Le Temps meets up with Olga Abramenko, head of a human rights organization that Russian authorities have deemed a “foreign agent” and banished from the country.
Author: Worldcrunch
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has a plan that sets a strict 18-month deadline for Israeli and Palestinian leaders to find a lasting accord. If not, he says France will recognize Palestine nationhood anyway.
-Essay- SAO PAULO — It’s the future here, writing with a warning to brace yourself. How I would love to tell you that in 35 years you’ll be able to go back in time, fix your mistakes and change history. Sadly, you won’t be able to do that. The United Nations Climate Change Conference in […]
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FAMILIES MOURN AFTER CHURCH SHOOTING Photo: Curtis Compton/ZUMA Mourners in Charleston, S.C., flooded the town’s churches yesterday while prayers were held across the country in memory of the nine people killed at the Emanuel AME Church Wednesday night. Photos onThe Post And Courier‘s website show tearful people praying in front of the church, as mourners […]
They’ve got it covered…
TURIN — From the forbidden apple to Esau’s lentils, the Bible offers a divine feast of food-related storytelling. How should Cronus, the Titan who ate his children, be classified? With the cannibals, or among those with gastroesophageal reflux disease? If you want to know how important it is to eat healthy food, consult the Bible. […]
BEIJING — In Bijie, an impoverished rural area of Guizhou Province, children are dying, some in ghastly accidents, some by their own hand. It’s as if the place is cursed. Earlier this month, four “left-behind” siblings, aged five to 13, committed suicide by ingesting pesticide. Their father works in the city all year, and their […]
BUENOS AIRES — José Ignacio Bergoglio, the nephew of Pope Francis, was attacked Wednesday night by a band of armed thieves as he and his girlfriend were about to enter their home in the Argentine capital, Clarín reports. The thieves forced the couple inside at gunpoint at around 10 p.m. local time in the apartment […]
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Magic Mechanic
Our Peugeot 404 broke down in El Djem — one of the only times anything ever happened to our car, over the thousands and thousands of miles we drove. The local mechanic repaired it … by pouring water onto the hood! Luckily, there are worst places to be stranded in than in front of the […]
-OpEd- Caliphate, Islamic State, ISIS, Sunnistan, Jihadistan … Whatever name we give it, an entity is emerging in the heart of the Middle East, a sprawling swath of territory located between Mosul and Baghdad (Iraq) in the east, and Aleppo and Damascus (Syria) in the west. Inside this zone, as borders are disappearing and populations […]
GUNMAN KILLS 9 AT SOUTH CAROLINA CHURCH A man opened fire in a historic African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina, last night, killing nine people, according to local authorities. 60 MILLION The number of people displaced by war, conflict and persecution around the world reached a record high of almost 60 million in 2014, a […]
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Egypt’s Wannabe G.I. Janes
A movement championing the right of women to enlist in the military is taking on conservative gender politics, the military status quo and religious doctrine.
KERRY: QUASI COLD WAR U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he was “concerned” and warned of a return “to a kind of Cold War status” after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the addition of more than 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles to Russia’s nuclear arsenal. These new missiles will be “capable of overcoming any, […]
Enjoy the view.
Some film distributors are choosing to release movies directly online without theater screenings. Because of cinema regulations, this new model is forbidden in France — for French movies — but foreign films are another matter.
Hamas, the Islamist group that governs Gaza, is now facing a challenge from Islamic State insurgents and growing disenchantment with its leadership.
KURDS RETAKE KEY SYRIAN TOWN A Turkish soldier holds a child as Syrian refugees flee Tal Abyad — Photo: Ibrahim Khader/Pacific Press/ZUMA Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria have seized the town of Tal Abyad, formerly held by ISIS, cutting off a major supply route for the terrorist organization. Huseyin Kocher, a Kurdish commander […]
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The Three Ages Of Spain
On a hot April day on the Plaza Mayor (Main Square) of Cuenca in central Spain, generations intermingle as activity resumes — after the compulsory afternoon siesta.
With the state of California now in its fourth year of what is classified as a “mega-drought,” Governor Jerry Brown has declared a state of emergency and Hollywood stars are getting shamed over their abundant water consumption. But there are less notable corners of the earth going dry as well, as droughts are increasing in […]
A murder case in which a Chinese student poisoned and killed his roommate has brought out the worst in the Chinese public, which is practically marching with pitchforks for his execution. Attorneys, meanwhile, are urging that he be spared.
Politically speaking, Greece’s return to the drachma currency would be a defeat. But economically speaking, it doesn’t threaten European stability, and could offer the Greeks a chance at redemption.
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LAST QUARTER MOON – June 15-21
Let’s start with some good news! Mercury’s retrograde has stopped, and ideas are becoming more clear, strategies more defined, with communication no longer disturbed by interference. Saturn, however, is back to where it started and returns to Scorpio. Those who have many projects on their hands must use this time to figure out where to […]
Putin Playing Nice, The World Tour by Worldcrunch
Improving trade can boost Latin American economies to the tune of tens of billions of dollars. For that, states must cut the proliferating rules and red tape.
Medievalist, novelist, and renown public intellectual, Umberto Eco’s most recent novel Numero Zero will be published in English this November. A regular contributor to Italy’s L’Espresso magazine and La Repubblica newspaper, his new work of fiction delves into the truth and lies of the mass media. He spoke with Le Monde. LE MONDE: Do you […]
In his first year as president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has shown surprising rhetorical flair, even as he consistently sends contrasting messages.
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Extra! L’Obs On Islam’s Competing Branches
After centuries of disagreements over the legacy of the Prophet Muhammad, the split between Islam’s two main schools of thought is more apparent than ever, as the two theocratic regimes of the Middle East are increasingly hostile towards each other. “Shias, Sunnis: Why is Islam torn apart?” the French newsweekly L’Obs writes on Friday’s cover. […]
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IMF Walkout, No MERS Ban, Buried With Fido
GAZA CHILD KILLINGS “TRAGIC ACCIDENT” Israel Defense Forces have closed an internal investigation into its controversial bombing in last year’s Gaza war, in which an Israeli missile killed four children aged 9 to 11 on a Gaza beach, clearing itself of any culpability, Haaretz reports. The Israeli advocate general’s office described the attack as a […]
ANKARA —Last Sunday’s general elections in Turkey represented nothing less than a cultural and political revolution: Not only did President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lose his parliamentary majority, but Kurdish politicians also succeeded for the first time in winning enough votes to enter parliament. The Turkish electorate’s disenchantment with its egomaniacal leader deals a blow to […]
BRAUBACH — Pets bring happiness to the lives of their owners. Now, a German Cemetery Association (Deutsche Friedhofsgesellschaft) allows the bond to continue for eternity, offering clients the opportunity to be buried alongside their dogs and cats. Two German cemeteries, in the towns of Braubach and Essen, inaugurated the policy this week that allows humans […]
AL-QAEDA HAS “COLLAPSED” The al-Qaeda terror group has been “cut off and ripped apart by ISIS,” two of its most important spiritual leaders told The Guardian. Abu Qatada and Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi said that al-Qaeda has been drained of recruits and money because of territorial and influential losses to rival ISIS. Al-Maqdisi said its organizational […]
There is so much beauty to be found in the preservation of decay.Â
It is politically reasonable for President Obama to want to focus on problems at home. But his fainthearted foreign policy approach has contributed to global volatility.
Studies show that pesticides sprayed on crops are poisonous and that we are ingesting these toxins with our food. Perfect examples are the corn and soybeans Colombia imports from Argentina.
U.S. STEPS UP ISIS FIGHT WITH MORE TROOPS TO IRAQ The White House is readying to send 500 more troops to Iraq to train and support the Iraqi army in the counteroffensive against ISIS, The Wall Street Journal reports. The additional troops will be sent to a new military base in the Anbar province. This […]
We shine the spotlight this week on Venezuela: PRISONER POLITICS Plenty of glowing foreign press coverage of the arrival in Caracas of former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez, who came to support opposition leaders who’ve been jailed by the government of President Nicolás Maduro. But El Correo del Orinoco, a state-owned daily, wrote that the […]
More than 270 women and children who were held captive by Boko Haram have been rescued and are recovering in Nigeria, but treatment and taboos are tricky to navigate.
-Op-Ed- SAO PAULO — Two studies published in recent months show how inequality around the world is becoming even more obscene than before. One such study is the UBS report on the rich that focuses on capital. The figures involved are predictably shocking, but one element in particular caught our attention: The wealth owned by […]
Despite the devastation, growing demand among foreign couples continues to feed medical tourism in Nepal, where surrogacy agencies recruit women to carry babies for infertile couples.