Worldcrunch
ALCORTA — Walter Canzani’s farm is in one of the most fertile zones of Argentina’s Pampas region. Still a proud gaucho (cowboy), this son of Italian immigrants knows, however, that the cows that made Argentina’s beef the most famous in the world are no longer the big money-maker. Although Canzani still keeps some 50 heifers […]
A small dog on an airport runway last month reportedly caused quite a problem for a Yemeni plane attempting to land at Ta’izz airport, near the Red Sea in the Yemeni Highlands. While preparing to land, the Yemeni Airways pilot suddenly spotted the small dog walking along the runway. He immediately decided to divert the […]
-Opinion- ISTANBUL — On one hand, there is an investigation of an imaginary terrorist organization and the claim of a wiretapping list that includes some 7,000 people. On the other, there is the recording of a telephone conversation that has been spreading on YouTube, allegedly between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his son. The […]
BUENOS AIRES — A new map of the Argentine capital shows 50 Art Nouveau buildings, a style of art and architecture popular from 1890 to 1910, putting the city at the forefront of early 20th century architecture. Some are impressive at first glance, like the Casal de Cataluña in the heart of the San Telmo […]
Accusations of conflicts of interest surround the consortium whose role it is to determine what are the real Parmigiano-Reggiano cheeses and what are the poor knock-off ‘parmesans.’
As it turns out, elephants don’t just have good memories, but are also able to sense when others are in distress and console them — by cuddling them. According to a new study, their version of a snuggle and a “shh, don’t worry, I’m here,” are chirping and a trunk hug, Le Temps reports. Just […]
Much more freedom is allowed in Lithuania than across the border in Belarus, where strongman Alexander Lukashenko shut down top universities.
One of Iran’s senior clerics today chided people he said were “surreptitiously” trying to build ties with the United States, warning they would get “nowhere” without broad Iranian support. Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, secretary of the Guardian Council that vets and approves all elections, candidates and parliamentary bills in the country, said during Tehran’s nationally broadcast […]
Step aside, Rudolph — your red nose is no longer en vogue. This season, apparently, it’s all about the glow-in-the-dark antlers. Breeders belonging to the Reindeer Herders’ Association have started spraying the animals’ antlers with reflective paint. But it’s not really about winter style, but rather traffic safety. Every year in Finland there are 3,000 […]
A new, particularly scary version of an automobile ‘break-in’.
JERUSALEM — Three hundred kilometers by high-speed rail between the cities of Eilat and Ashdod, connecting the Red Sea coast to the Mediterranean: They call it the “Red-Med” Project. Financed by Beijing and launched from Jerusalem, China has revealed its strategy for “West Asia” — the term that the China Shipping Container Lines company uses […]
LONDON — The storms and flooding in the UK over the past few weeks hasn’t just damaged homes and cars, but also wildlife and ecosystems too. Bumblebees, beetles and caterpillars are at risk of dying at greatly elevated rates through drowning and disturbed hibernations, while earthworms, snails and beetles along the River Thames will be […]
Japanese artist Hiroshi Sunairi has a personal connection with Hiroshima. Apart from growing up in the city, his mother and grandmother were exposed to radiation when the atomic bomb dropped on the city in 1945. Many years later, while working with the Hiroshima museum, Sunairi attended a lecture by botanist Chikara Horiguchi who spoke about Hibaku trees, some of the so-called “silent survivors’ of that fateful day. “I was really moved by his work and philosophy. He talks about trees and nature not having an ideology, but they can symbolize a lot of things if we think about them alongside […]
(And why that’s a good thing)
GARDONNE — A French family have won the right to keep their pet fox, Zouzou. Under French law foxes are considered wild animals and, therefore, cannot be kept as domestic pets. After a nearly three year legal battle, a court last month gave Zouzou the right to remain in the Delanes family care for the […]
Seven months after he was sold to a new owner, a camel in Saudi Arabia recognized his previous owner, Mohammed bin Shouishan al-Sabaii, at a parade. The camel came up to al-Sabaii in the crowd of onlookers and wrapped his neck around him in an embrace. The touching image has begun circulating on Arabic social […]
What’s that? Something happening over there? Welcome to Zoo’d – Worldcrunch’s brand new international blog about all things animal. Arf! Photo by amyfarrar via Instagram
Nostalgia, illness and the pain of missing loved ones pushes some to try to ‘re-defect’ back to North Korea. But Seoul won’t allow it, and the risk of punishment upon their return is huge.
Olympics kick off in Russia, protests continue in Ukraine, and other recent events captured by photographers around the world, in conjunction with ZUMA photo agency.
After the Arab spring, the way people put each other down has evolved with events on the streets. Here’s a glossary of all you need to know to verbally smack down your adversary.
BIZERTE — Tunisia’s youth are posting videos on social networks of themselves dancing to Pharrell William’s song “Happy” as a kind of gleeful response to post-Arab spring tensions that the country still faces. The first video appeared in early January, and was approaching 200,000 views on YouTube. “We’re happy in spite of everything,” said Fairouz, […]
Sochi Olympics, World War I and other events near and far have prompted some interesting quotes in recent days.
Accused of producing “false news” in the country, 20 Al Jazeera staff members have been detained in Egypt. What’s driving the crackdown? What will defenders of free press do now?
Its early adopters swear by the SF-based car-service app. But as Uber expands internationally, local cabbies in Milan and Paris are fighting back. Will rickshaw drivers in Bangalore be next?
One tortured by the regime, another by Islamist rebels, both offer evidence of the worst kind of brutality that reigns in Syria today.
KILIS — Mohammad, a jihadi rebel from northern Syria, is describing his wedding night. His family had insisted on a non-religious ceremony. At the reception, just as his relatives began to dance and celebrate, he went home. “The music made me uncomfortable,” he says. Believing in the same religious tenets that have led extremists to outlaw music and singing in jihad-held areas of Syria, Mohammad chose to spend the night at home with his sister. On this day, in Kilis, across the border in Turkey, the 35-year-old former salesman is running late, but makes a courtesy call to say he’s […]
LONDON — It’s that time of year again, and Super Bowl fever is definitely NOT spreading across the planet. Still, the rest of the world is slowing warming to American football, and the game will be broadcast live Sunday in more than 180 countries and in more than 30 languages, mostly on cable and satelite […]
After the nation and world’s attention turned to the plague of Indian gang rapes, a women-only police unit was founded in Bhopal with one central objective. Some say they go too far.
And Igor Luzenko is the lucky one. The other activist with whom he was abducted, beaten and interrogated didn’t make it home alive.
President Obama used his State of the Union address to declare his determination to raise the U.S. minimum wage above 10 dollars. Wage policy in the rest of the world may surprise you.
Venice … Dove la terra gira intorno al mare, as they say there — “where the earth revolves around the sea.” En route to Greece, we drove from France in our Peugeot 404, which we had to leave outside the Venetian lagoon before taking a vaporetto, the local waterbus. It’s cheaper than renting a gondola […]
China tries to come to terms with its not-so-distant past.
Gay rights activists condemn the accusations from the man once responsible for the safety of the Pope as the “worst stereotypes” that homosexuals have long been subject to.
A new study says some 90 percent of investments by China’s businesses in American operations don’t succeed. Chinese experts explain.
GAZIANTEP — Syrian university students unable to complete their degrees due to the country’s ongoing conflict and displaced to Turkey are now jobless, or scraping by as day laborers. Fares, a 29-year-old from Kfar Nabal in the Idlib province, was studying for his final university exams when the security situation in the country made traveling to campus impossible. After years in medical school, he had just completed his training at the Ibn Rashed Hospital in Aleppo. He planned to specialize in the cardiovascular system, but was forced to drop those plans when it became impossible to travel to Aleppo for […]
Times are tough for corrupt officials who have long counted on cashing in when the Chinese New Year festival arrives.
Just three years after wave of democracy, Egyptians appear ready to trade in freedom in order to have more stability. Is Cairo set to usher in a new era of pure military rule?
In Feb. 2012, two Italian marines aboard the Enrica Lexie tanker opened fire on a fishing trawler, killing two Indian fishermen and sparking a major diplomatic standoff between India and Italy that has yet to subside. The lawyers for the marines say their clients mistook the fishermen for pirates and fired warning shots into the […]
Over the past three years, most Egyptians have failed to see beyond the most immediate aspects of its crisis. Meanwhile, in the outside world, the most basic formulas have changed.
Grisly murders in Venezuela and Ireland, dirty pond water and an angry French baker are among the recent crimes on our global blotter…