Beyond the Taliban’s attack against Malala, there is also widespread corruption and poor state monitoring that leads to many Pakistani schools being simply abandoned buildings.
Category: Society
MOSCOW — It’s not often that the government’s plan and the people’s plan match as well as they do right now. The government is projecting an increase in real incomes in the next couple of years, but it also anticipates a decrease in the amount that people will save. And that is precisely what people […]
In the wake of the immigrant tragedy off the coast of Lampedusa, a reporter sneaks into a detention center in southern Italy to witness living conditions and hear tales of refugees.
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Diary Of A Double Mastectomy
A Parisian breast cancer patient kept this journal in the week leading up to her surgery, and sent it to Le Monde.
BEIJING – It’s rare that one sees the Communist leaders of China transformed into caricatures. However, a few days ago a video appeared called “How leaders are made” in which Xi Jinping’s avatar appears, from 2 minutes and 35 seconds onward, as a comic figure along with American President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister […]
Haven’t finalized your Halloween costume yet? Don’t worry! Worldcrunch has been browsing the news archives of recent months looking for good ideas, bad puns and other ways to abuse the powers of photoshop. Scary, right…??
BUENOS AIRES — There was a time when we resolved everything, absolutely everything, around a café table. Or at least, that was the feeling. A coffee bar provided the perfect backdrop and the necessary mutual understanding with friends that allowed you to talk about anything at all: the world, the country, sports, sex, television, you […]
From the concrete jungles of New York and Mexico City to the outbacks of Australia and Tunisia, ground-level isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. With our populations rising and spreading out across the lands, it makes sense to dig deeper into the earth. There are a growing number of projects embracing this solution to […]
ISTANBUL — The battle over gay rights in Turkey is now centered around a smartphone app. A Turkish court has banned the application Grindr, which gives gay men a way to meet and share information, on grounds of obscenity and misuse of personal information. The ban went into effect last month after the 14th Anatolia […]
PARIS — Desperately wanting to find their soul mates, people who use dating sites often fall victim to pointless conversations, hurt feelings, and even addictive or irrational behaviors. We spoke with four disappointed users, who share their stories. Julia, 30, stewardess “After being single for a year and a half, I got tired of not […]
NEW DELHI — He wears a badge, and his slightly wrinkled light blue uniform has epaulettes. But the security guard casually seated on a chair at the entrance to this jewelry store in a New Delhi mall, old gun in hand, doesn’t exactly look like the deterrent type. In the shop window, display busts have […]
In Hamburg, a major Nazi monument is being repurposed into deluxe apartments. A lesson on the luxury boom, and the way Germany faces its uncomfortable history.
JAIPUR — India is emerging as one of the fastest-growing centers in the global market for weight loss surgery. Two-thirds of wealthy urban Indians are now overweight. Like 56-year-old Chander Kataria and 65-year-old Mohan Gulati. Chander weighs 85 kilos (187 pounds) while Mohan is over 120 kilos (264 pounds). They are both trying desperately to lose weight, and one of their efforts is a morning walk around the Bhagat Singh Garden in Jaipur. “I try to exercise, shake and vibrate every organ of my body, but it’s not working,” says Chander. Mohan has tried many ways to lose weight, including […]
Here are some of the songs topping the charts from music hot spots around the world. Worldcrunch Pick: On Thursday, the British punk band Buzzcocks played a gig in Paris, as part of the “Europunk” exhibition in the French capital. Although putting the punk movement in a museum may seem paradoxical at the least, it […]
Let’s call her Juliet. This young woman is one of the few who accepted to tell her story, under certain conditions of course: no mention of her name, not even her first name, of her studies or her former university. “During my Masters, the relationship between my thesis supervisor and I gradually worsened. At first, […]
Squalid conditions in the overcrowded slums of the island country force people to look for new shelters.
FLORENCE — “This taxi is a revolution of love: I’m rediscovering life thanks to death …” Caterina Bellandi’s words are nearly as colorful as her coat. For the past 12 years, this exuberant Florentine taxi driver has turned off the meter to give joy rides around Florence to child cancer patients, or simply accompany them […]
MBANDAKA — Don’t tell Mfutu Etawale Ratis he’s a magician or a witch doctor. The self-proclaimed traditional practitioner says he can cure mental illness. And in this northwestern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where modern treatments are often missing, Ratis is one of the only people trying to help patients with mental disorders. […]
Since the discovery, Csanad Szegedi, one of the founders of Hungary’s far-right party, has lost his old friends and found a new way to spend his Saturdays.
After being arrested by French police during a school field trip, then deported with her family to Kosovo, 15-year-old Leonarda has become a symbol of Roma everywhere.
Our Worldcrunch Impact special editor has lived in half a dozen different cities around the world, always with an eye out for the local features that improve modern life.
TUNIS – At a recent Ghana vs. Egypt World Cup qualifying match, Ghanaian soccer fans wore yellow t-shirts and held signs featuring a dark black hand holding up four fingers. The clear attempt to taunt the Egyptian fans is the latest appearance of what has become an increasingly important symbol of the sharp divisions in […]
The Brazilian indigenous Guarani nation has had their land taken away and way of life threatened – now a new study shows the suicide rate is 34 times higher than the national average.
GENEVA — Imagine yourself in the office of a senior executive of a big company, such as Nestlé or UBS. But instead of typing on his computer’s keyboard, the man just sits still, chin resting on his fist and gazing as if lost in thought. Like a modern thinker, he invokes Aristotle and reflects on […]
Here are some of the songs topping the charts from music hot spots around the world. Worldcrunch Pick: This October, the New York-based record label Luaka Bop re-released some of William Onyeabor’s best works. The album is conveniently called “Who is William Onyeabor?” The Nigerian funk musician, who came to prominence in the late 1970s, […]
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Is China’s Urban Boom A House Of Cards?
BEIJING — “Better city, better life …” This was the theme of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, a nod to the ancient Greek scholar Aristotle who understood what people expect from urban life: to make their living a better living. But what is the reality in people’s lives right now? During China’s golden week — […]
MOSCOW — In the wake of last weekend’s anti-immigrant riots in Moscow and the burning of a produce warehouse, the Russian government still seems to be holding on stubbornly to the idea that the problem is simply uncontrolled migration from the post-Soviet states. The government has made frequent tweaks to the immigration laws in the […]
Bad-mouthing your colleagues can actually have unexpected benefits, both for the gossiper and the company itself, says the French author of a controversial new book.
TEL AVIV — The Israeli middle class is tired of paying a full hour’s salary for a few bites of street food — and the market is reacting. Cofix, a leading coffee to-go chain, broke all the rules and came up with the symbolic price of 5 shekels ($1.40) for either a cup of coffee, […]
SAO PAULO — A Brazilian version of Ronald McDonald, the famous clown mascot, has taken to visiting nursery schools, kindergartens and primary schools. The well-known face of the fast food chain has been performing shows for young children and even babies, at both public and private schools. But not everyone is so amused. A growing […]
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Eid Al-Adha Around The World
Eid al-Adha is a central holiday on the Muslim calendar, celebrating Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son to God. Muslims all over the world go to mosque for prayers and thank Allah for their blessings. Those who can afford it then sacrifice a sheep, or sometimes a goat, as a reminder of Abraham’s obedience and […]
TEL AVIV — The Nobel Prize ceremony is usually an occasion for celebration in Israel, as there is often at least one Israeli citizen among the honorees. This year, two Israelis were awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, but the country’s pride was bittersweet since both scientists live in the United States. The rise in […]
Russians have one of the highest levels of indifference, or anomie, in the world. They don’t know whether they want tea or coffee, much less democracy or authoritarianism.
A young climber discovered a treasure believed to be from a 1966 Indian plane crash and turned it in to authorities. Now nearby alpine towns fear wreckage seekers may come in droves.
SAO PAULO — Watch out William Tell wannabes: There’s a big group of archers training from dawn until dusk in the hopes of golden glory at the 2016 Olympic games in Rio. What makes them different from any other athletes training for the Olympics? Well, just a minor detail: Until very recently, they had been […]
BEIJING — In China, questions over how to treat workers who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) has always been controversial. LGBT people in China are referred to as tong-zhi, which literally means “comrade.” Today’s Chinese entrepreneurs need to look at the issue from a new perspective. That is, how to be more open-minded […]
SAINT-GIRONS — Jean Benazet is still in shock. In the early morning of Sept. 9, he discovered 30 of his sheep lying motionless at the bottom of a cliff. It was clear right away that they had all fallen to their death. He and his herd had been spending the season in the summer pastures […]
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Can Smokers Be Shocked Into Quitting?
Public smoking bans, written warnings, shocking images on cigarette packets: Deterrent measures grow worldwide, though consumption in developing countries continues to rise.