Worldcrunch
Peace is a process, never a single event. Negotiations for peace are always far more complicated than the public understands, and the results are not always miraculous. Even so, the majority of modern conflicts — 80%, according to the School for the Culture of Peace in Barcelona — eventually end after negotiations. The school’s reports […]
BOGOTA — The LGBTI community (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual/Transgender and Intersexual) in Colombia has suffered disappearances, forced migrations, mutilations, humiliation and abuse. The phrase “damaged bodies, silent crimes’ has come to be used by this community to describe their suffering often made even worse by the civil war that has torn Colombia apart over the […]
NEW DELHI — The findings of India’s first linguistic census in a century were unveiled earlier this month. Of the 850 languages identified, 300 had never previously been documented, and nearly 200 are considered at risk of extinction because they have fewer than 10,000 speakers. The Sept. 5 ceremony took place at the Gandhi memorial […]
A father and son take shelter from the rain. Suddenly, a 76-year old man arrives, wedging himself in between the two of them. After a throwaway remark about the downpour, a question alters the course of the conversation. “During the war, you weren’t in Fonfría by any chance?” the man asks the father, referring to […]
A port city just like Marseille, but less riddled with crime, Rotterdam is nonetheless equipping itself with an unlikely new unit to fight illegal activity. Forensic police plan to use five big brown rats to shed light on criminal plots. After two years of training that will soon end, Derrick, Magnum, Poirot, Dupond and Dupont […]
La Stampa’s veteran war correspondent Domenico Quirico was held hostage in Syria for five months by rebel soldiers. Earlier this week, along with Belgian writer Pierre Piccinin, the 61-year-old was released after what he described as a “very dangerous and complex” captivity. Here is his first account of what happened… TURIN — We entered Syria […]
-OpEd- BOGOTA — “Thinking that everything can stay the same is the biggest utopia of all…” Margarita Marino de Botero is a Colombian environmentalist who aims to be as creative as she is dedicated. Environmentalism — dynamic and obsessed with changing reality — is continually touching upon the concept of utopia. This is, in fact, […]
Despite the high profile women presidents of Brazil and Argentina, the fairer sex is notably underrepresented in cabinet positions across Latin American governments.
BOGOTA — After a long, drawn-out build-up, Starbucks has confirmed it will be coming to Colombia. The arrival of Howard Schultz’s company’s in the South America country famous for its coffee production will be the start of a very interesting showdown with local chain Juan Valdez — as well as all the small coffee shops […]
Striking farmers in Colombia say free trade agreements are responsible for their woes. Better to look closer to home, including industrial cartels and all the contraband entering the country.
ROME — Way back in 1998, Bill Clinton bet on the young Assad. He was to be his father’s successor, and the United States believed that the young Bashar al-Assad, once he reached power, would be the person to bring Syria back into the fold among the civilized nations of the world. And so Clinton’s […]
–Editorial– SANTIAGO — The fallout from the failed 2012 population census in Chile is huge, even though the country has yet to grasp its full impact. A recent report from an investigating committee advises that the results shouldn’t be used for official figures, and recommends that the census be repeated correctly in 2015. Though the […]
One writer outlines what German Chancellor Angela Merkel is doing right; and sees potential deep flaws in the economic policies of Japan’s Shinzo Abe.
After rejections by Austrian and French ski-lift companies, a Swiss competitor was set to supply Pyongyang the means to realize his Alpine fantasy. But then the state stepped in.
VERONA — One honeymoon. 90,000 kilometers. 321 days. Two rules: 1) never take an airplane, and 2) never pay more than 15 euros for a meal for two. Elisa Bocca, a 32-year-old interpreter, and Alessandro Bocca, a 37-year-old photographer, are the Italian stars of this global honeymoon. They travelled through the United States, Mexico, South […]
Though the country spends less per pupil than many other developed nations, students here consistently test better than nearly all their global counterparts. Here’s why.
AP, BBC, InterAksyon (Phillipines) Worldcrunch Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli shocked the tennis world by announcing her retirement just 40 days after winning her first-ever Grand Slam in London. The 28-year-old French player made the announcement from a media conference in Cincinnati after losing to Romania’s Simona Halep at the Southern and Western Open. “I just […]
Global warming is a big problem in Latin America, but the private sector is busy developing alternative energy sources. Has the rush to innovate arrived in time?
“Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder,” wrote British historian Arnold Toynbee. Lessons from the downfall of the automotive industry’s once-glorious capital.
The eldest daughter of the disgraced prime minister controls the family businesses with an iron fist. The question is whether she’ll decide to bring the same passion to politics.
A free speech advocate fears that President Rafael Correa’s sweeping new communications law, outlawing so-called “media lynching,” in fact threatens to silence real journalism.
The daughter of a couple kidnapped during Argentina’s Dirty War chastizes the country’s leader for appointing a suspected war criminal as army head.
Chile is the only country in South America where abortion is completely banned, even in cases of rape and when a mother’s life is in danger. It’s time to change that.
BURZACO – Carrot leaves are poking through the soil, the lettuces are green and leafy, and the spring onions are standing tall: these vegetables are being nurured at secondary school No. 56 in Burzaco, 25 kilometers south of Buenos Aires. And as the vegetables have put down roots, classroom violence has been on a sharp […]
MOSCOW – Honestly? Stanislav opens his eyes wide. “I swear!” he exclaims, “I gave him water, a glass of water to be precise. He often passes by to go to the smoking area by gate 31.” That is where the flights for Italy depart. We station ourselves by the smoking area for almost an hour, […]
BOGOTA – Negotiators for rebel group FARC — engaged now in historic peace talks with the Colombian government — received an interesting visit in Havana last month. During a pause in negotiations with Bogota officials in the Cuban capital, FARC loyalists met with a group of former members of the IRA. Indeed, the veterans of […]
RIO DE JANEIRO – This modern pilgrimage through the heart of South America began last Friday at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Buenos Aires. The church, where the current Pope used to preside, was jam-packed with 500 young people from a dozen different parishes, their parents, priests and friends, as Jorge Bergoglio’s successor Archbishop Mario Aurelio […]
–OpEd– SANTIAGO – After four long years in court, the 10 Chilean pharmaceutical executives prosecuted for colluding to raise the prices of 222 medicines can breathe easy. These business leaders from the companies Salco-Brand, Ahumada and Cruz Verde were in fact convicted, but the sentence amounted to a meager fine — the equivalent of $445,000 […]
SAGONE – Ecstatic strawberry; erotic nougat; the forgotten flavours of violets, helichrysums, and Persian black limes… Can ice-cream contain a touch of genius? If it’s Pierre Geronimi making it, absolutely! An artisanal ice-cream maker from the little village of Sagone, north of Ajaccio, this Corsican grew up surrounded by the sorbets that his father, a […]
Shiva was not like the other detainees in the Argentina prison. For one thing, this convicted kidnapper was studying to be a lawyer — which turned out to be the ticket for his daring escape.
-Analysis- ROME – Countless attempts have been made to separate Silvio Berlusconi’s fate from that of the Italian government and economy. Above all, how can one man’s personal destiny be disentangled from the properly functioning relationships between the powers of the State. In the end, it seems, all attempts at such a separation have been […]
Exactly 100 years ago, the renowned Italian educator first landed in America with a method that pushes independent thinking. Today, the results are everywhere — notably at Google HQ.
NEW YORK – In the art world, auctions and mega galleries dominate. There are departed graffiti artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat who sell for tens of millions of dollars. Venice’s biennial tips its hat to ‘outsider’ artists, such as Antonio Ligabue, and mixes them with ‘insiders’, such as Richard Serra. Enter Thomas Hirschhorn, a creator of […]
A view from Italy, where the Protestant revival-style musical festival never had a chance…
-Analysis- ROME – Silvio Berlusconi’s sentence to seven years in prison and a life ban from public office signals the end of his political adventures. More generally, it also marks the end of Italy’s so-called “Second Republic”: the political era that began in 1992 of which the ex-prime minister has been the ubiquitous figure, just […]
MILAN – “Prestanome for hire: thirty years old, good credit rating, permanent job…” More and more advertisements like this one are finding their way onto the Internet. Literally a “lend-name,” the prestanome has made the leap from mafia-esque dodgy dealings into the real world. “The only thing I had left was my name: so I […]
Brazil is just the latest, though largest, recent example of a Latin American country that has seen grassroots movements catch fire from below.
Being born in Italy doesn’t guarantee you citizenship. For those who grew up children of immigrants, proving you deserve a passport can be like a bus ride to nowhere.
It’s more than just an easy target…
VATICAN CITY – The Holy See has opted for silence, following the uproar provoked by the comments attributed to Pope Francis that there is a “gay lobby” inside the Vatican. The leaders of the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Clerics, have condemned the publication of the transcript of their meeting with Pope Francis, which […]