To the chagrin of climate change deniers, the pontiff’s environmental encyclical says there are no reasonable doubts that global warming is caused by human activity.
Author: Liz Garrigan
A U.S. pharmaceutical company testing a drug meant to slow down child dementia refuses to offer the medication to a terminally ill young girl in Germany. Her family is fighting the decision.
JAIPUR — Saveera Khan’s three daughters are helping her to make bangles, which requires working in front of a hot furnace that melts the powder used for making natural lac bangles. The children handle many poisonous chemicals such as crystalline silica dust, and inhale noxious fumes of toxic dust. At just 7 years old, Mantasha is the youngest and she goes to school only when there isn’t too much work to be done at home. “Our only brother always goes to school, but mostly we girls in the family work at home,” she says. “The furnace is very very hot […]
Photo: Hani Ali/Xinhua/ZUMA MEDICAL SUPPLIES REACH YEMEN The first medical supplies have arrived in the south Yemen city of Aden, and members of Doctors Without Borders have made their way to some of the city’s hospitals, Al Jazeera reports. Iran dispatched a naval destroyer and another vessel yesterday to waters near Yemen, AP reports. And […]
El Mercurio April 6, 2015 Chilean daily El Mercurio featured Pope Francis’ Easter address on its front page Monday. The Argentine-born pontiff made his plea for peace Sunday in St. Peter’s Square after last week’s shocking massacre of Christian students by Islamic militants at Garissa University in Kenya. “We ask Jesus, the victor over death, […]
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A German Fix For The Over-50 Unemployed
Job hunting gets harder the older you get, right? A program in Germany is showing that it may just require the right training, and the right candidate-job matching.
China’s investments and loans in Latin America ensure the flow of raw matericals to China and products back to the American continent. The lender has the long view in this formula.
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Rehabilitated Ocelots Freed In Colombia
BOGOTA — Colombian authorities released two ocelots back into the wild on March 25, after they were nurtured for six years in a rehab center designed to resemble their natural habitat, El Espectador reported. The 8-year old cats were set free in the Monquentiva reserve outside the town of Guatavita northeast of Bogota, as a […]
Andreas Lubitz, who apparently suffered from depression, hid his condition before he deliberately crashed a plane with 150 people on board. A closer look at mental health controls at Lufthansa, which operated the low-cost Germanwings flight.
ALLIES CONSIDER GROUND TROOPS IN YEMENAirstrikes against Shia Houthi rebels in Yemen from a Saudi Arabia-led coalition have continued for a second day. At least 39 civilians have been killed in the strikes, according to AFP. Yesterday, Egypt said it was ready to send its navy and ground troops to Yemen to fight the Houthi […]
BOGOTA — Researchers at Colombia’s Universidad del Valle recently discovered a new species of orchid as part of their investigation into how global warming affects the plant. But unfortunately, their research across the country also revealed that at least three species of local orchids registered during the 19th century are now extinct. The new orchid […]
BEIJING — At a Chinese New Year family celebration, one of Liang Bing’s aunts pulled her aside and cautioned her to be careful not to get pregnant before April. In fact, she continued telling her niece, it would be even better to put off a pregnancy until after May or June. “Giving birth to a […]
BEIJING — Relations between Myanmar and China remain tense after a bomb from a Burmese military plane fell in the Chinese border province of Yunnan last week. The bomb killed four people and injured another nine and also prompted a good number of Burmese to taking refuge on the Chinese side. China responded to the […]
Surveys show that Germans are much more welcoming toward refugees than they were 10 years ago or even last year. The robust state of the economy helps, and they want young, skilled labor to meet demand.
What was once a simple and relatively quick commute through Aleppo now takes up to 12 hours, as battered roads, endless checkpoints and ISIS violence take their toll. A bus driver’s view.
In China, a lawmaker has proposed making group sex for gays illegal. It already is for heterosexuals. Thoughts the government’s role in the bedroom (even if it’s crowded).
MUNICH — Dirk Rateike values ecologically friendly living and runs an organic hotel in the north of Hesse. But he’s facing anonymous threats from his own neighbors in the village of Gilserberg, between Marburg and Kassel in central Germany. The intimidation has included warnings that he shouldn’t go out at night lest he should face […]
BERLIN — Frank Underwood is a cult figure to those besotted by politics. The House of Cards protagonist is willing to walk over dead bodies to achieve absolute power. As the third season begins, we are obliged to ask ourselves why Germans have such a deep love for this American villain played by Kevin Spacey. […]
Victor Gregg, a 95-year-old World War II veteran and the only Briton who was on Dresden soil during the Allied bombings on the German city, believes Churchill “should have been shot.”
TROMSO — Officials in China, now the second-largest economy in the world and a major global emitter of greenhouse gasses, now acknowledge that the country is important in the fight against global warming. It and many other Asian nations such as Singapore are also voicing greater concern about environmental changes in the Arctic region, changes […]
People are increasingly disgusted with crime and shoddy government in Mexico. Whatever happened to President Pena Nieto’s promises to take on the country’s vested interests?
The Cairo regime is facing criticism after the ISIS beheading in Libya of 21 Coptic Christians from Egypt. Too many poor Egyptians risk it all in search of work across the border.
BEIJING — Over the past two months, China has green-lighted the importation of three varieties of genetically modified corn and soybean from the United States. Meanwhile, China’s Ministry of Agriculture has also renewed the expired safety certificates of the country’s own genetically modified crops. While that’s good news for the industry, it may be premature […]
MEDELLIN — Crimes being committed by some of Colombia’s 38,000 convicts on prison leave have become an almost “daily headache,” with some returning to a life of lawlessness despite wearing electronic tags or bracelets. The need to keep closer tabs on prisoners who have been granted leave has led two prison authority (INPEC) employees and […]
TEL AVIV — Israel’s diplomatic campaign against the Palestinian Authority and last summer’s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza are no doubt among the factors contributing to Israel’s current economic slowdown. A study by economists Joseph Zeira and Tal Wolfson from the Israeli-Palestinian think tank Aix Group offers some data illustrating the differences between the recession […]
Latin American countries have used a decade-long revenue boom to boost prosperity and stabilize their economies. But there is a *productivity problem*.
UKRAINE LAUNCHES OFFENSIVEUkrainian government forces launched an offensive against pro-Russian rebels near the port city of Mariupol today, Reuters reports. Leaders from Germany, France, Ukraine and Russia are set to gather tomorrow in Minsk, Belarus, to discuss a possible ceasefire. After meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday in Washington, U.S. President Barack Obama acknowledged […]
The risk is real of armed conflict between the West and Moscow on European soil. Searching for a way out means learning the lessons of Finland, and counting on leadership from France.
Australian colleague Peter Greste has been deported, and Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy is expected to be released to Canada. But Baher Mohamed, the third Al Jazeera prisoner, is being treated differently for what appears to be a very simple reason.
Soil-free gardens, pollution-free factories moving back to town. City dwellers will see dramatic changes to life and work. Some bumps for sure, but overall good news for urbanites.
The world’s canals can attract all sorts of old indestructable items, from plastic bags to styrofoam cups. But if you’re in Egypt that can apparently include your occasional floating sarcophagus. Madr Masr reports that Egypt’s Antiquities Ministry has launched an investigation into the mysterious discovery last Friday of three ancient wooden coffins carrying sarcophagi drifting […]
A native of China’s bustling capital who studied in the U.S. and UK felt more embraced as a local abroad than in a new Chinese city. Inside the native-foreigner divide.
Editor’s Note: Al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste, who was imprisoned in Cairo for 400 days with two of his colleagues, has been released by Egyptian authorities. The two other Al Jazeera journalists — Baher Mohamed, a producer, and the channel’s Cairo bureau chief Mohamed Fahmy — still remain imprisoned in Egypt. The three journalists were […]
After the Soviet collapse, Russia and Ukraine split what was left of the Red Army. Now an open war between the two is becoming increasingly likely in a bitter twist of history.
Pure necessity could turn Alexis Tsipras Greece’s liberal prime minister-elect, into an unexpected reformer willing to go against client politics.
MURMANSK — Dasha Metelyova gets up shortly before 6 a.m. to apply her makeup and do her hair. In the hall of her apartment building, the paint is peeling from the walls. Dasha steps outside, where it is still dark because this time of year here it only gets light around 10 a.m. Soon the […]
Animosity towards immigrants is strong in Hungary. Controversial Prime Minister Viktor Orban was particularly blunt during a recent television interview: “We don’t want immigrants in our country.” But it was also notable that Orban was speaking from Paris, where he participated in the Jan. 11 unity march after Islamist terrorists murdered members of the magazine […]
-OpEd- PARIS — Although the time for emotion and indignation about the recent terrorism in France is barely over, the moment for deeper reflection has arrived. What needs serious consideration, without prejudice or exaggeration, is the French way of dealing with cultural pluralism. The link between this subject and recent events is plain to see. […]
The accusations Alberto Nisman was set to make were harmful to Iran’s interests. And the known intelligence superpower is expert at disposing of its enemies. Many in Argentina doubt that Monday’s death was a suicide at all.
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Deadly New Warfare In Ukraine
DEADLY NEW WARFARE IN UKRAINEDespite recent talk of a possible ceasefire between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian rebels in the embattled city of Donetsk, fighting has escalated following an army offensive, the BBC reports. Heavy shelling targeted rebel positions in the city, and the military said it had regained most of the territory around the […]