Worldcrunch
Luxembourg is Europe’s luxury car capital, boasting one high-end ride for every 13 residents. Luxembourgers’ love for high-powered engines remains strong, even as the crackdown on carbon emissions intensifies. Take a ride through roads where roaring engines still rule.
Qatar was crucial to the ceasefire negotiations in the Middle East. It proves that you don’t need a large army or nuclear weapons to play an important role in the world.
Russia’s Parliament has approved a law that would limit migrant children’s access to schools. It contradicts basic decency, international law and the Constitution. It is also bad for Russians.
China’s Premier Li Qiang has offered to send Australia two new pandas during his visit to Adelaide Zoo, as “friendly messengers of China-Australia relations.” It’s the latest example of China’s enduring and unique “panda diplomacy.”
An Egyptian journalist surprised by the growing and incomprehensible campaign over the past months that raises slogans against Arab “refugees” who were forced by civil wars in their countries — Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Sudan — to reside in Egypt.
Just because war appears more likely to spread to Europe or the Middle East than Asia, we should not forget China’s enormous weight. But does Beijing want to do with it?
A video is fueling speculation about Ukrainian military activities in Africa that appears to show the capture of Wagner mercenaries in Sudan. Kyiv is cooperating with the army in the African nation in the fight against the RSF militia supported by Wagner — in a sort of proxy war far from home.
Saudi Arabia suddenly now leads the world in golf, continues to attract top European soccer stars, and invests in culture and entertainment… Its “soft power” strategy is changing the kingdom’s image through what critics bash as blatant “sportwashing.”
The prestigious Design Museum in London – named European Museum of the Year in 2018 – is currently staging a landmark exhibition, The Offbeat Sari, all about this item of dress and the clamour of attention it is enjoying.
Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine goes well beyond the battlefield. Russia is trying to destroy Ukrainian identity by imposing the Russian language in occupied areas, as a prime weapon in Moscow’s policy of “Russification.”
With an activist Supreme Court creating a gap between democratic rhetoric and reality in the U.S., and Russia and China eager to flex military muscle, the full-force return to hard power looks bound for dominance.
Trained practitioners warn that unregulated yoga can be detrimental to people’s health. The government in India, where the ancient practice was invented, knows this very well — yet continues to postpone regulation.
The answer from Chinese professionals may surprise you…
The West is in relative decline, especially compared to Asia, but no obvious alternative ‘system’ has emerged.
Europe has seen its relative economic and military power decline for decades, but its “soft power” has held strong. But even that is now at risk.
Under the watchful eye of the Indian government, yoga master Sri Sri Ravi Shankar wants to resolve the world’s conflicts through a breathing technique. At a gathering last month, he attracted 3.5 million followers in New Delhi.
Presented as a peaceful power for the past decade, China is now seen as a potential military aggressor by many. Amid the tug of economic and political interests, China keeps rising.
MOSCOW – When Vladimir Putin took office as President for the third time, he sent the Ministry of Foreign Affairs a document outlining the philosophy that would guide his approach to international relations for the next five years. Only recently released, the document is very revealing, showing that Putin’s worldview, and his idea about Russia’s […]