Worldcrunch
BUENOS AIRES — A new map of the Argentine capital shows 50 Art Nouveau buildings, a style of art and architecture popular from 1890 to 1910, putting the city at the forefront of early 20th century architecture. Some are impressive at first glance, like the Casal de Cataluña in the heart of the San Telmo […]
Here are some of the songs topping the charts around the world. Worldcrunch Pick Former Blur frontman Damon Albarn has released a new video and track, “Lonely Press Play,” from his upcoming album Everyday Robots. Shot by Albarn himself using just a tablet, the clip shows brief images of his travels around the world, from […]
CAIRO — He might as well already be president. His photo is on every wall in Cairo. His constant television appearances, broadcasts of his speeches and video clips glorifying the army eclipse the presence of interim leader Adly Mansour. Even Field Marshall Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s mention of his night visions from 35 years ago, in […]
BEIJING — China’s central government has imposed new requirements to severely limit the population in the country’s “mega-cities.” In the booming capital, whose population has topped 20 million, the focus has been on using economic regulations to stem the rising number of inhabitants. “Controlling the population by controlling business categories” is one of the key […]
The financial crisis has seen middle-aged French increasingly returning to their family nests. For many, it can be a special kind of shame to move back in with elderly parents.
The Swiss are training the first generation of Mandarin-speaking ski instructors, part of a campaign to lure newly rich from China to come play in the snow — with help from Bollywood.
The average man spends a year of his life waiting on women — outside bathrooms, in cars, beyond changing-room curtains. It may be the truest modern measure of gender politics.
China has its fashionista culture, and it is increasingly original rather than a knock-off of someone else’s city chic.
Much more freedom is allowed in Lithuania than across the border in Belarus, where strongman Alexander Lukashenko shut down top universities.
DALOA — The Ivory Coast was on the verge of losing its last forest elephants. It is a risk with some bitter irony, as elephants are the emblem of the nation. So a rescue operation like those already carried out in Zambia and Malawi, but unprecedented in West Africa, was launched at the end of […]
For the Greek philosopher Diogenes, self-control and self-sufficiency were the essential values. He lived a life with no possessions, except for a cloak, a purse and a barrel made out of clay in which he would sleep. Intrigued, the emperor Alexander The Great went to visit him. “I’m the most powerful man in the world. […]
Here are some of the songs topping the charts from music hot spots around the world. Worldcrunch Pick This week, British heavy metal band Motörhead announced they will organize a festival cruise setting off from Miami next fall. Named “MotörBoat,” the rock ’n’ roll cruise will also hit Key West and Cozumel before returning to […]
SIALKOT — Mohammad Idrees walks slowly, with the help of his crutches, to the factory where he works in Sialkot, Pakistan. The 35-year-old has been stitching soccer balls here for more than 17 years, earning $3 a day to support his wife and six children. “I don’t have any other skills to earn a living, so I would have ended up roaming around the city or begging on the street if it wasn’t for the football factory in our village,” Idrees says as he sits on a low chair with some 30 other workers inside the factory. “I work for […]
A German court case’s impending verdict is poised to create a controversial precedent in this aging country, where a child is asked to finance elder care for a father who had cut him out of his life.
The English chose to build their towns next to rivers. The French instead built on the ruins of Roman cities. A look at how these centuries-old decisions have impacted today’s economy.
The singular story of a Somali restaurateur who left the sweet life in the UK to return to his war-ravaged homeland, where he has survived multiple attacks on his restaurant.
A failure of the American peace initiative in the Middle East could cause a severe political crisis that will undermine both the economy and the stability of the Palestinian Authority.
Japanese artist Hiroshi Sunairi has a personal connection with Hiroshima. Apart from growing up in the city, his mother and grandmother were exposed to radiation when the atomic bomb dropped on the city in 1945. Many years later, while working with the Hiroshima museum, Sunairi attended a lecture by botanist Chikara Horiguchi who spoke about Hibaku trees, some of the so-called “silent survivors’ of that fateful day. “I was really moved by his work and philosophy. He talks about trees and nature not having an ideology, but they can symbolize a lot of things if we think about them alongside […]
The world of news in seven quotes – Seven quotes making world news.
Here are some of the songs topping the charts from music hot spots around the world. Worldcrunch Pick: The American singer Beck is set to release his 12th studio album, Morning Phase, on Feb. 25, after more than five years since his last record, Modern Guilt. The Californian musician, specialized in blending folk and hip […]
Torn T-shirts, dead remote controls and jammed DVD players aren’t necessarily doomed for the junk heap. Sustainability is the watchword at these special German locales.
The neighborhood in Seoul known to Westerns from Psy’s mega-hit single is also the place status-conscious South Koreans go to get married. But something is lost in all the ritz.
HAMBURG — Georgios Titokis is actually too old for the remote-controlled car he’s holding in his hand. But the toy interests him. Cautiously, the Greek-born Titokis removes the beach buggy from its box and checks to see if any parts are missing. Then he checks the batteries and looks for any sign of wear and […]
Patriotism over tolerance, says the military-minded ethnic population helping to ensure (though unarmed) Olympic security as Cossacks reassert their historic role.
A first-of-its-kind study last year found that one in 15 pregnant women is anorexic. Gaunt women are even posting cringe-worthy photos of their baby bumps on pro-anorexia forums.
Do Sao Paulo’s public transport woes bode badly for this year’s World Cup?
During the country’s civil war in the 1980s, countless children were abducted and sold off into adoption. Some in Europe are now joining the hunt to know their origins.
In Suo-Oshima, nearly half the residents are over the age of 65. Increasingly, the city’s destiny looks to be a sign of what’s to come across a Japan that is aging far too fast.
Since its inception, Israel has exempted ultra-Orthodox Jews from military service and offered them a host of subsidies. But as demographics change, many say the policy must end.
In Ivory Coast, the world’s biggest source of cocoa beans, illegal cultivation has spread into Mont Péko National Park, threatening both wildlife and the well-being of children.
Nostalgia, illness and the pain of missing loved ones pushes some to try to ‘re-defect’ back to North Korea. But Seoul won’t allow it, and the risk of punishment upon their return is huge.
BOR — Apart from the birds of prey gliding in the hot air, everything is as motionless as the corpse with the mummified face. It is a man, judging by his clothes, and he had curled up in a hole no bigger than a basin, hoping to be invisible in the grass. He had clearly […]
Here are some of the songs topping the charts from music hot spots around the world. Worldcrunch Pick: On Feb. 21 and 22, rare recordings by British bands The Stone Roses and Oasis are set to be auctionned in Stockport, U.K. The auctions will include some of the two Manchester bands’ first-ever recorded demo tapes […]
SOCHI – For those around the world watching the Olympic Games on television, the location of the event is not, in the end, what matters. The important thing is who is skating faster, spinning better and winning golds and silvers. And then, before we know it, they ski away – in just a couple of […]
The capital’s unique harbor has driven Cuba’s economy for centuries. But with Brazil’s help, the building of a new commerical port of Mariel marks a turning point in the island’s history.
After the Arab spring, the way people put each other down has evolved with events on the streets. Here’s a glossary of all you need to know to verbally smack down your adversary.
PARIS — Elegance is the watch word here, as a young model walks down the aisle, wearing a pair of astonishingly shaped stilettos, its complex patterns reminiscent of certain architectural constructions. The graceful shoes, created by French designer Pierre Renaux, were made entirely with a machine that is on the verge of changing the world, […]
For those in the gay, lesbian and transgender community rejected by their own loved ones, a shelter in the Colombian capital offers comfort, but also practical support to build a new life.
Accused of producing “false news” in the country, 20 Al Jazeera staff members have been detained in Egypt. What’s driving the crackdown? What will defenders of free press do now?
With French unemployment at record levels, times are tough for clients and workers of an unemployment agency in one of Marseille’s poorest, most crime-ridden areas.