Worldcrunch
It was a small Italian town, where an affectionate stray dog wandered up, eventually becoming so conspicuous that he attended all town events — weddings, funerals, pizza night at the local pizzeria. Ultimately, he became a guide for visitors and a beloved member of the community. Though it sounds like a fairy tale, it’s actually […]
SATELLITE IMAGES SHOW NIGERIA MASSACRENew satellite photographs released by Amnesty International today provide evidence of the scale of the Boko Haram attacks in northeastern Nigeria that are believed to have left hundreds dead earlier this month. Before and after images, taken on Jan. 2 and 7, show razed and burned structures in Doron Baga, a […]
On Sept. 3, 1967, traffic in Sweden switched from driving on the left-hand side of the road to the right. Our daughter Cécile was understandably puzzled by the overlapping lane markings on the road, just a couple of months before the big change — and frankly, I find it somewhat of a miracle that no […]
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It only seems fitting that to achieve Nirvana — or, as it is sometimes referred to in the West, “enlightenment” — some Buddhists would turn to burning candles. This woman picked the right place to pray: The ancient city of Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka was the center of Theravada Buddhism for many centuries.
PARIS — Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner instructed her Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman, who happened to be in Paris this past weekend, to skip Sunday’s march to honor the victims of last week’s terror attacks, Buenos Aires daily Clarín reports. The march, which followed the deadly Jan. 7 attack on the Paris-based satirical weekly […]
After the Paris attacks, French authorities are looking for new tools to combat terrorism. But the risk is high for undermining basic democratic liberties.
One week after the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo’s offices in Paris that killed 12 people, the weekly satirical magazine, which has taken refuge in the headquarters of the daily Libération, will publish a defiant new issue Wednesday. The day before its publication, several pieces of information filtered about what has been labeled the “survivors’ […]
Quito’s old market takes place right in front of the presidential palace, in the city’s centro histórico. It’s this colorful jumble of rowdy, narrow streets and dignified colonial buildings that makes the Ecuadoran capital one of the most beautiful Latin American cities.
(March 21 to April 19) The start of the week oscillates between agitation and full dilemmas, but there is no need to panic. This is the final backlash of a mediocre lunar phase for you. It has at least led you to resolve some problems. At work, straight after the weekend some sticking points which […]
Ever heard (no pun intended) of echolocation? It’s the ability of some animals, most famously dolphins and bats, to emit sound waves to determine the location and size of objects around them, which helps them “see.” Scientists have long known that some blind humans shared this skill and were able to also emit clicking sounds […]
Uschi, scratching herself on the leg, takes a picture of her udder. Fat Lola, who is mainly interested in eating, keeps her head down, which means the photos she takes are close-ups of grass blades. Only old Frida shows considerably more artistic talent, because she looks around while chewing her cud and takes in the […]
We saw another glimpse of Zulu culture in Swaziland, the landlocked country where a small portion of this community lives. The pompoms these dancers wear on their arms and legs are actually frilly goatskin bands.
The situation has largely calmed in France, after a three-day manhunt came to a bloody end on Friday evening with a total of 17 dead on top of the three gunmen killed by the police in the final assaults. Here are Saturday’s key events. 1. FOURTH SUSPECT ON THE RUN The police are still looking […]
PARIS — Two days after the deadly terror assault on the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, France lived through another day of violence, fear and national soul-searching. A pair of hostage standoffs culminated in simultaneous raids late Friday by police that killed the presumed authors of Wedneday’s attack, as well as a fellow Islamist terrorist […]
The expressionist style of Reykjavik’s Hallgrímskirkja, Iceland’s biggest church, can be initially unsettling. But it actually suits this land of volcanoes and geysers.
Forty-nine years ago, the gondola traffic jams on Venice“s Grand Canal somehow seemed more manageable than today.
I was a young philosophy teacher in eastern France when we went to Berlin, then divided in two. My wife took this picture of me at the crossroads between Leibnizstrasse and Kantsstrasse — though Spinoza has always been my favorite.
The past year had lots of bad news, which had us saying lots of bad words, new and old: Ebola, jihadism, selfie. But as a reminder that local and national events often still hold sway, the Word of 2014 in Portugal was corrupção. Corruption was indeed on the lips and minds of Portuguese, as the […]
When we went to Florida’s Cypress Gardens in the late 1980s, the botanical garden theme park was trying to survive, threatened as it was by a nearby rodent stealing all its visitors.
(March 21 to April 19) This Full Moon plays havoc with your emotions, but brings to light the challenges. Arians who have recently made a new acquaintance will realize that the other party is avoiding them. If you’ve just started a new project, a co-worker or boss will slow progress. But you’re a testa dura, […]
The Dol Cathedral in northwestern France is missing one of its two towers. Some say it’s because an angry giant once threw a menhir — Brittany’s trademark standing stone — that decapitated the cathedral before landing in a field. The Menhir de Champ-Dolent weighs 150 tons, so it’s fair to say that little boy wasn’t […]
Driving on the rugged roads of Northern Greece in our valiant Simca Aronde, we stumbled upon a couple of quaint surprises — enormous piles of watermelons, for instance.
From rock’n’roll pioneers to soul legends and flamenco gods, here’s Worldcrunch’s tribute playlist to 16 of the great musicians who died in 2014. Joe Cocker — Night Calls Phil Everly, Everly Brothers — All I Have To Do Is Dream Paco de Lucia — Impetu & Panaderos Tommy Ramone, The Ramones — I Don’t Want […]
After it was burned down during the 1990s, Dublin’s Old Jameson Distillery re-opened in 1997 as a tourist attraction, guiding visitors through the stages of whisky making. I even had dinner inside the beautiful distillery — although, for some reason, I’m having trouble remembering what I ate that night …
Chess has been a favorite hobby of mine long before 1963, when I took part in the Franche-Comté regional finals in Besançon. (I finished third.)
Man’s best friends have long followed their owners through hard times and stormy weather — and now, even into rehab. Germany’s Schloss Tessin center is the first of its kind in the country and integrates pooches as part of the therapeutical process, Die Welt reports. The center has even been adapted to accommodate its four-legged […]
(March 21 to April 19) After a slightly tense Christmas, the turbulence starts to ease. You regain control of your choices, and are once again able to take on new challenges and turn them to your advantage. In love, if you haven’t already done irreversible damage, a period of truce unfolds. Beautiful Venus ushers in […]
Although it was built to protect the Chinese Empire against military incursions, the Great Wall of China faces a more insidious enemy: erosion caused by sandstorms, which has chipped away at the massive structure for centuries. I witnessed the potency of the assault when I went there almost 20 years ago: The haze in the […]
It’s in this picturesque town hall of St. Gilgen, on the shores of Lake Wolfgangsee, that the birth of Anna Maria Walburga Pertl was registered in 1720. The name rings no bell? Well then, you’ll recognize her son’s: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Becici, a sea resort near Budva in western Montenegro, boasts one of the most beautiful beaches in the country — and the hotel from whose terrace I snapped this picture offered one of the best beers I’ve ever had.
KARLSRUHE — Both of Annette Röser’s parents suffered from dementia, and she remembers a precious means of connecting with their hidden world was music. Her mother’s eyes would light up when Röser played folk songs or “Memories of Heidelberg.“ Röser’s experience with her late parents led her to found SingLiesel Verlag, a German-language publisher specialized […]
I’ve already told you about the knitting abilities of Peruvian men and women. But the Uru people living on Lake Titicaca take it to a whole other lever: Not only do they use bundles of dried reeds to make boats like the one on this slide — but they weave the artificial islets themselves!
For the second straight year, there is an unwelcome Christmas visitor in northern Argentina. A variety of piranha fish called palometas have returned for a second year to bite Argentine swimmers in the Paraná River, near the city of Posadas. On Christmas day last year, some 60 people were attacked by the palometa piranha, an […]
The Raj Ghat memorial in Delhi is a black marble platform that marks the spot of Mahatma Gandhi’s cremation. Comparing my slide to recent pictures, I noticed that an eternal flame was now burning on one end of the memorial; it doesn’t look like it was there when we visited the monument.
(March 21 to April 19) Family reunions for the holidays could reignite some old friction. At work, there could be tension with a colleague or boss that will test your patience when they try to make you adopt their way of seeing things. In love, this is not the time for discussions, especially in relationships […]
BRAGANÇA PAULISTA — Brazilians are very serious about their Christmas trees. And the different fortunes of two unusual ones is proof of just how strict the standards of what is and isn’t acceptable as decoration can be in this festive Catholic country. A few weeks ago, the city of Rio de Janeiro started the holiday […]
Well, well, well, could it be Friday again? Time for our fifth weekend staff playlist, then. Can you guess this week’s theme? Quick hint: It involves going around people’s houses, hiding stuff, and a fair amount of arguments. No, it’s not the NSA.
I’ve already shown you how the Mayans’ colorful traditional clothes were made — now you can see how the local women and girls wash them, on the shores of the beautiful Lake Atitlan.
The United States and Cuba stunned the world by ending more than a half-century as sworn enemies. The presidents of the two neighbors Barack Obama and Raúl Castro announced Wednesday a deal to exchange prisoners on the road to restoring full diplomatic relations. This is how the Western Hemisphere and the wider world reacted: Cuba […]