Turkish political leaders and ordinary citizens are blind as ever to why Kurds continue to fight for freedom. It recalls another open chapter in the nation’s troubled history.
Author: Bertrand Hauger
Bertrand Hauger is a graduate of La Sorbonne Nouvelle school of bilingual journalism, and joined Worldcrunch after working briefly as a reporter in a local newspaper in his native eastern France. He now serves as Worldcrunch’s deputy editor-in-chief and director of content.
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Worth The Climb
To reach the ancient Mayan city of Tikal and its vertigo-inducing temples and pyramids, we first had to take a small plane — in a very precarious state — before hopping on a bus through the Guatemalan rainforest. But the immensity of the site made us quickly forget the journey, and we had no problem […]
EU UNVEILS “BOLD” MIGRANT QUOTA PLAN In his first State of the European Union speech, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker unveiled a plan to deal with the ongoing migrant crisis and urged EU member states to take “bold, determined action.” Among his proposals were the emergency relocation of 120,000 migrants now in Italy, Greece and […]
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Wind To Thunder
The ancient windmills on the entry to the Lasithi highlands, on the Greek island of Crete, look like sentinels, warning passersby: You’re not far from the Dictaeon Andron — the cave where Zeus, the Greek god of thunder, is said to have been born and reared.
GERMANY CAN TAKE 500,000 REFUGEES A YEAR Photo: Paul Hackett/London News Pictures/ZUMA Germany can cope with at least 500,000 asylum seekers a year for several years, Die Welt quoted German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel as saying today, as authorities there expect to receive more than 800,000 this year alone (four times the 2014 figure). TURKEY […]
“Trapped in the fog: 16 martyred,” reads Tuesday’s front page of Turkish daily Hürriyet, after PKK fighters reportedly ambushed and killed 16 Turkish soldiers in southeastern Turkey Sunday by taking advantage of the bad weather. According to the Turkish news agency Anadolu, two armored vehicles were targeted with roadside bombs between Daglica and Yuksekova in […]
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At Rest In Palermo
Judging by the abundance of flowers on the two horse-drawn funeral hearses, the departed must have been someone very important in Sicily.
THE LATEST ON EUROPE’S REFUGEE CRISIS Photo: Ray Tang/Rex Shutterstock/ZUMA The Austrian government has warned it could close its border to undocumented refugees after some 15,000 crossed the border from Hungary to Austria this weekend alone, Wiener Zeitung reports. But in neighboring Germany, the government has dedicated an extra 6 billion euros ($6.7 billion) to […]
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Decorative Canal
Being only 70 ft-wide (21 meters) at its base, the canal that cuts through the Isthmus of Corinth is far too narrow for today’s large cargo freighters. It’s now mostly used by cruise liners, on the deck of which tourists can admire its high limestone walls.
REFUGEES SQUARE OFF WITH HUNGARIAN POLICE A standoff between refugees, many of them from war-torn Syria, and Hungarian police in the town of Bickse has entered its second day, with Die Welt reporting that some 500 people spent the night in the train station and were refusing to eat or drink until being allowed to […]
Guatemala’s parliament voted to sack President Otto Pérez Molina Thursday, forcing his resignation and immediate arrest for his suspected participation in an extensive corruption ring. Like an ordinary felon, he will have to “answer to justice,” the daily Publinews wrote on its front page. Publinews Guatemala and other Guatemalan dailies also showed the former president […]
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Double Bass
The fishermen of Henningsvær in Norway“s Lofoten islands have either horrible taste in decoration or a good sense of humor … and love of opera!
HEARTBREAKING IMAGES SHOW HORROR OF MIGRANT CRISIS Shocking photographs of the body of a Syrian toddler, whose body had washed up on a Turkish beach after his family’s failed attempt to reach Europe, are sparking global outcry. The first of the images shows a Syrian boy identified as Aylan Kurdi, 3, face down on the […]
PARIS — Shocking photographs of the body of a Syrian toddler, whose body had washed up on a Turkish beach after his family’s failed attempt to reach Europe, are sparking global outcry. Will the publication of the hard-to-look-at images mark a turning point in raising global consciousness of the plight of refugees? The series of […]
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Each To Their Home
It is not only interesting to compare the differences in the architecture of monuments and famous buildings around the world, but also that of more modest lodgings. Take a look for instance at this palheiro thatched house on the Portuguese archipelago of Madeira, and then go back to the little house on the fjord I’ve […]
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Next-Door Wonder
You don’t always have to travel halfway across the world to see a historical wonder. Here is a shot of the closest UNESCO World Heritage Site to me: the 18th-century Royal Saltworks of Arc-et-Senans, just a little more than an hour’s drive away from my hometown.
CHINA STOCKS RESUME SLIDE AMID CRACKDOWN Chinese equities fell again today despite ending higher on Friday, following a devastating week for the country’s stock markets. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.8%, and although the Shenzhen CSI 300 ended up 0.7%, both fell by as much as 4% at one point, Reuters reports. This came […]
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Scandinavian Scene
From the park adjacent to Stockholm’s City Hall, we had one of the best views on Riddarholmen, one of the very picturesque islets that surround Gamla stan, the Old Town.
“Dead refugees in parked truck — Only profit matters to smugglers” reads the front page of Austrian daily Salzburger Nachrichten“s Friday edition, following the discovery of 71 migrants found suffocated to death in a truck along a main highway in the country’s eastern Burgenland province. Chief of police Hans Peter Doskozil revealed at a news […]
A visit to the hill tribes near Chiang Rai, in northern Thailand, usually ends up with tourists buying crafts or taking picture of locals posing in traditional costumes. I did both, bringing back one of these colorful hats — though I tried to snap a more candid shot.
The so-called Silicon Age of IT may soon give way to an era of see-through clarity to help usher in ever more wearable technology and the Internet of Things.
VIRGINIA KILLER A “HUMAN POWDER KEG” A man claiming to be Bryce Williams, the assumed name of the gunman who killed Virginia journalists Alison Parker and Adam Ward during a live broadcast yesterday, sent a fax to ABC News afterward in which he described himself as a “human powder keg.” Williams, whose real name was […]
Wednesday’s killing of TV station WDBJ reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward by fired station employee Vester Flanagan, left Virginia in a “state of shock,” as described by local daily The Roanoke Times Thursday, alongside a picture of a community vigil for the slain journalists. The live, on-camera shooting, together with its immediate diffusion […]
As vegetable wholesalers around Buenos Aires ignore government calls to moderate prices, angry shoppers may resort to their last weapon.
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Best Buddha
Sri Lanka has hundreds of reclining Buddhas, but the 30-ft-long one at Isurumuni Temple in Anuradhapura, with its vibrant colours, really stands out.
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Post-Soviet Spire
Strange to think that only five years before we toured the Baltic states, the spire of St. Olaf’s church — which ranks among the tallest in the world — was still used as a radio tower and surveillance point by the KGB in the Estonian capital.
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Stairway Song
“The stairways up to la Butte / Can make the wretched sigh / While windmill wings of the Moulin / Shelter you and I,” so goes the song. But if you ask me, going up the stairs to Montmartre can make anyone sigh.
From the SARS health crisis and high-speed train crash to the latest explosion in Tianjin, Chinese officials don’t understand damage control or how to communicate with the public.
BLACK MONDAY IN CHINA Photo: Zhang Yixi/Xinhua/ZUMA Chinese stocks plunged 8.5% today after their worst trading day since the beginning of the 2007 financial crisis. What Xinhua described as “Black Monday” saw the Shanghai Composite index’s entire gains for the year wiped out after weeks of free fall, despite strong government intervention. The crisis intensified […]
Jamaican running legend Usain Bolt defended his 100-meter title Sunday at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing, finishing in 9.79 seconds. Bolt crossed the line just 0.01 seconds ahead of American competitor Justin Gatlin, prompting Jamaican daily Jamaica Observer to characterize the winner of the 2008 and 2012 Olympic golds in the 100 as the […]
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The Garden Of Europe
Keukenhof in the western Netherlands is one of the largest flower gardens in the world. I was there some 24 years after the garden first allowed visitors to admire its millions — yes, millions — of tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, orchids, roses, carnations, irises, lilies, etc.
NORTH KOREAN ARMY COMBAT READY North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered full combat readiness for the army after declaring a “quasi-state of war” with South Korea following yesterday’s exchange of fire between the two countries, Yonhap reports. Meanwhile, South Korean President Park Geun-hye has issued orders for the military to retaliate to any provocation […]
Libération, Aug. 21, 2015 “Facing the exodus,” writes French daily Libération on the front page of its Friday edition, which includes a 16-page feature on migrants. As an unprecedented number of refugees risk their lives to reach Europe’s shores, the newspaper analyzes the human and financial cost of policies implemented in France, Germany and the […]
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School’s Out
Once a quiet fishing village in northeast Malta, Sliema became the island’s first tourist resort. And with all the kids running around and playing on the promenade that day, it was easy to forget that Sliema means “peace” in Maltese.
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The Gift Of Music
My grandson has quite the collection of exotic instruments that I’ve brought to him from my travels. That includes this Chinese wind instrument called sheng, made of several reed pipes.
Faced with an economic downturn and corruption among state officials, the middle class is venting its fury at Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. But that may not be enough to oust her.
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Rainbow Houses
In Norse mythology, Bifröst is a rainbow bridge that connects the world to Asgard, the realm of the gods. Could the colored houses on the western coast of Norway be a modern-day nod to the country’s folk stories?
What were once quaint and distinguishable summer beach towns have become Disneyfied versions of themselves, identical places to buy knockoff brands and chain store coffee.
MANHUNT FOR BANGKOK BOMBER Photo: Jack Kurtz/ZUMA Thailand’s junta government has launched a manhunt for the suspect believed responsible for bombing a tourist-packed shrine in Bangkok yesterday, which Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha characterized as the “worst-ever attack” on the country. At least 20 people were killed and 125 injured in the explosion, The Bangkok Post […]