Worldcrunch
WASHINGTON — My first encounter with China was, oddly, at the top of the Empire State Building. I was a young student, and climbing to the top of the Manhattan landmark was the last thing I did before returning home from my first visit to the U.S., where I now live. I was not particularly […]
The outpouring of rage and resentment that erupted in last weekend’s “yellow vest” demonstrations in Paris made headlines around the world. In far-flung Chile, which has had plenty of its own experience in recent years with large-scale, anti-government demonstrations, there was keen interest in the French protesters taking umbrage with leaders who seem out of […]
The referenda that rejected marriage equality in Taiwan last month was not only a huge blow to the country’s LGBT community, but also a political setback to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Two years ago, It was the DPP that had originally taken to Parliament the proposed amendment of Taiwan’s Civil Code to allow […]
Given the harm mobsters like Pablo Escobar inflicted on Colombia’s image and society, how have they kept such a prominent place in the national culture 25 years after his death?
Strict integration protocols can have the opposite effect on asylum seekers, compounding their sense of otherness, a Syrian man now living in Austria argues.
WASHINGTON — I loved Amazon when it first appeared. It was the 1990s, and I was living in Italy and then China, two countries that are strongly monolingual with a scarce number of foreign-language bookstores. Rome for instance, with three and a half million inhabitants at the time, had a couple of English bookstores and […]
PARIS — Suspected of hacking a dissident into pieces in its consulate in Istanbul, the Saudi regime has become the target of public outrage — until the story dies down, at least. Which raises an important question: should French museums, opera houses and festivals accept funding from the kingdom? It’s a sensitive issue, as Saudi […]
A Bogota lawyer’s foray into the world of online dating opened her eyes to ‘Tinder-surfing’ — couch-surfing with benefits — as practiced by a semi-celebrity Belgian named ‘Zebotta.’
For the series ‘Cook Me,’ journalist Elvire von Bardeleben shared a table with Marianne Lecerf and Côme de Chérisey from the French restaurant guide Gault & Millau.
Argentine law has followed social evolution and now recognizes individuals who formally declare their intention to undertake the duties of parenting as legal parents.
This is a story about love, hate and Mark Twain. The object of Twain’s desire (then resentment): the typewriter. Twain first laid eyes on a “newfangled typing machine,” as he called it, sometime in the early 1870s. He was, by then, on his way to becoming the world’s most famous writer and humorist. At the same time, the tools of writing were undergoing a profound transformation — from fountain pens, with their leaking and smudging ink, to the pleasant sound of tapping a key whose corresponding letter was magically stamped to paper. The new technology did not emerge with the […]
Engineers in Antioquia decided to cross-reference data on solar radiation and cloud cover to encourage greater use of solar panels.
These informal banks in Kenya help women acquire financial stability, to help them take control of their income.
The main open dump in the Colombian city evolved over decades from an informal home to scavengers to becoming a focus of communal resurgence.
The tendency of politicians in Latin America (and beyond) to cite Christ in their speeches may indicate both megalomania and contempt for institutional democracy.
Whether you’re a bento devotee, daily cafeteria goer or three-martini luncher, you are being watched (and judged) by your colleagues.
-Essay- PARIS — I shall spare my readers today a highfalutin reflection on the obsolescence of the French Fifth Republic, evolutions in Romanian culture or the worldwide rise of the extreme Right — thanks to Banksy! The uber-famous but ever elusive London street artist recently returned to the limelight with another of his visual pranks: […]
Older LGBT people have lived to see dramatic improvements in how society treats sexual minorities. But scars remain.
CAIRO — “Wednesday isn’t blue?” Ayman looked at me like I’d gone mad. “Ok, what about your name. Isn’t it sort of reddish?” “Have you lost it?” he replied with a snort, sure I was joking. I enthusiastically started to explain the phenomenon which I’d just been reading about in a book exploring the secrets […]
Residents of Sadhan village have a different story to tell
Many people think that to get ahead in the business world, women need to emulate men. But there’s plenty to suggest that the real secret to leadership success is authenticity.
Colombian novelist Héctor Abad Faciolince recounts how a man in Denmark claimed to have lived exactly as one of the writer’s characters. Eventually, the two would meet.
Scientists and Tibetan Buddhists gathered in Gangtok, India earlier this month for an unlikely meeting of the minds.
Co-working centers with free childcare offer a lifeline to the business women of Moscow.
Jair Bolsonaro’s triumph in the first round of the presidential election is worrisome, but a simple response to economic hard times and a corrupt political class.
Nemesis of Italy’s anti-immigrant Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, Mayor Domenico Lucano of Riace was placed under house arrest for his pro-refugee policies.
Refugees who are allowed to stay in Germany must attend an integration course. But many of them fail the language test. Why is that?
A worsening economy in Argentina may cause political shifts before the 2019 presidential elections.
Social media and dating apps have revolutionized the way young people live, and given women the right to seduce.
One study says it will take at least 100 years to bridge the global gender gap. And 217 years to close the pay gap. But we can do something now.
Saying that we believe survivors doesn’t cost us much, but it gives a lot of women the validation they need to believe in themselves and their version of what happened.
Even in economically powerful Germany, poverty threatens the social fabric. And neither the left or right has any real solutions — except to play to fears.
As Tanzania seeks to decongest Africa’s fastest growing city, more women are stepping up to become registered as professional engineers.
From Rwanda to South Africa, examples abound of countries ending conflicts by boosting women’s rights and creating spaces for them to assume more leadership roles.
BEIJING — A video is making the rounds across China’s internet. On a bus in the western city of Xi’an, an elderly man is seen shouting at a pregnant woman that she should give up her seat. “I am an old person! Can’t you see?” His attitude was so appalling that commentators online came down […]
CAIRO — A friend of mine lived alone in downtown Cairo. She was single when she moved in but after getting into a relationship, her boyfriend joined her. One day in 2012, her neighbors saw her heading to the apartment with her boyfriend and two friends, a man and a woman. Once they were inside, […]
BPOs (business process outsourcing) companies are booming in the Philippines, and providing safe workplaces for transgender women to present themselves in their authentic gender identity.
Amazon is upending the commercial status quo. And yet, as much as people like to complain about it, the temptation to use it can be irresistible.
The number of children studying in English in India increased 273% between 2003 and 2011. But there is also a push for Hindi over regional dialects. Child development should be the guide, not politics or status.
Easing pain and ‘old-fashioned’ home care, rather than intensive hospitalization, are proving themselves as better and cheaper ways to treat terminal patients.