WorldcrunchI am currently pursuing a bilingual M.A. in journalism at La Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris.
In China, “Fashion Grandmothers” on Douyin are redefining aging, blending style, storytelling, and social media stardom. Retirees in elegant cheongsams and trendy outfits are challenging stereotypes, attracting millions of young followers, and turning old age into the latest cultural trend.
In Italy, Epicurus’s “Letter on Happiness” is being sold at pharmacies to help people face down the stress and anxiety of COVID times.
Countries are rolling out increasingly aggressive campaigns in an international effort to vaccinate the world out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two weeks ago, Italy became the first European country to make COVID-19 health passes mandatory for all workers, while others, including the U.S, France and Hungary, have mandated vaccination for federal workers or healthcare staff. […]
Alice, 28 years old, from Genoa, terminated her pregnancy one year ago. “It is neither a transgression nor disgrace, I only exercised my right to do so.”
Chinese cosmetic and apparel companies that once operated in obscurity are now making a real name for themselves, at least among domestic consumers, who see brands like Li-Ning and Bosideng as providing both quality and style.
Welcome to Monday, where the Taliban seize control of the last pocket of resistance in Afghanistan, a coup is underway in Guinea and Napoleon’s hat is up for sale. We also look at the success and failure of New Zealand’s unique COVID-19 strategy, as the country struggles to tame its Delta outbreak.
Becoming a democracy is not something willed upon a nation, especially by another country.
Johnny Hallyday is perhaps the most American icon France has ever produced. Dubbed the “French Elvis’, the late rocker put a je-ne-sais-quoi touch on a quintessentially U.S. musical genre, gave himself a Yankee stage name and wore leather and faded Levi’s. And bien sûr, his motorcycle of choice was a Harley-Davidson. Still, Hallyday, who died […]
What happens when lightning strikes a plane? First, thanks to modern safety features, it flies on and lands without incident. But in Togo, airport staff last week made sure one such plane was thoroughly *explored and inspected.
Let’s be honest, as European capital names go, Budapest (Hungary) and Bucharest (Romania) are pretty similar. It’s even slightly closer in French: Budapest and Bucarest. Still, for six French football fans who wanted to watch last week’s France v. Hungary match live, we can only wonder how this geographic blooper could have gone this far. […]
The infamous (yet legal) Japanese criminal syndicate was already suffering under new laws when the pandemic hit. Now its business model is crumbling.
The pandemic has radically changed the way we manage hygiene in public spaces. Some new things are added, like hand sanitizer distributors at the entrance of shops; some are taken away, like holy water from the decorative font of your local church. But what if the former concept were applied to the latter? In Rennes, […]
It’s an economic dictum that virtually anything that is rare is bound to create a valuable market: diamonds, limited edition clothing and, in Japan, obese people. In a country where the obesity rate is among the world’s lowest — only 3.6% of the population is fat, compared to 27% in Australia — a Japanese company […]
For more than a year now, humans around the world have been masking up to limit the spread of COVID. Now, masks may be deployed among another species to combat a very different global ill: cow burps. The agricultural multinational Cargill is inaugurating a new kind of face mask designed to absorb cows’ gaseous emissions. […]
“Preheat oven to 250 °C, add three teaspoons of salt into water, rinse and peel the asparagus and wait 30 minutes before cooking…” If you are craving asparagus au gratin after reading these lines, you can find the rest of the recipe online, on any number of cooking websites … Or, until a few days […]
At 3,304 and counting, the list of officially recognized emojis includes more than just happy faces, hearts and clinking beer mugs. With certain icons there are politics at play, and even questions about regional pride and sovereignty, as lawmakers in the Canadian province of Quebec made clear in recent days. For now, there is no […]
Western media like to run headlines warning of a “new Cold War” every time a new conflict or act of repression occurs in post-Soviet authoritarian, But Belarus’ brazen intercepting of a Ryanair jet is something that never would have happened on either sid
Busted for hanging anti-government posters, 15-year-old Nikita has been jailed for almost a year on charges of ‘terrorism,’ and has yet to even go to trial.
PARIS — Getting your driver’s license in France is no small feat. Endless hours of studying the holy “code de la route” for a tricky written exam, followed by a minimum of 20 hours of mandatory driving lessons before the road test. And high rates of failing marks all around. But for one teenager near […]
Grandpa, pass the unmarked 20s….
Proposed Italian legislation to punish public acts of homophobia continues to be blocked by both the Catholic Church and right-wing politicians. But the country’s most popular rapper has entered the debate.
If we know that greed is one of the seven deadly sins, what about lust for German cars? A Lisbon priest has received a four-and-a-half-year suspended jail sentence for aggravated breach of trust and embezzlement, having taken his parishioners’ money to buy no fewer than 19 automobiles. Although Antònio Teixeira is known among his flock […]
Welcome to Wednesday, where we’re following the breaking news of the assassination of Haiti’s president. Also Iran acknowledges it is enriching uranium and the ship that blocked the Suez canal is finally free to sail away. In other news, we look at the rock’n’roll statue controversy that pits Paris greens vs. Harley-Davidson. • Haitian President […]
Welcome to Friday, where the global COVID-19 death toll exceeds 4 million, ousted Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo is back in town and Joe Biden makes Juneteenth official. We also go to Hong Kong where so-called “vaccine hesitancy” is particularly high as a direct result of rising mistrust of the government. • Global COVID-19 death […]