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...
By Janet Guttsman Canada ousted its secretive, centralized Conservative government in a decisive vote this week, opening the door to a Liberal administration that promises a stepped-up role in the fight against climate change and a more welcoming hand to refugees from...
Irena Grizelj recently discovered Myanmar and was impressed not so much by how quickly it is modernizing but by an ancient tradition that thrives even as the Southeast Asian nation opens up to the rest of the world. Irena sent us a series of photographs of Burmese...