WorldcrunchBritish film director Toby Tobias told Metro today that Iggy Pop, who will star in his upcoming movie Blood Orange as — guess what — a rock’n’roll legend, was “such a gentleman” that he saved an injured stray cat while on set in Ibiza. We thought this deserved a few spins of his “Lust For […]
Thanks to the French-language website Hip Hop We Trust, created by the collective of graphic designers We.ch, religious hip hop devotees can sample audio recordings of texts from the Bible, the Torah, the Koran or Buddhist scriptures with top French and U.S. rappers such as 2Pac, Eminem, RZA, IAM or NTM. “”This is my sound, […]
This clip of Dominic West, a.k.a. Jimmy McNulty from the series The Wire, rapping last week with emcees Sinead, Bugsey and Jah Digga from Nottingham, UK., is priceless.
Almost four years after the New York trial that ended his political career, Dominique Strauss-Kahn is back in court Monday in a case that once again centers on his sex life. This time, he’s defending himself against charges of “aggravated pimping” related to the presence of prostitutes at sex parties. In the northern France city […]
PARIS — What first attracted Linda B. to her partner was his bad-boy side. He was, like her, from the French West Indies and was serving a prison sentence for repeated robberies and jailbreaks. When he converted to Islam while in prison, she started doing some research and bought “books to learn about and understand […]
After the Greek election of radical leftists and the European Central Bank’s new liquidity, Europe is still where the rest of the world looks to understand themselves. History has so much to say.
Wine-loving France used to be a beer haven too, before shrinking to just 22 breweries three decades ago. Today it’s up to more than 700 microbreweries, even if industrialists continue to dominate.
SHANGHAI — The most important recent piece of economic data in Shanghai is the number that’s missing. At the annual new year session of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress, the megacity chose not to set an annual GDP growth target, an unprecedented move for a country where local governments’ political performances are largely tied directly […]
The recent terror attacks in Paris didn’t inspire much Polish empathy, in part because Poles have trouble identifying with the West’s multicultural societies. That needs to change.
Despite lacking basic amenities, residents of a small Syrian village persist in their quest for education. But to keep the children warm in shelled-out buildings, they must bring wood to school.
-OpEd- BERLIN — It was supposed to sound aggressive when Prime Minister Manuel Valls told French citizens after the terrorist attacks in Paris that the country would henceforth be in a state of “war.” President François Hollande too addressed the nation in these terms. On the only aircraft carrier France possesses, he announced that the […]
A mini boom in Chinese-language studies has hit Cambodia, which not only trades with mainland China but also counts many ethnic Chinese among its business leaders.
Latifa Ibn Ziaten’s son was a victim of the 2012 Toulouse and Montauban killings, widely considered a pre-cursor to the recent Paris attacks. She’s putting her pain to good use.
“I feel relaxed and calm,” Hayat Boumeddiene told her friends. It was last October, and the 26-year-old was in her father’s living room on the eastern outskirts of Paris, after having just returned from the Hajj, the sacred Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, with her partner Amedy Coulibaly. Three months later Coulibaly, on January 8 and […]
With “Timbuktu,” Abderrahmane Sissako searches deep to make artistic sense of the senseless horrors committed in the name of radical Islam. His movie has been nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards.
New Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is betting on Beijing to cement peace and help rebuild the economy. But China will play its cards carefully, especially its historic alliance with Pakistan.
Police in the eastern city of Dresden have issued a blanket ban on all demonstrations following reports of a “concrete threat” against the founding member of the anti-Islamization movement Pegida (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West), the daily Die Welt reports on its front page Monday. Pegida had been marching in growing numbers […]
Islamist radicals have long known that inmates offer prime soldiers to help wage their war on the outside. Now the state must react.
A satirical comedy about an alien who comes to earth and questions religious dogma has found an enemy among many of India’s Hindus. A new view after the Charlie Hebdo killings.
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PARIS — As the world watched France taken down by an Islamic terrorist attack last week, and followed live coverage of the nation getting back up with Sunday’s historic march through Paris, another devastating wave of terrorism did not get quite as much media attention. Reports that Islamist militants from Boko Haram has killed as […]
VAPI — Teenager Prerna Agarwal is autistic and blind. She also happens to be one of India’s latest singing sensations, thanks to a 2013 appearance on Indian Idol Junior, a popular television show that gained her international attention. When reporter Jasvinder Sehgal visits the young singer at her home, he finds her listening to a classic Hindi hit from the 1970s while cuddling her favorite soft toy. “My Teddy loves singing songs,” she says. “He loves eating pasta and drinking orange juice. He wakes up earlier than me and also wakes me up every morning.” Prerna then excitedly introduces her […]
One week after the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo’s offices in Paris that killed 12 people, the weekly satirical magazine, which has taken refuge in the headquarters of the daily Libération, will publish a defiant new issue Wednesday. The day before its publication, several pieces of information filtered about what has been labeled the “survivors’ […]
Following a Sunday that may have restored our collective faith in humanity, the hard work for France and all of Europe begins in earnest. Will the rare burst of unity last?
PARIS — Like every Wednesday, they were all there, almost all. Gathered around sugar chouquettes and croissants at the large oval table that takes up the whole room, for the weekly editorial meeting — a fixed ritual since the founding of Charlie Hebdo. To the left, Charb, the editor-in-chief. On this Wednesday, Jan. 7, cartoonists […]
After the deadly attack on Charlie Hebdo, the reaction in Paris is raw: war has been declared on the values of the French Republic. First order of business: know your enemy.
PARIS — The brazen terrorist attack against the French satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo that left at least 12 dead Wednesday has shocked the nation and the world. But it doesn’t come in a vacuum, following a series of attacks in the past few years that have no parallel in any other Western country. There […]
Activists fighting the social plague of acid attacks against women in India have opened a new cafe in Agra staffed exclusively by survivors who have been disfigured in this way.
A charmless pariah city for 20 years, the Serbian capital is finally reclaiming its standing and artistry. Belgrade’s residents are torn between pride in their city and dreams of leaving it.
Though some top executives have learned the art of apologizing, others compound their company’s PR problems by failing to take responsibility. Welcome to the “aquarium!”
A recent study shows overwhelming agreement that it’s unnecessary to offer pre-school children digital training. And nearly all parents agree on strict limits to screen time as kids get older.
Well, well, well, could it be Friday again? Time for our fifth weekend staff playlist, then. Can you guess this week’s theme? Quick hint: It involves going around people’s houses, hiding stuff, and a fair amount of arguments. No, it’s not the NSA.
The United States and Cuba stunned the world by ending more than a half-century as sworn enemies. The presidents of the two neighbors Barack Obama and Raúl Castro announced Wednesday a deal to exchange prisoners on the road to restoring full diplomatic relations. This is how the Western Hemisphere and the wider world reacted: Cuba […]
A quick roundup of who has been saying what around the world.
The French may never abandon the notion of mealtime as sacred, but it seems they love their crumpets and chips. France is now the second-largest importer for British food products.
Madina, a British artist and designer, has launched a collection of stamps featuring hip hop artists of the golden era of the genre, in the 1980s-90s. All photos: Madina For a very long time — until 2005 in fact — stamps in the United Kingdom only depicted members of the Royal Family. Except for a […]
A recently discovered species of deep sea snail, the Alviconcha strummeri, has been named by scientists in honor of the Clash frontman Joe Strummer. Why? “Because they look like punk rockers in the 70s and 80s and they have purple blood and live in such an extreme environment, we decided to name one new species […]
SARAQEB — Zaytoun and Zaytouna relies on games, stories and illustrations to make life in Syria’s war zone a bit more bearable for kids. Launched in July 2013, the four-page magazine started as a modest project with a team of three people using a small printer and circulating it to a limited number of children. Today, says magazine director Sumar Kanjo, the team includes over 10 writers and 10 illustrators, and Zaytoun and Zaytouna has become a cultural pillar in Saraqeb and other areas under opposition control. In addition to the paper edition, the magazine is launching a website and […]
Four decades after abortion became legal in France, too often women face moral judgment and physical pain, not to mention unsympathetic health care professionals.
After opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez was jailed, the Maduro government is now targeting another political nemesis, Maria Corina Machado. The world must take notice.