Worldcrunch
It has the makings of another TV spy drama with a family plot line. But the disturbing revelations of a Le Monde investigation come as a shocking reality for thousands of Uyghur families in China, who may have been infiltrated by agents sent by Beijing to monitor how members of the Muslim minority group lived. […]
The easternmost island of the Dodecanese archipelago is just a stone’s throw from the coast of Turkey, where the president’s neo-Ottoman rhetoric is cause for concern.
It’s now been four months since most of the world reached the agreement that Sweden’s no-quarantine strategy had failed. In the end, it was the only European country to never go into lockdown, and as the virus spread inside nursing homes, Sweden’s death toll raced beyond that of its Northern neighbors to eventually pass the […]
As Israel and the Arab world roll toward a major rapprochement, Iran continues to resist pressure to start talking to its own nemesis, the United States.
With the advancement of AI technology, certain aspects of our individual being may survive beyond the grave. Will we live forever, in other words, just as some artists already do?
The accord to normalize relations between two Arab countries and Israel is a major diplomatic victory for U.S. President Donald Trump, who has made good on a pledge to bring a breakthrough to Middle East negotiations just before his bid for reelection in November. Still, the fast-moving events of the last month — culminating with […]
-Analysis- CHENNAI — “What is this?,” my curious seven year old asked, picking up a pack of sanitary napkins, as I found just the right position to take a picture to accompany an article on a menstrual hygiene movement in Chennai. I paused for a minute, and replied, “These are like thin diapers that girls wear for around one week every month.” I was caught off guard, and mentally kicked myself for the diaper reference. He looked suitably impressed with the design on the package and inspected the pads as well. We don’t have cable TV so he hasn’t been […]
Truth be told, the post-World World II frenzy for straight lines and exposed concrete never really left. But it has evolved, as demonstrated by Kouichi Kimura’s ‘Tranquil House’ in Japan.
The halting of AstraZeneca’s vaccine trial is not only a reminder of the challenge of finding a cure, but will feed growing public mistrust of states and scientists.
With edgy lyrics and an attitude that’s too legit to quit, rapper Houda Abouz — aka Khtek — is pushing against the grain and gaining a substantial following.
Authorities have decided to start cracking down on popular web programs featuring pretty vloggers with seemingly limitless stomachs. But are they really such a bad influence?
The leftist strongman’s latest prison releases of political opponents has nothing to do with being magnanimous.
Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, no sector in the economy has been hit harder than the travel industry. Following rolling global lockdowns through last spring, and resulting border closures and travel bans, both tourism and business travel was at a virtual standstill, with an estimated 98% drop in the number of international tourists […]
Several reform-minded Iranian economists say President Rouhani’s government has been unable to curb inflation, shore up the currency or even absorb liquidity through constructive taxation.
In both Okinawa and Iwakuni, locals worry that American soldiers and their families are importing the virus and not doing enough to contain it.
With July recorded as the driest month since 1959 in France, farmers — who make up half of water consumption in the country — face a problematic water shortage. The agricultural world is now working on solutions to better manage this precious resource.
When Pakistani fisherman Abdul Karim Bhatti, who had been a prisoner in India for seven months, was flown home to Karachi, Pakistan, at the end of July, his family didn’t rejoice. They were receiving his dead body. The only information they received was that he died on July 1 at the B.K. Hospital, Bhuj. Or so stated the death certificate, a bilingual document in English and Gujrati, issued on July 9 by the government of the state of Gujrat. No postmortem was carried out. The Indian maritime security forces had arrested Bhatti, along with other fishermen, on January 8 and […]
HONG KONG — Ten old college classmates had rented a room in a five-star hotel. There was plenty of laughing and joking and memories, but a sad feeling somehow lingered. The reunion was really a farewell party. In two weeks’ time, Apple and her family of three will move to London. Tianxin and her husband […]
It’s just one of many images of schoolchildren circulating around the world this week, but it comes with extra symbolism: 1.4 million students returned to their classes today in Wuhan, the central Chinese city where COVID-19 originated last last year. Eventually, nearly one billion children around the world — and their parents — faced months […]
The European Union should explain why it is doggedly conciliatory with a regime in Iran that represents everything opposed to Europe’s liberal democratic values,
The Narendra Modi government has largely ignored the Tibetan leader, who lives in exile in India, but the country’s military leaders now say support for the iconic monk could be the perfect way to push back on China.
Platforms like Tinder have a reputation for facilitating quick hook-ups. But their impact on society is far more profound than that, argues a French economics professor.
On the Italian island’s Emerald Coast, the summer lifestyles of the rich and famous ignored the threat of a new coronavirus breakout. Now hundreds are testing positive, including Billionaire nightclub owner Flavio Briatore.
The ‘feminist free marketeer’ is an oxymoron, when the free market is a bastion of the socioeconomic inequalities feminism opposes.
Forced into exile in Lithuania after the contested Aug. 9 Belarusian presidential election, Tikhanovskaya is not giving up the struggle to push strongman Alexander Lukashenko from power.
Joblessness is soaring in the western Asian nation, particularly among women, who are far more likely than men to be cut loose by employers.
The coronavirus outbreak has changed our relationship with work, health and… cash. The fear of contamination while handling coins and banknotes has accelerated a trend that had already been growing for years: contactless payments. Both consumers and businesses that may have been previously reluctant to go digital are changing their preferred payment methods. Does this […]
After the Aug. 18 coup d’état in Mali, a growing popular protest movement that emerged in June may be quickly forgotten.
In two very different parts of the world, seemingly impenetrable authoritarian regimes suddenly appear under siege by popular democratic uprisings. But as protesters take to the streets in Belarus and Thailand — and garner widespread international support — it still remains unclear if they’ll be able to turn their mass demonstrations into tangible change. Flawed […]
There’s been plenty of finger-pointing during the pandemic. But does calling someone out for being ‘reckless’ and ‘irresponsible’ actually effect positive change?
Social distancing, disinfecting common areas and accessing health care: All three key tactics for curbing the spread of coronavirus are particularly complicated inside jails and prisons. While it might seem like an already self-isolating bubble, life inside prisons has changed dramatically since COVID-19 arrived. In an effort to keep healthy, many have lost their rights […]
Whenever Iran’s revolutionary regime feels the heat, it stirs more trouble in the Middle East. It has even brought the exasperated Arabs closer to Israel.
A Russian political analyst asks whether it is in Moscow’s interest to send military forces into Belarus in support of embattled leader Alexander Lukashenko.
Consumer habits shifted dramatically as people sheltered in place. In-person shopping is picking up again, but everything’s still in flux for sellers, who will have to adapt or say ‘adios.’
In the early 1900s, the tuberculosis crisis inspired an outdoor-oriented education model that may be just what the doctor ordered in this new period of pandemic.
French President Emmanuel Macron is among those demanding that an eventual vaccine be available to all. But there’s also money in play, and a market guided by a whole different set of priorities.
Violent clashes continue to rock Belarus after opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya was forced to flee the country, following President Lukashenko’s reelection.
What the country needs now is more targeted measures and clearer priorities from its politicians, as well as more effective communication.
The world found out quickly that COVID-19 would be a major interruption to the way we worked. By now, there is little doubt that the health pandemic — and resulting lockdown measures and travel bans — will leave permanent traces in company policies, employee behavior and our relationship with work spaces and technology. Yet it […]
Eight months after the initial warning signs, we still know very little about how the coronavirus works. Decision-makers will have to play by ear for many more months.