Author: Worldcrunch

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In The News

Women’s Rights Hangover: In Mumbai, Male-Only Bars Still Exist

Man bartending at a famous pub in South Mumbai
Man bartending at a famous pub in South Mumbai Shashank Mehrotra/De-Barred Elements

MUMBAI — As far as Indian cities go, Mumbai is probably the most free-spirited of them all. The streets are bustling till the wee hours, the people are generally more friendly (believe me — I’m from New Delhi) and, as a woman, I feel safe when I go out to restaurants and bars. Provided they let me in, that is. On what was a normal Thursday evening in Lower Parel, a colleague and I decided to go for a walk after work before we headed home. Passing a resto-bar, we decided to duck in for a quick drink. The establishment, […]

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In The News

Power Couple: Trump And Kim Make History, But What’s Next?

U.S. President Donald J. Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un after their luncheon meeting in Singapore on June, 11
U.S. President Donald J. Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un after their luncheon meeting in Singapore on June, 11 Kevin Lim/The Straits Times/Wire/ZUMA

-Analysis- With smiles and handshakes and words of mutual warmth, President Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un entered the history books in Singapore on Tuesday as the first sitting leaders of their countries ever to meet face to face. Whether their summit turns out to be a truly historic event depends much more on what comes next. The United States and the world community have tried before to rein in North Korea. Three recent presidents were parties to agreements in which North Korea pledged to halt its nuclear activity. In each case, the commitments crumbled, the promises proved meaningless, […]

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In The News

Some Hard Truths About California’s Water Woes

A drought alert sign in Fresno, California on Sept. 11, 2014
A drought alert sign in Fresno, California on Sept. 11, 2014 Ringo Chiu/Wire/ZUMA

The populous Golden State will need more than short-term emergency funding to solve its groundwater contamination and depletion problems.

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In The News OneShot

Watch: OneShot — Thích Quảng Đức’s Saigon Self-Immolation

Watch: OneShot — Thích Quảng Đức's Saigon Self-Immolation

Our new OneShot commemorates Vietnamese monk Thích Quảng Đức’s self-immolation, which took place exactly 55 years ago, on June 11, 1963. The images of this dramatic moment by Associated Press photographer, Malcom W. Browne, won both the World Press Photo of the Year and the Pulitzer Prize. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/embed/gaFZvscGsM8 expand=1] Thích Quảng Đức’s self-immolation, June 11, 1963 (© Malcolm W. Browne/Associated Press/Public Domain) OneShot is a new digital format to tell the story of a single photograph in an immersive one-minute video. Follow OneShot:

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In The News

North Korean Defectors Watch Summit With Hope, Trepidation

Reopened communication channel between North and South Korea
Reopened communication channel between North and South Korea Ryu Seung Il/ZUMA

SEOUL – They are the simplest of dreams. To see familiar streets once more. Or walk along a river at the center of childhood memories. Or throw a big party with wine. These dreams belong to people who risked everything to flee North Korea and then, as some of the most high-profile defectors, spoke out about the rights abuses and repression of Kim Jong Un’s regime. But now, ahead of Tuesday’s summit between Kim and President Donald Trump in Singapore, the defectors are considering a question that until recently seemed foolish to ask: Could they one day return home? Such […]

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In The News

Cutting-Edge Fear: Technologies That Should Scare Us

A manager of the BYD company tries the facial recognition in a 'Yungui' train in Yinchuan, China on January 10
A manager of the BYD company tries the facial recognition in a 'Yungui' train in Yinchuan, China on January 10 Wang Peng/Xinhua/ZUMA

Computers that can perfectly mimic the human voice? Hyper sensitive surveillance cameras? Advances like these are already a reality, and need to be regulated now.

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In The News

Saving Caribbean Coral Reef With A High-Tech Hand

Mapping coral reefs from up high
Mapping coral reefs from up high Carnegie Airborne Observatory

Carnegie Airborne Observatory researchers map coral reefs in Caribbean to aid with post-hurricane reconstruction.

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In The News OneShot

Watch: OneShot — Rafael Nadal, King Of Clay

Watch: OneShot — Rafael Nadal, King Of Clay

He’s back! Check out our OneShot celebrating the King of Clay. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/embed/F9QajPhHzvQ expand=1] The King of Clay, June 2 (© Chen Yichen/Xinhua/ZUMA) OneShot is a new digital format to tell the story of a single photograph in an immersive one-minute video. Follow OneShot:

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In The News

Austrian Wunderkind? Kurz Eyes Pivotal Role In Geopolitics

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz in Brussels in December
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz in Brussels in December Wiktor Dabkowski/DPA/ZUMA

-OpEd- BERLIN — With his most recent visit to Vienna, made on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin has now met Austria’s 32-year-old Chancellor Sebastian Kurz for the second time this year. Meanwhile, Richard Grenell — U.S. ambassador to Berlin and a Donald Trump confidant — has called Kurz a “rock star” in a recent interview […]

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In The News OneShot

Watch: OneShot — D-Day, Into The Jaws Of Death

Watch: OneShot — D-Day, Into The Jaws Of Death

On June 6, 1944, WWII Allied Forces launched a combined naval, air and land assault on Nazi-occupied France. To commemorate the 74th anniversary of the D-Day landings, OneShot chose this iconic shot by U.S. Coast Guard photographer Robert F. Sargent. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/embed/P4wfLGV0nwA expand=1] OneShot — Into The Jaws Of Death (© Robert F. Sargent) OneShot is a new digital format to tell the story of a single photograph in an immersive one-minute video. Follow OneShot: [rebelmouse-image 27068863 original_size=”320×320″ expand=1][rebelmouse-image 27068864 original_size=”174×174″ expand=1][rebelmouse-image 27068865 original_size=”128×128″ expand=1][rebelmouse-image 27068866 original_size=”227×227″ expand=1][rebelmouse-image 27068867 original_size=”256×256″ expand=1]

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Green Or Gone Ideas

Bayer Can Drop The Name Monsanto, But Can’t Erase The Hate

Sowing the seeds of hate
Sowing the seeds of hate Robert Cohen/SLPD/ZUMA

The German pharma giant wants to do a bit of ‘rebranding,’ after the mega merger with the U.S.-based agro-giant. But anti-Monsanto sentiment is bound to remain no matter what it’s called.

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Geopolitics The Endless War

BDS And Me: Time To Spread Boycott Of Israel Far And Wide

Protester holding a Palestinian flag to his chest
Protester holding a Palestinian flag to his chest Paco Freire/SOPA Images/ZUMA

-Essay- CAIRO — As someone who fully supports the Palestinian cause, it is challenging to write an article about boycotting Israel for fear of being dragged into the particulars of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. In a world that is very much manipulated by biased media, it is hard to resist the urge to first rebut Israel’s […]

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In The News

Baguettes In Beijing? Chinese Investors Eating Up French Farm Land

Coveted fields in Chevagnes, France
Coveted fields in Chevagnes, France https://www.google.fr/maps/@46.6088151,3.5639087,3a,66.3y,345.09h,106.95t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sGwIO7Lw5MkSqvzDGOUXQGg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

A Chinese company recently bought nearly 1,000 hectares of French farmland. Pourquoi? ‘To put French cereals on Chinese tables,’ its owner says.

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Geopolitics Ideas

Brussels Wakeup: Europe Must Find A Way To Work With Populist Extremes

Far-right League party's leader Matteo Salvini in Rome, Italy on April 12
Far-right League party's leader Matteo Salvini in Rome, Italy on April 12 Jin Yu/Xinhua/ZUMA

-Analysis- BRUSSELS — It was a colleague from Agence France-Presse who set us thinking a few days ago, by retweeting an interview that Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission, gave to Le Monde two years ago. “No debate or dialogue is possible with the far right,” the former prime minister of Luxembourg explained […]

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In The News

Mohamed Salah, The Soccer Star Inspiring Egypt’s Youth

Salah fan In Nagrig, Egypt
Salah fan In Nagrig, Egypt Gehad Hamdy/DPA/ZUMA

CAIRO — In the year of Mohamed Salah’s rise to fame as one of the world’s best soccer players, his every move and success has been well documented across the globe, no more so than in his native Egypt. Here, the cult of personality around him runs much deeper, hitting at the heart of struggles […]

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In The News OneShot

Watch: Oneshot — Happy Birthday Norma Jeane

Watch: Oneshot — Happy Birthday Norma Jeane

OneShot — Happy Birthday Ms. Monroe OneShot is a new digital format to tell the story of a single photograph in an immersive one-minute video.

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In The News

The Mercantilist: Why Trump Economics Are Stuck In 17th Century

Trump signs the new tariffs
Trump signs the new tariffs Michael Reynolds/CNP via ZUMA

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump often seems as though he’s stuck in the “80s. But maybe the better comparison is to the 1680s, not the Reagan era. Consider his announcement Thursday of new tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from the European Union, Canada and Mexico. These countries not only supply about half of our imports of these metals; they are also among our closest allies. Astonishingly, the White House claims that alienating these important military allies is necessary “to protect America’s national security.” These trade policies, and the supposed rationale behind them, bear an uncanny resemblance to classical mercantilism. […]

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In The News

The Female Factor In Senegal’s Fishing Crisis

Women process fish for later distribution and consumption in Senegal
Women process fish for later distribution and consumption in Senegal Ania Freindorf/ZUMA

On the coast of Senegal, fish stocks have fallen 80% in the past year alone. The women fish processors of the region have been hit hardest, with consequences across society.

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In The News

If Italy Crashes, Germany And The Whole EU Will Pay The Price

Ominous Rome
Ominous Rome Bertrand Hauger

-Analysis- BERLIN — While Brussels is palavering over a plastic tax that will never materialize, dark clouds are gathering over Europe. Right now, in plain view, the European Union is sliding straight into the next (and potentially deeper) euro crisis. The chaos in Italy — which holds the world’s third-largest public debt, totaling 2.3 trillion […]

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Geopolitics Society

India And Pakistan, A Virtual Return To History Of Shared Troubles

Lowering of the flags at the border between Pakistan and India
Lowering of the flags at the border between Pakistan and India Giridhar Appaji Nag Y

Using social media platforms, professors from Pakistan and India developed a course that looks at the two countries’ histories without nationalistic biases.

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In The News OneShot

Watch: OneShot, May ’68 — The Police

Watch: OneShot, May '68 — The Police

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the May “68 uprising in France, a political and cultural touchstone in the West and one of the most memorable confrontations of the Sixties. OneShot has produced a series of videos with the French public audiovisual institute INA from their photographic archives of the “May “68” events. This episode shows some of the 3,000 riot police officers called in to tackle the student riots in the Latin Quarter on May 6, 1968. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/embed/LZ-NpdTUlbE expand=1] May 68, Paris – The police (©INA/OneShot) OneShot is a new digital format to tell the story of […]

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Food / Travel Society

Visiting The Murky World Of Underground Berlin

Visitors in the 'Underworlds' Museum
Visitors in the "Underworlds" Museum Berliner Unterwelten e.V.

Built on a soggy bed of sand, the German capital isn’t an ideal place for underground infrastructure. And yet, there’s a relatively unknown maze of tunnels, bunkers and other surprising spaces down there.

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Economy Ideas

Why The World Needs To Move On Without Trump

President Donald J. Trump in Washington on May 22
President Donald J. Trump in Washington on May 22 Olivier Contreras/CNP/ZUMA

It’s time for other countries to push back rather than just sit back and accept the consequences of Trump’s me-first approach to trade and diplomacy.

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In The News OneShot

Watch: Oneshot, May ’68 — Waiting In Line

Watch: Oneshot, May '68 — Waiting In Line

This month marks the 50th anniversary of May “68 uprising in France, a political and cultural touchstone in the West and one of the most memorable confrontations of the Sixties. OneShot has produced a series of videos with the French public audiovisual institute INA from their photographic archives of the “May “68” events. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/embed/nVTelopE8_k expand=1] May 68, Paris – Banks (©INA/OneShot) OneShot is a new digital format to tell the story of a single photograph in an immersive one-minute video. Follow OneShot: [rebelmouse-image 27068863 original_size=”320×320″ expand=1][rebelmouse-image 27068864 original_size=”174×174″ expand=1][rebelmouse-image 27068865 original_size=”128×128″ expand=1][rebelmouse-image 27068866 original_size=”227×227″ expand=1][rebelmouse-image 27068867 original_size=”256×256″ expand=1]

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In The News

Yarmouk, A Palestinian Tragedy Plays Out In Syria

Yarmouk on April 24
Yarmouk on April 24 Children of Syria

The Yarmouk Camp for Palestinian refugees in Damascus has been the site of a grueling “zero-hour” offensive since last month.

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In The News

Postcard From The Korean DMZ, The Last Cold War Border

Watching over the DMZ from South Korea on DMZ, South Korea. Inter Korean summit held on April 26
Watching over the DMZ from South Korea on DMZ, South Korea. Inter Korean summit held on April 26 Ryu Seung-Il/ZUMA

Bill Clinton once called it ‘the most terrifying place on earth.’ A no-man’s land with barbed wire and robot sentries, the area between the two Koreas has also become an unlikely wildlife refuge.

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In The News

Why Big Tech Hasn’t Joined The Crypto-Revolution

Time to let go, man
Time to let go, man Mint Images/Mint/ZUMA

Internet giants have now started flirting with decentralization, to try and replace the so-far failed hopes of Bitcoin and blockchain technology.

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In The News

Oui To EU, But Macron Is Pushing European Integration Too Far

Macron in Aachen on May 9
Macron in Aachen on May 9 Henning Kaiser/ZUMA

-OpEd- PARIS — At a time when nationalism is coming back to life across the continent, the pro-European activism of Emmanuel Macron is to be applauded. The emergence of a new sheen of European sovereignty, which the French president regularly calls for, would allow commercial, environmental, banking, digital or migration issues to be dealt with […]

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In The News

Hungry Students? Postponed Exams? Ramadan In German Schools

In Frankfurt, Germany
In Frankfurt, Germany Patrick Pleul/DPA/ZUMA

BERLIN — This past week marked the beginning of a period of peace and quiet for Muslims around the world. It is Ramadan, a month dedicated to reflection, prayers, and fasting, where disputes are meant to be avoided wherever possible. But instead of harmony, conflicts around Ramadan itself have increasingly been coming to the fore […]

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In The News

Brunch: America’s Response To Sunday Mass

The horror. The horror.
The horror. The horror. daydreamer via Instagram

Why do Americans brunch so hard? ‘I don’t know,’ says one young woman from Baltimore. ‘I’m too drunk to think about it.’

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In The News

Reading Tea Leaves In Pyongyang

Kim across the table from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Pyongyang.
Kim across the table from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Pyongyang. Kcna/Xinhua via ZUMA

WASHINGTON — When Kim Jong-un came out in the open, analysts, spies and all kind of experts were running through the footage, sound bites, testimonies, intelligence reports and open-source information collected during the few hours the North Korean dictator visited South Korea, Pyongyang’s staunch enemy since 1953. Since that year, not a single member of […]

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In The News

Fighting For Rights Of India’s Women Garment Workers

The reality behind it all is not so bright.
The reality behind it all is not so bright. Aajeevika Bureau/FB page

The industrial enclave of Narol is a beehive of activity and a major source of employment for low-skilled female workers. Yet finding a job is one thing, surviving it is another.

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In The News

A Bloody Contrast, 24 World Front Pages After Gaza Killings

Clashes in Gaza on May 14
Clashes in Gaza on May 14 Wissam Nassar/DPA/ZUMA

PARIS — The world reacted in a chorus of shock Tuesday after the deadliest day in Gaza since 2014, as Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians protesting at the border against the opening of the new American embassy in Jerusalem. U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize the holy city as Israel’s capital, against the […]

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In The News

How 3D Printing Is Helping Fine-Tune German Industry

Working on 3D printers at EOS
Working on 3D printers at EOS Facebook page

Companies like Munich’s EOS are breaking new ground in the manufacturing world. And rather than kill industry jobs, their technology-driven approach may actually be saving them.

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In The News

The Specter Of May 1968, From Hamlet To Marx To May 2018

May 1 protests in Paris
May 1 protests in Paris Gabi Yope via Instagram

The violent protests that struck Paris last week weren’t the start of a new, 1968-style uprising. But people are angry and disillusioned. And that’s a problem.

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In The News

What You Hear Is What You Get: Sound As Subversive Art

Lawrence Abu Hamdan is an artist specializing in art and audio investigations.
Lawrence Abu Hamdan is an artist specializing in art and audio investigations. Official Facebook page

Beirut-based contemporary artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan uses sounds to shine a light, so to speak, on some of the darkest places on earth.

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In The News

Iran To North Korea, Trump’s My-Way Foreign Policy

Trump speaks beside three American detainees after their arrival in the U.S. on Thursday,
Trump speaks beside three American detainees after their arrival in the U.S. on Thursday, Al Drago/CNP via ZUMA

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump yanked the United States out of the Iran nuclear deal this week and will reverse decades of policy in Israel next week, in each case acting on a campaign pledge and intuition that he argues has already proved more successful than traditional diplomacy. He is aggressively moving forward with his planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. This week Trump sent Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to visit the rogue nation for the second time to continue preparations and bring home three American prisoners released by the Kim regime in a sign of […]

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In The News

A French Survival Guide For The Coming A.I. Revolution

An example of Artifical Intelligence in daily life at a hospital in China
An example of Artifical Intelligence in daily life at a hospital in China Yu Fangping/ZUMA

Countries like France can either prepare, and make research into artificial intelligence a national priority, or allow themselves to become digital colonies.

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In The News

Trump’s Iran Gambit And Europe’s View Of History

Trump announces his decision to scrap the Iran nuclear deal
Trump announces his decision to scrap the Iran nuclear deal Martin H. Simon/CNP via ZUMA

PARIS — “Remember the Eighth of May. History may recall it as the day the United States abandoned its belief in allies.” Edward Luce’s opening sentence in a scathing column penned Wednesday for the Financial Times is probably as close as anybody can get to capturing the European spirit following Donald Trump’s announcement that he […]

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Economy Future

Femtech Finance: Why Women Founders Must Fight To Find Capital

Sealing the deal is tougher for women.
Sealing the deal is tougher for women. Perzonseo

MUNICH — Most investors just don’t understand what it’s all about — and so the scenario almost always plays out the same: Sophia Yen enters a room full of venture capitalists, almost all older men, and starts to explain to them something about a woman’s period. “They find that a bit disgusting,” she says. “Viagra […]

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