Worldcrunch
ALBI — During a walk through the heart of the cathedral city of Albi, fruits and vegetables seem to be planted everywhere. And for good reason. A year ago, the city was given the objective of attaining food self-sufficiency by 2020. In concrete terms, the goal is to allow the 52,000 residents to feed themselves […]
Amazigh is spoken by around 10 million in Algeria. Despite its new official status, it is not mandatory in schools nor used in national government.
We traveled to the historical Spanish region known as Old Castile to soak in some of its timeless quiet for a night in the only hotel of a small village. A pack of howling stray dogs decided otherwise … See more slides from My Grand-Père’s World here.
President Donald Trump’s address to Congress marked a change in tone, but his ambitious agenda will bring conflict with lawmakers down the road.
South Korean fried chicken franchises are popping up all over the country. Tight competition is squeezing owners.
-Analysis- It’s every Indian mother’s worst nightmare. Would the son she proudly sent abroad wind up in harm’s way in a foreign land? Parvatha Vardhini’s son reassured her that he was safe and secure in the U.S., even as hate crimes rose in the wake of Donald Trump’s victory. After his body was flown back […]
Massive use of antibiotics in animal farming and for the treatment of common ailments is helping create incurable infections.
Restrictive and sometimes contradictory rules continue to govern issues of marriage and — heaven forbid — divorce for Egyptian Christians.
Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies varies widely in elevation, climate, and plant life, making it the perfect place to catch (from a respectable distance) an incredible diversity of wildlife in their natural habitat. That was one grouchy-looking bighorn sheep. See more slides from My Grand-Père’s World here.
PARIS — There’s no fixed running time for the Academy Awards ceremony. If you live on the East Coast, and are not a night owl, you may very well have not made it last night to Best Picture. It’s usually not that big of a deal, with some arguing that the Hollywood show has become […]
Companies and universities in Argentina are encouraging naps to boost the productivity and mood of students and workers.
The tiny European country has improved its position as a post-Brexit business destination by reforming its fiscal rules and digital environment.
While the EU seeks an agreement with Libya to halt the influx of migrants across the Mediterranean, the prospect of a better life elsewhere is what all in rural Ethiopia talk about.
-Analysis- WARSAW — For the Polish government, coal is nothing to worry about. Sixteen Polish cities exceeded the annual limit of days with smog in the first two months of this year alone. And still, the government hasn’t taken any steps to restrict poisonous coal dust or remove the fossil fuel from the market. Coal […]
-OpEd- WASHINGTON — For many months on the campaign trail, Donald Trump sent a clear message about his fellow Republicans: Ideologically, I’m not one of them. This wasn’t just true on trade, but also on safety-net programs that protect, among others, low-income whites. President Trump, he said, won’t let people die in the streets and […]
-OpEd- It’s hard to say no to the prospect of free money. Imagine: Regardless of your activity (or lack thereof), you get your share of the “universal income,” of the nation you call home. Several hundred dollars or more, paid every month into your bank account — not to compensate your labor or reward some […]
Rio de Janeiro-based O Globo daily’s front page offered a snapshot of the contrasts of today’s Brazil. While top story reported on a troubling new unemployment trend, as an estimated 2.3 million of the country’s jobless now take at least two years to find work, the newspaper also featured a centerpiece photograph of the flurry […]
We all have favorite songs we listen to again and again. But there are few things as entertaining as hearing our favorite singers belt their hit tunes in another language. Love “Heroes’ by the late David Bowie? How about listening to it again … in German? Or the Johnny Cash classic “Ring Of Fire” in […]
Beyond the Filippino leader’s inciting vigilante killings of drug dealers, Colombian leaders who have long battled the narcotics trade might study his other ideas.
Of the many vendors at the numerous markets I’ve visited through the years, the women selling herbs in Jakarta were probably the ones with the biggest smiles. See more slides from My Grand-Père’s World.
As his words and public gestures confirm, Francis is a people’s pope, not a populist, and as genuine as he is popular with ordinary folk.
Our author attends a women’s conference in Berlin, and reaches a brutal conclusion about the very idea a ‘being a woman.’
MOSUL — Ziyad loaded his wife and three children in the big German sedan that used to serve as his taxi between Baghdad and Mosul. That was in June 2014. The jihadists had just captured Iraq’s second-largest city and Ziyad, built like a late-career wrestler, with a big smile and spoiled teeth, was fleeing towards […]
-Analysis- MUNICH — The recent attacks on the Internet would be great material for a movie. But it would be more a horror film than action flick — and it could be a low-budget production since the victims could just be you and me. No need to pay high-priced movie stars. The screenplay would go […]
PARIS — Researchers are on the hunt for the perfect bee. Today, pesticides, mites, viruses and other parasites decimate tens of millions of colonies of pollinators on the planet. Researchers are now trying to select genes from bees that would build colonies resistant to external attacks. Doing so would help save natural pollination, which is […]
This was beyond a cross-country summer trip. From my hometown in eastern France, I had to drive across the whole country, heading for Britanny. I then carried on westward to the Finistère department. Then hopped on a boat for about an hour and voilà: I got to the small and picturesque island of Ouessant (Ushant), […]
Bolivian president Evo Morales has been criticized for his supposed ‘cult of personality.’ But he is no Donald Trump.
ELEFSINA — Greece must repay 7 billion euros of debt by July. But, as has been the case since 2011, the country will not be able to honor its debt without first receiving the credit promised by the International Monetary Fund and the members of the eurozone in July 2015 (86 billion euros). Athens’ creditors […]
CAIRO — After Asmaa Hamdy’s release from prison, where she spent three years, she began the desperate search for her fiancé who had disappeared shortly before she was let out. A dentistry student at Al-Azhar University, Hamdy was one of the students arrested by police following the ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi in 2013. […]
With dire economics and the Trump immigration crackdown, the situation is fluid in the troubled Mexican border city.
Introducing deep thoughts to early child education can pay off later.
First with Obama and now with Trump, the U.S. is making space for a second imperialist power on the American continent, China.
You will find many statues of the legendary 19th-century local fairy tales author Hans Christian Andersen in his native Denmark. My own little mermaid Cécile was here standing next to what was then one of the most recent ones, installed just two years earlier in the capital. See more slides from My Grand-Père’s World here.
The over-50 age group holds enormous purchasing power, yet advertising aimed at older people often looks like cartoons of semi-active people happily going to the pharmacy. What can be done?
Irrational anger is turning ordinary individuals into system wreckers when they are seduced and provoked by demagogues.
Japanese and Chinese rivals battle for dominance in this billion-dollar industry, a tale of a worldwide economy drawing ever closer.
-OpEd- BERLIN — The expansion of Vladimir Putin’s authority is directly connected to his ability to exploit the weaknesses of Western democracies. But people continue to play down the danger that Putin poses. Could this prove to be a fatal error for our system of liberal democracy? “If you can’t beat them, join them,” or […]
Rue de Ponthieu is one of the French capital’s choice spots for late-night partying. But it also has a reputation for dodgy encounters and pre-dawn street fights.
-Analysis- When a hit has been ordered, the chosen method for assassination is ultimately of secondary importance. A “successful” car bomb, stabbing or long-distance rifle shot all have the same final result for the intended victim. Still, there’s something about poisoning. The Shakespearean plotting and preparation required to secure and administer the fatal potion give […]
Navigating the khlong canals of Bangkok is quite a different experience from being on a Venetian gondola. No rowing oars here, but the famous longtail engine – basically a car engine attached to a propeller. See more slides from My Grand-Père’s World.