Worldcrunch
-Analysis- MUNICH — At first glance, the video footage looks like a harmless Advent promotional clip. It showed cheerful people walking between decorated stalls, tinsels, Christmas trees, Santa hats. But back in 2000, the Strasbourg Christmas Market was already a prime target for terrorists, and this video was the most important piece of evidence against […]
WASHINGTON — My first encounter with China was, oddly, at the top of the Empire State Building. I was a young student, and climbing to the top of the Manhattan landmark was the last thing I did before returning home from my first visit to the U.S., where I now live. I was not particularly […]
Google tried and failed to play the social media game. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing for the tech giant, which is doing just fine by sharing the tech market with California rival Facebook.
In the West, the era of grand, strategic pacts between nation-states seems to have come and gone. But in Asia, the trend may just be catching on.
The referenda that rejected marriage equality in Taiwan last month was not only a huge blow to the country’s LGBT community, but also a political setback to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Two years ago, It was the DPP that had originally taken to Parliament the proposed amendment of Taiwan’s Civil Code to allow […]
Strict integration protocols can have the opposite effect on asylum seekers, compounding their sense of otherness, a Syrian man now living in Austria argues.
-Editorial- PARIS — The violence committed in Paris and other French cities on Saturday is, in every meaning of the word, unspeakable. The destruction, pillaging and assault against those charged with maintaining order must be condemned without reserve, because they are without excuse. There are no words to give meaning or direction to the flood […]
Ethical concerns about last week’s CRISPR breakthrough in China are valid. But they can evolve quickly.
Rowdy fans added to the annals of soccer stupidity by forcing organizers to cancel the hugely anticipated Copa Libertadores final in Buenos Aires.
Europe’s aggressive migration policy has seen Italy dive into the obscure world of national shipping flags to sabotage rescue missions.
PARIS — Human migration is the story of our times. Victims of conflict and climate change, pushed by poverty at home and pulled toward opportunity abroad, people on the move are both a catalyst and consequence of globalization. Yes, immigration is a polarizing political issue, but also a keen reminder of the shared circumstances that […]
WASHINGTON — I loved Amazon when it first appeared. It was the 1990s, and I was living in Italy and then China, two countries that are strongly monolingual with a scarce number of foreign-language bookstores. Rome for instance, with three and a half million inhabitants at the time, had a couple of English bookstores and […]
PARIS — Suspected of hacking a dissident into pieces in its consulate in Istanbul, the Saudi regime has become the target of public outrage — until the story dies down, at least. Which raises an important question: should French museums, opera houses and festivals accept funding from the kingdom? It’s a sensitive issue, as Saudi […]
People in Colombia seem to have forgotten that in the not-too-distant past, they were the ones seeking refuge abroad, and that Venezuela offered a tolerant and helping hand.
After being left behind in the Internet revolution, places like France, Malta and Switzerland are making a concerted effort to stay ahead of the crypto-asset curve.
A path through Lebanon, Brazil and France, the former top Michelin manager may have met the end of the road in Japan.
-OpEd- BERLIN — Thousands of students marched through Tehran last weekend, and state television broadcast the protest march live. The crowd burned U.S. flags and pictures of President Donald Trump in front of the building of the former U.S. embassy. And, yes, they chanted: “Death to America.” After the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear treaty […]
-Analysis- PARIS — And then, Brazil. The list of countries that are switching to so-called “strongman” regimes keeps growing. Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Turkey, Narendra Modi’s India, Rodrigo Duterte’s Philippines, Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil. The “people” leave it up to a candidate who has promised the end of corruption and economic recovery. In […]
The Brazilian president-elect’s plans for his first foreign trips offer just one clue to neighbors about how regional alliances are set to be turned on their heads.
The expanding movement to denounce sexual assault is a symptom of the problem, not the cure.
America’s midterm elections saw Democrats recapture the House, but lose ground in the Senate. A nation as divided as ever, though with new checks on Trump.
-OpEd- CAIRO — Following last Friday’s attack on two buses and a microbus in Egypt’s Minya governorate, killing at least seven Coptic Christians and injuring 16 others, both domestic and international media have deployed subtle and not-so-subtle examples of “victim-blaming” in their coverage. Egyptian media highlighted the poor condition of the road on which the […]
The tendency of politicians in Latin America (and beyond) to cite Christ in their speeches may indicate both megalomania and contempt for institutional democracy.
To act, let’s start by not looking away.
President-elects Jair Bolsonaro and Andrés Manuel López Obrador may not have the same ideology, but their respective radical declarations are prompting concerns over the rule of law and treatment of minorities.
Residents of Sadhan village have a different story to tell
-Open Letter- PARIS — In the weeks since France’s popular environment minister, Nicolas Hulot resigned, after expressing disappointment with President Emmanuel Macron“s environmental record, newspapers have been filled with articles and opinion pieces sounding the alarm. Those in power are told to take vigorous and urgent ecological action to reduce consumption of polluting energies and […]
New President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is calling for a paradigm shift in Mexico’s war on hyper-violent drug cartels. Colombia’s peace deal with the FARC may serve as a model.
There is much to admire about Germany’s nearly 70-year-old constitution. But it also contains a serious flaw.
After 17 months in power, Emmanuel Macron is touching the depths of unpopularity. He still has ways to bounce back, but should start by re-reading the author of ‘The Prince.’
It’s time to recognize refugee women for what they are: intrepid organizers and providers, argues Liberian peace activist and 2011 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Leymah Gbowee.
Jair Bolsonaro is threatening to curtail rights and liberties, and bring the army back into politics. He’s also the front-runner heading into Sunday’s presidential election.
A worsening economy in Argentina may cause political shifts before the 2019 presidential elections.
One study says it will take at least 100 years to bridge the global gender gap. And 217 years to close the pay gap. But we can do something now.
Saying that we believe survivors doesn’t cost us much, but it gives a lot of women the validation they need to believe in themselves and their version of what happened.
With more sanctions for China and curbs on NAFTA, Donald Trump is fulfilling his campaign pledges to curtail globalization — free trade and vast business interests be damned.
Even in economically powerful Germany, poverty threatens the social fabric. And neither the left or right has any real solutions — except to play to fears.
The flood of people fleeing Venezuela’s dire economic and political situation is more than any one country can handle. But so far, there’s been little effort to organize a coordinated reaction.
With inflation on the rise, some pundits say the South American country should say adios to its faltering peso.
BEIJING — A video is making the rounds across China’s internet. On a bus in the western city of Xi’an, an elderly man is seen shouting at a pregnant woman that she should give up her seat. “I am an old person! Can’t you see?” His attitude was so appalling that commentators online came down […]