The many rivers in Indonesia provide an endless stream of picturesque moments, like this man in Jakarta wearing a traditional caping conical hat.
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On The Boat Again
Category: blog
Pyongyang’s Mansudae monument — Photo: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen BEIJING — “This summer, cross the world’s most difficult border and visit a country with the highest index of happiness and security” reads the advertisement of the travel agency in Taiyuan, in the remote western Chinese province of Shanxi. “Experience the China we used to know!” On […]
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Comfort After Defeat — A Video Quote
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Trump’s World, Rio Threat, Sad Polar Bear
SPOTLIGHT: WORLD, MEET MR. TRUMP (AGAIN) Every four years, people around the world get a glance at those odd political spectacles, typically hosted in some mid-sized American city they’ll never visit. The U.S. national party conventions tend to get slightly bemused coverage abroad: candidates’ family values on full display, gray-haired delegates dancing to Dixie bands […]
Die Tageszeitung, July 20th Monday’s gruesome axe attack on a commuter train in southern Germany left many unanswered questions on the Wednesday front page of German daily Die Tageszeitung, as evidenced by its enigmatic headline made of just four question marks. On Monday evening, a 17-year-old man armed with a knife and an axe wounded […]
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A Mormon State
A stone’s throw away from Salt Lake City’s Mormon Tabernacle is the Utah State Capitol building, the site where famously strict regulations on alcohol have been approved because of the Mormon religion that still dominates the state. I was surprised however to find that one could order French wine in the local restaurants.
Jomhouri-e Eslami — July 19, 2016 As the Turkish government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan unleashes a major crackdown after the failed coup over the weekend, criticism across the border in Iran is rising. Tehran daily Jomhuri-e Eslami ran a front-page report Tuesday accusing Erdogan of “kickstarting a full-blown coup against opponents.” The highly critical […]
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Corsican Siesta
On a warm Spring day at the southern tip of the French island of Corsica, it was time to go home and take a siesta.
SPOTLIGHT: ISTANBUL, STUDIES IN CONTRAST Taksim Square is both symbolic and convenient: Flat in the middle of the bustle of Istanbul, it can serve as a meeting point for locals and tourists — and protesters. It is where many of the most ardent supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gathered after tanks took control […]
El Espectador, July 19th Tuesday’s edition of Bogota daily El Espectador reports on the Colombian Constitutional Court approving a measure to hold a national referendum on the recently signed peace agreement with the Marxist rebels, FARC. Above the headline “Green light for a referendum,” is a rather giddy photograph of Constitutional Court President Maria Victoria […]
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After A Long And Awful Weekend
SPOTLIGHT: WORLD IN PIECES, A LONG WEEKEND The long and awful weekend began late Thursday night, local time here in France. At the end of the Bastille Day national celebrations, the southern coastal city of Nice turned into yet another scene of unspeakable horror. It is the same sad plot, different script for a country […]
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A Second U.S. Police Shootings in Two Weeks
The Advocate — Baton Rouge, July 18, 2016 Another police shooting is shaking the United States two weeks after five officers were killed in Dallas. This time in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Gavin Long, an honorably discharged marine veteran, killed three police officers and wounded another three near the police station. The station has been one […]
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Flying The Italian Flag
This Arlecchino belonged to a band from Bergamo that had made the trip to my native eastern France. Parading in the streets of Montbéliard, this character from the Commedia dell’arte was participating in the folk singing and dancing festival organized by the choir I used to conduct.
The government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is enforcing a crackdown of those believed linked to the failed coup attempt that began Friday night. Turkey officials report that some 265 people were killed in the attempted military overthrow of the Erdogan government. Follow the latest updates in real-time on BBC.
SPOTLIGHT: TOLL RISES IN NICE ATTACK, AS TERROR HITS FRANCE AGAIN Terror struck the French Riviera last night, as revellers and tourists gathered on Nice’s famous Promenade des Anglais to watch the fireworks display on Bastille Day. Around an hour before midnight, a truck drove through frantic crowds for almost two kilometers, killing more than […]
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Off-Peak Art
Boasting astounding collections of artists, both Spanish (Velázquez, Goya) and international, (Rubens, Rembrandt …) the Museo del Prado in Madrid is one of the most visited museums in the world. When I went there more than 50 years ago, there was no queue in sight.
SPOTLIGHT: Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow It’s been a hairy few days in European politics. In what is being dubbed “CoiffeurGate“, French satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchainé revealed that President Francois Hollande has a full-time hairdresser who earns 9,895 euros a month (over $10,000), about the same salary as a government minister. Bemused French citizens are […]
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Oops In Yellowstone
Upon taking this mysterious shot of Yellowstone National Park“s hot springs, my camera’s lens cap fell in the mud. Thankfully it was close enough to retrieve without risking that it might melt into the landscape.
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Fury In China Over Maritime Dispute Ruling
Dongfang Zaobao, July 13 “The South Sea Islands have been part of China’s territory since ancient times,” Wednesday’s front page of the Chinese daily Dongfang Zaobao reads. “China does not accept the ruling that does not recognize the South China Sea.” The defiant headline comes in response to Tuesday’s decision by a UN tribunal to […]
L’Unità, July 13 “Hell amid the olive trees,” reads Wednesday’s front page of Italian daily L’Unità, describing the head-on train crash near the southern city of Bari that killed at least 27 people and injured 50. Two local passenger trains traveling in opposite directions on a single-track railway collided at around 11:30 am Tuesday near […]
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Light From Below
I don’t often go for artistic shots, but this lighthouse staircase in the big fishing port of Hvide Sande, in western Denmark, caught my eye.
SPOTLIGHT: WHO RUNS THE WORLD? WOMEN Theresa May is set to take over as Britain’s new Prime Minister to succeed the outgoing David Cameron, bumped from office by the victory of the Brexit referendum. May will become the second woman to lead the UK, following the “Iron Lady” Margaret Thatcher, who controlled British politics during […]
i, July 12 Tuesday’s edition of the British daily the i features new Conservative Party leader Theresa May, with the headline “May Day.” Outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron is expected to present his resignation to the Queen on Wednesday, which will make Theresa May will the UK’s new leader. On Monday, Andrea Leadsom, the final […]
ALESSANDRIA — A small portable tool developed in Italy now allows doctors to treat patients with heart conditions in remote areas that don’t have access to medical facilities. A 27-year-old doctor, Alessandro Faragli, and his colleague, Edoardo La Porta, a nephrologist, created the imaging device known as Impedance App. The device measures bio-impedance or how […]
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Maltese Megaliths
The limestone temples on the island of Malta rank among the world’s oldest religious sites. As with Stonehenge or the Ecuadorian Kalasaya, some of the site’s prehistoric monoliths were astronomically aligned. I aligned this daytime shot with a perfectly blue sky.
SPOTLIGHT: FRENCH CONSOLATION France needed this win badly. It has been a grim 18 months, with major terrorist attacks, a crippled economy and record floods, and the country yearned for the kind of unifying victory that sports can provide. And so an edgy kind of optimism reigned ahead of kickoff at the European Soccer Championship […]
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Waiting For The Rice To Dry
Rice is a staple food on the Indonesian island of Java. The country is one of the world’s biggest producers, and cultivating it means a lot of work for both men and women. But during the drying stage, there’s not much to do but wait.
Jornal de Notícias, July 11th “IT’S OURS!” reads Monday’s front page of Lisbon daily Jornal de Notícias, featuring Portugal’s national soccer team celebrating their victory at the Euro 2016 tournament, with coach Fernando Santos lifting the cup. Claiming its first ever European title, Portugal beat host country France 1-0 at Paris’s Stade de France, on […]