Worldcrunch
Japan’s notorious yakuza — “gangsters’ — have displayed (in addition to their trademark tattoos) a peculiar sense of civic duty in the face of past natural disasters, having donated money to victims of the Kobe earthquake in 1995 and the 2011 Fukushima tsunami. Now, Japanese news site News Postseven reports that yakuza bosses are publicly […]
CAIRO — Like many other laborers, delivery workers are not able to practice social distancing during the novel coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, the service they provide helps protect customers — largely middle and upper-class citizens — by keeping those people out of busy shops where they might come in contact wth the illness. […]
The imposition of quarantine and self-isolation has hit migrant workers hardest of all. They have nothing to live on in Russia but have no way of returning home.
Our Slovenian writer’s bygone trip through a China still not plugged into the global economy reveals some clues for how the pandemic has brought us to this point.
The auto and electronics sector in Brazil is a prime example of how manufacturers around the world came to depend on Chinese-made supplies, and are now struggling because of it.
The COVID-19 outbreak is a scourge like no other, but not because of the dangers that this particular pathogen presents.
Mass-scale meat production is not only a key agent of environmental destruction but a main culprit in disease generation. We must change the way we eat to avoid the next pandemic.
While we see a general boost in solidarity, a small minority is looking to profit from the COVID-19 tragedy, feeding on a weakened and distracted society.
On the list of the most urgent COVID-19 priorities, right after saving the lives of those infected comes feeding the rest of us. A mix of logistics, impromptu trade barriers and economics make these efforts a major challenge. And the longer the crisis continues, and the farther it spreads, the stakes of the food supply […]
NEW TAIPEI CITY — The Catholic priest, Father Giovanni Rizzi of the Camillians religious order, has been well known in Taiwan for his decades of work helping to set up hospitals on the island nation. But in recent days, Rizzi humbly asked for some help in return: for contributions to purchase face masks for hospitals […]
STOCKHOLM — As COVID-19 shuts down vast swathes of the world, Sweden has become Europe’s last “open” holdout. In the 10-million strong Nordic country, borders, elementary schools, offices, gyms and even restaurants remain open. So far, some 5,500 have tested positive for the virus and more than 300 people have died, but the government stands […]
In the Chinese city where coronavirus first appeared, the death toll may be much higher than official numbers. Ugly truths are now appearing as survivors wait in line to pick up remains of loved ones.
As the toll passes 10,000, Italians try to look past the unthinkable numbers to remember each life lost, including a 34-year-old father from a town near Milan.
A view from India on the prospects of major upheaval in the short-term and the possibility of a lasting economic depression.
Self-quarantining is a concept incompatible with a culture that helps the sick and greets them with open arms.
Fear and uncertainty for both stable couples and courting. We know the virus is present in saliva drops, but it’s not clear whether it exists in other body fluids. But human behavior isn’t waiting for the science to find out.
Our writer finds the destruction of the natural world, and his own money problems, far more distressing than any pandemic.
-Essay- ROME — I’ve got a daughter who works abroad and, like many Italians, she is experiencing for the first time a different reaction when she says: “Yes, I’m Italian.” It is the gaze of mistrust and fear that makes her and her friends uncomfortable and cautious: Almost all of them have given up on […]
It’s a bittersweet scene captured at Milan’s Central Railway Station, at the global epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis. With more than 800 deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus and 12,000 infected in Italy, the northern region of Lombardy, which includes Milan, is by far the hardest hit, with 617 deaths as of Thursday. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has extended a severe lockdown to the entire country, with all shops, restaurants, cafes and bars being ordered to close, with the exception of grocery stores and pharmacies, until March 25. Amid the chaos and uncertainty, this photograph recalls Gabriel García Márquez” epic […]
The OPEC-Russia oil spat that has provoked stock-market panic may prove the last straw for a world economy on the verge of another recession.
Grueling shifts, grave warnings and the spectre of having to choose between the living and the dead.
A Venice-based novelist reflects on the disappearing tourists, imploding economy and politicians siding with the apocalypse.
Shortages of medical supplies are already hitting in the northern city of Turin, in Italy, which is by far the worst hit European country from the COVID-19 coronavirus.