 18, 2015 An already critical economic situation is spiraling out of control in Venezuela, with newspaper El Tiempo reporting that “the word “cheap” is disappearing from the Venezuelan vocabulary.” In the northern city of Puerto La Cruz, a kilo of tomatoes or onions can cost a whopping 400 bolivars ($63), double what […]
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Rainbow Houses
In Norse mythology, Bifröst is a rainbow bridge that connects the world to Asgard, the realm of the gods. Could the colored houses on the western coast of Norway be a modern-day nod to the country’s folk stories?
MANHUNT FOR BANGKOK BOMBER Photo: Jack Kurtz/ZUMA Thailand’s junta government has launched a manhunt for the suspect believed responsible for bombing a tourist-packed shrine in Bangkok yesterday, which Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha characterized as the “worst-ever attack” on the country. At least 20 people were killed and 125 injured in the explosion, The Bangkok Post […]
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How Do You Even Get There?
Bled Castle in northwestern Slovenia sure looks impregnable, perched as it is atop a steep cliff more than 100 meters above Lake Bled. From where I took this photo, it actually seemed unreachable.
CHINESE ANGER GROWS AFTER EXPLOSIONS Families of firefighters who died battling the fires that followed last week’s massive explosions at a storage warehouse in the Chinese port city of Tianjin protested and clashed with police amid revelations that several hundred tons of poisonous cyanide were stored where the explosions took place, the South China Morning […]
Folha de S. Paulo, Aug. 17, 2015 Hundreds of thousands of Brazilians took to the streets in cities across the country Sunday, calling for Dilma Rousseff’s resignation as the Brazilian president and her party face corruption allegations. “New protests keep Dilma under pressure; 135,000 demonstrate in Sao Paulo,” Monday’s Folha de S. Paulo“s front page […]
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Quebec’s Bison
A 15 minute-drive from downtown Québec City, the Île d’Orléans on the Saint Lawrence River is simply stunning, with its hills, valleys and waterfalls — not to mention a couple of mighty bison.
GREECE APPROVES THIRD BAILOUT After what the newspaper Kathimerini describes as “a tempestuous night of debate,” Greek lawmakers this morning approved the deal reached with international lenders for a third Greek bailout. It will now go to the Eurozone’s finance ministers, who are due to meet later today, and all eyes will focus on the […]
LlanfairÂpwllgwyngyllÂgogeryÂchwyrnÂdrobwllÂllanÂtysilioÂgogoÂgoch — or Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, for “short.” What looks like an authentic Welsh name (it means “Saint Mary’s Church in the hollow of the white hazel near the rapid whirlpool and the Church of Saint Tysilio of the red cave”) is actually a 1860s publicity stunt meant to attract tourists to this village on the island […]
ISIS CLAIMS BAGHDAD ATTACK ISIS has claimed responsibility for an attack in Baghdad that killed at least 76 people and wounded 212 this morning. A refrigerator truck packed with explosives blew up inside the popular Jamila food market in Sadr City, a predominantly Shia neighborhood. It represents one of the biggest acts of violence in […]
Corriere della Sera, Aug. 13, 2015 The Italian navy rescued 52 migrants in the Mediterranean Sea Tuesday after a rubber dinghy sank. Spotted by a navy helicopter, the vessel appeared to be deflating and a ship rushed to the scene, rescuing the migrants. The survivors, who were taken to Lampedusa island, said that there had […]
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Aesthetic Canon
My 4-year-old daughter and my father could not look more 1960s if they tried, posing by — and on — a cannon on the square in front of the Prince’s Palace of Monaco.
CHINA DEVALUES YUAN AGAIN China’s central bank stunned global markets by cutting the yuan’s value against the dollar for a second day in a row, this time by 1.6% after deciding on a 1.9% devaluation Tuesday. It’s yet more evidence that the country’s economy may be in a worse state than the government claims. As […]
Clarin, Aug. 12, 2015 “Six municipalities under water and 20,000 affected in the province,” Argentine daily Clarin writes on the front page of its Wednesday edition, alongside a picture of people forced to canoe their way around the city of Salto, after heavy weekend rains caused severe floods in the Buenos Aires area. The cities […]
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Mauritian Melody
This group of Mauritian musicians were having a picnic on the beach, in the ocean breeze, to the sounds of the ravanne goatskin drum and the triangle — traditional instruments of the Séga genre.
GOOGLE ANNOUNCES MAJOR SHAKEUP Google, arguably the most recognizable company in the world, has announced a surprising rebranding in which all of its business entities will exist under a new parent company called Alphabet. As part of the restructuring, Google senior vice president Sundar Pichai will become CEO of Google, and company founder Larry Page […]
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Extra! Forest Fires Rage In Portugal
Forest fires have been raging in Portugal for several days now. Tuesday’s headline in the newspaper Público reports that they have “destroyed nine thousand hectares in the last 10 days.” On Saturday the biggest fire of the year so far scorched Villa Nova de Cerveira and Monca in the northern district of Viana do Castelo. […]
On our way from Lima to the world’s highest navigable body of water, Lake Titicaca in the Andes, we stopped in Arequipa and enjoyed walking in the arcade beneath the Municipalidad, near the Plaza de Armas. We were advised to spend a day or two in the city before heading higher into the mountains so […]
GUNFIRE AT FERGUSON ANNIVERSARY MARCH Police officers in Ferguson, Mo., shot and wounded a young man who reportedly fired his gun at them during an otherwise peaceful protest march to commemorate Sunday’s one-year anniversary of Michael Brown’s death at the hands of officer Darren Wilson. The suspect, who reportedly unleashed a “remarkable amount of gunfire,” […]
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Portugal In China
In central China’s Xi’an, we spent a memorable evening at a fancy hotel listening to traditional Chinese music. (The lady in the foreground was playing the guzheng, the one in the back the pipa). But what I remember most had nothing to do with the music: We were sitting next to Portugal’s then-President Mario Soares, […]
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Extra! Ferguson’s ‘Painful Year’
St. Louis-Post Dispatch, Aug. 9, 2015 “A Painful Year,” the headline in Sunday’s front page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reads, above a photo of Michael Brown Sr. pausing after a five-mile march from his son’s memorial in Ferguson, Mo. The otherwise peaceful protest march to commemorate Sunday’s one-year anniversary of Michael Brown’s death at […]
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The Bishop’s Beard
I could never have been a Greek Orthodox bishop: True, the black cassock and the “chimney-pot” style hat look good — but I like to keeep my beard trimmed.
HIROSHIMA ANNIVERSARY As the world marks today the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan’s Prime Minister called for the abolition of nuclear weapons worldwide, during a ceremony in the city where more than 140,000 were killed in the last moments of World War II. Asked about the significance of the anniversary before […]
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Extra! The Donald Leads GOP Into Cleveland
The Republican party’s top White House hopefuls gather tonight in Cleveland, Ohio for the first debate ahead of this year’s primaries. Real estate tycoon Donald Trump, who has made racist remarks about Mexicans and insulted former Republican nominee John McCain, is dominating the media circus — and leading in the polls, ahead of former Florida […]
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Belem Lilies
In Belém, the gateway to the Amazon River in northern Brazil, we were able to admire impressive examples of the Victoria amazonica (or Victoria regia, as it used to be called) which grows mostly in this region. The largest water lily on Earth, we were told it could sustain the weight of a small dog.
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From A To M’Zab
Ghardaïa is “only” 1,700 kilometers (1050 miles) away from my house, as the crow flies. But 45 years ago, to get to the “the pearl of the oasis” in northern Sahara’s M’zab region, my wife and I first drove down to the port of Marseille in our Peugeot 404, took a ferry to Annaba, visited […]
JOHN KERRY CONCERNED BY CHINA LAND CLAIMS Photo: Then Chih Wey/Xinhua/ZUMA China should end provocative land reclamation projects in the South China Sea and work with its neighbors to resolve the region’s territorial disputes, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told Wednesday’s summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. China has repeatedly rejected U.S. […]
MOSCOW — A new crackdown has begun on food illegally imported from Western countries that have imposed sanctions on Russia. But rather than just targeting goods brought in across the border, Russian officials now have the go-ahead to raid shops, warehouses and grocery chains throughout the country. Although most prohibited goods are stopped at the […]
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Extra! Boko Haram ‘Begs For Dialogue’
Vanguard, August 5, 2015 After years of violence and terrorism, some members of Boko Haram are eager to negotiate a way out of the conflict with the Nigerian government,Vanguard reports. The Nigerian daily says the group’s apparent eagerness to talk comes in response to calls for dialogue from recently elected President Muhammadu Buhari. Vanguard also […]
CAIRO — A woman carried her son as she pleaded with the doctor in charge of Nasser Institute Hospital’s blood bank for a few bags of blood to save his life after a serious car accident. The doctor turned her away, saying that the boy’s rare blood type was not available. Salma Khattab, whose father […]
GREEK STOCKS KEEP SINKING Greek stocks have continued their descent on Tuesday, on the second day of heavy losses after a five-week shutdown of Greece’s stock exchange amidst the debt crisis. All four major Greek banking stocks were down around 30% in early trading. KOSOVO WAR CRIMES COURT Kosovo’s parliament voted late Monday night to […]
La Vanguardia, August 4, 2015 Catalonia is set to go to the polls next month, as regional President Artur Mas called early elections for Sept. 27, intending to use the vote as a fresh bid for independence. He announced the election as “an exceptional measure,” says Tuesday’s front page of La Vanguardia. In a televised […]
PARIS — If you believe mankind has grown decadent and that we should look to nature for an example of modesty and self-control, you would be in for a surprise. Because when it comes to bad behavior — be it thievery, infidelity or even drug abuse — the animal kingdom knows few bounds. Take sex, […]
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Dressed To Learn
Seven pairs of polished shoes, four cravats and two plus-fours trousers … In the 68 years since, the dress code for French 16-year-olds has changed just a bit. Here I was, right in the middle of this shot, with six friends from my Greek-Latin Première class.
After last month’s border attack, some hard Syrian lessons for Ankara, which has finally opened a key air base for attacks against ISIS positions.
OBAMA TO UNVEIL CLIMATE CHANGE ACTION PLAN U.S. President Barack Obama is set to unveil what he described as “the biggest, most important step we’ve ever taken” to tackle climate change. The revised Clean Power Plan aims at cutting greenhouse gas emissions by almost one-third over the next 15 years and represents “the administration’s boldest […]
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Water Over The Bridge
For 2,000 years, the Roman aqueduct of Segovia, in central Spain, has defied the passage of time. With the French Pont du Gard (of which I’ll show you a picture soon), it’s one of the best preserved examples of its kind.
AIX-EN-PROVENCE — For a moment, Alain Orsoni was his old legendary self, the charismatic nationalist and dashing adventurer who struggled for independence at home, roamed for years through South America, and is still muscular enough to fill out his plain white t-shirt. He was talking about himself because he was asked to, but also because […]