A heinous mob killing in Italy, an abusive nurse in France and a bad idea at the Arc de Triomphe made our latest global police blotter…
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Albanian Newlywed Drama
Getting married is hard work. This Albanian couple was taking a break from their wedding photo shoot in the ancient Roman theater of Butrint. Located in the very southern tip of modern-day Albania, this archeological site was known as Bouthroton in Ancient Greece and later as the Roman city of Buthrotum. This is one of […]
Like others around the world, Iranians have watched the evening news’ bloody scenes of civilians targeted by terrorists in places like Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. But now, the BBC’s Persian-language channel is reporting on growing concerns among Iranian officials about the threat of Al-Qaeda-type terrorism on their own territory. Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani recently […]
Khaled’s family is one of the 190 from Syria that have recently moved to poor and isolated Gaza. Doors elsewhere for refugees are closing, especially to the Palestinian minority fleeing Syria.
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Andalusian Graffiti
“The electoral campaign is like selling detergent,” reads this graffiti just one month after the first general election held in Spain since the death of longtime dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.
BANGUI — The motorbike stops abruptly. “If the French don’t want to help us, al-Qaeda will,” the teenager shouts before driving away. All around him, this road of the Begoua neighborhood in north Bangui — the Central African Republic’s capital — is covered in bundles full of the belongings of hundreds of people waiting to […]
Ceyda Sungur became the symbol of the Gezi Park protests that shook Turkey because of photograph of a police officer spraying her with gas. That officer now has an unlikely defender.
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Will Iran Be At Geneva 2?
Iranian officials have spent plenty of time recently in Geneva to negotiate a deal with the West on its nuclear program. The next pressing question is whether Iran will be back in the Swiss city for the so-called Geneva 2 conference to discuss ways to try to end to Syria’s civil war. Officials in Tehran […]
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Smoking Bans In Saudi
Ten of thousands of Saudis die every year from smoking-related causes, and the government is taking notice. A public awareness campaign alongside heavily increased tariffs is working to discourage the purchase of cigarettes. Some of these ads – as well as some homemade additions – are showing up on twitter under the hashtag “#smoking in […]
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Smog On The Water
Sometimes photo slides don’t age too well, colors can fade a bit — but in this shot, taken less than 20 years ago, that is all pollution, as smog fills the Yangtze River Delta.
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Befriending Bedouins In Sunny Syria
We stop for a moment by the side of the road, 40 kilometers from Aleppo, and enjoy a chat with local Bedouins — intrigued by our French car, with which we drove… from France!
A Washington D.C. jury has convicted a 49-year-old German man of killing his 91-year-old wife in their home in the capital’s posh Georgetown neighborhood.
Sebastien Valiela, who caught the French leader sneaking to see his mistress, is among the world’s best paparazzi. He’d already exposed the deepest secret of another French President.
Bashar al-Assad still in power in Syria, al-Qaeda still strong in Iraq. The West’s double failure, incapable of building a common strategy, is a sign of a now ‘post-American’ region.
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Soviet Soldiers Playing Tourist
Strong sun and light spirits for these Soviet soldiers in East Berlin, four years after JFK and 20 years before Ronald Reagan spoke from the other side of the Wall.
BEIJING — It’s not something most of us have to worry about these days, but for some, having too much money can pose serious problems. Take, for example, your average corrupt Chinese official. Former deputy director of Hohhot Railway Bureau in Inner Mongolia, Ma Junfei, was arrested, tried, sentenced to death and then reprieved for […]
-Commentary- For years, major sporting events have been hosted in the superbly wealthy Gulf States. Now, renowned Western cultural institutions are following suit. But these high-minded museums and cultural organizations are encountering a familiar problem. In Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, the French Louvre, the American Guggenheim and other branches of […]
BERLIN — Purple is intense like no other color. It is opaque, disturbing and seductive. It is also the color of 2014. So says the Pantone Color Institute, which has named “Radiant Orchid” this year’s preeminent hue. Red and blue combine to make it: hot and cold, fire and water, the male and female elements […]
PARIS — A 4G offer? Danger! Bitcoin? Warning! The World Cup draw? It’s a trap! This is the story of a strange country blessed by the gods, with beautiful scenery and heir to a long and rich history. Though full of talented people and worldwide economic powerhouses, everything now seems to be full of peril […]
Here are some of the songs topping the charts from music hot spots around the world. Worldcrunch Pick: The Beatles’ “I Want To Hold Your Hand” turned 50 in late 2013. The Fab Four’s best selling single of all time was released on Nov. 29, 1963 in the UK, and marked the start of the […]
ALEPPO — The toll in what was once Syria’s thriving capital of commerce is also being measured by low temperatures and record snowfall. Activists say the people of Aleppo risk dying every day in unheated homes. The Syrian Network for Human Rights said that no fewer than 22 people died in Syria last week, including nine children, from sub-zero temperatures as lengthy power shortages were recorded. In Aleppo, once the country’s economic capital, electricity has been scarce since continued shelling took out power lines. The exorbitant prices of oil and diesel fuel, and even wood, prevented many from being able […]
Morsi accused of “espionage”Mohamed Morsi, the former Egyptian president deposed in a military-backed coup this past summer, is facing charges alongside 35 other defendants. The charges? Espionage and aiding terrorism. Morsi was specifically accused of collaborating with the Palestinian political organization Hamas, in an alleged attempt to orchestrate what prosecutors characterize as an Islamist takeover. […]
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By The Numbers
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Indonesia Says No To Monkey Business
Animal rights groups get their wish: no more monkey shows on the streets of Jakarta, which means raids to rescue the animals and job training to prepare their trainers for new work.
Thursday, December 4, 2014 NEW YORK PROTESTS GRAND JURY DECISION For the second time in less than two weeks, the presiding grand jury in a high-profile case of a white police officer who’d killed an unarmed black man chose not to bring charges against the officer involved. Protests quickly spread around New York and in […]
Your weekly shot of what the Arab world is saying, hearing and sharing.
Iraq’s rising death toll, a Nazi art stash recovery and other events of the past seven days are summed up by the numbers… (cover photo: Jorge Franganillo)
As winter descends on Mongolia’s cold and polluted capital of Ulaanbaatar, toxic coal heating is turning on everywhere. An estimated one resident in 10 dies from the effects of pollution.
ARABICA: Your weekly shot of what the Arab world is saying, hearing and sharing.
Those who suffer from autism are increasingly sought out for their special skills set, particularly in IT. But difficulty with office politics and politesse can place limits.
In the wake of the immigrant tragedy off the coast of Lampedusa, a reporter sneaks into a detention center in southern Italy to witness living conditions and hear tales of refugees.
Monday, October 27, 2014 ELECTION RESULTS GALORE It was “election weekend” around the world, with notable ballots held in five countries, though not always without problems. In Ukraine, President Petro Poroshenko’s bloc and the party of his Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk were holding talks Monday to create a coalition after the two led in preliminary […]
MBANDAKA — Don’t tell Mfutu Etawale Ratis he’s a magician or a witch doctor. The self-proclaimed traditional practitioner says he can cure mental illness. And in this northwestern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where modern treatments are often missing, Ratis is one of the only people trying to help patients with mental disorders. […]
A quick trip around the world in six photographs, from London and Paris to Tokyo and Kabul…
Washington’s government shutdown forced President Barack Obama to miss the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. But even if this was cited as yet another harmful consequence of the sorry state of U.S. domestic politics, it may paradoxically wind up helping America exert its influence in the long run in Asia-Pacific regional affairs. At an […]
So-called “click farms” in India, beer in Germany and one very long flight are among the ways the world was quantified this past week. Take the tour of the news in numbers. (photo: David Bleasdale)
Wednesday, October 8, 2014 AIR STRIKES PUSH ISIS BACK ISIS fighters have withdrawn from areas they had earlier seized in the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani after a series of strikes from the U.S.-led coalition, Kurdish officials in the town have said, echoing previous a previous report from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. But […]