Worldcrunch
Once upon a time, hand-painted portraits were more valued in Vietnam than photographs. But with the arrival of digital cameras, the country’s remaining portrait painters have faded to black. In the old royal city of Hue only one remains: Master Huu Vinh T
Over the past six years, Germany has opened three treatment centers for men with pedophilic tendencies. Patients enter the therapy-based program voluntarily, as a way to explore their impulses and control their behavior – before it’s too late.
The not guilty verdicts in the Meredith Kercher murder case are a bitter pill for Italian investigators. That Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito walk free – after four years in prison – leaves no one satisfied.
Two female reporters run the gauntlet at Oktoberfest and share their tales of grabbing, groping, drunken come-ons, sexist insults and flashing foreigners. For women, the annual event’s drunken antics can cross the line to degrading and even dangerous.
In his first interview since being jailed in Switzerland in 2009, Oscar-winning director Polanski talks about the 1977 case of unlawful sex with a minor that led him to flee the U.S, and prompted his arrest two years ago. In the Swiss TV interview, the me
In France, a growing number of corporate coaches are taking unconventional approaches to introduce basic management skills. Some teach executives to work with horses. Others in the largely unregulated industry organize their trainings around cooking, musi
Outrage follows an investigation into the confiscation of a dozen infants from a poor rural area of Hunan province. There, local officials offered dozens of children up for adoption to foreigners after the biological parents failed to pay fines for violat
A Swiss town has agreed, grudgingly, to accept 19 new asylum seekers. But the town is doing all it can to keep them out of sight, including a “Refugee path” that recalls “Jewish paths” that used to lead to and from ghet
A shocking suicide in central France has prompted authorities to look at why, how and when a growing number of young children decide to take their own lives. Rates are highest in South Korea, lowest in Finland.
Air guitar virtuosos from across the globe rock out at the World Air Guitar Championships in Oulu, Finland.
A group of squatters is pooling its resources and trading shares in an effort to save Christiania, a so-called ‘autonomous neighborhood’ founded 40 years ago in central Copenhagen. The famous squat – long a target of rightist politicians – is being eyed b
Sexual violence against women and girls has been a common, though rarely talked about, practice in Colombia’s decades-old civil war. A new report by Amnesty International highlights the problem, and urges Colombian leaders to end the impunity.
After several notorious cases of abuse of very young students elsewhere in Italy, a private nursery school in Ravenna allows parents to check in on their kids – and teachers — any time of the day.
Essay: Much has been made of China moving past Japan as Asia’s leader. But a Beijing-based Japanese writer says Japan’s relative economic decline in the past 20 years hides the fact that it has built a model society for its citizens.
Essay: Two feminist associations want to end the differentiation between “Mademoiselle” (Ms.) and “Madame” (Mrs.) imposed on women filling out official documents. One French (female) commentator takes issue with this la
Moscow is trying to get people out of their cars, with expanded connections and swanky new subway cars. The project also includes special anti-vibration tracks and tunnels designed to protect the Bolshoi Theater’s brand new underground concert call.
Catholic leaders in France slam public school textbook that delves into “gender theory.” With help from allies of Nicolas Sarkozy, the Church is demanding changes to the curriculum, which explores how society and culture can affect an individual’s sexual
Essay: Recent cases of badly behaving sons of the rich and powerful has riled the Chinese public, raising real questions about whether a country’s ruling class is more powerful than the state itself.
There were emotional scenes in Barcelona after Catalonia’s final bullfight took place before a ban comes into force in the autonomous Spanish region.
White clinker brick houses with saunas, Jacuzzis and underfloor heating: in the Munich suburb of Grünwald, villas like this abound. But now, a Japanese businessman has decided to plant this “Grünwald style” for the moneyed elite in Osaka.
Essay: At some point over the past decade or two, macho men fell out of style. But is that really a good thing? Die Welt columnist Judith Luig suggests that machos actually have some advantages over their modern ‘metrosexual’ replacement
Tunisia’s Nahda party is working to improve its image amongst foreigners and skeptical secularist voters. But it does not renounce its desire for a democracy based on Islamic values.
Overall birth rates have risen in the developing world, a sign that working women are better able to balance work and family. Indeed, the countries with the most working women have higher fertility rates.
Peter De Villiers first made headlines by becoming the first black coach of the powerful South African national rugby team. But it’s his controversial comments that have all the rugby world up in arms. The latest: disparaging remark about the New
Good news: beer is good for your health! Bad news: only in moderate quantity! EU Scientists say moderate beer consumption has positive effects on cardiovascular diseases.
More and more vegetarians and vegans are keeping meat and animal products out of their pooch’s chow bowl. But some warn that even though they are omnivores, dogs need their meat. And by the way: don’t even think about trying to give a carrot to your cat.
Rape charges dropped, Dominique Strauss-Kahn is back in France. But the legacy of his May 14 arrest in NYC is expected to last, especially in the way French men and women interact in the working world.
Chinese authorities have closed schools attended by the children of illegal migrant workers in the over-populated suburbs of Beijing. Other such schools may be shut down too.
A case just broadcast on local television reveals horrid conditions of 30 mentally disabled forced to work at a brick kiln. But it is hardly the first such story in China in recent years.
Herbert Lipah, the quirky owner of the “Lederhosen Madness” Oktoberfest speciality store, features a unique product made for men with low self-esteem about skinny or saggy shanks.
Everybody talked about it. And some even made jokes. But a visit to the small German town of Willmershbach where a recent incest case has exploded, our reporter finds that nobody came to the help of a woman abused by her father for decades.
Amy Winehouse’s father opens up to CNN’s Piers Morgan about the late singer six weeks after her death.
Political leaders and education researchers in the West are increasingly questioning how the lack of men teachers might affect the country’s school children. In France, where the rate of male teachers in primary schools went from 35% in 1954 to 18%, some
Four years after being discovered in northern Italy, the skeletal remains from six millennia ago have just been displayed in public for the first time. But local officials say tragedy would repeat if they were left without a permanent home, which could at
Essay: Widespread allegations in China of corruption among experts in the antique business is a metaphor for a society where the highest forms of knowledge have become a means to an end.
In order to reduce costs, German judges can now replace jail sentences with electronic monitoring: an ankle bracelet for those who otherwise would be locked up. Five of the 16 German states have signed up, with others to follow.
Some 100 signed prints of the French photographer will go up for sale at Christie’s to help raise money for the Paris foundation that supports Cartier-Bresson’s work.
A 10-year UNESCO investigation is being launched to measure the effects of human noise pollution on marine creatures, many of which rely on relative silence to find food, seek out mates or avoid predators.
Once considered a social phenomenon of shared sense of identity for poor youth, gangs in El Salvador have grown increasingly deadly, as the country counts the world’s highest murder rate. Latin America’s exploding drug trafficking routes threaten
A prized Russian Toy Terrier pure breed has gone missing at a 5-star hotel in the Italian port city. The owner, a Russian chemicals tycoon, has put up 10,000 euros to have his skinny pup back — and demanded lie-detector tests for hotel employees.