How could he think he’d be able to hide a love affair behind a scooter helmet? The French President has lost control amidst the celebrity-charged politics that he helped create.
Category: Society
A unique competition for humans seeking to inhabit Mars has prompted more sign-ups than you might have ever imagined. Inside a space program with the most pioneering of spirits.
Welcome to *Gazablanca…
ZUWARAH — Proudly dressed in his military uniform, Ali Abou Soud looks out toward the sea as cargo ships sail around in circles off the coast of this Libyan town. “That one,” he points out, “is sailing under the Sierra Leone flag.” The 26-year-old dentist explains why he has stopped working for the past two […]
“Wolves are not killed because they are grey, but because they eat sheep.” (Russian proverb) Who’s afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf? Well, as it turns out, more than just the shepherds whose flocks get devoured. In European culture, there is a deep-rooted negative image of the wolf, based on fear of attacks on humans […]
For this Chinese writer, Rupert Murdoch’s ex-wife is a symbol of all that’s wrong with the power women of the new century.
Here are some of the songs topping the charts from music hot spots around the world. Worldcrunch Pick: This week, the jazz label Blue Note Records celebrated its 75th anniversary. And to do so, they have organized a series of live events, exhibitions, book and music releases to take place throughout the year. On Jan. […]
What will remain of the socialist ideals of Mexico’s 1910 revolution, as the country’s rulers dance to the singular drum of global capitalism and North America’s elite?
ISTANBUL — Racism and discrimination have become a constant in Turkey’s top soccer league. The latest reminder are tweets from Umit Cinarli’s, a leading referee from the Turkish Football Federation (TFF), on the second anniversary of the Uludere Massacre where Turkish fighter jet bombs killed 34 Kurdish smugglers: “Happy second anniversary of the Uludere incident. […]
JERUSALEM — Aharon Shulov was a man of faith who knew his Scriptures by heart. Especially the passage in which Isaiah promises a new heaven: “The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy […]
Dieudonné M’bala M’bala, a taboo-busting humorist for some, a shocking anti-Semite for others, is currently at the center of a spiraling controversy in France over the acceptable limits of free speech. After inventing and encouraging the questionable gesture known as the “quenelle,” which some say is an allusion to the Nazi salute, the French comic […]
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In Colombia, Displaced Farmers Start Anew
YOTOCO — “The first thing we did was to look for land, thinking not so much about crop productivity as security…” Efraín Sierra, one of countless farmers forced off his land by Colombia’s long-running civil war, recalls having had to move in the past from the district of Buga when paramilitaries moved in nearby in […]
Russia’s own Academy of Sciences has declared the country the European leader in aggressive and loathsome behavior. And if you doubt it, just consider the grim statistics.
-Commentary- For years, major sporting events have been hosted in the superbly wealthy Gulf States. Now, renowned Western cultural institutions are following suit. But these high-minded museums and cultural organizations are encountering a familiar problem. In Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, the French Louvre, the American Guggenheim and other branches of […]
China is asking hard questions about what it takes to make a big nation a great nation.
BERLIN — Purple is intense like no other color. It is opaque, disturbing and seductive. It is also the color of 2014. So says the Pantone Color Institute, which has named “Radiant Orchid” this year’s preeminent hue. Red and blue combine to make it: hot and cold, fire and water, the male and female elements […]
Kholoud, a Sunni, and Nidal, a Shiite, got married in a civil ceremony, a first for Lebanon where sectarianism warns against loving the “wrong” neighbor. Now they have a baby boy.
GÄVLE — Under the dark of a freezing arctic night, Jimi arrived at his destination. They welcomed him with a plate of Swedish meatballs, before showing him to a soft, white bed in a room that sleeps eight. “Welcome to Sweden,” says a man of African origins, shaking his hand. Jimi, 25, who is from […]
PARIS — A 4G offer? Danger! Bitcoin? Warning! The World Cup draw? It’s a trap! This is the story of a strange country blessed by the gods, with beautiful scenery and heir to a long and rich history. Though full of talented people and worldwide economic powerhouses, everything now seems to be full of peril […]
CAIRO — Tayarah, which calls itself a new mixed-media hub, launched in late August with its first video campaign, entitled “Laffah,” with a very specific objective: to bring back tourism to Egypt. The project invited people to film themselves shooting short videos by turning in a circular motion to give a 360-view of their surroundings, […]
CAIRO — In the sunlit reception area of Jana Dan International School in Cairo’s Maadi neighborhood, golden-framed certificates line a prominent wall. Next to international accreditation and state inspection documents is a notice to staff: “Please refrain from discussing politics at school.” Through the halls and into a large courtyard flanked by the swimming pool […]
Here are some of the songs topping the charts from music hot spots around the world. Worldcrunch Pick: It’s the first Friday of 2014, so to celebrate the new year, here is Jimi Hendrix and his unique version of “Auld Lang Syne”, bidding farewell to the 1960s at the Fillmore East in New York, on […]
Protests are on in New Delhi demanding a bonafide old-age pension. Right now, most Indians don’t qualify for benefits, and those that do only get $4 a month.
Jeanne was looking for work when she came across a telemarketer offer for an Apple contractor in Barcelona. She took the job without hesitating. A few months later, she is a broken woman: constant surveillance, timed breaks, aggressive customers … The pressure is constant. BARCELONA — My story begins several months ago. I wanted a […]
NEW YORK — Because of several successive business trips plus my holiday in the United States, I have been living from one hotel to another for more than two weeks. Obviously I’m also obliged to dine out. What this means in terms of personal finances is that even before paying the hotel or restaurant bills, […]
The modern consumer is bombarded by advertising that exploits our “addiction” to visual stimuli. But after the holiday rush, can we still become discerning buyers?
A controversial French general, colorful British criminal and one of the great leaders of the past century were among those to whom we said Farewell over the past month.
Dubbed the new ‘cave dwellers’ of Beijing, these people were recently found living in the city’s underground water system. Society’s lowest rung raises hard questions about modern China.
Here are some of the songs topping the charts from music hot spots around the world. Worldcrunch Pick: The Beatles’ “I Want To Hold Your Hand” turned 50 in late 2013. The Fab Four’s best selling single of all time was released on Nov. 29, 1963 in the UK, and marked the start of the […]
ROME — Lo Chiameranno Andrea (“We’ll Call Him Andrea“) is the name of a famous film by Vittorio De Sica, where two elementary school teachers who yearn for but are unable to have a child, compensate by giving him this hypothetical name. It was 1972 and the male name Andrea represented the essence of Italy, […]
MATADI — It’s one of the Internet revolution’s more twisted novelties. Men ready to do anything to get back at the girlfriend who left them or whom they suspect of cheating on them post naked photos or sex videos on social networks. And now, so-called “revenge porn” has also arrived in the Democratic Republic of […]
Seven decades after Winston Churchill’s secret coterie of female spies were sent undercover during World War II, the United Kingdom is honoring their service and sacrifice.
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The Disney Princess Polemic
Social pressure is on to create genuine heroine characters not animated models with impossible body images. But Disney continues its pursuit of pure fantasy.
The Colombian city hosts the most citizens displaced from rural areas by the country’s ongoing civil conflict. A special program allows these domestic refugees to farm in the city.
SHENYANG — Zhang, who runs a wedding planning service, was doing her best to convince me over the phone to come in to visit what she describes as a “giant reception showroom.” It has been a week since my future mother-in-law put down the deposit for our wedding venue, a newly opened five-star hotel in […]
SAINT-LOUIS — In front of the houses in Pilote Barre, tires inexorably creep up on a shoreline that is gradually disappearing. The tide easily swallows these futile rubber fortifications along the Senegal coast. Only the large stones seem to be able to withstand the assaults of the ocean, but for how long? For several years, […]
Like generations before who’d set off for North America, Asia and Western Europe, emigrants from the Philippines have arrived over the past decade in a growing Poland to find work.
The migration of rural population into Chinese cities is seen by some as the way to ensure a new burst of economic growth. But urbanization-by-state-planning is not the right road.
Christmas is a global holiday, which sort of makes Christmas World Music a musical genre. See below for some holiday hits from across the planet. Worldcrunch Pick: Yes indeed, every December, the world celebrates the birth of an eternal figure who has inspired multiple generations of men, women and children around the world. For some, […]