Worldcrunch
BUENOS AIRES — They lived in the same building in the Argentine capital — two couples, one on the ground floor and the other above them. Their dispute began 10 years ago, when the two women began bickering constantly. They argued over who would sweep the patio, their barking dogs — they both had poodles, […]
Four years into Syria’s conflict, cannabis has become an unlikely key source of financing for a number of groups in the opposition-held north. It’s used mostly to buy weapons. Jabal al-Zawiya in the province of Idlib is a mountainous area close to the Turkish border. Once famous for growing olives, it is now used to grow pot. Farmers here say the plant grows quickly, and yields higher revenues than olives. Most villages in Idlib province are living off the spoils of goods smuggled between Syria and Turkey, and many basic commodities available for purchase here now come from Turkey, too. […]
Current privatization proposals for the telecom and energy sectors suggest Mexico has learned little from the partial, and failed, liberalization processes of the past.
Jihadists destroyed 14 of the 16 sacred mausoleums of the “city of 333 saints” two years ago. Local and international efforts are restoring the sites, an encouraging a more tolerant Islam.
BEIJING — Since Chinese President Xi Jinping took office at the end of 2012, at least 23 high-ranking local officials have been fired because of corruption. What is most striking — though not surprising — is the stark contrast of these officials’ images depicted in the media before and after their fall. Last month, for […]
Can you spot the Russian women lounging under umbrellas? A (male) German writer says he can. British, French and, yes, Germans too.
Blaming French Jews for Israel’s actions in Gaza is just the latest vile expression of a rising wave of anti-Semitism that has resurfaced in the heart of Europe.
MATADI — Diabetic patients in the Bas-Congo province, in the western region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, have had enough with traditional practitioners. They insist they won’t be conned again by those who claim they can cure everything from AIDS to hypertension and even diabetes, which some 1.5 million people suffer from in this […]
The country’s old imperialist ambitions are back. If you are inside or outside, and trying to understand Vladimir Putin’s 21st century Russia, keep that in mind in making your calculations.
Like hip hop in American cities, funk carioca was born in Brazil’s inner cities, and now has arrived in one of Rio’s most prestigious theaters. Yet police remain wary of what’s behind the beats.
In Sri Lanka, take a whiff of that newspaper. Its ink can help shoo away deadly mosquito-borne diseases, one of the more improbable ways to save the printed press in our digital era.
Radicalized Islamic men aren’t the only ones punishing non-compliant civilians in Syria. Now women zero in on other women for not following the group’s strict brand of Sharia law.
Traffic is decidely outbound in a country whose medical practices and facilities can’t keep up with a multiplying affluent class. Still, there may be positive effects for all in the long run.
Protests over the weekend in major European cities to support the people of Gaza were fertile ground for a growing movement of anti-Semitism.
If you are 15 or 50, you will have a different way of seeking work, friendship, or even love online. But being “off-the-grid” is ever more a ticket to isolation.
SAINT PETERSBURG — It is two steps away from the Hermitage Museum, a few steps more from the Kazan Cathedral, at the corner of Nevsky Prospect, Saint Petersburg’s principal avenue. This is, in other words, a prestigious address. The spacious premises exude comfort and money and are seemingly designed for welcoming businessmen rather than students […]
A crafty entrepreneur is bringing the canceled wedding market to Germany, where brides and grooms are embracing new ways to save tons of cash off the leftovers of altar breakups.
Architects near Santiago are building a new kind of housing in Chile, both modern and adapted to the ancient culture of the Mapuche community.
The beverage company’s Christmas 2012 advertisement features a gigantic Santa Claus that was inspired by famous French giant characters. The theater company says it’s fighting for its soul.
Chikungunya, which causes high fever and severe joint pain, arrived from Africa last December, and has killed 33 and infected 300,000 in the Western Hemisphere. How to stop the spread.
Children as young as four are the main breadwinners for some families in the Syrian capital.
After its heart-stopping World Cup defeat to Germany, the expression of what the national team and the beautiful game mean to the people of Argentina.
KATHMANDU — Uttam Sanjel, founder of Samata School, stands before the morning assembly. Samata means “equal for all.” Today he wants to talk about a story from one of his students, whose mother celebrated the birth of a son over a daughter. “After five girls, my mom finally had a boy. She named him “Holy life water.” But our life has become more difficult. Why is it happening? It’s all because of lack of education. You have to tell your family and neighbors that sons and daughters are equal.” They then sing a song called, “Mother is Great, Love Her, […]
It is said that Russian parents start thinking of ways to get male children out of required military service before they are even born. Can Moscow change the system without weakening defense?
BOGOTA — When 31-year-old Grace Kely sic, a transsexual living in Bogotá, applied to become a nurse with the city government last year, the hiring process ground to a sudden halt. It happened when the municipal department she hoped to work for told her they couldn’t hire her without a certificate showing she had completed […]
There are signs of ‘Denglish,’ a German (Deutsch)-English brew becoming fashionable in American culture. Some of it is crossover from Yiddish, some of it is über hipster posing.
–OpEd– Chinese philanthropist Chen Guangbiao recently staged yet another high-profile charity event, this time in the United States, by inviting “poor and destitute Americans” to lunch in New York’s Central Park and to accept a cash gift of $300 each. He seems to have three goals: to find and express his personal convictions, to push […]
New Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi claims to oppose sexual violence from security forces and others, but there is bloodcurdling evidence that it is still used to silence critics.
BUENOS AIRES— A band of 11 suspected cocaine smugglers were caught posing as a festive bus tour group destined for a Buenos Aires carnival, Argentine police reported this week. The busload of fake “tourists from Ecuador” were stopped near the Bolivia-Argentine border town of Salvador Mazza. After the passengers, 10 men and one woman, said […]
Contemporary relationships are challenged not just by naughty temptations, but by competing personal interests and professional goals. How modern couples reflect whole new values.
With Pope Benedict XVI’s historic resignation last year, and the subsequent election of Pope Francis, the Catholic Church has the rare circumstance of two living pontiffs. (In the past, popes had almost always reigned until death.) Now, with the World Cup soccer final set between Benedict’s native Germany and Francis’ native Argentina, Worldcrunch’s photoshopping maestro […]
VANCOUVER — The bearded Garlic Guy at Granville Island Market looks as if he’s been standing here since the 1970s pitching his organic garlic. The name of his one-man enterprise is Oddball Organics. He grows 19 kinds of garlic and mixes the cloves into sauces (“Nuclear Nectar,” for example) that he sells on Granville Island, […]
Ukrainian Orthodox Church Metropolitan Volodymyr died on Saturday. The showdown between Kiev and Moscow makes picking his successor more than a religious event.
Graduates who come back to Poland after earning prestigious degrees at Oxford or Cambridge often find themselves shut out of the labor market. Blame a mix of suspicion and envy.
On the scene as Germany’s 13th Primark branch was stormed by shoppers at its opening. Hard questions asked after the Bangladesh worker tragedy are lost in the furor of “Primania.”
TEL AVIV — When Lucy Brown fell in love with her current husband a decade ago, she immediately went to work. When she arrived, she lay down in the latest fMRI brain scanner, closed her eyes and thought of him. “It’s not that I was looking for scientific proof that I was in love,” Brown […]
Nashville is grand, New York is cool and London keeps calling. But music is happening everywhere in the world, and we’ll discover it together here.
The construction of Pakistan’s next tallest building in Karachi is seen by the country’s Hindu minority yet another attack in this Muslim-majority country of 180 million.
SAARBRÜCKEN — If you’re looking for the biggest whorehouse in the state of Saarland, you’ll probably end up first at a dog training school. There aren’t any signs yet pointing the way to the brothel — or, as it calls itself, the “wellness oasis” — so the GPS will take you right past its unobtrusive […]