The Wall Street Journal, March 11, 2015 Like many American front pages Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal features a photo of Hillary Clinton at her Tuesday press conference where she discussed her use of private email while Secretary of State. During her first news conference since leaving her post as as secretary of state two […]
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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Bridging History
The Stari Most (“Old Bridge”) was infamously destroyed in 1993 during the Croat–Bosnian War. Twenty years later, thanks to UNESCO funds, it was rebuilt with its notable arched Ottoman design. Motivated both by the architecture and recent historical events, I made sure to make my own crossing.
President Rousseff has abandoned big spending projects in favor of currency devaluation to fuel exports. Will it save her presidency? And more importantly, this BRICS nation’s floundering economy?
GOP, WHITE HOUSE CLASH ON IRANRepublican senators appear determined to derail a possible deal with Iran on the country’s nuclear program, and their decision to send a letter signed by 47 senators to Tehran has worsened tensions between the GOP and the White House, The Washington Post reports. In the letter, the senators tell Iranian […]
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Buddha Watching
In the heart of the Kathmandu valley lies one of the most sacred and oldest Buddhist pilgrimage sites. At the top of the Swayambhunath dome, or stupa, Buddha is looking in all four directions. At this particular moment, I was hoping it meant a special protective glance over these two Nepalese cleaners, standing dangerously close […]
With her laid-back attitude, angelic face and Jasmine revolution experience, Deena Abdelwahed carves a perfect image of a modern, forward-looking Tunisia. She will also make you dance. “I like to mix dance music that comes from the working classes. It is much more sincere. It appeals to everyone, not just the wealthy who can afford […]
ISIS CALIPHATE CRUMBLINGAs Iraqi armed forces close in on the ISIS-held Tikrit, The Washington Post reports that the terrorist group that holds vast parts of Iraq and Syria appears to be “starting to fray from within.” The newspaper cites dissent, defections, battlefield defeats and growing tensions between foreign and local fighters as signs that the […]
Vanguard, March 09, 2015 Niger and Chad launched major joint ground and air strikes against Boko Haram in Nigeria Sunday, one day after the militants formally pledged allegiance to ISIS and killed at least 50 in Maiduguri, the birthplace of Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria. The joint military operation represents a new regional push to […]
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Big Fish In Basque Country
Saint-Jean-de-Luz in the Basque country of southwestern France is mostly known now as a popular tourist destination for both French and Spanish summer vacationers. But back when I visited it was still primarily a busy fishing port. This sunny summer day was a mix of both, as we stumbled upon an international Amateur Tuna Fishing […]
There are countless precedents for acts of cultural vandalism like ISIS perpetrated against the Mosul museum. A society’s art and cultural history may be its very embodiement of power.
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SENIOR NUSRA COMMANDER KILLEDAbu Hammam al-Shami, a senior commander of al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda branch operating in Syria, was killed by a Syrian government airstrike in the Idlib province, both the terrorist organization and state media have confirmed. Shami, who held the title of general military commander, was apparently meeting with other commanders when he […]
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Extra! ‘They Killed Nisman’
Clarín, March 6, 2015 “They killed Nisman.” Although once would probably have been enough to earn top billing in Clarín’s Friday edition, Argentine Judge Arroyo Salgado repeated the statement three times during a dramatic press conference Thursday. She was describing the death of state prosecutor Alberto Nisman, her ex-husband and the father of her two […]
Animals have many of the characteristics of the brilliantly useful machines scientists would like to create: flexibility, adaptability, instinctive intelligence …
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Rajasthan Road Rage
Following British colonial influence, India drives on the left-hand side of the road. That is, in principle. Drivers in a rush tend to occupy the middle of the narrow ribbon of asphalt they call a road in some parts of Rajasthan — only swerving at the very last moment to avoid oncoming traffic. Every 10 […]
Just as companies are graded by social rating agencies on their environmental record, they’re now being judged on whether they have ties with Israel. It’s the latest weapon in the ongoing “BDS” Boycott movement to protest Israel’s
NORTH KOREA SAYS U.S. AMBASSADOR “DESERVED” ATTACKNorth Korea’s official state media KCNA has described Thursday’s knife attack on the U.S. ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert by a Korean nationalist as “deserved punishment for the warmongering United States.” It also called it “the knife of justice,” adding that it reflected the anger of South Koreans […]
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Bahia Before Bertrand
In the early 1990s, Salvador began to clean up and restore its historical center Pelourinho. My grandson and partner-in-crime for this series was there last year on his honeymoon, and found it a bit too touristy. But back when I was there as the restoration began, it was nothing more and nothing less than one […]
The Boston Globe, March 5, 2015 “IT WAS HIM” writes The Boston Globe on the front page of its Thursday edition, alongside a courtroom sketch depicting Dzhokhar Tsarnaev entering the courtroom on the first day of testimony in the Boston Marathon bombing trial. The Boston daily attributes the quote to a lawyer for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev: […]
Shia militiamen, Sunni clans, al-Qaida, Iran and Saudi Arabia all have their hands in the rapidly shifting sands of the poorest state in the Arabian Peninsula. Yemen is everybody’s business.
China’s ambitious judicial reform must include such basic principles as ‘innocent until proven guilty,’ and equality before the law. But it must also happen one small detail at a time.
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Ukraine Mine Blast, Boston Trial, Roman Smog
AT LEAST 32 KILLED IN EASTERN UKRAINE MINE BLASTAn explosion believed to be gas-related at the Zasyadko coal mine in rebel-held Donetsk, Ukraine, has killed at least 32 people, local officials said Wednesday. Reuters reported some 70 miners were working in the mine at the time of the blast, and that dozens more people are […]
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Extra! Chilean Eruption
Diario Austral, March 4, 2015 The Villarrica volcano, one of the most active in southern Chile, erupted Tuesday, prompting authorities to evacuate thousands of people from the region. The eruption was the strongest since 1985, sending plumes of ash up to 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) into the air for about 20 minutes, before calming down, […]
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Leaning That Way
Before you ask: Yes, I also have the tourist shots of my wife and daughter pretending to hold up the Leaning Tower of Pisa. But this one catches it in a much different light, both in space and in time.
OBAMA’S IRAN ULTIMATUMIran should agree to a verifiable freeze of its nuclear program for at least a decade if the country wants to strike a deal with the U.S., President Barack Obama told Reuters in an exclusive interview. Obama explained his goal was to make sure “there’s at least a year between us seeing them […]
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Fields Of Yore
On our way to Ürgüp and its strange rocks, we drove past a couple of field workers. The whole scene threw me back to my childhood, when I would watch farmers harvest in eastern France.
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Song Du Jour #17, Grateful Dead
Reports of skyrocketing ticket prices for the Grateful Dead’s reunion shows in Chicago on July 3-4-5 made us long for the good old days when, as one YouTube commentator puts it, you could see the legendary San Francisco psych rock band for cheap, “sleep in the back of your car, wash up at a gas […]
860,000UN Refugee Agency Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl told the BBC that “it is a figure of shame for the entire world” that 860,000 Palestinians are dependent on food assistance. He also highlighted the significant gap between the money pledged after last summer’s Gaza conflict and the actual money that the agency received to help with the […]
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FULL MOON – March 2-9
(March 21 to April 19) A powerful desire for love leads you to out-of-the-ordinary situations. The pairing of Venus with Uranus now no longer permits you to shirk the passionate responsibilities of your heart. True, there are rivals, psychological resistance and obstacles, but trust me: You will have the energy to deal with everything and […]
Growing old doesn’t necessarily have to mean leaving a beloved home. A growing market of technology-related services for senior citizens is helping them to keep their beloved independence.
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Vintage Hues
Sidi Bou Said in northern Tunisia is famous for its crisp blue and bright white houses of Ottoman and Andalusian influence. But a few of my slides from the 1970s (probably because of the film I used during that period) have lost a bit of their original color — and the village looks a bit […]
“The reaction to the murder of Boris Nemtsov turned out to be as extraordinary as the politician himself,” Moscow-based daily Kommersant writes on its front page article, alongside a photo of Nemtsov that was carried at Sunday’s memorial march. Organisers said that up to 70,000 came out Sunday to mourn the opposition leader in the […]
CAIRO — Antique dealers, second-hand markets, auction showrooms, music lovers and historians are the cornerstones of the wondrous world of vintage vinyl records in Egypt, just as they are in similar dusty corners around the world. Egypt’s phonographic history is particularly rich in oriental music, with record labels running from the end of the 19th […]
Almost 2,000 pages, 5,000 commentaries, a huge introduction: The Institute of Contemporary History has finally released details on its new edition of Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” planned for 2016.
Juan Pablo Escobar has dug up many memories about his notorious father, the late Colombian gangster Pablo Escobar. He is conscious of the crimes, but also that his was a loving father.
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Worldcrunch’s Weekend Staff Playlist #9
Senegalese soul, English surf-psych rock, German slow dancing … Only on Worldcrunch’s weekend playlist!
UNESCO DENOUNCES ISIS ATTACK ON ANCIENT CULTUREThe head of UNESCO called for an emergency meeting of the UN’s cultural agency after a five-minute video clip yesterday showed a group of ISIS militants destroying large statues and ancient artefacts in a museum in Mosul, Iraq. “This attack is far more than a cultural tragedy — this […]
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Port-O-Preto
Sure, I could tell you about Ouro Preto’s rich mining past, its baroque churches, its wonderful Mineralogy Museum (that both me and my grandson got to visit, 22 years apart), its failed revolution, its noble colonial architecture … but really: The word pipimóvel (“peepeemobile”) just makes me chuckle.
FIGHTING DIE DOWN IN EASTERN UKRAINEThe shaky truce in Eastern Ukraine finally appears to be taking hold. Wednesday marked the first casualty-free day since the Minsk agreement and the official start of a ceasefire on Feb. 15, the BBC reports. Pro-Russian rebels continued to withdraw their heavy weaponry from the frontline and the leader of […]