On the island of Sardinia, asylum seekers rebuild their lives on the football pitch.
Author: Giacomo
London-born Italian journalist and translator. Currently an undergraduate student at the University of California, Berkeley in the Class of 2017, with a double major in Political Science and Political Economy and a contributor at Worldcrunch. I've lived in six different countries on four continents and have a strong interest in current events, geopolitics, and economics. Previously worked for The Jakarta Globe, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, and The Daily Californian.
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Uruguay President vs. Big Tobacco
MONTEVIDEO — While other world leaders used their slot at this week’s United Nations General Assembly to argue over Syria or the global economy, Uruguayan President Tabaré Vázquez had smoke on his mind. After winning a second non-consecutive term last November, Vázquez launched a full-scale attack on the global tobacco industry, accusing cigarette companies of […]
This week we shine the spotlight on Mexico: CHILD TRAFFICKING PROBE IN SONORA Mexican national daily Excelsior reports that the country’s Attorney General formally charged two officials from the northern state of Sonora with child trafficking. The case first emerged last month, when Vladimir Alfredo Arzate and José Hernández López, both officials at a government […]
BRASILIA — While most Brazilians are focused on the country’s deepening economic and political crises, some politicians have another priority. A special committee in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies passed a controversial statute last week that defined a family as a concept beginning from the union of a man and a woman. Rio de Janeiro […]
The breakaway country’s fight for independence has lasted 25 years in the rubble of the Soviet empire. There is, inevitably perhaps, a growing religious rhetoric to the battle.
On the eve of the pontiff’s visit to the United States, confidential Obama administration documents reveal a remarkable harmony with Francis’ objectives.
From local politics to the the battle against polio to a banned prostitution film, here’s a quick tour of what has been happening in Morocco in recent days.
Under a repressive regime that outlaws independent lawyers, Laritza Diversent is blazing a trail for victims of Cuba’s harsh judicial system.
Arcangelo Ricciardi’s rise in the world of chess seemed too sudden. And it was. Caught using hidden mini webcams to defeat international chess masters, his board is tipped.
New waves of migrants, including Syrian war refugees, seek to reach the gates of Europe at the Hungarian border.
Thousands of asylum seekers are passing through the small Balkan nation on their way to the European Union, but the short journey is far more arduous than it seems.
It gives new meaning to the concept “community policing.” The explosion of smartphones is allowing people to fight crime from their pocket, wherever they may be. We take a look at five crime-fighting apps from around the world: ITALY: STANDING UP TO THE MAFIA Addiopizzo, a citizen’s organization founded a decade ago on the Italian […]
BRUSSELS — Moved by the dramatic situation of the Christian population in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, a group of Belgian activists, with support from the government, orchestrated a remarkable rescue operation to save nearly 250 Syrian Christians. In Aleppo, the Christians were under continuous assault by ISIS, the al-Qaeda-aligned al-Nusra front and the Assad regime. […]
“Nightmare For Our City” reads Friday’s front page of the Chattanooga Times Free Press from the Tennessee city of 173,000 after Mohammed Youssef Abdulazeez, a 24-year-old man, killed four Marines and wounded two other people in a shooting at a military recruitment center and a reserve center. Abdulazeez was killed in a shootout with local […]
Under cover of darkness, right-wing militias felled a massive Lenin statue in Sloviansk. Now there’s talk of selling it to finance reconstruction in the war-damaged city.
Governments around the world — democracies and dictatorships alike — often change school textbooks and courses to fit their own agendas. From US history to Syrian schoolchildren, here are some textbook controversies in the news recently: EGYPT: TEXTBOOK REVOLUTION Egyptian news site Mada Masr reports that the fall of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and […]
After a devastating leak and allegations of working with oppressive regimes, the Milan technology firm’s founder responds to the critics.
Belarus will hold presidential elections in October, and President Alexander Lukashenko will face Tatiana Karatkevich, the first-ever female candidate. That is, of course, unless the all-powerful ruler changes his mind.
In the tent cities that arose after the earthquakes, women are learning to protect themselves from sexual assault and violence in the camps.
Venezuela, facing economic turmoil and the challenge of upcoming legislative elections, is inflaming a centuries-old border dispute with Guyana.
QAMISHLI — Syrian President Bashar al-Assad“s smiling face beams down from a large billboard on the central artery of Qamishli, a city in northeast Syria. But further down the road towards the city’s eastern suburbs, what looks imposingly over the avenue is a portrait of a triumphant-looking Abdullah Ocalan, the anointed leader of Turkey’s Kurdish […]
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The Mystery Of India’s Vanishing Children
MUMBAI — Night has fallen on Mumbai, and a monsoon fog fills the air as an aging man looks over the vast Indian metropolis from his balcony. Rajendra Dhondu Bhosale retired earlier this year as deputy inspector at a local police precinct, but still lives in dilapidated government housing with walls dampened by the constant […]
This week we shine the spotlight on Indonesia: FLYING “ARMY AIR” An investigation into a military plane crash that killed 141 people near Medan on June 30 is ongoing, with new details sparking controversy. The C-130 Hercules that took off from Seowondo Air Force base in Sumatra was carrying several civilian passengers who may have […]
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Extra! La Prensa: Pope In Bolivian Arms
“Pope Francis in Bolivia’s arms,” reads the front page of today’s edition of Bolivian newspaper La Prensa. After three days in Ecuador, the Pope arrives in Bolivia, where he will stay until Friday. In his homily in Quito on Tuesday, Francis called for an end to repression in the region — and La Prensa“s writes […]
Amid all the talk of debt, defaults and deadlines, it is not easy to understand just what is actually going on in Greece. After yesterday’s momentous referendum, we shine the spotlight on five key points to offer a way out not only for Greece and the Eurozone, but for the rest of us on information […]
MAJDAL AL-SHAMS — Anger is boiling over in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, where local Syrian Druze on Monday attacked an ambulance and killed a wounded Syrian opposition fighter seeking medical treatment from the Israeli military. The fighter was a member of the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) in Quneitra and the Golan, according to that group’s Facebook page. The RCC is a coalition of different armed factions in Syria, many of which are hardline Islamist groups. The Druze, an offshoot sect of Shia Islam, are spread across the map of the Middle East, particularly in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. In the […]
Since ascending to the papacy two years ago, Pope Francis has been quietly and not-so-quietly leaving his mark on the world, pursuing a number of ambitious foreign policy goals. His nine-day trip to Latin America that begins Sunday will be mostly focused on pastoral issues. But from Cuba to Vietnam, the Middle East and environmental […]
The Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CONIFA) recently organized its first-ever European soccer championship. Could it be a credible alternative to the scandal-plagued FIFA?
In the wake of two devastating terror attacks, the fight for LGBT rights in a country that still criminalizes homosexuality has become even tougher.
The front page of today’s edition of Cuban state-owned daily Granma published in full the letters exchanged by Cuban President Raul Castro and US President Barack Obama announcing the formal re-establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries. The letters set a date for the re-opening of embassies in Havana and Washington, D.C. on July […]
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Who Is The Real Alexis Tsipras?
Those who know him best say Greek Prime Minister Tsipras is driven by three contradictory strands. Profile of a leader battling his ‘inner troika.’
Seifeddine Rezgui, perpetrator of last Friday’s attack in Sousse, often prayed at the “God’s Mercy” mosque in Kairouan, Tunisia. A look inside.
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Extra! Greek Crisis, European Front Pages
Le Soir, June 29, 2015 The European and Greek flags billow beside each other under the headline “Disunion” on the front page of today’s Le Soir, a Brussels-based daily. Negotiations between Athens and its European creditors collapsed over the weekend, plunging the continent into a new depth of uncertainty and crisis. After European officials rejected […]
After being abducted as a child, Sandra Mora decided to become a police officer. She excelled at her job, but then got kicked off the force after being outed as a lesbian.
At one spot where France and Italy cross, we see a futuristic ascent to a majestic panorama of the Alps. Farther south, desperate migrants’ fate hangs in the balance.
“Save Europe, drown a Greek,” reads this week’s cover of satirical French weekly Charlie Hebdo, which depicts International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde drowning a Greek pensioner. Largarde and other creditors now want Greece to push its retirement age to 67 and to cancel benefits for its poorest pensioners. They’ve given Greece an ultimatum to […]
LANGSA — It was 8 p.m. and the sea was calm in the Strait of Malacca, at the northern tip of Indonesia’s Sumatra island. Ibrahim, a local fisherman, was pulling in his first catch of the night when he received news that a nearby boat was overcrowded and in trouble. “We met another small fishing boat and they asked us to help,” Ibrahim recalls. “The fisherman said there were more than 1,000 people that needed help, but his boat could only take around 20 to 30 people.” He immediately released his catch and headed towards Malaysia. Half an hour later, […]
Amid growing ties, the youths of the Arab Spring could come between Beijing and its local partners
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Extra! Right Wing Wins Danish Election
BT, June 19, 2015 “The Losers’ Triumph,” Friday’s headline in the Danish tabloid BT reads. Yesterday’s elections demonstrate a shift to the right in the Scandinavian country. While the Social Democratic Party of current Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt won the most seats, her center-left coalition lost to the right-wing opposition. She conceded defeat, as the […]
We shine the spotlight this week on Italy: MAFIA IN ROME A second wave of corruption arrests has swept the Italian capital, with several local politicians charged with involvement in what has been dubbed Mafia Capitale. According to investigators, a criminal organization headed by a former fascist terrorist with links to the Naples mob collaborated […]