Worldcrunch
After waiting more than two years for a visa appointment at the U.S. embassy in Bogotá, Héctor Abad Faciolince’s meeting was cancelled following the Jan. 26 spat over migrants between Gustavo Petro and Donald Trump. Nevermind, the Colombian novelist and essayist writes; in a world clearly run by idiots, we’re better off staying at home.
With many of Gaza’s banks and ATMs destroyed, Palestinians are turning to money brokers to obtain cash — and paying commission fees of up to 30% . While the practice is criminalized under the Palestinian law, many say agencies in Gaza are not taking action against the brokers, allowing their businesses to flourish.
What’s Donald Trump aiming for with his flood of provocative statements? Part distraction, part negotiating ploy, it’s all meant to allow the marketer-in-chief to always claim victory.
In a world of growing tensions, the European machine seems increasingly inadequate. In the face of unpredictable adversaries and allies alike, the ability to know how to play what you’re dealt may be the key to protecting the interests of the Old Continent.
Donald Trump suggested that U.S. aid to Ukraine could be secured through the country’s rare earth deposits — those precious metals over which China holds a global monopoly. In reality, the idea was first pitched by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who knew exactly what kind of argument would resonate with Trump.
In economics, disruption describes an ordinary process: innovations replace outdated technologies. But in politics? It takes on a far darker meaning, writes German weekly Die Zeit.
It appears that Syria’s new rulers, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, are refusing to respond to the social and political demands of former President Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite minority, risking a sectarian conflict in the war-torn country.
Leaving no room for diplomacy, Donald Trump is ramping up aggressive moves toward the rest of the world — tariffs, cutting international aid, threats. But there’s a big risk: playing right into the hands of China, which already has a foothold on every continent.
A personal journey through memory, loss, and resilience — reflecting on Eunice Facciolla Paiva’s quiet strength, Marcelo Paiva’s storytelling, and the haunting echoes of dictatorship in today’s world. It’s a rare Oscars Best Picture nominee from Brazil.
The collapse of the Assad regime in Syria freed thousands detained in the country’s prisons. But it has also revealed potential rights violations by international children’s NGOs, which received children whose parents were detained in Assad’s prisons. The situation echoes similar violations in Canada and Russia.
Talks for the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire — and with it, the release of hostages and prisoners — kick off today as the Israeli prime minister arrives in Washington. His meeting with Donald Trump tomorrow could be a turning point, deciding between peace or war in the months ahead.
Trump’s suggestion that Egypt and Jordan take Palestinians in Gaza is the ultimate nightmare scenario for Cairo and Amman, but the U.S. president looks prepared to use his leverage to get a deal the Israelis would prefer.
The post-liberal world needs an added dose of cautious and realistic diplomacy, and the United States remains its natural promoter. Yet there is little evidence, for now, that the Trump administration has an interest in diplomacy to keep the collective peace.
In another sign of changing power relations in the ‘post-Western’ world, the BRICS group of emerging economies could frustrate the United States’ bid to sink communism in Cuba by strangling its economy.
Donald Trump has spoken little about China since becoming president, leaving both Beijing and Taiwan’s leaders on edge. And Trump’s maneuverings on Greenland are not a good sign.
In his first extensive interview since the ceasefire, longtime influential Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzouk said the group is running Gazan affairs, despite Israel’s attempt to unseat it. Still, Abu Marzouk said Hamas is seeking a future Palestinian unity leadership that it doesn’t necessarily have to run on its own.
The Trump administration sought to slash social aid in the U.S. but had to backtrack amid public outcry. However, it froze international humanitarian and development aid for 90 days, sparking confusion and panic in many affected countries and organizations. It is just the kind of narrative Beijing and Moscow are happy to spin across the world.
A recent video of a woman being tortured in Libyan refugee camps is further proof that agreements signed by the EU and Italy with Libyan and Tunisian authorities are doing more harm than good. But the work of associations like Refugees in Libya shows that there is still some hope for the future, writes Don Mattia Ferrari, a Catholic priest who works closely with these NGOs.
The year started without the tyrant of Damascus. Lebanon elected a president. Gaza has a ceasefire. Some of this progress is due to external geopolitical forces, yet there are signs that the region could be turning around from within.
The newly inaugurated U.S. president is missing the real strategic and economic value of the island, which is ultimately linked to world’s ability to reduce global warming.
In Syria the provisional government led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham has removed the term “gods” and images of statues from the school curriculum. Men destroy statues so that the statues do not destroy them. Removing these images and their rightful place in history is a dangerous call to war against truth and equality.
Palestinians in Gaza complain that they don’t receive enough aid to feed their children even after a surge of aid trucks entering the strip as part of the Hamas-Israel cease-fire deal.
Europeans can never win if they face the relentless force of Donald Trump alone. With his sights fixed on Denmark, which controls Greenland, and the looming threat of tariffs, Trump is putting the rest of Europe to the test.
A Chinese startup is shaking the U.S. supremacy in generative artificial intelligence. Are we heading towards a collapse of barriers to entry accelerating the deployment of this technology? Could Europe offer a third way to the future?
Since 2021, Poland has been facing a humanitarian and migration crisis along its border with Belarus. In the meantime, several collectives of volunteers have sprung up, providing aid to migrants stuck between the two borders, such as food, water, and emergency blankets. Now, facing a harsher Pan-European border policy, and security pressure at home, some of these volunteers may be prosecuted for their efforts.
Supporters of the Assad regime rallied around the slogan “Assad forever.” But we have now seen what happens the day after “forever.” Egyptian writer Ezzat el-Kamhawi considers what that means for Syria and the region.
Rwanda is under scrutiny for the advance of M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and the capture of the regional capital, Goma. However, the international community remains powerless to halt the escalation of conflict in this mineral-rich region.
The Indian middle class has a stake in the West’s future and must pick a side in its culture wars. The BJP should catch-up on MAGA’s long-term implications.
DeepSeek has become the most downloaded free app in the U.S. just a week after it was launched. Its sudden rise has triggered shockwaves on Wall Street, where U.S. stocks dropped sharply on Monday. With equivalent performances to rival ChatGPT but at the fraction of the cost, the startup is threatening the aura of invincibility surrounding the U.S. technology industry.
Trump’s politics of mass deportation have long been associated with migrants coming from Latin America and the Caribbean. However, as the first roundups begin in Chicago, home to the largest Polish community in the U.S., Warsaw-based looks at thousands of Polish immigrants who have been there for decades without proper documentation.
Following the collapse of the Assad regime, Tunisia and other countries are concerned about the return of thousands of jihadist nationals believed to have been held in Syria. Amid overcrowded prisons and fears of extremism, what are governments in Tunis and other Arab countries doing to prepare for their potential return?
Donald Trump’s proposal to send Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt and Jordan has been embraced by the Israeli far-right but rejected by Palestinians and the countries involved. It amounts to illegal ethnic cleansing and revives an ugly history of Nakba. But it today’s world, it might even happen.
The Holocaust was based on the same ultranationalist ideas that the New Right refers to today. Even if Elon Musk, Donald Trump and Germany’s AfD leader Alice Weidel try to distance themselves from the words associated with Nazism, their politics cannot fool us.
After more than 20 months of fighting across Sudan, nearly half the country’s population entering a worsening food shortage crisis. Inexpensive and easy to implement, starvation is a weapon being used by both sides of the conflict: the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces.
Life has resumed its course in the large industrial city in central China, where the virus first appeared at the end of 2019. Five years after confinement, the 14 million people of Wuhan are drowning in economic difficulties. Meanwhile, China has erased this period from its history.
As a candidate, Donald Trump promised to end the war in Ukraine within his first 24 hours in office — a deadline the US president has now missed. Even so, negotiations to end the three-year conflict are expected to accelerate. What are Russia, Ukraine and the United States’ current positions? And what do experts think will happen?
Donald Trump’s relationship with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman dates back to his first term as president. After his second inauguration, his first phone call was to the prince, who has pledged $600 billion in investments in the United States during Trump’s presidency.
Among the images, are photos from Thailand, Gaza, Turkey, Japan — among other places.
With the global rise of the far-right, many Germans are afraid that the past is about to repeat itself. German writer Florian Illies explains the trap about such analogies — even as other dangers lurk.
Many parties in Syria have resorted to foreign fighters. Following the Assad regime’s downfall, the country’s new government has two options to tackle the issue of thousands of foreign fighters there: either abandoning them, or integrating them into Syrian society.