Despite its sincere tribute to Mary’s story, the film falters with over-the-top drama and underdeveloped characters, making it a mixed holiday offering.
Tag: controversy
Harmless insects are named after nasty dictators, which doesn’t seem to bother zoologists. Botanists, on the other hand, want to banish the offensive word “caffra” from the realm of flora. There is an understandable reason why South Africa has managed to do so, writes correspondent Christian Putsch.
The French director who made waves at the Cannes Film Festival with her film Jeanne du Barry is no stranger to controversy, with unorthodox views for a woman in the movie industry about sexual abuse accusations.
Two different cases of hijab controversies in India show there is one thing that is consistent, which is to impose on people at the margins an idea of “uniformity.”
Passive aggression gets a bad rap. It was once even classified as a personality disorder. But in today’s world, it can serve a distinct purpose.
As elsewhere in Europe, Germany’s decision to suspend the use of the vaccine makes no logical sense when you weigh the risks and benefits in concrete figures.
More than just a vehicle to communicate, language expresses and helps construct identity. As such, it has the power to inspire and unite people — but language can also be a source of division, or an impediment to peace between groups already in conflict. From squabbles over things like spelling and pronunciation, to minority groups […]
-Analysis- PR disasters can happen anywhere to anyone. While United Airlines is (not) doing its best to recover from the instantly infamous “re-accommodating” of a bumped passenger on an overbooked flight in Chicago, another somewhat smaller drama was playing out on the Italian island of Sicily. Ahead of next month’s G7 summit in the Sicilian […]
BIALYSTOK — There are plenty of cities in Poland that have something to hide. Bialystok is one of them. That’s where 80,000 Jews disappeared. Twice. The first time was during World War II; the second time, right after the War, when residents desecrated the Jewish cemetery and used it in the winter for riding their […]
A reviled U.S. presidential candidate visiting a very unpopular Mexican president. How did Donald Trump’s flash visit Wednesday to Mexico City look to the people and press south of the border? After the Republican nominee’s diatribes and insults against Mexicans and vows to build a “huge” wall, what was President Enrique Peña Nieto seeking by […]
GRASSE — They call it “the Provençal permit,” a local custom of sorts that involves building first and asking questions later. The logic is that once a construction is in place, authorities will feel more or less obliged to approve it retroactively. It is surprising how often that actually happens. Recently, though, one land owner […]
Keiko Fujimori has overcome, at least paritally, her imprisoned father’s past to become the frontrunner to be Peru’s next president. But the runoff will measure fears of a return to the authoritarian right?
Categories
Bullfighting Dad Causes Uproar In Spain
El País, Jan. 26, 2016 Spain is waving a red flag at famous bullfighter Francisco Rivera Ordóñez after he posted a picture of himself taunting a bloody calf while holding his five-month-old daughter. Ordóñez posted the photograph, featured Tuesday on the front page of Spain’s leading daily El País, on his official Instagram account a […]
Czech President Milos Zeman, Donald Trump and other over-the-top personalities may not offer any practical solutions to society’s problems, but they do have a function in an increasingly uniform political arena.
The Times, May 14, 2015 After a 10-year legal battle, the contents of 27 secret letters written by Prince Charles to British ministers were published Tuesday, revealing the extent of the prince’s attempts to influence the government. On the front page of its Thursday edition, The Times ran a picture of the Prince of Wales […]
Kurds, persecuted by the Turkish state, are only now beginning to face the role they played in the mass execution of Armenians a century ago.
Scandals and stagnation, crime and curbs on democracy are spreading across the region. Are things about to take a sharp turn back to the bad old days?
The Wall Street Journal, March 11, 2015 Like many American front pages Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal features a photo of Hillary Clinton at her Tuesday press conference where she discussed her use of private email while Secretary of State. During her first news conference since leaving her post as as secretary of state two […]
Almost 2,000 pages, 5,000 commentaries, a huge introduction: The Institute of Contemporary History has finally released details on its new edition of Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” planned for 2016.
What should be done with the house where Adolf Hitler was born? It’s a difficult question facing the Austrian city of Braunau as the 500-year-old building slowly falls apart.
The Jan. 29 front page of Morocco’s weekly magazine Alwatan Alane features French President Francois Hollande wearing a Nazi outfit, complete with a swastika armband and Adolf Hitler’s trademark mustache. The controversial photomontage is accompanied by the title, “Will the French revive Hitler’s concentration camps to exterminate Muslims?” Contacted by francetv info, publication director Abderrahim […]
Though the country’s major scouting associations say the practice of “Pflocken,” in which children are tied down, isn’t acceptable, the timeworn practice continues.
BEIJING — Beginning in January, China will abandon harvesting organs from executed prisoners, and organs needed for transplants will all come from donations, authorities have announced. Many Chinese don’t necessarily understand the profound meaning of this reform. Five years ago, I was personally involved in developing a report entitled, “Where Do Organs Come From?” published […]
The Louis Vuitton Foundation is a new high-profile cultural offering for the city of lights, but art’s higher calling becomes just a tool of luxury promotion for the ultra-privileged.
It happened in Buenos Aires, and though the Coca-Cola Company denies axing the trees, it has agreed to plant dozens of new ones.
Dieudonné M’bala M’bala, a taboo-busting humorist for some, a shocking anti-Semite for others, is currently at the center of a spiraling controversy in France over the acceptable limits of free speech. After inventing and encouraging the questionable gesture known as the “quenelle,” which some say is an allusion to the Nazi salute, the French comic […]
A proposed bill that would allow the use of English in universities has set off an uproar among intellectual champions of the French language.
DAWN, NATION, THE NEWS (Pakistan), BBC, THE GUARDIAN (UK) Worldcrunch ISLAMABAD – Following the contested Pakistani elections, marred by accusations of voter fraud, several candidates participated in nationwide sit-in protests Monday, writes The News. Muslim League leader, Nawaz Sharif claimed victory in Saturday’s polls, but was short of a clear majority. “There was total rigging. […]
TAWASOL, (Saudi Arabia), AL-ARABIYA (UAE), AL MOHEET (Egypt) Worldcrunch RIYADH – A Saudi cleric says babies and young girls should be covered from head to toe as a way of protecting them from sexual abuse. Sheikh Abdullah Mohamed Daoud made his statement on the al-Madj satellite station in October last year, but the video was […]
LE FIGARO, FRANCE 24, LIBERATION (France), DAILY TELEGRAPH (UK) Worldcrunch PARIS– French acting legend Gérard Depardieu has come under criticism for reportedly declaring permanent residency in Belgium to duck out on France’s high taxes on the rich. Left-wing newspaper Libération took a shot at the 63-year-old following confirmation that the actor has taken up residence […]
DIE WELT, FRANKFURTHER RUNDSCHAU (Germany) The new book of poems, Eintagsfliegen (Ephemera), by German Nobel prize winner Günter Grass, 84, is already causing controversy. Reviewers who received advance copies describe “touching texts about aging and death,” and call the collection “a declaration of love to Germany.” But the poem called A Hero In Our Time […]
-Analysis– Karen L. King, the first woman to occupy the Hollis Chair of Divinity at Harvard, recently caused a sensation in Rome. At the International Congress for Coptic Studies, she revealed a fragment of papyrus measuring 4 cm by 8 cm (1.6 inches by 3.15 inches), dating back to the fourth century and covered with […]
LE MONDE, LE PARISIEN (France) Worldcrunch PARIS – On August 15, a controversial “Prayer for France” will be read out at French Catholic churches, reviving a centuries old tradition as the country celebrates the Feast of the Assumption — the bodily taking up of the Virgin Mary into Heaven. The wording of the prayer, which […]