As he is faced by questions about death from his 4-year-old son during a family visit to Argentina, Recalculating author Ignacio Pereyra replies honestly. “I can only tell him the truth, at least the little truth that I know…”
Category: Society
May 20-21 OUR WEEKLY NEWS QUIZ What do you remember from the news this week? 1. What major national institution was considered the loser in Thailand’s elections? 2. What has France agreed to do to support Ukraine’s military? 3. Whose speeches were played over a train loudspeaker in Austria that caused outrage? 4. Which […]
Floods have hit northern Italy after the longest drought in two centuries. Slow Food founder Carlo Petrini explains how these increasingly frequent events are being exacerbated by human activity.
Forget about Cantonese fried rice and spring rolls, new-look Chinese restaurants have been multiplying in Paris. They attract French people with increasingly diverse tastes… and a growing number of Chinese tourists.
Germany is returning looted Benin bronzes back to Nigeria. But there are now concerns that they will now disappear into private ownership or that they will be threatened with damage or loss
Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine goes well beyond the battlefield. Russia is trying to destroy Ukrainian identity by imposing the Russian language in occupied areas, as a prime weapon in Moscow’s policy of “Russification.”
As with people, some dogs may be more neurologically prone to anxiety. But canine stress is often mistaken for mischief.
In a small town in southern Brazil, photos of Nazi flags and Hitler supporters are displayed in the entrance hall of a publish building. An investigation by independent media Agência Pública looks into how the Santa Catarina state, a bastion of support of former president Jair Bolsonaro, has a long history of extremist groups and hate speech.
Cast out by family, discriminated against by the state, shut off from the medication, China’s “male-to-female” trans community is under immense pressure, as suicide rates rise and incomprehension continues to spread.
Mexico and the United States must collaborate to tackle a dual problem of violence and drug use hurting their countries.But first, they must stop playing the blame game.
The Marchas Populares, Lisbon’s summertime carnival parades, are a spectacle of dancing and music — but a shortage of money, free time and men who want to dance are endangering this midsummer tradition.
May 11-12 OUR WEEKLY NEWS QUIZ What do you remember from the news this week? 1. Blaming Vladimir Putin for the first time for a shortage of ammunition, what did Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin call the Russian president? “Stupid” / “Grandpa” / “Vlad The Impaler” / “Pathetic Putin” 2. Which country was readmitted […]
Leading writers in Iraq depict the U.S. invasion and its consequences as just one chapter in a much longer and broader history of foreign occupations and internal political violence in Iraq.
France’s much discussed citizens’ convention on assisted dying has just delivered its conclusions, including some proposals the government deems too ambitious. But the freedom to choose one’s own death is the ultimate achievement of self-control, says French philosopher Gaspard Koenig.
Passive aggression gets a bad rap. It was once even classified as a personality disorder. But in today’s world, it can serve a distinct purpose.
May 6-7 OUR WEEKLY NEWS QUIZ What do you remember from the news this week? 1. What two countries has Moscow accused of orchestrating the drone attack on the Kremlin? 2. Which news outlet launched an emergency radio service to help civilians in war-torn Sudan? 3. Why is soccer superstar Lionel Messi in trouble […]
The Iranian regime has been trying different methods to encourage people to have children. Most have failed, for economic reasons.
Contributing biologically to a child’s creation no longer directly implies parenthood. Surrogacy has shaken up traditional ideas and beliefs about sexuality, reproduction and filiation. The author poses key questions that must be answered to ensure that surrogacy is driven by both science and ethics.
A Palestinian has died from a hunger strike in an Israeli prison, exacerbating the cycle of violence in the region. Israeli’s protesting Benjamin Netanyahu”s right-wing government have little to offer to resolve the eternal crisis of the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
A simple tale from Italy of a hundred strangers in a waiting room, and the limits of our modern obsession with privacy.
Sudan is descending into all-out civil war. This risks upsetting the fragile peace in Darfur, raising the specter of more atrocities and massacres.
In Bolivia, the coca leaf was once reserved for ancestry rituals and practices. Now it is being combined with other substances, especially amongst the very young, to create a toxic experience and dangerous concoction.
It’s impossible to travel incognito on a train, and it’s also difficult to walk down the street without running into surveillance cameras. Even when hiking, apps are multiplying. We can’t just wander around in anonymity anymore.
People’s deplorable actions ultimately have more to do with socially induced fears and mistrust than some inherent evil. Fiction and tradition tells us humans are fundamentally wicked, but history says otherwise.
April 29-30 OUR WEEKLY NEWS QUIZ What do you remember from the news this week? 1. Which two world leaders spoke for the first time this week since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? 2. Joe Biden officially announced that he is running again for U.S. president in 2024. If reelected, how old would he be […]
Male dominance and violence is often encouraged in popular Latin American music, and particularly in genres like salsa or bachata. The more memorable the songs, the bigger the harm they will have done to generations of women.
Iran must one day write the history of the violence perpetrated on its women, especially under the 40-year Islamic Republic, if historiography is to serve its progress toward a peaceful, democratic society.
In a country where money is taboo and culture is sacred, French artist Aurélie Galois navigates the uneasy relationship between following your muse and paying your rent.
Goethe was eerily prescient in his predictions about the “unstoppable force” of mechanization. But he didn’t call for a pause in technological advances. More than 200 years ago, he predicted with surprising accuracy how technological and industrial developments would change our world.
Interfaith and inter-caste relationships have always been difficult in India. As the Supreme Court hears petitioners pleading for marriage equality, the time is ripe to see how laws and hatred have stopped love.
Fear of technology is contagious, linked to the rapid evolution of breakthroughs and their impact. So what exactly is technophobia in our AI age… and can it be cured?
April 22-23 OUR WEEKLY NEWS QUIZ What do you remember from the news this week? 1. In which east African country has intense fighting broken out between the country’s army and rival paramilitary forces? 2. After his talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, which world leader said the U.S. should stop “encouraging” war in […]
For centuries, the region of Tokaj in Hungary was known for its intensely sweet dessert wines. Now female winemakers are making waves in what was formerly a man’s world, producing more elegant wines that appeal to a European palate.
The Vatican may soon canonize the Mama Antula, an Argentine woman who started a spiritual movement at a time when religious intellectualism was strictly the domain the men.
Turkey holds key elections next month. Many who were exiled over the years have returned with optimism, only to be jailed. Turkish journalist Ece Temelkuran says from now on, she will only go back on her own terms.
The Madan Sara provide a vital service by collecting farmers’ produce and selling it in urban communities. But natural disasters and growing insecurity have threatened their way of life.
Convincing coca farmers to plant legal crops is better than spraying poisonous pesticides to wipe out the plants. And yet it turns out these crop substitution programs are problematic, disrupting livelihoods and unintentionally causing violence and deforestation.
Facing 14 million cubic meters of contaminated soil collected during the cleanup of fields and villages near the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant, the Japanese government promised residents it would remove the soil, but now finds itself in a deadlock, despite the tens of billions of dollars spent..
Crossing Sicily by train can take as long as flying from Rome to New York. The tracks and carriages are outdated, the trains rarely leave on time. Meanwhile, the country’s high-speed train lines are state-of-the-art and decidedly punctual. It’s a metaphor (and more) for Italy’s two-class society.
April 15-16 OUR WEEKLY NEWS QUIZ What do you remember from the news this week? 1. Which world leader is visiting Xi Jinping in China this week? 2. What anniversary did U.S. President Joe Biden mark in Belfast? 3. Iconic fashion designer Mary Quant has died at age 93. What garment is she associated […]