Originally from Tuscany, Sara Barsotti has spent the past decade leading the task force monitoring Iceland’s major volcanic eruption threat. Evacuations may have saved lives after a major eruption Monday night.
Category: Society
Postmodernism’s eagerness to relativize what is commonly considered factual, objective or real is attractive to recent, jaded, generations, but can barely help a contemporary world lurching between chaos and calamity.
For some with communication skills and charisma, likes on social media can turn into lavish earnings. But influencers face a crisis of trust, as well as algorithms that often discriminate — particularly against women.
Thanatology or the study of death has entered Italian academia, led by the University of Padua, which is taking an interdisciplinary approach to our fascination with mortality.
New research reveals the emergence of “grassroots capitalism” in North Korea, disproportionately through women. It provides a cautionary tale in the most unlikely of countries for patriarchal societies everywhere: underestimate women at your peril.
Wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are only the most recent and glaring conflicts that are driven, at least in part, by extreme animosity fueled by ethnic and national identity. For independent Russian website Important Stories, Vsevolod Bederson looks at what we can learn from other ethnic conflicts, what has worked, and what has not, when it comes to extinguishing animosity and violence.
If Chinese food is a link to the homeland, then so is Chinese literature. Two Chinese immigrants in Europe have found a way to connect themselves and others to their culture by setting up spaces where people can buy or borrow Chinese paperbacks.
Poland remains one of the last strongholds of Catholicism in Europe, and one of the few countries to have a concordat with the Holy See in its constitution. Until now, the conservative Law and Justice Government has maintained close ties to the religion. With a new opposition government, and religious practice trending towards decline, many wonder if Poland will become a secular state for the first time since the fall of Communism.
Faced with rising violence and climatic catastrophes, stoicism teaches us how to cultivate our inner selves, and how to continue living without giving in to fear.
In Bulgaria, Roma people are the second-largest minority group, but their community goes largely ignored by politicians as hatred and prejudice grows against them. Italy’s daily La Stampa visits Fakulteta, where 45,000 Roma people live, mostly segregated from the rest of the country.
In fatherhood, like in life in general, reality often surpasses our expectations, writes Argentine journalist Ignacio Pereyra. Whenever we have a feeling that we know what is going to happen, life proves us wrong — often for better.
Ending a pregnancy has become a major complication, and a crime, for Iranian women who cannot or will not have children in a country wracked by socio-economic woes and a leadership crisis.
In the wake of Giulia Cecchettin’s death, our Naples-based Dottoré remembers one of her old patients, a victim of domestic abuse.
In Egypt and elsewhere in the region and the world, families and movements are mobilizing against companies that support Israel’s war on Gaza. The power of the people lies in their control as consumers — and the list of companies and brands to boycott grows longer.
A gigantic and multi-faceted new location near Shanghai epitomizes the American giant’s ambition to quench China’s growing but still-nascent thirst for coffee.
With the end of the Hollywood writers and actors strikes, the creator economy is the next frontier for organized labor.
Young people across Europe are drinking less, which is driving a boom in non-alcoholic alternatives, and the emergence of new, more complex markets.
Argentines love to complain. But when you listen to others who complain, there are options: must we be a sponge to this daily toxicity or should we, politely, block out this act of emotional vandalism?
The femicide of Giulia Cecchettin has shaken Italy, and beyond. Argentine journalist Ignacio Pereyra looks at what lies behind femicides and why all men must take more responsibility.
Censorship in Russia has increased rapidly over the last couple of decades, especially since their invasion of Ukraine. Russian rap, which has often challenged the politics and society of Russia, has become even more censored than before, even causing some rappers to emigrate.
The term was coined by journalist Cory Doctorow to explain the fatal drift of major Internet platforms: if they were ever useful and user-friendly, they will inevitably end up being odious.
Phd candidate Tashi Dema, from the University of New England, discusses how social media apps, particularly WeChat, are helping to preserve local Bhutanese languages without a written alphabet. Dema argues that preservation of these languages has far-reaching benefits for the small Himalayan country’s rich culture and tradition.
The simmering UK-Greece dispute over the Elgin Marbles shines a light on the worldwide efforts to push Western powers, often with colonial pasts, to give back looted artistic and historical artifacts.
The Refugees in Libya movement has posted shocking images to awaken our consciences. But here, all is silent, and the hope for humanity is entrusted to a Europe that is reborn from the bottom up.
Disney’s new movie “Wish” is being touted as a new children’s blockbuster to celebrate the company’s 100th anniversary. But some Christians may see the portrayal of the villain as God-like and turning wishes into prayers as the ultimate denial of the true message of Christmas.
Educating children at home is rarely accepted in Mexico, but Global Press Journal reporter Aline Suárez del Real’s family has committed to daily experiential learning.
Opera has played with ideas of gender since its earliest days. Now the first openly trans performers are taking to the stage, and operas explicitly exploring trans identities are beginning to emerge.
New Zealand has reversed its decision to implement the world’s toughest anti-smoking law, to the disappointment of many inside and outside the island nation. But how are other laws aimed at tobacco use faring around the world?
“There is nothing fashionable about installing so many cameras in and outside one’s house,” says a lawyer from a Muslim community. And yet, doing this has helped members of the community prove unfair police action against them.
Moonshine, typically known as “bimber” in Poland, may soon be legalized by the incoming government. There is a mix of tradition, politics and economics that makes homemade booze a popular issue to campaign on.
The latest season of Germany’s largest festival celebrating the adventure writer Karl May ended with a record audience. Over 430,000 visitors watched the adventures of the Native American character Winnetou, despite criticism of the story’s problematic legacy from some sections.
Women bodybuilders are rare in a society that prefers them thin, soft — and fully clothed. But with sports, gold-medal winners like Rajani Shrestha are helping inspire change.
There are certain watershed moments where the world comes together in defense of an idea or a people, or maybe both. A call from afar to stand up in the name of the Palestinian people.
From North America to Africa to Europe, massive teacher shortages are threatening to derail progress on global development goals. The causes vary and sometimes overlap, but the price will be paid in the future.
Argentina has elected a “paleolibertarian” outsider with little experience, and by a wide margin. What does this say about the existing structures of power around the democratic world?
Some social activists believe that this sudden shift can potentially threaten not just human rights organizations but virtually any Russian citizen.
The radical libertarian Javier Milei confounded the polls to decisively win the second round of Argentina’s presidential elections; now he must win over a nation that has voiced its disgust with the country’s brand of politics as usual.
The Italian cyclist, Omar Di Felice, is setting out across Antarctica in the ultimate test of athletic endurance and mental fortitude. In an interview with Italian daily La Stampa, Di Felice shares how he keeps himself going during the endless hours of total solitude as well as the activism that fuels his extreme adventures.
The Iranian regime’s repression of students and universities has reached one of its highest point in the post-revolution era, as authorities are determined to nip any unrest in the bud, and push on with plans to make society even more repressively Islamist.
Italy’s highest-profile nemesis of organized crime networks, prosecutor Nicola Gratteri, discusses the mob’s use of social networks, and how TikTok allows criminal organizations to advertise their lifestyle to impressionable viewers. Sound familiar?