Worldcrunch
-OpEd- Viktor Orban was beaming on the evening of his victory this past weekend, which brought him his fourth term as Prime Minister. The Hungarian loves the taste of success. But what he loves, even more, is to triumph over those whom he believes feel superior to him. This says much about a Hungarian inferiority […]
These “birds of paradise” flowers are native to South Africa. And indeed, they thrive near the Drakensberg mountain range. Alas, these one are not of the Mandela’s Gold variety — the rare yellow form named after the anti-apartheid leader a year before we went there.
Algerian authorities have been accused of harsh treatment of asylum seekers.
Lula da Silva needed the backing of big business interests to continue in politics, and his recent conviction shows they may have turned their back on his social-democratic model.
It may not be Europe’s biggest trend setter, but in subtle ways, the land-locked, quadrilingual republic is fashioning a hipper, more confident cultural identity.
The bipolar world of yesteryear is gone. In its place is a shifting geopolitical landscape of circumstantial alliances and ascendant authoritarianism.
Sexually-charged images of women (and occasionally men) being seized and abducted abound in ancient and present-day artwork alike.
It will be marked in the historical record as the date when China took over control of Far East Asia.
Abdullah, a psychosocial health worker in Idlib, discusses helping families cope with depression and other mental health issues that are rampant across the city.
The Mevlana mausoleum in Konya, central Turkey, is considered a staple of Islamic architecture — and rightly so: I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many minarets!
As parliamentary elections nears, voter frustrations are fueling a campaign in the landlocked, former Soviet republic, to integrate with Romania and the EU.
BOGOTA — Maybe money does grow on trees. This week, in the Ciudad del Río sector of Medellín, Colombia’s second largest city, passersby were surprised to see a tree “flowering” with banknotes. Fastened to the tree’s branches (with laundry clips) were real peso bills. Too good to be true? Some people seemed to think so […]
PARIS — On any day of the week in Paris, my morning commute is interrupted by the word “Manifestation.” These political demonstrations and labor union protests occur with such frequency that I often barely notice the subject matter of the protest, hoping only to get to my destination within that window of acceptable lateness. As a black, disabled American, my entire public existence has been made possible because of the actions of the social justice and civil rights advocates who came before me. As we remember the life and solemnly mark the death of Martin Luther King Jr. on its […]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/embed/KZv3UMLsxX8 expand=1] OneShot — Jesus statue at American megachurch, 2005 (©Nina Berman/NOOR) OneShot is a new digital format to tell the story of a single photograph in an immersive one-minute video. Follow OneShot:
Rest assured, computers aren’t that smart. They lack common sense. Or so we assume: for if a computer could become conscious, how would we really know?
Stephanie Schrader, curator of a new Getty Museum exhibition, says the Dutch master was inspired by Indian imagery of empire, trade and luxury.
Augmented reality applications are starting to recreate the physical experience of trying on clothes and accessories, and could either revive or help destroy high-street shopping.
As the Syrian government continues its offensive in the Damascus suburbs, civilians cower in underground shelters hoping for an end to their living hell.
Beverage companies have responded to the planned tax by reducing the sugar content of their drinks.
The president thinks it’s time to ‘revolutionize’ Islam. But to do so, he needs help from the country’s oldest, most prestigious Sunni university.
Mexicans have become as used to politicians’ promises to end corruption as they are used to knowing it won’t happen.
The White House national security team presented Trump with three options, leading to an unprecedented purge of 60 Russian spies, which caught Moscow off-guard.
There’s something almost Géricault-esque in the pyramidal structure of this shot, and the way these seals meld with the rocks of Ballestas Islands, off the coast of Peru.
Scientists are investigating why 68 dolphins — most of which were dead —washed ashore this week in the central province of Chubut.
The targeted murder by a Muslim of an elderly Parisian Jewish woman connects hatred of Jews today to that of Europe’s past. And it’s not just in France.
Set for a second term, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has evolved in tone and substance over the past four years: from soft-spoken insider to all-powerful leader.
Owners of diesel cars are trying to unload them in wake of a landmark ruling that could lead to urban bans on the vehicles.
-Essay- WASHINGTON — On Nov. 8, 2016, Erik Hagerman was struck by a bolt. Donald Trump was victorious, the last thing he wanted to hear. So on that very day, the 53-year-old former Nike corporate executive swore that he would avoid everything that happened in, and to, America after election day. He did not want […]
A quirky hostel in Colombia offers guests bucolic surroundings, Indian tents to sleep in and a generously stocked bar.
I guess for some, it’s a jungle out there in Manhattan.
French authorities agreed to help the U.S. crack down on tax evaders. But in doing so, people who just happened to be born on American soil face massive penalties and reams of red tape.
Indigenous groups say the Nicaraguan government should do more to protect the massive but quickly disappearing Bosawás Biosphere Reserve.
‘Other bombmakers who bought products like these…’
In Argentina, one of the world’s biggest citrus producers is recycling its farming waste as fuel and fertilizers.
CAIRO — Over the course of the past two months, since Ghad Party head Moussa Mostafa Moussa decided to run for president, the party and its relatively unknown candidate have found themselves suddenly wading into uncharted waters. Before he submitted his papers to the National Elections Authority on January 29, only minutes ahead of the […]
In a time of Trump, Putin, and Xi Jinping, Europe represents a democratic ideal alone—respectful of both humanity and the planet. And Europe needs a revival of the Berlin-Paris alliance to make it possible.
PARIS — As we prepare to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the author of The Gulag Archipelago, his widow and intellectual accomplice, granted a rare and exclusive interview to Le Figaro. Natalia Solzhenitsyn evokes her husband’s gigantic literary and historical work in identifying the causes of the Russian tragedy. She recalls that […]
From afar, the northern Sahara town of Ghardaïa, Algeria looks very quiet — and very dry. But once you get to the shade of its main square, you can relax, sit back and watch the camels grunt about.
NEW DELHI — A recent photo posted on Facebook by the Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology, Ashutosh Sharma, featured 41 heads of Indian educational and research institutions. It didn’t take long for Shobana Narasimhan, a professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru, to point out that not a single one was a woman. Only 20% of tenured faculty positions in Indian educational and research institutions are held by women. Other numbers are even more skewed: only 12 women are Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences (there are 197 men); only 3 women […]
TOKYO — Chinese boys and girls are often referred to as “Little emperor” or “Little princess.” They grow up in surroundings with financial means where six adults are catering to their demands: they are the luckiest generation since the founding of modern China. Yet few of them realize that there is an even luckier bunch […]