The members of K-Pop Fans Kuwait seem a little blue. The angsty poem attached to their tower of fan rice at the kickoff of Big Bang’s world tour in Seoul was a bit of a downer for a pop show. The fan rice paid for by a club in …
South Asia Celebrates Holi
Devotees across India and Nepal throw colorful power during this festive rite of spring
Is a New European Union Ad Racist? Controversial Video Campaign Is Pulled
The European Commission was forced to recall a video ad promoting the expansion of the European Union amid allegations that the content was racist.
In the style of a bad Quentin Tarantino knockoff, the video called “Growing Together” depicts three men of different ethnic backgrounds menacing a Caucasian woman. As the heroine walks …
Must-Reads From Around the World: March 7, 2012
French Frankness —Trailing in the polls with less than two months to go before Election Day, French President Nicolas Sarkozy unveiled tough new policies on immigration Tuesday, the Daily Telegraph reports. During a televised …
“The blinding shimmer of the last 35 years of economic gains obscures the fact that while Chinese women have benefited from the rising tide lifting all boats, they are in fact losing ground.”
Bibi’s Domestic Constituency: Why Netanyahu Knows for Whom He Speaks
It’s not all about personality, the famous difficulty between Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu. They are indeed very different people, and by all accounts far from friends. But the Iranian nuclear dilemma would guarantee …
Floods in Australia
Thousands evacuate New South Wales as water levels rise
Netanyahu Signals Determination on Iran, but War Will Have to Wait
Had he been speaking Hebrew in a dramatic TV broadcast back home, parts of Benjamin Netanyahu’s fire-and-brimstone speech on Monday night might have been mistaken for the words of an Israeli Prime Minister about to launch a …
Legalizing Marijuana: Why Joe Biden Should Listen to Latin America’s Case
It started last summer, when it seemed that Mexican President Felipe Calderón had understandably reached the end of his rope. After 52 innocent people were massacred in August by drug gangsters who set fire to a Monterrey casino …
India: Gandhi’s Congress Party Slammed in State Election
Sometimes it takes a stinging loss for a politician to show the world what kind of leader they are. Rahul Gandhi may be about to get that chance. The 41-year-old, fourth-generation political heir of India’s Congress Party …
Must-Reads from Around the World: March 6th, 2012
Fleeing Syria — Fearing for their lives, hundreds of Syrians are fleeing their country, crossing its western border into neighboring Lebanon, the Associated Press reports (via the Guardian). Urging the U.S. to intervene in the …
China’s National People’s Congress: Bling-Bling and Big Glasses
Enter a Beijing eyeglasses shop, and you’ll invariably see a special case filled with thick, oversize spectacles. Salespeople refer to them as lingdao (leaders) glasses. They are considered the preferred style of China’s …
Ukraine’s Eurovision Selection Marred by Right-Wing Racism
In the opening bars of “Be My Guest” — Ukraine’s entry for the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest — the Ukrainian surma horn suggests that something highly traditional is about to unfold. Within 15 seconds, however, strains of …