When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Hannah Steinkopf-Frank

See more by Hannah Steinkopf-Frank

photo of a no smoking sign in german
Society

New Zealand And Beyond: How Anti-Smoking Laws Are Changing

New Zealand has reversed its decision to implement the world's toughest anti-smoking law, to the disappointment of many inside and outside the island nation. But how are other laws aimed at tobacco use faring around the world?

Updated Nov. 27, 2023 at 6:50 p.m.

In 2022, New Zealand announced that the country would enact a pioneering anti-smoking law that would ban the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after 2008. The decision was hailed by health activists as a radical and righteous measure that would help prevent the deaths of millions every year.

Watch VideoShow less
Abdul Wahid shows a manuscript from the 14th century at his house in Timbuktu, North of Mali.
Society

A Future For Timbuktu's Ancient Books? Conservation And Digitalization

Mali's "mysterious city" welcomes a new class of students trained in looking after ancient books. From conservation to digitization of these works, a colossal task awaits them to preserve this endangered heritage and the secrets they contain.

Updated Nov. 13, 2023 at 6:30 p.m.

TIMBUKTU — In the workroom of the Ahmed-Baba Institute of Higher Studies and Islamic Research, time seems to have slowed down. As the dust and the sound of brushes on paper float by, six students hold in their hands one of the most precious heritages of the region.

Ceremoniously, they repeat the same gestures: lifting the pages, one by one, with the tip of a thin wooden spatula, then, with the flat of the brush, ridding the inks and the centuries-old papers of dust.

Watch VideoShow less
construction site of the Iconic Tower and other buildings in New Administrative Capital, Egypt
Future

The Mirage Of Egypt’s New Capital City

In an area the size of Singapore, Egypt is building its new capital. Constructed under the close control of the military and the head of state, the city embodies the grand ambitions of an increasingly autocratic president. But will it turn out to be a ghost city?

CAIRO — The concrete structure rises to a height of 1,263 feet (385 meters) on the edge of an expressway, where asphalt, as soon as it is laid down, lets out acrid fumes. With its double collar that licks the sky, the Iconic Tower is already the tallest building in Africa. It is also the flagship of this vast assembly of open-air construction sites over 450 square miles, an area the size of Singapore, which will be the location of the new Egyptian capital.

Watch VideoShow less
A Tamil devotee is refined with new garments and herbals goes into a trance during the 'Vel Vel' festival
Society

How Altered Consciousness Is Changing Psychiatry

From self-induced trance to psychedelics, altered states of consciousness are experiencing a renewed interest in the scientific community for their therapeutic value.

GENEVA — Swiss psychiatrist Valérie Picard describes her weekly trance practice as being plunged into a feeling of intense happiness: “I often find myself parachuted into magnificent natural landscapes. With a feeling of weightlessness all my perceptions are amplified, in a kind of ecstasy of the senses”

Working at the Belmont Clinic in Geneva, she does not, however, have the sort of profile of someone traditionally interested in these techniques. These explorations of states of consciousness are still considered by many to be controversial.

Watch VideoShow less
The French Company Teaching The World To Code
Future

The French Company Teaching The World To Code

With 43 campuses in 27 countries, Le Wagon has become the world's leading network for intensive coding education, revolutionizing how coding is taught.

It’s a December morning at a warehouse hidden in a dead end street in Paris’ 11th arrondissement. The first to arrive are the gardeners because as much as the building has kept its industrial aspect, dozens of plants occupy the space flooded with light by a gigantic glass roof. "Greenhouse effect guaranteed," says one of the gardeners, watering can in hand. And then the students arrive to sit around large wooden tables.

Watch VideoShow less
The Beauty Of Diversity: Pageants Around The World Celebrate Difference
Society

The Beauty Of Diversity: Pageants Around The World Celebrate Difference

Beauty pageants once rewarded good looks, and maybe some talent on the side. But the events are no longer just a showcase for perfect hair and swimsuits. Innovative pageants around the world celebrate differences and advocate for people with disabilities and LGBTQ+ communities.

Gina Rühl might soon make history as the first Miss Germany with only one arm, an injury she sustained after a life-threatening motorcycle accident. Rühl now uses her platform to advocate for others with disabilities. She told German newspaper Die Welt that she decided to compete in Miss Germany because “I knew that this competition is no longer just about the outer shell, but about who you are and what message you want to convey to people.”

✉️ You can receive our LGBTQ+ International roundup every week directly in your inbox. Subscribe here.

This is an increasingly common sentiment among beauty pageant contestants, a genre of competition that originally awarded good looks, and maybe some talent on the side. No longer just a showcase for beauty queens, both conventional and more inventive pageants around the world are embracing a more diverse range of contests.

Watch VideoShow less
What Putin Feared Most About Ukraine: It's A European Democracy
Ideas

What Putin Feared Most About Ukraine: It's A European Democracy

For authoritarian leaders from Beijing to Moscow, it’s unbearable that democratic institutions like the European Union succeed. So it is vital that we Europeans build measures to protect democratic sovereignty.

-Analysis-

PARIS — For a dictatorship to endure, it needs more than just surveillance and terror. It must also be able to convince the people it enslaves that their future, in a regime of freedom, would not be sufficiently better to justify taking the risk of rebellion.

Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage. Sign up to our free daily newsletter.

So dictatorships have always done everything possible to discredit any neighboring society their subjects could look to for a comparison. Before starting the war, Nazi Germany spent its time denouncing the weaknesses of European and American democracies and ridiculing their leaders. It must be admitted that the latter provided it with good arguments to do so.

Watch VideoShow less
An employee works alone in a large, otherwise empty training room at an Atlanta accounting firm, where most employees now work from home with remote access to the company's computer system
Economy

How Remote Work Undermines Employee Loyalty

Most workers want to keep the flexibility they had during the pandemic. And they no longer have any qualms about changing jobs if this isn't possible.

"Remote work possible.”

This perk is increasingly valued by candidates as they seek a new job.

Watch VideoShow less
Vivid's app is seen on a display of an iPhone while the candlestick chart of a cryptocurrency is shown on a monitor in the background
Economy

Russian Oligarchs Turn To Crypto To Skirt Sanctions

Faced with a $32 billion drop in their wealth this year, Russian oligarchs are looking for assets to allow them to overcome sanctions that will increase with the invasion of Ukraine. Familiar with crises, they see bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as an escape from the hegemony of the dollar, and a way to diversify their holdings.

With the European Union and the United States delivering the harshest ever sanctions on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, ultra-wealthy Russians are turning to new tech to preserve their financial assets. Cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin (circa $32,000) and ethereum (circa $2,470) can be seen, rightly or wrongly, as life savers during financial and geopolitical crises that threaten private assets.

Watch VideoShow less
Women wearing face masks as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus, walk under some high-rise buildings in Sanlitun District, in Beijing, China
Economy

China’s Zero COVID Policy Starts To Scare Away Foreign Business

For almost two years, the country where COVID-19 emerged has been living virtually cut off from the rest of the world. And in the realm of business, China's zero COVID policy has had serious consequences on foreign workers and companies, which may last beyond the pandemic.

It is 4:30 a.m. as the ambulance cuts through the Shanghai night on its way to a hospital in the Pudong district. Disembarked in an isolated building, the Frenchman was first sprayed with a disinfectant before undergoing two serological tests, a PCR test in the nose, another in the mouth and then a lung X-ray.

There is no face in front of him. The staff is masked, visor in front of the eyes and dressed in a full protective suit. There were few words exchanged, but the young man understood that he had tipped into another dimension.

Watch VideoShow less
Unzipped! The African Women Breaking Taboos Of Sexuality
Society

Unzipped! The African Women Breaking Taboos Of Sexuality

In countries and communities where sexuality is often kept under wraps, more and more women are taking up their microphones, pens and keyboards to talk about intimate issues without filters.

When the subject of African women's sexuality gets media coverage it's almost always a bad thing, says Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah, a Ghanaian writer based in London: "through the spectrum of disease, HIV or repeated pregnancies."

While universal access to sexual and reproductive health services remains a central issue in West Africa, Sekyiamah wants to share other narratives. To do this, she co-founded the blog: Adventures from the Bedrooms of African Women.

Watch VideoShow less
Attack Of The Visa Bots: When Hackers Make Life Hell For Immigrants
Ideas

Attack Of The Visa Bots: When Hackers Make Life Hell For Immigrants

A first-hand experience of how illegal bots are making it impossible for many immigrants in France to live here legally.

-Essay-

PARIS — On a Sunday night in mid-January, I was prepared with a computer and phone to try to get a ticket for the hottest event in Paris. A cool new band concert? A Champions League soccer match? No, as an American citizen living in France, I was simply trying to get an appointment to pick up my renewed visa. When the clock hit midnight — when new slots were supposed to open up — I immediately clicked on the button to see the available times.

Watch VideoShow less