What are we to make of France and the burkini? Should we be outraged that towns have banned the swimsuit? Or glad as it is a symbol of oppression? A woman wearing a burkini at a protest in London, 25 August 2016. (EPA/Hannah McKay) By Nelson Graves What are we to make...
Nearly seven decades after it won independence, India is riddled with corruption and ruled by thugs. It’s time to grant independence to India’s 29 states. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) greets school children after he addressed the nation from New...
I was in Nice on Bastille Day and am lucky to be alive. I have a byline. But the 84 dead, they have no byline. French flags at half mast on the Promenade des Anglais, Nice, France, 16 July 2016. (EPA/Ian Langsdon) News-Decoder Editor Robert Holloway was in Nice on...
“The truck plowed into the crowd, and then we heard screaming. It was really a horrible experience.” Robert Holloway saw the attack in Nice last night. Bodies at the scene of a truck attack in Nice, France, 15 July 2016. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno) “We saw...
I’ve spent the past year in France. I’m not French, but I no longer identify completely as an American. It’s given me a new perspective. A Muslim student puts on her head scarf as she leaves high school in Lille, France, 2 September 2004. France bans...
Syrian refugee holds onto his children as he struggles to walk off a dinghy on the Greek island of Lesbos, 24 September 2015. (REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis) By Annique Browne What’s the biggest threat to U.S. national security? During this year’s presidential...
By Ally Oh We’re always told to look for the good — the silver lining, the upside, the half-full glass — but it’s not always that easy or simple. On a recent weekend, listening to a heartbroken Turkish girl cry and yell at everyone in the bathroom to get...
The terror attacks on Paris have prompted the media and nationalist movements to promote fear. To succumb to fear is to play into the hands of the terrorists. “Paix pour Paris,” by Ivy Turinsky, November 20, 2015 This story won first prize in the high school category...
By Nelson Graves Beware misconceptions about Islam that can mar Western accounts of society and politics in Muslim-majority nations. That was the advice of Jonathan Lyons, an expert on the Islamic world, in a mini-course for students in News-Decoder’s pilot...
Study abroad is about being afraid. The Paris attacks have forced me to confront an unexpected fear and allowed me to discover the beauty of France. A shrine to victims of the Paris attacks, 30 November 2015. (EPA/Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt) Giuliana Nicolucci-Altman is...