Worldcrunch
The sale and trade of women in Syria is not a wanton and senseless consequence of war. It is a consequence of a war economy in which nearly all warring parties and even civilians use women to secure profit, weapons, access or leverage in negotiations.
Can’t afford original artwork? Never fear. For a small fee, people in Geneva can borrow a piece or two.
WASHINGTON — The neo-Nazis were hungry. They had spent the day in a Charlottesville, Va., courthouse testifying at the preliminary hearing for a white nationalist jailed for pepper-spraying counterprotesters during August’s deadly Unite the Right rally. Now, after the long drive home to Alexandria, Va., they craved pizza. “We were going to order from the local place where we get pizza all the time, but we said no, Papa John’s is the official pizza of the alt-right now,” said Eli Mosley, the 26-year-old leader of the white separatist group Identity Evropa. “We’re just supporting the brands that support us.” That […]
SEOUL — Stella came to South Korea on a government scholarship to do a PhD. She says when she arrived from Europe, she found that the degree came with some “unofficial” costs. “I heard that there should be some kind of payment every time that my committee of professors would meet to discuss my thesis.” Stella did not want to reveal her real name since she works for that same university now. She says she confronted her professors about these payments, but it didn’t go well. “I was explicitly told by one of the members of my committee that I […]
-Analysis- PARIS — The Catalan flag fluttered alongside the European flag and its 12 stars on Oct. 27, when Catalonia declared its independence from Spain. But Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, didn’t appreciate this tribute to Europe. “We shouldn’t insert ourselves into what is an internal debate for Spain,” he warned. “I […]
The new Reality Show ‘Curvy Supermodel’ is supposed to be about body positivity. But the reality is that it’s just positively offensive.
The Bitcoin rate spike, still alive despite bitter divisions in the community that supports the cryptocurrency, has laid bare the biggest problem with Bitcoin: Compared with fiat currencies, it’s painfully inconvenient and expensive to use as a means of payment. Bitcoin is set up to reward users for verifying transactions. Miners who package transactions into “blocks’ receive two kinds of rewards: The additional Bitcoin they produce by using their hardware to solve mathematical problems (an income stream that will eventually cease since 21 million bitcoins are the maximum that can be mined) and the transaction fees paid by users to […]
Xi Jinping knows exactly where he wants to go. Donald Trump, not so much…
-Essay- This was not how he wanted to say goodbye. Gianluigi “Gigi” Buffon’s tears were featured Tuesday on the front pages of Italian newspapers, and not just the all-sports publications. At 39, the legendary goalkeeper played his final game for Italy’s national team Monday night. For the first time since 1958, the four-time world champions […]
The legendary French actor just published a very personal book. So why is he so hard to talk to?
-Analysis- Lebanon can be seen as a microcosm for the entire Middle East: intractable sectarian conflict, economic potential, terrorist threats and a labyrinthine web of competing national interests. These days, it seems, the small nation of just over six million inhabitants risks again becoming the live theater for the region to play out its many […]
WASHINGTON — This is an elegant city. It is smooth and soft-spoken. It’s clean and well kept, possibly because most of the residential buildings in the city are family townhouses. Low, two, three-story buildings spread the city out, creating the impression Washington is bigger than it is. Sparse-density urbanity evokes the pastoral, idyllic way of […]
HOMS – Akram al-Khoule and his 7-year-old son hold hands as they stare at the once familiar primary school building, now demolished, looted of its contents and stripped of its identifying markers. “This is where my children studied,” al-Khoule says in a melancholy voice. Al-Khoule returned to the Homs district of al-Khalidiye this year, after being displaced to the coastal Syrian city of Tartous for six years. He is one of 600,000 Syrian refugees and internally displaced people who are estimated to have returned to their hometowns this year – many of whom now face a barrage of problems trying […]
Japan’s trade surplus with the U.S. is mostly not about protectionism or aggressive Japanese policy — it’s about macroeconomics.
The South Korea nun’s culinary philosophy has influenced chefs and foodies around the world.
-Analysis- PARIS — A wave of popular revolt against the establishment, globalization and immigration is washing over the West. And as the recent election results in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic suggest, it won’t be ending anytime soon. After the staggering victories of Brexit and Donald Trump in 2016, Western elites, always eager for […]
Having spent 22 years in Israeli jails, Sinwar knows his adversary — and appears open to negotiate, with both Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Eco-friendly national legislation and hard work on the local level has made it possible for wind farms to blossom throughout Germany. But it’s not without costs.
The shooting at a Southern Baptist church in Texas is believed to be the worst such shooting at a church in modern U.S. history. Several prominent Southern Baptist pastors have President Donald Trump’s ear as members of his unofficial evangelical advisory council. Even so, it would be very surprising if Southern Baptists pushed for changes in gun policy, because it hasn’t been a priority for the denomination in decades. The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant group in the country with about 15 million members, has taken up issues like abortion and same-sex marriage at its annual conventions, but it […]
-Analysis- Charlie Hebdo is facing another existential moment — and Harvey Weinstein is partly responsible. The surviving members of the French satirical weekly might appreciate the twisted irony. Less than three years after the terror attack that killed 12 members of its staff, Charlie has been receiving very explicit death threats after a cartoon they […]
-Analysis- PARIS — Drilling operations have begun off the coast of Cyprus despite Ankara’s threats against the Cypriot government. And for French oil and gas multinational Total and its Italian partner, ENI, hopes for a huge payout are running high. As IHS Markit reported earlier this year, the “Onisiforos’ operation, as it’s known, is expected […]
China, Russia and the U.S. see potential and risks. And for now, there’s still no form of governance to oversee AI development — technology moves faster than diplomacy.
The stakes and uncertainty are high as the U.S. President begins a 10-day trip to five Asian countries. To begin with, decorum is extra important in this part of the world.
PARIS — Before Charlie Hebdo and the Bataclan, before the Bastille Day massacre in Nice and last month’s fatal stabbing in Marseille by a man shouting “Allahu akbar,” there was Toulouse. Back in March 2012, a 23-year-old native of that southern French city went on a meticulously planned shooting spree that killed three French soldiers […]
For a Paris sex therapist, the fight against sexual abuse requires action against online pornography and the sexualization of youth. The victims are men and women alike.
Think of Facebook as akin to a delivery truck, noting that such trucks often carry guns, junk food and bad books.
Tens of thousands of people remain in detention or have ‘disappeared’ in Syria, devastating countless families. Activists say the issue has largely been avoided in negotiations aimed at bringing an end to the Syrian conflict.
“Trump is finished.” That sentence has been pronounced so often over the past 18 months that it has lost any real meaning. Still, the events unfolding in Washington right now are different. By targeting top Trump campaign officials Paul Manafort and Richard Gates, and perhaps even more crucially, a lesser known foreign-policy advisor named George […]
Washington and the Trump administration are reeling after the first charges are filed in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election.
Refugees in the border town of Mae Sod are uniting across ethnic lines to defend their rights against unscrupulous employers and Thai authorities keen to send them back.
Having experienced its economic collapse a generation earlier than the 2008 crisis, Japan has become a laboratory for making the most out of meek growth.
Apple has opened the doors of its new 175-acre campus, built in the shape of a gigantic UFO, where 12,000 employees will be working. It will cost Apple $5 billion – five times as much as NASA’s Juno, which traveled to Jupiter. Because of the design of the main building, the Apple Park has already […]
Any day now, Google is expected to achieve quantum supremacy—the use of a quantum computer to solve a problem that even the most advanced supercomputer can’t unravel. That milestone, which Google has said it will reach by year-end, will no doubt be greeted with headlines proclaiming the dawn of the quantum computing age. Prepare for lots of stories about how quantum computing will soon do everything from inventing wonderful new pharmaceuticals and almost-magical new materials (good) to rendering obsolete all existing public-key encryption (not so good). There’s plenty of momentum. Earlier this month, Intel Corp. researchers unveiled a superconducting chip […]
-Analysis- Some shoes are just too big to fill. Take the ones left behind by Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died just over a year ago at 88, and whose five-day cremation ceremony began in Bangkok yesterday after 12 months of national mourning. The longest-reigning monarch in Thai history served for 70 years, and was […]
The southern city of Marawi was liberated last week after months of fighting which left some 1,000 dead and hundreds of thousands displaced.
WASHINGTON — Almost a year after New Yorker Jessica Leeds and other women stepped forward with harrowing accounts of being sexually assaulted by a powerful man, another scandal with similar elements exploded. Only this time, the punishment was swift and devastating. “It is hard to reconcile that Harvey Weinstein could be brought down with this, and President Donald Trump just continues to be the Teflon Don,” said Leeds, who claims she was groped 30 years ago on a plane by the man whose presence she cannot escape now that he sits in the Oval Office. In Florida, Melinda McGillivray, was […]
In light of the devaluation of the Egyptian pound and increasingly difficult visa processes, more and more Egyptians are turning to domestic tourism. Yet, while tourists continue for the most part to visit South Sinai, there are still widespread security concerns over travel in the rest of the peninsula, particularly areas of North Sinai, where […]
Much has and hasn’t changed in Poland since the fall of Communism. But while the country’s economy is rolling, sharp differences in ideology bring real risks for the future.
PARIS — Winter is coming. People here in the Northern Hemisphere are ready to start bundling up before leaving home. But if you’re in Austria, you might want to think twice about pulling your wool hat too far down or wrapping your scarf up too high. That’s because a new law, which came into effect […]
Nondisclosure agreements and other contracts perpetuate a culture of sexual harassment and assault in the workplace.