Worldcrunch
LAUSANNE — She’s seen me naked. How can I leave her? He brought me so much. How can I tell him I’m leaving? I spent so much time finding the right one. Now we’re supposed to just split up? And yet things were clear from the start: This was always going to be a temporary […]
A Chinese housing developer recently hired AIDS patients to threaten people with infection so they would leave their homes. It seems shocking, but discrimination in China based on HIV status is actually legal, leaving many patients little employment choic
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 […]
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 […]
Use of this incredibly addictive drug is growing in Germany, especially among Millennials who say it makes them feel invincible.
A heated national debate in Germany over raising the retirement age is posing the wrong questions. A German writer in the U.S. sees a different solution.
HAMBURG — When Kathrin Fiesel talks about lunch breaks at her company, people can’t believe it: “You do what? You go dancing!?” Her employer, the e-commerce giant Otto, in Hamburg’s Bramfeld district, has for several months now been trying out alternatives to the classic visit to the canteen. One of the things they’ve come up […]
After hundreds of years of reducing our physical activity with the help of machines, we now find we need to move to remain healthy. A friendly city is one that forces you to walk more.
Already more than 7,000 beds, Zhengzhou’s ‘Super Hospital’ now has plans to expand to serve 10,000. Is this the best approach to health care in a booming China?
But just try brushing your teeth with bamboo.
Contrary to the West, where obesity rates are higher in poorer, less well-educated areas, China’s overweight youth are from wealthy families. It has been dubbed a “disease of affluence.”
Grave doubts about the health and capacity of longtime President Bouteflika are pulling Algeria apart at the seams. Who’s in charge? What happens next in this pivotal North African country?
DALLAS — Greg Lucas wasn’t feeling at the top of his game. He’d gained weight, and the machines at the gym filled him with apprehension. “Sex wasn’t tops, but that wasn’t the problem,” he says. “I felt tired. I was dragging myself around.” Lucas was then 25 years old. He decided to go and see […]
Even as President Sirleaf is criticized by some, one opposition parliament member has decided to donate his own time and money to work directly with those affected by the outbreak.
BEIJING — According to Beijing Youth Daily, soap made from breast milk is one of China’s latest fads. Just type in “breast milk soap” on Taobao, China’s biggest e-commerce site, and 88 pages of breast milk-related products are in display. Apart from those selling soaps made with the breast milk of new mothers — at […]
Not far from the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, a growing number of cases of cholera have spread. If these two contagious diseases overlap, it could be a catastrophe.
German officials confirm that contraband cigarettes laced with Strontium 90, which is used in nuclear weapons, were intercepted at a Warsaw airport in June. Was it a personal attack?
The German maker of water filters finds it crazy that we are still shipping bottled water all around the world. And both its message and its adaptation to different markets are paying off.
Latin Americans who find the gym tedious are discovering that their own homegrown dances are a way to stay fit with a smile on your face.
Parents and health experts in had voiced outrage that the American fast-food giant was behind a program to teach German students about good nutrition.
MATADI — Diabetic patients in the Bas-Congo province, in the western region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, have had enough with traditional practitioners. They insist they won’t be conned again by those who claim they can cure everything from AIDS to hypertension and even diabetes, which some 1.5 million people suffer from in this […]
BEIJING — Obesity is a worldwide problem. The latest confirmation comes from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, which conducted a study in 188 countries that found one-third of the global adult population and one-fourth of all children are overweight or obese. That includes no fewer than 671 million […]
So-called lifeloggers track and record their personal data, often sharing it with the world. Why? To make connections that can improve health and sleep…and maybe avoid oblivion.
BEIJING — Earlier this month, in the central Hunan province, the family of a cancer patient beat up the attending doctor and a pregnant nurse because they had been unable to save the patient’s life. The nurse nearly had a miscarriage afterwards, while the hospital ward facilities were badly damaged. On June 5, the Chinese […]
FLORENCE — The Italian national soccer team has landed in Brazil, and each player is carrying an extra card with them. It’s similar to an ATM bank card, though instead of money it will give them access to a database where they can find any and all relevant information about the World Cup. Manager Cesare […]
Curious about the sex lives of the over-70 crowd? Even intimate relations among 50-somethings is usually not talked about. And teens? Now all is revealed on German television.
PARIS — Bad news for the tobacco industry and smokers in France. Health Minister Marisol Touraine will announce strict new tobacco control measure next month that are expected to ban any branding on cigarette packs. The French daily Le Figaro reports that the overall effect of the new measures will be as radical as the […]
First established in Colombia, kangaroo care for underweight babies relies on constant mother-child contact and avoids costs and complications of incubators that rarely arrive in Africa.
MUNICH — Surely vegan offerings are healthier, and easier on the figure. More natural in any case. Many consumers have even become moralistic about the vegan products they put into their shopping baskets. But a survey by a Hamburg consumer group, the Verbraucherzentrale, shows that these attitudes and expectations are often wrong. They tested 20 […]
A smile, a chuckle, a LOL, a full-throated guffaw: getting yourself laughing is good for the soul, good for your health.
QUINGGOU — It was back in the mid-1990s, amid China’s major economic reforms. Liu Changxia and other men in the village of Qinggou felt it was “time to leave home” because the farm wasn‘t bringing in enough and their families needed to be provided for. The whole country was talking of nothing but economic growth. […]
Master Chef and other TV shows celebrating fine food are all the rage. But in real life, both rich and poor are increasingly buying pre-packaged meals. Reflections from a London-based Sicilian.
If you’re here searching for the secret to eternal life forget it, we’re not there yet. But in the meantime, here’s some supercentenarians from around the world with their own secrets to a long life. Some might surprise you!
Falsely considered a type of magic, achieving hypnotic trance is already part of our everyday lives. Its potential applications for medical science are vast, if still largely unexplained.
A new German study shows that half of people born today will live to be 100. Surely this calls for a new way to think about life – and lifestyle.
KAPOOSAR — Pancho Mai is a villager in Kapoosar, located in the Tharpakar district. Today is the festival of Holi, but the 25-year-old mother is deep in mourning. Over the past three months, her three children have died. “They had fever for a few days, and then pneumonia killed each one of them,” she says numbly. Her mother-in-law, Kaplana Mai, had rushed the children to the only government hospital in the district. But it was too late. They died within days. This is not an isolated case. According to independent statistics reported by the local media, some 200 children, mostly […]
LANZHOU — Over the last few days, panic has been spreading about the drinking water in Lanzhou, the capital city of the northwest Gansu Province. The water contains dangerously high levels of benzene, a cancer-causing substance. Television reports show the public madly rushing to the supermarkets for bottled water. What if this also happens to […]
BEIJING — A friend of mine recently made an appointment for his heart problem at the cardiac unit of a very well-reputed hospital. When he finally managed to see the chief physician, the doctor’s first question wasn’t “What’s the matter with you?” or “How long have you been feeling unwell?” but instead, “What guanxi have […]
Did you know that city life is good for bees?
While much of the West has seen the danger in abusing psychoactive drugs such as Valium, sales of these drugs in Brazil are skyrocketing, and doctors warn that it’s out of control.