Worldcrunch
Before COVID-19, when we heard the word “virus,” most of us thought about our computers. Cyber-security terminology has borrowed from the biological world because of the similar ways that viruses spread and can be combated. Both rely on hosts for transmission and can be prevented by immunity, which for a computer comes in the form […]
Welcome to Wednesday, where Assad is all set for reelection, WhatsApp takes on India’s Modi, and a drug dealer’s love of blue cheese leads to his demise. Meanwhile, we turn to German daily Die Welt for an in-depth analysis of Angela Merkel’s relationship with China (Spoiler alert: It’s complicated). • Syrian presidential elections: Polling stations […]
For a number of French people, the two-month confinement period offered time to reflect and reassess priorities.
Around the world, creative minds are coming up with bright (or at least, new) ideas to help people stay germ-free while returning to work, school or travel.
Across the globe, the coronavirus crisis has forced people to change not only the ways they work and interact with each other, but also how they travel. And in several countries, one of the unexpected consequences of all this has been a renewed interest in transportation of the pedal-powered, two-wheeled variety. In some places — […]
PARIS — There’s a price to be paid, in euros and other things, when you choose to live in a city like Paris. But there’s a reason people pay: There’s only one Louvre, one Opera Garnier and exactly 114 Michelin-star restaurants. And even if you don’t have tickets, or the euros, to make it through […]
When we think of modern urban planning, it tends to be focused on improving efficiency in where we live and work, and how we move from place to place. But it should also be about keeping us healthy. The concept is neither a knee-jerk reaction to COVID-19 nor some nod to corporate social responsibility and […]
Welcome to Friday, where an Israeli-Hamas ceasefire is holding, we find out what Obama really thinks of Trump and cows help Thailand’s vaccination drive. Also, Les Echos takes an inside visit to the remote “mines’ turning out bitcoin cryptocurrency in China. • Israel-Gaza ceasefire holding: An Egyptian-mediated truce between Israel and Hamas began late Friday […]
After Italy, Spain was one of the first countries in Europe to feel the full, crushing weight of the coronavirus pandemic, and is currently approaching 30,000 deaths. Now, as governments around the continent lift their lockdown restrictions, Spain has also become a reference point for its stringent policy on the use of face masks: starting […]
With people returning to work, there’s the question of how to get there. Many cities around the world are encouraging biking, walking and other private transportation methods to avoid clogging public transit systems that could be cesspools for the coronavirus as lockdowns ease. But for those without other options, taking trains, subways and buses will […]
To call it a “side effect” of the pandemic would miss the point entirely. Beyond the devastating health impacts of coronavirus on those infected is the impact the crisis is having on research and treatment for other diseases. Nobody can argue with the massive public attention and funds focused on coronavirus, considered the worst worldwide […]
Welcome to Thursday, where fighting continues in Gaza despite Hamas’s moves toward a ceasefire, there’s good news on Alexei Navalny’s health, and a young French driver sets a new kind of speed record. Clarin also looks at the Brazilian Left’s refusal to recognize its own failures and how that might allow Bolsonaro to win a […]
There’s a whole lot of money and prestige at stake as researchers across the globe scramble to develop a vaccine. Does this help or hurt the cause?
PARIS — The surprise announcement of a massive pact between France and Germany to lead Europe’s response to the COVID-19 crisis marks a historic agreement, writes of Paris-based daily Les Echos. Germany’s decision to accept the principle of a common debt for European countries, signals the birth of a new union of solidarity, which is […]
Welcome to Wednesday, where the fighting in Gaza intensifies despite international calls for ceasefire, COVID deaths hit a new record in India and a flooded Italian village resurfaces. Le Monde“s correspondent Louis Imbert reports from the West Bank where more and more young supporters of the ruling Fatah party are joining the clashes with Israeli […]
Preventing an epidemic like the coronavirus doesn’t just require a robust human healthcare system, it also demands a full rethinking of our relationship with the animal kingdom. Just a few examples of what we need: a crackdown on the illicit “wet markets“” trade of exotic animals, where the virus may have originated; veterinary medicine needs […]
Welcome to Monday, where Gaza shelling intensifies, Bill Gates is under fire for a relationship with staffer and the Titanic is spotted in China. We also ask why Italy lags behind others in Europe in protecting LGBTQ from violence. • Israeli air strikes hit Gaza as calls for ceasefire intensify: Israel conducted dozens of air […]
Beyond public support for medical workers, the French are very critical of the management of the pandemic by their leaders compared to other countries.
Viruses spread, mutate and then become deadly because humans destroy the areas where wild animals live. We must learn from this, once the coronavirus pandemic is contained.
It is, of course, inevitable that governments’ stay-at-home orders and other emergency measures to contain the novel coronavirus would generate differences of opinion. And yet, even a few weeks ago, it was hard to imagine that it would take as ugly a turn as what’s happening right now in the U.S. state of Michigan, where […]
As COVID-19 lingers, protective masks are recommended and even mandatory in certain places. But our faces are also our windows to the world, and covering them creates serious new obstacles across our societies.
Whether or not they were looking for it, the COVID-19 crisis has given epidemiologists bonafide public power. “At this point, if Drosten says it is too early, that carries as much weight as Merkel saying it,” quipped German economist Marcel Fratzscher about his country’s top epidemiologist Christian Drosten and top politician Angela Merkel. There is […]
Across the globe, swamped hospitals and shelter-in-place measures have impacted people’s access to healthcare for any number of non-COVID-19 issues. One of them is abortion, a time sensitive procedure that is also — even the best of times — both emotionally and politically charged. Now, in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, some countries have […]
We have all, at some point, thought about the very first thing we’d do once lockdown restrictions start to lift. Going for a cup of coffee, dining out, meeting friends in the flesh (not on Zoom). But there’s one item on our list of mundane things we took for granted that we’re reminded of each […]
Welcome to Thursday, where Israeli troops are massing at the Gaza border, Elon Musk undermines Bitcoin and a New Zealand politician performs a protest Hakka dance in Parliament. We also have a warning from Latin America about the environmental risks of trading with China. • Israel gathers troops along Gaza border amid rocket fire and […]
PARIS — Nothing illustrates the current need for brand dexterity like the “The Quarantine Whopper,” a joint campaign led by Burger King, Carrefour and Uber Eats, and with backing from the Buzzman agency. Amid the lockdown, the fast food giant has kept its doors closed, even for deliveries. But it’s still working to stay relevant […]
As the new pandemic reality requires radical rethinking about how we live our lives, one hint of where we may be going could appear this summer in a neighborhood near you. The re-opening of bars and restaurants coinciding with warm weather is pushing city officials to reallocate the space that diners and motorists can occupy. […]
Today, you may read about lockdowns being loosened in COVID-19 hotspots like France or Spain or the U.K. But you may also discover that Germany, widely lauded for keeping infection rates relatively low, has seen an uptick in their number of coronavirus cases since they relaxed certain social distancing restrictions. Turn farther to the East, […]
PARIS — The rate of transmission and death toll of the coronavirus finally seem to be slowing, and various national and local lockdown measures are beginning to loosen. In a best-case scenario, both commerce and public confidence pick back up and social distancing measures help the virus to fade away by the summer. But even […]
Welcome to Monday, where fresh clashes rock Jerusalem’s mosque, death toll in Kabul school bombing tops 60, and Dracula sinks his fangs into COVID. We also look at the risks that go along with all the gung ho talk of the New Space Race. • Clashes escalate in East Jerusalem: A new round of clashes […]
One effect of the global pandemic has been to push perennial ethical dilemmas from the comfortable confines of university campuses and philosopher parlor games into the cold reality of everyday life. Facing a global shortage of respirators and ICU beds, medical workers are forced to make hard (impossible) choices on the fly about which patients […]
Ageism at its most inhumane.
PARIS — For each passing day, as a perfect storm where both demand and supply plummet together across the world, the 2008 crisis starts to pale in comparison. Economists are thinking hard behind the scenes, with some pondering post-War recovery plans and others looking to earlier pandemics, like the 1918 Spanish flu, for guidance. But […]
Welcome to Thursday, where Washington calls for suspension of COVID vaccine patents, Philippines President regrets getting a Chinese jab and Europe’s biggest bear is dead. Germany daily Die Welt, meanwhile, looks at the perils of cops who want to be internet famous. • U.S. to support vaccine patent waiver: The Biden administration has come out […]
We talk about how the COVID-19 pandemic is upending so many aspects of our lives, yet it is foremost a story about death. Every day in this strange new normal, death counts close to home and around the world are updated, displayed, analyzed; figures are given, curves are drawn, graphs are made, allowing all of […]
Airline operators and manufacturers are taking one on the nose and scrambling to contain the fallout from a crisis that appeared out of the blue.
Welcome to Wednesday, where India’s COVID surge interrupts the G7 summit, George Floyd’s killer asks for a new trial and a woman in Mali gives birth to five girls … and four boys. Argentine daily Clarín also has a look at what Joe Biden’s arrival means for Cuba and Venezuela. • Derek Chauvin asks for […]
Not since George Clooney was walking the halls of E.R. have doctors gotten so much air time. More particularly, virologists and epidemiologists are taking the lead in guiding us through the coronavirus crisis, both those offering explanations on news outlets and those holding increasingly vital positions of authority who help set national policies in response […]
Welcome to Monday, where Modi loses a key state after COVID backlash, a different cryptocurrency record is broken and the ancient Colosseum gets a high-tech remodeling. Warsaw-based daily Gazeta Wyborcza also looks at how Poland’s long-time right-wing leader Jarosław Kaczyńsk may be losing his grip on power. • Modi’s ruling party loses key state amid […]
A strategy for fighting the pandemic, national confinement morphs into a dangerous ideology if it uses the pretext of health protection to target migrants.