BRASILIA — While most Brazilians are focused on the country’s deepening economic and political crises, some politicians have another priority. A special committee in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies passed a controversial statute last week that defined a family as a concept beginning from the union of a man and a woman. Rio de Janeiro […]
Tag: family
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The Big Trend Of Living Small
From New York to Buenos Aires, more and more single people choose to live in tiny spaces. It’s the marriage of economic forces and modern lifestyle.
Over the past two years, so-called “Female Virtues classes” have become popular across China, particularly among the less-educated. The classes mainly promote antiquated ideas about how women should be submissive. It’s obviously a shrewd businessmen’s way of cashing in — but the fact that flocks of women attend them also demonstrates a certain deep-seated ethical […]
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No More Big Fat Afghan Weddings
KABUL — Big weddings, music and dancing were banned in Afghanistan under the Taliban. So after the U.S.-led invasion toppled the regime in 2001, Afghans who could afford it began throwing large, loud and expensive weddings. But the government says the tradition has become a burden for grooms’ families, who are obliged to underwrite wedding costs, and the parliament has passed a law to makes lavish and expensive weddings illegal. The new law limits the number of wedding guests to 500 and caps the per-head cost at around $7. “This law will solve huge problems facing young people that make […]
The Daily Mail, May 5, 2015 Two days after finding out that “It’s a girl,” the world now knows what to call the second child of Prince William and Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge: the baby Princess of Cambridge is named Charlotte Elizabeth Diana. The British tabloids had plenty of fodder interpreting the choice, with […]
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Millennial And Homeless, In France
Young adults between 18 and 25 are an increasingly vulnerable population in France. Jobless and rejected by their families, they are finding themselves on the streets in disturbing numbers.
As it faces an aging population, China has announced plans to raise its retirement age. But the better solution, and a clearly more urgent issue, is to encourage couples to have more children.
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My Bogus Marriage To A Refugee Friend
Germany is tracking the growing number of so-called “protective” marriages, arranged among friends to avoid an immigrant being sent back to poverty and peril in their home country.
A heartwrenching court case in France poses thorny questions as the very meaning of family evolves more quickly than the legal system, or even the experts, can keep up with.
GUANGZHOU — It has been three days since Zheng Yuling gave birth. Her breasts are as hard as stone and she is in great pain. She wishes she could breastfeed her baby. But the child is no longer there. And her husband, Chen Dafu, was arrested the day before for the crime of abandoning the […]
Aware of the profound effect Christmas has on people, researchers have studied our reactions to everything from supermarket music to gender-specific gifts and delayed gratification.
China has proposed making revisions to the country’s policy of punishing couples who have more than one child. But instead, such population controls should be abolished entirely.
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Barns On Stilts
A stone’s throw away from Santiago de Compostela, I took this picture of a hórreo — a kind of granary built above ground and characteristic of Spain’s northwestern Galicia region. The pillars end in flat stones to prevent rats from accessing the grain stored there. When I took this shot in the month of July, […]
Carmen Tulia Ortega recently came face-to-face with a former paramilitary chief responsible for some of the deaths of her loved ones. No, she did not forgive him.
KARACHI — Khushboo Rafiq is the first person in her family not to pay a dowry, or bride price, to her husband Usman’s family. Khushboo works for an organization that advocates women’s rights. It was very important to her that her wedding represents the ideals and convictions on which she spends her professional efforts.” We used the wedding invitation to tell guests they should not bring any gifts,” she says. “We also made it very clear that no dowry was being paid. We also are donating our wedding dress to a charity for another couple to use in the future.” […]
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The Cruel Art Of Unfriending
GENEVA — It used to be that friendships ended in all sorts of ways. But these days, we simply “unfriend” instead. From the playground to Facebook, the process has evolved. You put the cursor on the name of the person you want out of your life, you slide over to the “Friends” button, let the […]
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Something Pretty In The Kingdom Of Denmark
Helsingor’s Kronborg Castle, in the background, is perhaps more famous as “Elsinore,” where most of Shakespeare’s Hamlet takes place. Maybe this is where our braided 8-year-old daughter Cécile got her love for all things English?
Before Kiev or Kharviv, Moscow’s new cold war with the West meant would-be American parents were banned from adopting Russian orphans. The effect can only now be tallied.
A married man from the eastern Chinese province of Anhui was looking for some online hanky-panky. So the man, identified by the Market Star Daily as a forty-something named Mr. Zhang, reached for his mobile phone and clicked on “Shake”, a location-based social plug-in service provided by Weixin (Chinese for WeChat). Zhang began chatting, and […]
A German court case’s impending verdict is poised to create a controversial precedent in this aging country, where a child is asked to finance elder care for a father who had cut him out of his life.
Marriage in Tajikistan, a Central Asian country of 8 million, is celebrated over days and far over budget. A new law tries to change ancient ways for the sake of modern economics.
JOHANNESBURG — “As long as he’s alive, his family members still refrain, but you’ll see when he passes away …” Earlier this year, a man close to several of Nelson Mandela’s relatives told Le Monde of his fear that the unity displayed during the moments of reverence around South Africa’s global icon of reconciliation, would […]
The legendary founder of the Slow Food movement lays out his vision for preserving the world’s biodiversity by returning to ancient forms of agriculture. The future of the planet is at stake.
Social policy and mentality both must change for China to face its looming demographic crisis. Beijing’s recent decision to loosen its one-child policy is just a start.
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.
BEIJING – Rupert Murdoch has filed for divorce from his wife, Wendi Deng, and the Chinese media is watching with great attentioin whether their ambitious female compatriot is going to get her share of the cake from her fabulously rich ex-husband. It’s likely though that many will be disappointed since it was disclosed long ago […]
GENEVA – Wife: “I’ve done my share. It’s your turn now.” Husband: “If you leave me in the next five years, I’ll really feel like I sacrificed myself for nothing.” What are they talking about? Working part-time to spend more time with the kids? Turning down a promotion? Giving up paragliding and cycling on weekends […]
CAIXIN (China) Worldcrunch BEIJING – Of the 8,619 children adopted by American families last year, including kids from more than 40 countries, more than 30% came from China, Caixin media reports, citing data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Because of toughened regulations, 885 fewer children overall were adopted internationally by Americans compared with […]
In a society designed around individual liberty, has marriage become little more than a temporary link-up of working people choosing to spend some free time together? And the kids?
In the private sector as in politics, a small group of influential dynasties still rule the country. Being on the outside, makes a play on power virtually impossible.
GOMA – Young Muslim men in the Democratic Republic of Congo are less interested in having several wives than their fathers were. Facing rising prices and feuds over inheritance, the new generation doesn’t see how the benefits outweigh the costs of having multiple spouses in the same household. As for the women of the current […]
HÜRRIYET (Turkey) Worldcrunch ISTANBUL – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on his nation’s families to have at least three children, Turkey’s daily Hurriyet reports. Erdogan used a speech to declare that the strength of a nation lies within its families, which must be fortified with more children. “One or two children means […]
NUREMBERG – Paul wanted glitter on his Christmas tree ornament; at his age – six – he doesn’t think glitter is too girly. His dad took in the request and patiently started applying the glitter to the wet paint of the ornament they’re making together. “What does an angel look like?” a little boy at […]
KIGALI – In Rwanda, getting married has always been a complicated affair. Before anything, the families of the bride and groom sit down for a long negotiation. Once they have exchanged gifts and agreed that the couple should indeed marry, and of course settled on what the dowry will be, the traditional wedding can start. […]