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food / travel

The 2018 Dozen — Our 12 Most Popular Stories Of The Year

How was your year?
How was your year?

LE MONDE

Full Translation Of French Anti-#MeToo Manifesto Signed By Catherine Deneuve

Some 100 prominent French women artists and intellectuals have issued an open letter in Le Monde condemning the movement to call out inappropriate male behavior that erupted in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.


CLARIN

Interview With A Recovering Hippie Named Paulo Coelho

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SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG

Welcome To Songdo, South Korea: The Smartest Of Smart Cities

Many have hailed the innovations of Songdo, a planned community near the South Korean capital of Seoul. But the city, which once served as a set for the "Gangnam Style" music video, also has its critics.


ONE SHOT (Video)

Eddie Adams' Iconic Saigon Shot, 50 Years Later


LES ECHOS

For Dating Sites, Artificial Intelligence v. The Human Heart

French experts doubt that a machine can help you find your soulmate better than trusting the eternal language of love.


MADA MASR

Mohamed Salah, The Soccer Star Inspiring Egypt's Youth

In the year of Mohamed Salah's rise to fame as one of the world's best soccer players, his every move and success has been well documented across the globe, no more so than in his native Egypt.


EL ESPECTADOR

How Trump Forced A News Columnist Into News Detox

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ECONOMIC OBSERVER

Chinese Business Meets Confucius, On The Enduring Power Of Relationship


NEWS DEEPLY

Why This Caribbean Island Has Streets Paved In Plastic

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DIE WELT

Boyan Slat, A (Nicer) Elon Musk To Save Our Oceans

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CLARIN

Pink Cocaine: New Mystery Drug Hits Buenos Aires Club Scene

"Tuci," as it's known locally, is making its mark in the Argentina. But is it really the designer drug 2C-B, or just a dirty mix concocted by Colombian dealers?


LE MONDE

Beyoncé, Jay-Z And The Louvre, The Making Of A Museum Marketing Coup

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Society

Genoa Postcard: A Tale Of Modern Sailors, Echos Of The Ancient Mariner

Many seafarers are hired and fired every seven months. Some keep up this lifestyle for 40 years while sailing the world. Some of those who'd recently docked in the Italian port city of Genoa, share a taste of their travels that are connected to a long history of a seafaring life.

A sailor smokes a cigarette on the hydrofoil Procida

A sailor on the hydrofoil Procida in Italy

Daniele Frediani/Mondadori Portfolio via ZUMA Press
Paolo Griseri

GENOA — Cristina did it to escape after a tough breakup. Luigi because he dreamed of adventures and the South Seas. Marianna embarked just “before the refrigerator factory where I worked went out of business. I’m one of the few who got severance pay.”

To hear their stories, you have to go to the canteen on Via Albertazzi, in Italy's northern port city of Genoa, across from the ferry terminal. The place has excellent minestrone soup and is decorated with models of the ships that have made the port’s history.

There are 38,000 Italian professional sailors, many of whom work here in Genoa, a historic port of call that today is the country's second largest after Trieste on the east coast. Luciano Rotella of the trade union Italian Federation of Transport Workers says the official number of maritime workers is far lower than the reality, which contains a tangle of different laws, regulations, contracts and ethnicities — not to mention ancient remnants of harsh battles between shipowners and crews.

The result is that today it is not so easy to know how many people sail, nor their nationalities.

What is certain is that every six to seven months, the Italian mariner disembarks the ship and is dismissed: they take severance pay and after waits for the next call. Andrea has been sailing for more than 20 years: “When I started out, to those who told us we were earning good money, I replied that I had a precarious life: every landing was a dismissal.”

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