culture / society

Iraq

In Baghdad's Sadr City, Where Women Practice Weightlifting

BAGHDAD — Her hands, covered in magnesium carbonate for a better grip, are white. Her face is flush. Her gaze fixed. Huda Salem, 20, exhales loudly — twice — into the already sweat-saturated air. ...

United States

From Trump's Muslim Travel Bans To Muzbnb

When a freshly inaugurated Donald Trump issued his infamous travel ban exactly one year ago, the message was clear, not only to Muslims but to the entire world, that the United States was suddenly ...

United States

Race On The Road, African Americans Relive Perils Of Travel

ROCKVILLE — Her mom always smiled — except when the family made its annual summer drive to visit the grandparents in Magnolia, Arkansas. "The smiles were gone while we were traveling," said Gloria ...

Brazil

The Reformed Favela Drug Queen Behind Brazil's Favorite Telenovela

RIO DE JANEIRO — Every night at around 9 o’clock, Fabiana Escobar sits down in front of the TV and watches her life play out on the small screen: whether the police haul her away or her husband ...

France

Take Pride In Your "Bullshit Job" — It's The Future Of Capitalism

Some see the invention of bogus-sounding professions as a sign that work has become less and less...

Italy

Inside The Violent Youth Gangs Terrorizing Naples

Already a victim of organized crime and drug trafficking, Naples is now also facing wanton violen...

Syria

Syrian Women At Risk Of Losing New Economic Power To Tradition

The war in Syria has transformed the place women hold in the workforce, providing opportunities p...

United States

Will Washington Finally Let The Middle East Fight Its Own Battles?

FORT POLK — In training exercises in a mock Afghan village constructed here on a base amid swampland, the U.S. Army is applying the military lesson of the war against the Islamic State in Syria ...

Brazil

Aging At Record Pace, Brazil Faces Demographic Emergency

Countries like France and Spain, already known for their inhabitants' longevity, needed three...

Colombia

Madrid To Chicago, Tracking Down Ancient Colombian Treasures

Colombian cultural officials have been busy trying to recover an ancient burial treasure displaye...

France

Lobsters Feel Pain, Friends Is Sexist — And I Just Can't

-OpEd- Over the past week or so, it’s been hard not to feel disoriented by what is constantly being thrown at us, in this hyperconnected planet of ours, and not to get the feeling from our ...

Egypt

Sinai Spectral: High-Tech In Ancient Library Reveals Layers Of History

Egypt's St. Catherine's Monastery holds a treasure trove of ancient texts. But spectral i...

Pakistan

Wagah The Dog? The Daily Paradox Of Pakistani-Indian Border Ritual

WAGAH — Here at the India-Pakistan border, thousands of men, women and children have gathered to watch a stunning ritual: On either side of the border, military march back and forth, as music ...

Afghanistan

Afghanistan's Female Poets Secretly Share Forbidden Words

Safe from the disapproving eyes of their families, women writers gather secretly in Jalalabad to ...

China

Wife Of Chinese Activist Petitions To Live In Jail With Husband

Lai Wei'e wants to stay by the side her Chinese human rights advocate husband, Liu Yao, who w...

South Korea

Olympic Peace Dreams, From Ancient Greece To The Korean Peninsula

-Analysis- PARIS — Compete, don’t kill. The idea that peace might be achieved through sporting is an old paradox. Pitting athletes and countries against each other in a non-lethal — and ...

United States

Dope In Denver, Taking A Mile-High Legal Marijuana Stroll

Colorado was among the first states in the U.S. to decriminalize marijuana. Our European correspo...

India

India-Pakistan, A Cricket Metaphor For Nationalism

NEW DELHI — Farooque was a Kashmiri. He hated India. His cousin was killed by security forces at a demonstration in Srinagar. This was 1990. We were classmates, and I always took him head on for ...

Switzerland

Black Screen: Experimental French TV Show Is All About Audio

An experimental television show on France's Canal+ relies more on sounds than images to scare...

United States

Colombian Birthplace Of García Márquez, Risks Of A Vanishing Myth

Delving into the meaning of the decline of Aracataca, the birthplace of Colombian master and Nobe...

France

11 Most Popular Worldcrunch Articles Of 2017

Venice For Sale? Historic Buildings Flipped Into Airbnbs​​ LA STAMPA A Woman's Perspective On Divorce In The Arab World More and more people in Muslim-majority countries are opting ...

Switzerland

The Tyranny Of New Year's Eve Expectations

GENEVA — “What are you doing for New Year’s Eve?” A simple question that comes up in December, but is enough to make some people break into a cold sweat. “For years, New Year’s Eve has given me ...