Worldcrunch
-Essay- COVID-19’s economic impact on travel is matched only by the existential impact on the modern traveler. In a sign of the desperation of both, several airlines and cruise ship companies have been offering trips to… nowhere. In Australia, Japan and Taiwan, passengers can book a flight that takes off and lands at the same […]
Sweden’s youth see caring for the old and sick as the business of the public sector. But as the welfare state gets weaker, the elderly can rely on neither the system nor the family.
Concurrent emergencies have given rise to ‘exceptional’ measures that then have a tendency of being institutionalized.
Forging a new constitution to replace the one from the Pinochet era is necessary for Chile to move forward. But it alone cannot solve tough socio-economic problems plaguing the nation.
What began as a small U.S.-based conspiracy theory on the fringes of the internet is shaping up to become a global movement. QAnon today boasts adherents in more than 70 countries around the world, according to research from Canada’s Concordia University. In some of these, the movement is estimated to have tens of thousands of […]
For a Milanese writer, this is how his family lunch looks right now.
Political chaos in Kyrgyzstan, revolution in Belarus, war in Nagorno-Karabakh: three decades after the collapse of the USSR, Vladimir Putin’s “near abroad” is currently marred by instability.
The U.S. killed the ruthless leader last October in Syria at a low point for ISIS. But under his successor, the group is beginning to strike back, in Africa, the Middle East and beyond.
PARIS — Are you sitting down? Probably. Yes, there are new studies that show the collateral health effects (beyond the virus itself) of COVID-19 and the rolling lockdowns include serious maladies linked to an increase in the sedentary lifestyle. For millions of people suddenly forced to telework and spend more time sitting down, and far […]
The scale and spread of the coronavirus pandemic may make so-called ‘herd immunity’ virtually inevitable, but it can also prompt Argentina to integrate its scattered healthcare services into a single, national service.
Criminal turned YouTuber Max Cameo is one of several German vloggers using their knowledge of the streets to create compelling portraits of Europe’s toughest neighborhoods.
An immigrant’s reflections on a dying city that is bound to be reborn.
The pachyderm was believed to have special powers, but was also seen as dangerous, and ultimately was transferred to a nature reserve. What does his story tell us?
“Bienvenue en Absurdie…” President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement of at least four weeks of an all-night curfew in France’s biggest cities sparked some colorful reactions — political and personal — across the country. “Welcome to Absurdia” came from opposition leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a firebrand leader on the political left, who noted that most COVID-19 infections happen […]
A new documentary uncovers some disturbing truths about the unregulated networks that provide more than half of the horse meat that Europe consumes.
France is just one of many countries that have long shunned online consultations. But now that it’s skyrocketing in pandemic times, there may be a mini revolution in health care.
*Other than Donald Trump’s jaw-dropping push for a second term, we will also see Maduro’s Venezuela and Myanmar (also) testing the limits of democracy in the coming weeks.
Latin American economies, like others, have suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tourism could help fuel a recovery, but only if countries do a better job of protecting their natural wonders.
After the topic of bulk sanitary napkins went viral online, the broader issue of the gap between rich and poor has come out of the shadows across the communist nation, including the availability of laptops for students.
For rural communities in particular, serious water shortages were a big problem even before the COVID-19 outbreak made handwashing all the more imperative.
The questions continue to pile up around the U.S. social media giant’s role in undermining public discourse and the proper functioning of society.
Rural communities that have lost leaders to targeted killings have taken to protecting themselves, and without the use of firearms.
From Brazil to Canada, Finland to Israel, and well beyond, the impact of the new uptick in coronavirus is being measured across virtually every aspect of society.
The uncertainty around President Trump’s condition since contracting COVID-19 is part of a pattern when powerful politicians fall ill.
Simply condemning the recent racist violence in Italy falls short in confronting a colonial past and an ‘unconscious’ racism that permeates European countries like Italy.
With the pandemic, survivalists around the world have new reasons to prepare for the day it all comes crashing down.
People are dying, economies are tanking and politics are awry. But that’s no excuse to short-shrift the struggle for equality and protections for women.
As the pandemic’s first wave of lockdowns began, there was plenty of chatter about how it would affect couples, relationships and sex — and consequently what it would mean for contraception. Earlier this year, the UN warned in a report that more than 47 million women in 114 countries could lose access to contraception if […]
There’s plenty of talk these days about forgoing children for the sake of the environment. But are people really opting out of the reproduction route?
Even the region’s top hospitals were caught off guard by the pandemic. However, some proved adept at adapting and are looking at ways to better prepare for the next big crisis.
-Analysis- NEW DELHI — It was mid-September 2014, India was abuzz with the visit of Chinese president, Xi Jinping and his wife, folk singer Peng Liyuan. Televisions channels played an extended video loop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi sitting on a swing with Xi on the banks of the Sabarmati River, while excited anchors foretold an era of Sino-Indian peace, forged between the two strongmen who had come to power within two years of each other. Six years later, the Modi-Xi relationship lies in tatters, as do ties between New Delhi and Beijing. With Chinese soldiers having marched across the […]
Eight months after cutting itself off from the world, the Chinese megalopolis is coronavirus-free and back to business as usual, albeit with a healthy dose of propaganda.
Even in its more profitable heyday, the ad-driven media model had its fundamental flaws.
Viewed from the proverbial (and literal) 30,000 feet, the most stunning consequence of the coronavirus pandemic may have been the sudden closing of national borders. In an increasingly open world, the past six months of severe international travel restrictions continues to disrupt lives and hobble the global economy. Last week, the six-months-long closure of the […]
The World Health Organization is far from perfect. But the WHO was never, as Trump and others suggest, involved in some sinister plot with China to hide the truth about COVID-19.
Movie houses, music venues and art galleries are showing signs of life after a long lockdown. They’re also having to be creative with how they reopen, as certain health restrictions still apply.
Our Italian columnist has a chuckle at those wagging their social media fingers at the new movie that pokes fun at quarantine life.
Around 140,000 Germans are residents in Spain, with large enclaves established on the southern coast. But in the last few years, numbers have been dwindling. Coronavirus could spell the end of retiring to the sunshine.
A new study in Spain found that middle-aged women are by far the most likely demographic to be suffering long-term effects of coronavirus.
How is the Chinese economy doing these days? Start by asking Louis Vuitton, whose flagship Beijing boutique boasted record sales in August.