This article is part of a News-Decoder series of “decoders” that explain crucial background to big issues. For more decoders, click here. By Pauline Bock Islets, reefs and shoals in a vast stretch of sea almost twice the size of the Mediterranean may...
It grew out of the Cold War. Now the NATO alliance faces fresh challenges as Russia flexes its muscles in Eastern Europe and Syria. U.S. President Harry Truman speaks at the signing of NATO treaty in Washington, 4 April 1949 (AP Photo) This article is part of a...
This article is part of a News-Decoder series of “decoders” that explain crucial background to big issues. For more decoders, click here. By Pauline Bock They share a common history and culture. They speak the same language. But they have been divided for...
The world’s population will double this century, with most growth in Africa. But many nations are ageing quickly and face a new population challenge. Tourists in China, 2011. (AP Photo) This article is part of a News-Decoder series of “decoders” that...
Two days before Myanmar’s general election, here are scenes from the streets of Yangon. By Irena Grizelj Two days before Myanmar’s general election, here are scenes from the streets of Yangon and some Burmese talking about the changes the country has...
(Video by Léa Surugue) By Léa Surugue Last April, a fishing boat carrying 800 people capsized off the shores of Italy. Only 27 survived. It was one of the worst human tragedies in the Mediterranean, ever. I had always wanted to cover the stories of people who left...
It’s hard to imagine Syria was once a capital of art. But its beauty lives in me. To Syria I owe my first poems, my Arabic writing and my favorite dramas. “Queen Zenobia’s Last Look Upon Palmyra,” by Herbert Schmalz. (Wikimedia Commons) With images from Syria of...
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yn_lfk7rjQ&w=580&h=400] By Christopher Alexander Gellert Paulo, Pablo, Pablo, Paolo and Marcelo. A night a while back I turned to introduce Pablo and before I could stumble, forget and mispronounce his name, he cut me...
By Jane Macartney President Xi Jinping is arguably the most powerful Chinese leader since Chairman Mao and certainly the first to foster a similar personality cult. He must have relished burnishing his image last week by riding through London with the Queen in a...
At school I studied child labor in its worst forms. In Myanmar, I see it’s not easy to separate right from wrong. But foreign investors must take heed. (Photo by Irena Grizelj) It’s different in real life. At graduate school I had studied child labor in its...