WorldcrunchStay informed on France with Worldcrunch. In-depth coverage of French politics, economic trends, societal changes, and cultural events with expert translations. Highlights include Paris, Lyon, Marseille, French cinema, gastronomy, modern literature, and cultural events.
-OpEd- PARIS — At the Beauval Zoo in central France, visitors line up every day for a chance to glimpse at His Majesty Yuan Meng. The animal’s birth, on Aug. 4, 2017, was followed by 26 million people on social media. Baptized with great pomp and circumstance by French First Lady Brigitte Macron in a […]
France is the land of seduction, where relations between men and women can seem more harmonious, dating back to the Ancien Régime. Or is that a myth hiding a darker reality?
Some designers can’t wait to start burrowing. In Mexico, there’s even talk about building an ‘earthscraper.’
Some see the invention of bogus-sounding professions as a sign that work has become less and less necessary. It may also just mean that capitalism is being transformed.
Like it or not, some people are smarter than others. And pretty soon, robots will be smarter than all of us. We can ignore all of that, or start using brain sciences to level the playing field.
PARIS — Ever heard of the Fermi paradox? In 1950, in Los Alamos, New Mexico, Enrico Fermi, the famed Italian physicist and father of the first nuclear reactor, estimated the probability of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way, based on the number of stars in our galaxy with a planetary system gravitating […]
-OpEd- PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron recently announced his determination to take on so-called fake news, false pieces of information that are published in the media to reinforce a political agenda or a school of thought, can mislead public opinion, and can even change the way people vote. Macron has talked of controlling the […]
Some 100 prominent French women artists and intellectuals have issued an open letter in Le Monde condemning the movement to call out inappropriate male behavior that erupted in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.
New tools rely on the influence of experts in behavioral economics, risk psychology and neuroscience to limit errors humans make to raise risk of online attacks.
After Fascism and Communism, the 21st century features two new forms of evil ideology: Islamism and … Dataism.
In a new book, French futurologist Laurent Alexandre argues that as artificial intelligence advances, our education systems need to adapt, and quickly.
By 2022, disinformation could completely replace real facts online. So what are we supposed to do about it? Sharp ideas from France to Denmark to the U.S. and beyond.
-Analysis- PARIS — The whole world has been talking about it for over a week, and yet, — admit it — you still don’t quite get what all the Bitcoin fuss is about. You know it’s a virtual currency. But what is the point of having a currency you can barely use to pay for […]
-Essay- PARIS — Growing crops without the herbicide glyphosate is probably a good thing. Or maybe not. I admit that I have no idea. I’m no doctor, no farmer, nor do I possess any technical competence that would enable me to have an informed opinion on the matter. On the other hand, I do have […]
An exhibition at the Picasso Museum in Paris explores a key moment in the artist’s relationship with his models and his world over the course of a single pivotal year.
Taking care of a stranger’s children in exchange for food and housing is a popular way to see the world, but many young women find themselves in tough situations.
The legendary French actor just published a very personal book. So why is he so hard to talk to?
Boats will soon be capable of sailing without captains on board. The first tests will take place next year.
-Analysis- PARIS — A wave of popular revolt against the establishment, globalization and immigration is washing over the West. And as the recent election results in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic suggest, it won’t be ending anytime soon. After the staggering victories of Brexit and Donald Trump in 2016, Western elites, always eager for […]
China, Russia and the U.S. see potential and risks. And for now, there’s still no form of governance to oversee AI development — technology moves faster than diplomacy.
For a Paris sex therapist, the fight against sexual abuse requires action against online pornography and the sexualization of youth. The victims are men and women alike.
The grandest museums increasingly share their most prestigious exhibitions across borders for both aesthetic and economic reasons.
If a CEO starts quoting Churchill or some Silicon Valley titan to give pomp to their office speeches, they’re only highlighting their utter lack of originality and leadership.
The rapid rise in part-time employment has undermined what was, until now, the instrument of choice to evaluate the job market. What comes in its place?
The sex robot market is expanding, but women must play a core role in the development of all artificial intelligence to avoid a future designed with a male bias.
It is the great challenge (and paradox) of our time: Far from erasing identity claims, globalization reinforces them. From Spain to Myanmar to Trump’s America, it must be confronted head-on.
With designs that imitate fakes, luxury fashion brands try to attract a younger and more connected clientele.
Each year, about 200 soldiers from the elite military unit become naturalized French citizens.
With the arrival of tech-heavy, self-driving vehicles, makers of traditional cars will have to adapt. But so too will everyone from real estate agents to insurers and tax collectors.
-Analysis- PARIS — Imagine if a foreign entity neutralized the public health system in the Paris region. Or if it went on to attack the electric grid, interfering with the meteorological services, manipulating French President Emmanuel Macron’s emails and targeting the military and police communication systems. All from a computer keyboard. Nobody would get killed, […]
French President Emmanuel Macron has just set himself up as the European Union’s would-be savior. Seen from a Swiss point of view, there’s no better option out there.
The French coastal city was home to the infamous makeshift village of migrants seeking to cross to the UK. The ‘Jungle’ was dismantled less than a year ago, but immigrants are now back in town.
Libération, Sept. 19, 2017 Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday broke her silence on the violence in her Buddhist-majority country that has forced hundreds of thousands of minority Muslim Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh. French newspaper Libération featured a picture of her with the headline “A Nobel and a massacre” splashed on […]
There is no contradiction between feeling French (or Catalan, or Berliner) and becoming a European citizen. But it is time for that citizenship to have real civic meaning.
-OpEd- PARIS — Can a leather ball turn into a bubble? After the extravagant sums of money spent by French soccer team Paris Saint-German to sign Brazilian star Neymar Jr, as well as other splurges by British, Spanish and Italian teams this summer, there’s no avoiding the question: Has soccer become a speculative bubble? The […]
Libération — Sept. 7, 2017 Hurricane Irma has wreaked destruction across the Caribbean, and the situation is about to get worse. “Irmageddon” was the front-page headline Thursday of French daily Libération, as the most violent cyclone to strike the Antilles in the region’s history struck the island of Barbuda and the French territories of St. […]
An online platform helps refugees find jobs and companies find motivated, skilled employees.
LAUSANNE — First you notice all the tattoos, including one drawn with bamboo by members of a Fillipino tribe. But Sarah Gysler is far from the archetypal modern trend setter. The 23-year-old Swiss woman doesn’t have a Snapchat account or an Instagram profile filled with retouched pictures. She doesn’t even have a smartphone. What she […]
PARIS — What becomes of psychoanalysis in our hyper-connected digital world? The question is ripe, as new technologies capture the psyche and absorb the libido of each and every one of us. As relations among individuals are now broadcast to everyone, your relationship with yourself is fundamentally altered. This changes the status of speech and […]
Restaurants around the world take the meat and dairy out of food to make traditional food trendy.