Worldcrunch
Things were getting heated in West Berlin in the summer of 1967. The conflict was escalating between the government and the West German student movement, peaking with the police shooting dead a young protester just one month before we went there. This photo shows the ongoing construction of the Berlin Wall, six years after the […]
To perform the more than 1,400 works of the repertoire, Peking Opera artists have to be able to sing, dance, act, mime — as well as wield the occasional sword or spear.
What did the golden retriever say to the patient with arthritis? This isn’t actually the start of a joke, but the beginning of a study. From January to June of this year, a pilot program was run in the outpatient department of the University Hospital in Florence, to evaluate the scientific efficacy of pet therapy […]
I was told that on the spectacular road from Palma de Mallorca to the Sa Calobra Creek, there are more than 800 turns. Which didn’t discourage some fearless (reckless?) cyclists from racing downhill, in the middle of ongoing traffic.
Photo: Mauricio Macri via Facebook The mayor of Buenos Aires, Mauricio Macri, has said he wants to “congratulate” dog owners every time he sees them pick up after their dog on the street, and thinks it “unfair” that they should not be differentiated from those who leave streets “littered” with poop because “they pick up […]
The Sunni jihadist group ISIS continues to conquer territory in Iraq, while its leaders have declared an Islamic caliphate — in a bold bid for power across the Muslim world. But back in Syria, where ISIS has been a growing presence for more than a year, a citizen-reporter for an independent Syrian news site recounts […]
In 1968, Istanbul’s Galata Bridge was already famous for its throngs of fishermen. They would present their catch on the bright red trays you can see in the foreground. We bought two (don’t ask me to remember what kind of fish!) and had them grilled nearby.
It’s a geological phenomenon known as giant’s kettles, where erosion carves out cauldron-like shapes in stone. In this picture of Bourke’s Luck Potholes — in the upper Blyde River Canyon, in the South African Drakensberg mountain range — it seemed the giant himself was staring at us.
I took this picture of Jain women, who had apparently taken a vow of silence, near the famous Taj Mahal. But what I remember best is that, since their religion advocates non-violence and deep respect toward all living things, several women used a straw broom to sweep before them so as not to crush insects […]
TEHRAN — When Iran’s population doubled to some 60 million between the 1970s and 1980s, it was seen as a problem for a resource-poor country in the throes of a war with Iraq and social revolution at home. Leaders moved to curb this baby boom in the late 1980s by promoting contraception and sterilization. But […]
In 1950, Charles de Gaulle, head of the Free French Forces during World War II and for a brief period provisional president of France, was still trying to figure out how to transform himself from military leader to peacetime politician. He made this speech in Sochaux near my hometown. And though “le Grand Charles,” by […]
There was much coverage of the announcement earlier this month of Bashar al-Assad’s amnesty to commute or reduce sentences for thousands of prisoners in Syria, including some with connections to the ongoing uprising against the regime. But there was one untold case of a freed prisoner who has no connections to current events — and […]
One of my biggest regrets in life is to never have learned to speak English — my comments here are translated by my grandson. This means that over the years, we had to find solutions to visit English-speaking countries: In 1992 for instance, we travelled with the France-Louisiane Association, and were guided in French through […]
Driving back from Switzerland to Montbéliard, where I’m from, you have to go through “heaven” — Le Paradis being the name of an isolated Swiss farm.
Presidential guards in Tunis take five during a cabinet meeting at Bardo Palace.
The sale of natural sponges from the Aegaen Sea has become highly regulated, meaning that sights like these must be pretty rare nowadays.
From the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland to Arizona’s Grand Canyon, we’ve seen our fair share of geologic wonders over the years. These fairy chimneys in Turkey’s Central Anatolia region are more modest, but still as baffling as the rest.
VILLA CARLOS PAZ — In 2005, Damián Guzmán, a resident of Villa Carlos Paz, in central Argentina, gave his son Miguel a present: a German shepherd mix they named Capitán. Miguel died a year later and was buried nearby, and Capitán left the house soon afterwards. The family assumed the dog was lost or that […]
The Saudi Embassy in Tokyo is closely following the case of a Saudi citizen studying in the country, recently arrested for breaking four 300 year-old Buddha statues at a temple in the capital. The embassy has reportedly condemned the statues’ destruction as “contrary to the principles of Islam,” and has reached out to the temple’s […]
Funeral proceedings for the Toraja people, in southern Sulawesi, include the slaughtering of a water buffalo. Four of them were killed in this case — a sign we were told that the deceased must have been from a wealthy family. Weirdly enough, the ritual throat-slitting and skinning of the bovid was followed by a Protestant […]
NAKHON PATHOM — Why did the thousands ducks cross the road? Drivers and pedestrians in Nakhon Pathom, in the central Bang Len district, were trying to find an explanation to the stampeding, quacking duck-nami that took them by surprise Saturday. It is captured below on the video below that will strike true fear in anyone […]
Our brand new Citroën BX may look like an antique to you now, but it was definitely more comfortable than a donkey to visit the dry but picturesque rural Alentejo region, in central Portugal.
Below are some of the songs currently topping charts around the world; but before that: Worldcrunch Pick Jack White performed two tracks — “Temporary Ground” (watch below) and “Alone In My Home” — from his new LP Lazaretto on Conan Wednesday. Cover photo: Incase
Even if Romania’s growth rate was among the highest in eastern Europe when we traveled there in 1966, many shop windows were nevertheless empty. And things weren’t going to get better, as the country was just beginning to become familiar with a certain Nicolae Ceausescu. Interestingly, it’s in this city of Timisoara that the Ceausescu […]
This little village in County Kerry is nicknamed “The Little Whirlpool,” and it’s so peaceful it’s no wonder it was a favorite holiday destination for Charlie Chaplin and his family.
The stunning assault this week in Iraq by the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is bad news for Iran, which has been a staunch ally of Iraqi Prime Minister (and fellow Shia Muslim) Nouri al-Maliki. But beyond condemning the Sunni foes from ISIS, some in Tehran are pointing the finger at Washington. […]
ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham), the jihadist group wreaking havoc in Syria for more than a year, has gained control of the Nineveh province in its country of birth – post-US invasion Iraq. Reports late Wednesday said the extremists had taken control of the city of Tikrit. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki […]
Some of you won’t know what I’m talking about — but when you’re using a projector, sometimes you come across a slide that was misplaced in the carousel, or a photo that was taken vertically. Which means that your audience (family members in my case) all tilt their heads sideways at the same time. And […]
The wind instrument this snake charmer is playing is called a pungi. I brought one back as a present for my then 6-year-old grandson, who — since there aren’t that many cobras in France — tried to charm earthworms with it.
TEHRAN — A member of the Iranian Parliament’s cultural affairs committee says he and his colleagues are “firmly opposed” to any Iranian legislator attending the World Cup in Brazil “for any reason” — primarily because the country should save money. In response to chatter about sending certain members to the global soccer event, Hojjatoleslam Seyyed […]
The overwhelming majority of Thailand’s people are Buddhists. Yet almost everyone there believes in fortune-telling — palm-reading, tarot cards, you name it. Not being the superstitious kind, I didn’t personally consult this “maw du,” but he looks like he means serious business.
There is a more than three-decade-long clash of cultures between Egypt’s secular establishment and Iran’s post-revolution clerical regime. The brief interlude following the election of Muslim Brotherhood President Mohammed Morsi was, alas, too brief to notice any significant change. But all eyes in Tehran were back on Egypt this past weekend for the inauguration of […]
Had this adorable young girl really come down from her remote Lapland to sell her reindeer hides in Helsinki? I suspect that even 46 years ago, Finns understood that folklore sells well with tourists.
Sure, Italy’s Lake Como is beautiful. And Hungary’s Lake Balaton is impressive too. But nothing compares to Guatemala’s Lake Atitlan and its three volcanoes. Its name comes from the Mayan language this fisherman’s ancestors spoke, and means “the place where the rainbow gets its color.” As if that weren’t poetic enough, locals call the lake […]
Let me introduce Bébert, my uncle and godfather, back from plowing his field in my ancestors’ village of Chaignay — just north of Dijon in eastern France. Let me also introduce Bayard and Marceau, the two draft horses. Back then, it was customary to name horses after legendary figures such as Napoleonic commanders Kléber or […]
Who knew!? Koalas are (true) tree huggers, not for environmental reasons, but as a way to keep cool and regulate their body temperatures during hot summer months. The BBC explains how PhD student Natalie Briscoe was studying koalas’ behavior and she noticed that in the winter the animals would stay high in the trees, up […]
Dozens of dogs are lost every day in Buenos Aires. On one side of it there’s the owner who has lost their cherished companion, and on the other, the pet, confused and waiting for their human to come pick them up. If they’re lucky, someone will find them and keep them safe for a while. […]
Were these the ghosts of relatives of Catherine the Great, chatting in front of Saint Petersburg’s Winter Palace? Probably more likely employees of the city’s visitor center, as the residence of the Russian Tsars and emperors is now home to one of the largest and oldest museums in the world, the Hermitage.
There’s a very famous Festival of Roses every year in the Kalaat M’Gouna oasis, near Ouarzazate in southern Morocco. But it’s held in May, not October, so unfortunately it smelled more of camel than flowers when we traveled there.
These two watchmen, with their lamps and bludgeons, were on their way to their day jobs at Den Gamle By (“the Old Town“), an open-air historic musem and major touristic attraction in Aarhus, Denmark’s second largest city.