When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
blog

The Most Striking Number At Rio 2016

Among all the big numbers we'll hear broadcast at the lavish ceremony for the opening of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, whether it's the 5,000 people volunteering at the event or the 10,500 athletes competing in it, the number 10 will perhaps resonate most deeply with the world.


That's the number of members who comprise the UN-backed Refugee Olympic Team.


At the close of the "parade of nations" ceremony, these 10 athletes will walk just before host country Brazil and, if only for a brief moment, turn the spotlight on the world's staggering refugee crisis.


For many of the 3 billion viewers watching the spectacle around the world, those 10 members will conjure up images of the plight of hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees who are struggling to leave their troubled nations behind.


The team of sportspersons (five from South Sudan, two from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, two from Syria and one from Ethiopia) doubt that they'll win medals, French newspaper Le Monde writes. But as Pierre de Coubertin, the father of the modern Olympic Games, once said: "To take part is more important than to win."



WHAT TO LOOK FOR TODAY

  • The Olympic Games opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, at 8 p.m. local time.
  • Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony in Japan (Saturday).


SOUTH AFRICA ELECTIONS

President Jacob Zuma's governing African National Congress got "knocked off its high horse," local daily The Times smugly declared on its front page today. Partial results of this week's municipal elections signal a major setback for the party in key cities and possibly its worst outcome since the end of apartheid. Final results are expected later today.


BLACK LIVES MATTER PROTESTS IN UK

Protesters from the Black Lives Matter movement are blocking roads around London's Heathrow Airport as part of a national day of action. Similar demonstrations are taking place in Nottingham and Birmingham, The Telegraph reports.


— ON THIS DAY

Goodbye, Norma Jean — 54 years ago, already. That, and more, in your 57-second shot of History.


ISIS LEADER KILLED IN EGYPT ...

Local newspaper Al-Ahram reports that an Egyptian army airstrike in the Sinai peninsula killed Abu Duaa al-Ansari, the head of Ansar Bait al-Maqdis movement, a militant group linked to the ISIS terror network.


… BUT THOUSANDS CAPTURED BY ISIS IN IRAQ

The group's fighters may have caught up to 3,000 Iraqi villagers fleeing to Kirkuk city yesterday and executed 12 of them, a UN report quoted by Reuters says.


— WORLDCRUNCH-TO-GO

For years, Muslims helped police identify radicals in Italy. But this assistance isn't enough. Italy needs to address legislative gaps and promote cultural integration. For Italian daily La Stampa, Karima Moual writes: "Over time, locals have grown accustomed to having plainclothes police officers present at major events. ‘No one says so in so many words, but in the hundreds of mosques spread across our country, leaders and imams know how risky it would be to have a bad apple among the faithful,' says a source who is active in Islamic organizations and prefers to remain anonymous. ‘That's why no one balks at information requests. A few hotheads who were deported had been flagged by us, very discreetly, to the police.'"

Read the full article, In Italy, Muslims Quietly Assist Law Enforcement.


"BIG LEBOWSKI" DIES

David Huddleston, who played the "Big Lebowski" character in the 1998 cult movie, has died of advanced heart and kidney disease in Santa Fe, New Mexico, at age 85. Huddleston also starred in the 1974 film Blazing Saddles and in the 1985 comedy Santa Claus: The Movie.


— MY GRAND-PERE'S WORLD

Casual Friday — Bodø, 1967


VERBATIM

"Even though the U.S. and its allies try to block our space development, our aerospace scientists will conquer space and definitely plant the flag of the DPRK on the moon," Hyon Kwang Il, director of the scientific research department of North Korea's aerospace development agency, told AP.


MORE STORIES, EXCLUSIVELY IN ENGLISH BY WORLDCRUNCH

— QUOTE/UNQUOTE

This 15-second video quote by Benjamin Franklin also applies to Olympic athletes!

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Society

Sleep Divorce: The Benefits For Couples In Having Separate Beds

Sleeping separately is often thought to be the beginning of the end for a loving couple. But studies show that having permanently separate beds — if you have the space and means — can actually reinforce the bonds of a relationship.

Image of a woman sleeping in a bed.

A woman sleeping in her bed.

BUENOS AIRES — Couples, it is assumed, sleep together — and sleeping apart is easily taken as a sign of a relationship gone cold. But several recent studies are suggesting, people sleep better alone and "sleep divorce," as the habit is being termed, can benefit both a couple's health and intimacy.

That is, if you have the space for it...

While sleeping in separate beds is seen as unaffectionate and the end of sex, psychologist María Gabriela Simone told Clarín this "is not a fashion, but to do with being able to feel free, and to respect yourself and your partner."

She says the marriage bed originated "in the matrimonial duty of sharing a bed with the aim of having sex to procreate." That, she adds, gradually settled the idea that people "who love each other sleep together."

Is it an imposition then, or an overwhelming preference? Simone says intimacy is one thing, sleeping another.

Keep reading...Show less

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch

The latest