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Future Society

What Happens When Pokémon Go Sneaks Into Egypt

Pokemon Go isn’t even available in Egypt. That hasn’t stopped young hunters from tracking down the creatures.

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Geopolitics Society

Germany Set To Welcome British Exodus After Brexit

LONDON — Britain’s departure from the European Union would have immediate far-reaching consequences for the British job market as hundreds of thousands of British and European Union citizens want to leave the UK to work on the continent instead, according to a recent survey by the StepStone global private markets specialist found. Some 600,000 British-based […]

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Ideas Society

Reading Erdogan In The Heart Of Germany’s Turkish Community

In Berlin’s Kreuzberg district, home to many people of Turkish descent, opinions about Recep Tayyip Erdogan and last week’s failed coup that tried to oust him range from shock to skepticism.

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Society

La Sape, Congolese Dandy Style Born Of Political Protest

PARIS — Donning a ribbon-trimmed red bowler hat and a white tunic embroidered with black in what turned out to be his last concert, Papa Wemba stayed true to personal code of conduct: Always look sharp. The tenor of Congolese rumba, who collapsed and died on stage while performing at a music festival in Abidjan […]

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Geopolitics Society Terror in Europe

France’s Twin Threat From Within: Angry Youth, Cynical Politics

France is not only a target for ISIS. The country must also admit that terrorism profits from its internal fractures.

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Ideas Society

Turkey’s Failed Coup And The Rise Of A “Lynching Culture”

Recounting and reflections of the failed Friday night coup, and the mob mentality left in its wake.

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Economy Future Society

When Progress Kills Jobs, Facing The AI Employment Trap

Technology is bringing us closer to Artificial Intelligence, which will undeniably wreak havoc with employment for millions worldwide. Smart solutions are needed now.

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Society

In China, Where 15 Million Graduates Face Poor Job Prospects

BEIJING — China established a policy for increasing university enrollment in 1999 in order to boost the economy and spur employment. By 2002, some 1.45 million students were graduating each year in China. This June, 7.65 million got their college diploma, yet another record high. The growing number of college-educated people is good news for […]

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Society

Euro 2016 Lessons: How Great Soccer And Good Nationalism Can Save Europe

-Analysis- PARIS — Call it the “glorieuse incertitude du sport” — the glorious uncertainty of sports. During the finals of soccer’s just completed 2016 European Championship, Portugal saw its singular star Ronaldo taken out of the game after an injury, but won anyway against a favored host French team that had overcome its eternal nemesis, […]

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Society

This Self-Sufficient Country Home Is “Not Normal” — Yet

BUENOS AIRES — An Argentine architect has won his country’s 2016 Sustainable Habitat Prize for his very first project, a self-sustaining country home inspired by Michael Reynolds’s emblematic “earthships.” The winning project, designed by architect Germán Spahr and built near Bariloche, in western Argentina, maximizes insulation, is self-powered, has a vegetable patch and even treats […]

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Ideas Society

Erdogan’s Cynical Call To Grant Citizenship To Syrian Refugees

Since the start of Syria’s civil war in 2011, more than 2.7 million Syrians have registered as refugees in neighboring Turkey, making it the largest host country for Syrian asylum seekers. The influx, combined with a rise in terrorist attacks in the country, have become pressing issues in Turkish politics. -OpEd- ISTANBUL — Refugees… They […]

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Geopolitics Society

Home Base, A Village Of Sherpas Deep In The Himalayas

THAME — A small man appears behind us. “Namaste,” he murmurs in a quiet voice. He calls himself “Ang Tshering Sherpa,” before asking, “Do you want some tea?” His house was destroyed by an earthquake last year, and was just renovated, but he still lives with his daughter next door. At 3,820 meters, the gray […]

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Society

Doping: Lone Russian Track And Field Olympian Accused Of “Treason”

MOSCOW — Russian long jumper Darya Klishina has publicly thanked the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) for granting her entry into international tournaments, including the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Following the recent far-reaching doping scandal, which resulted in the disqualificaion of Russia’s entire track and field team, Klishina is the […]

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Future Society

Seed Vault Hidden In Norwegian Cave Holds Planet’s Biodiversity

SVALBARD — A cave 80 meters under a mountain looks like the entrance to a war bunker. Or a secret weapons factory. It could be the stuff of fiction: We almost expect Darth Vader to emerge from a wall. Or it could be the gate to an underworld that is populated with dwarfs and trolls […]

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Society

Tough Question About Germany’s “No Means No” Rape Reform

What is rape? The German Bundestag wants to put in place stricter rules. Critics now fear a wave of false reports and problems in court. But the victims’ suffering should not be silenced, again.

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Geopolitics Society

Bali Artists Fight Project With Whiff Of Disney And Dubai

BALI — In the Indonesian resort island of Bali, music hasn’t always been political. But news of a Dubai-style development has galvanized local musicians and artists. The development involves reclaiming 700 hectares of Benoa Bay in southern Bali to make way for a string of artificial islands complete with resorts, shopping centers, theme parks and high-end apartments. A consequent tolak reklamasi or “reject reclamation” movement has inspired protest songs like one by the folk band Nosstress. Copok, a singer and guitarist for the local band The Bullhead, explains why residents are against the development. “They will put culture on the […]

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Eyes on the U.S. Society

In American Heartland, Swiss Amish Carry On Yodeling Tradition

The Swiss Amish in the United States are keeping alive a vocal art passed down from their ancestors in Switzerland and eastern France. Both a symbol of identity and entertainment, yodeling was also a source of inspiration for American country music.

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Society

Is It Possible To Be Muslim and Democratic?

Can practitioners of Islam also believe in the ideals of a secular state and democracy? A Turkish academic poses the question and finds some interesting answers.

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Food / Travel Society

Algae, The Food That Could Save Humanity

Cooked in Asia for centuries, this protein-rich marine plant is making its way onto our plates.

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Society

China’s Grand Soccer Ambitions

The last time China made a World Cup appearance in 2002, the team lost all three group matches and went out without a single goal. While Chinese fans are mad about soccer, their own national team rarely gives them reason to rejoice. But there are grand pl

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Geopolitics Society

The Battle To Teach Syrian Kids When Schools Are Bombed

Regular shelling from all sides has made it too dangerous for students to go to school in the Syrian city of Aleppo, so a group of volunteer teachers decided to open their own.

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Economy Future Society

Digital Totalitarianism: How Big Data Is Killing Free Will

Humans are being degraded to the status of objects of an algorithm-based evaluation to be sold on the market. This exploitative form of “hypercapitalism” must quickly be reversed.

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Society

In Brazil, Following Facebook Into A Freemason Lodge

The secretive Freemasons usually recruit through word-of-mouth, which is why a recent Facebook ad, seeking applicants for a São Paulo branch, is such a source of curiosity.

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Future Society

Ashley Madison “Fembots” Star In Swiss Exhibition

An artist duo from Zurich is using sex-talk avatars to pose some burning questions about the future of human-computer relationships.

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Society

A Look Inside Russia’s Booming Garage Economy

In Russia, the garage can be a facility for virtually anything from spare parts to smoked fish, from vodka to paving stones. A recent study tracked the expansion of the country’s unofficial business realm, which recalls the dynamics of Soviet time

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Society

Why This Poor Caribbean Region Has Superb Mental Health

-Essay- BOGOTÁ — Colombia’s Caribbean coastal cities have people with less depression, bipolar mood swings, schizophrenia and other mental health conditions than elsewhere in the country, according to a recent national mental health poll. Is that surprising? A few days after I arrived in the Caribbean, I was invited to a barbecue in one of […]

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Geopolitics Society

What Brexit Means For Those Polish Immigrants In The UK

A decade ago, the “Polish plumber” became the symbol of British fears of immigrants coming in poorer Europe Union countries. After the UK’s referendum to pull out of the EU, uncertainty reigns for all.

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Society

How U.S. “Diploma Mills” Are Duping Chinese Students

Trump University isn’t the only questionable American higher education institution. Other self-proclaimed universities are virtual scams, and China is a prime customer.

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Economy Society

The Many Benefits Of Joking On The Job

-Analysis- PARIS — It’s a company like any other, in the 11th arrondissement of Paris. Except that in the BeMyApp offices, you’ll hear a dinosaur screech and a stream of puns. Jokes that fail to get a laugh are taxed. Employees and managers put 20 cents in a jar. It’s the “bad joke tax.” “Me, […]

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Society

Favela Tragedy, One More Mother With A Broken Heart

Violent death is a regular ocurrence in Rio’s infamous slums. But that doesn’t make it any less excruciating for the families of the departed.

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Geopolitics Society

Beaches To Cheese: 5 Unexpected Brexit Consequences

“This has implications for absolutely everything,” political editor for BBC News Laura Kuenssberg declared of the prospect of Britain leaving the European Union. And now that Brexit camp has won, and the UK prepares to bid farewell to the EU, the parties and the gawkers have begun to gauge the fallout of ending the 43-year-long […]

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Ideas Society

What Unites Donald Trump And A Radical Muslim Theologian

Inflammatory speech, whether you’re the Republican candidate for the White House or a Turkish professor of theology, should be held directly responsible for ensuing violence.

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Society

Teaching Arabic In French Schools, A Weapon Against Islamic Extremism

-OpEd- PARIS — The year 2015, an annus horribilis if there ever was one, will remain etched in people’s memories for the violent acts committed in the name of religion, of murder perpetrated in the name of Islam. Faced with the threat of terrorism, we’ve adopted new security measures for the long term, and that’s […]

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Food / Travel Society

Designer Doggy Bags In Italy, More Bark Than Bite?

MILAN — Taking home leftover food from a restaurant is not common practice in Italy, where your fresh plate of lasagna should be finished the first time around. Basta. But as the world struggles to reduce food waste, even Italians may be coming around to the idea of leaving a meal with leftovers in hand […]

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Geopolitics Society

From Sarajevo, An Unlikely Lesson For American Democracy

Signing a petition challenging Donald Trump’s right to run for U.S. president is one bad good idea. A novelist who lived through Balkan tragedies knows this well.

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Ideas LGBTQ Plus Society

Gay In Turkey, Facing Orlando And Istanbul Ban On LGBT Pride

ISTANBUL — Pride Week traces its roots back 47 years to a New York bar called the Stonewall Inn. On June 28, 1969 in response to a sudden police raid, gays who no longer wanted to cope in silence with the social pressure, violence and discrimination trapped the police officers that assaulted them in the […]

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Society

Post-Modern Baroque, The New “Paper” Museum Of Puebla

PUEBLA — Mexico’s recently opened International Museum of the Baroque, in this historic colonial city, is as much a work of art as the numerous 17th- and 18th-century pieces it contains. Designed for Puebla by Japanese architect Toyo Ito, the structure — with its 53 white walls, all a little different from each other, and […]

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Geopolitics Society

The Terrorist Attack Kenya Doesn’t Want You To Know About

An estimated 150 Kenyan soldiers were killed five months ago in an al-Shabab ambush in Somalia, a tragedy made all the more troubling by the fact that authorities in Nairobi are mysteriously mum about it.

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Geopolitics Society

Brexit, The End Of European “Soft Power”

Europe has seen its relative economic and military power decline for decades, but its “soft power” has held strong. But even that is now at risk.

Categories
Future Society

The Greatest Athletes’ Secret Weapon? Their Brains

SAO PAULO — The brains of highly trained athletes function more efficiently than others. Sports players activate only the parts of the cortex — the outer layer of the brain — necessary for specific movements like dribbles, tackles or saves such as those employed by soccer goalkeepers. “These athletes activate a smaller part of their […]

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