London’s over-the-top mayor has published a book about Winston Churchill, and may aspire to a similar national destiny. But he strives for greatness by looking for a laugh.
Author: Patrick Randall
Gadgets that make it possible to spy on spouses, children, clients and bosses are more popular than ever. Few realize it is rarely legal to do so.
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In Praise Of The “50-Year-Old Teen”
Some adults between 45 and 55 years old act more like they’re 25 or 30. At least one sociologist says they may be onto something.
It is not just the economics of the media that is putting traditional news photographers out of business. It is our troubled relationship with images themselves.
Rich in counterintuitive observations, the study of evolution is often misunderstood. We focus here on widespread ideas that happen to be patently false.
Animals rights group in India are boycotting the state of Kerala over the government’s new policy that they say encourages individual citizens to kill stray dogs for cash.
PARIS — The suspected terror attack thwarted by American and British passengers aboard a high-speed European train has brought railway security sharply into focus. The alleged gunman, believed to be a 25-year-old Moroccan named Ayob El Khazzani, boarded the Amsterdam-to-Paris train equipped with an assault rifle, automatic pistol, nine cartridge clips and a box-cutter. More […]
A four-kilometer underground road leads to the Salanfe dam, in the Swiss Valais canton. Making this uncommon installation work is a constant struggle. And for the passengers, the journey through the dark and freezing tunnels is a long way from your local
India accounts for 20% of the world’s infant mortalities, and parents in this male-dominated society often reject newborn daughters. A milk bank in Udaipur helps to prevent the deaths of premature babies and to feed those abandoned at birth.
What did Pompeii look like before Mount Vesuvius erupted? And what was on the famous Herculaneum scrolls? Modern technology can provide answers.
Slow food, slow journalism, slow photography … Just when the world seemed to be getting faster and faster, some folks decided to cool things down. The Italians were the first to put on the brakes when a protest against the opening of a (fast food) McDonald’s in Rome, in 1986, morphed into the Slow Food […]
For the past 30 years, the American lawyer has been hunting down former despots all over the world. The trial of the former Chadian dictator Hissène Habré, which opened last month, is the latest fruit of his work.
With the expected rush of American tourists to the island, more and more Cubans are opening bed and breakfasts. This is most likely the most authentic way to see the island.
PARIS — Some figures will make your head spin. Since the end of World War II, the number of inhabitants on the planet has increased nearly three-fold. And in that time, people used more resources than were consumed during the entire history of mankind prior to 1945. Even more alarming is how quickly consumption continues […]
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius had held one of the toughest lines against Tehran. He describes the quest for “efficient compromises for complex issues.”
PARIS — The Eurozone is going through the most serious crisis of its short history. It will emerge from it either stronger — but this requires exceptional leadership from European leaders who, so far, have shown none — or deeply weakened. If the latter is the case, we will look back in history and say […]
MELBOURNE — For nearly an hour the audience sits in silence as Feryal Ali Gauhar paces the stage, delivering a solo performance that spans three continents and tells the story of various women; mothers and daughters, the wealthy elite and domestic maids. All the characters in the play are based on real-life stories and have a common theme of gender-based violence and control at the hands of men. “It’s a very immediate medium,” she later explains. “For most women in the audience it is an experience that is close to them. The debate begins really on the journey home with […]
Forty years after the North Vietnamese conquered Saigon, tourists and locals alike shun the colonial hotel that once was a den for the chronicles of war.
Unchecked urbanization is destroying what’s left of the Mexican capital’s pre-Aztec chinampas.
PARIS — “It’s the economy, stupid!” Just like the famous slogan in Bill Clinton’s 1992 challenge, the economy may have been decisive for David Cameron — but in a positive way this time for the incumbent. The economic crisis 22 years ago was George H. W. Bush’s downfall, despite his laudable record in foreign policy. […]
Young men who left Eritrea, by way of Libya, may have all ended up in Lampedusa, but they took many different paths getting there.
SEALAND — The marine wind gusts slide against Michael Bates’ slightly balding hair. His calloused hands buried in a fleece jacket, the fisherman crosses the 500 square meters of his kingdom. At 62 years old, Bates looks like the typical fishing captain from Leigh-on-Sea — a small English town from Essex where the River Thames […]
Though a shadow of its former self, the Ku Klux Klan has registered a small uptick since Barack Obama’s election and the Ferguson riots. Here’s how it looks from one senior member who lives in a Tennessee trailer.
CAIRO — There are two smiling European-looking 30-somethings waiting to welcome you to the new website, Liberland.org, while a hopeful-sounding logo proclaims, “Live and let live.” Formerly referred to as Gornja Siga, the seven square-kilometer state (slightly larger than the Vatican and Monaco) came into existence following a border dispute between Croatia and Serbia. The […]
They’ve known him from up close, and their insights help explain the mystery of the Russian president’s rise. And, perhaps, what he’ll do next.
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Eurovision Contestants 2015: Georgia
Nina Sublatti, Georgia’s entry for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, wrote the song she will perform, “Warrior”, in just three hours in the middle of the night. This seems incredible when you know the lyrics are made up of such beautiful prose as “I’m a warrior/Isolated/World gonna listen to me/Violence/Set the free/Wings are gonna spread […]
-OpEd- BOGOTA — Once upon a time our cities had physical spaces and institutions that allowed people of different social groups to mix and interact, at least to a degree. Downtown cafés attracted politicians, intellectuals, traders and students. Churches — back when people still attended mass in significant numbers — were another place where people […]
They call themselves the “Barbarians,” ready to challenge both the status quo in France and the prevailing ethos of U.S. startups obsessed with power and money.
Kurdish fighters and the forces loyal to the Syrian regime have settled into a delicate coexistence against jihadists in this city marked by chaos and competing interests.
Daniel Kajmakoski, the Macedonian singer who will represent his country at the Eurovision Song Contest this year, was actually named after Daniel Popovic, the charmer who ran for Yugoslavia in the 1983 edition of the contest. Daniel, who always kisses the picture of his mother he keeps in his pocket before going on stage, will […]
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Eurovision 2015 Contestants: Estonia
In 2001, Estonia became the first former Soviet country to win Eurovision. The annual song contest had become quite popular there after its first participation in 1994 and has always been since then. So much so that, in 2009, when Estonia said it would withdraw from the contest, set to be held in Moscow during […]
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Eurovision 2015 Contestants: Denmark
Denmark and Eurovision are like a Viking ship on stormy northern waters: It goes up, it goes down, it goes back up etc. After winning the contest for the first time in 1963 with this song and hosting it the following year, Denmark decided to withdraw from the contest in 1966, as the new head […]
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China, Stop Forcing Young Kids To Compete
The Chinese education system forces pre-school children to learn to read and write, rather than develop at a natural pace, and discover the joys of just growing up.
Lake Burullus, the country’s second-largest natural lake, which yields a third of all the fish sold in Egypt, is slowly being ruined, as are family businesses.
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Eurovision 2015 Contestants: Czech Republic
The wind-swept hair, the over-dramatic singing and facial expressions, the incomprehensible video, the change of key towards the end of the song, the reflective staring into mirrors, lyrics such as “sea of pain”, “ravens calling my name” or “we can rise and fight” … You can’t really get more Eurovision than Marta Jandová and Václav […]
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Eurovision 2015 Contestants: Cyprus
Cyprus is making its return to the Eurovision this year, after being absent last year for financial crisis-related reasons (i.e. the fear of winning the contest and having to organize it the following year). This means Greece will benefit from 12 extra points this year thanks to their Cypriot neighbors. The small island has participated […]
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Eurovision 2015 Contestants: Belgium
Belgium’s most notable performances at the Eurovision were 13-year-old Sandra Kim’s victory at the 1986 edition, and Urban Trad’s second place in 2003, when they sang in an invented language with lyrics such as “Kenatu narilé, lakenatu narilé. Pasema niamo ture saro, delamaoré.” Beautiful. This year, 18-year-old Loïc Nottet singer will run for Belgium. He […]
The New York Times, April 8, 2015 A white South Carolina police officer has been charged with murder after shooting dead an apparently unarmed black man who was running away from him. The incident happened after a routine traffic stop Saturday in North Charleston and was filmed by a witness. The video, published by The […]
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Eurovision 2015 Contestants: Belarus
The representatives of Belarus at this year’s Eurovision are Uzari and Maimuna, a duo made up of what seems to be an elf and a violinist trapped inside an hourglass. Uzari already ran for Belarus in 2012 and in 2013, but came respectively in 5th and 8th place. Third time lucky? Maimuna, also known as […]
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Eurovision 2015 Contestants: Azerbaijan
Since Azerbaijan first participated in Eurovision in 2008, the country has basically gone crazy for the contest. It has become the country’s most watched program on local broadcaster Azeri TV. So popular it doesn’t matter that the three-hour long show starts airing after midnight. After winning the contest in 2011 — with a record-low average […]