This week, Italian police arrested 40 people accused of being part of the ‘Ndrangheta, the Calabria-based mafia, after they were caught on video being initiated into the organization. The arrests were in the northern cities of Milan, Como, and Lecco, which shocked those who think organized crime is predominantly a southern Italian problem.
On Nov. 18, news broke that a Indian man returning from Liberia had been quarantined inside Delhi’s Indira Gandhi Airport health facility. According to an official report, the man, a 26-year-old had arrived in Delhi on Nov. 10, and tested positive for the virus.
There is a method to the madness—the patriotic fervour that grips non-resident Indians when prime minister Narendra Modi comes visiting. And after two landmark NRI gatherings—first in New York in September and then in Sydney today—it’s clear what goes into the making of a Modi blockbuster abroad.
Monday (Nov. 10) marked the end of a trial against two mafiosos, Francesco Bidognetti and Antonio Iovine, and their lawyer, Michele Santonastaso, who were accused of threatening a writer during a court proceeding in 2008. The lawyer was found guilty, but the bosses were acquitted. So why does the trial represent an important step forward in the fight against organized crime?
Before he was diagnosed with the first case of Ebola in New York City, before his life was subject to public scrutiny, Dr. Craig Spencer was a little known International Emergency Medical (IEM) fellow at Columbia University in New York.
A TV series? On Ebola?
Ebola is a particularly tough virus on health workers, who account for 8% of the victims in West Africa. In the US, and specifically in Texas, the ratio is technically lot worse: After the second nurse in Dallas has been diagnosed with Ebola, 66% of the cases there (two out of the three) have been health workers.
For several years, Italians have received a steady diet of scare stories about everything made in China. Signs in the market halls, editorials in the papers, and word of mouth have delivered a clear message: do not buy “Made in China” items. For a country that prides itself on the quality of its local products, cheap imports from China are often demonized as inferior knock-offs—some 90% of fake ”Made in Italy” merchandise allegedly comes from China, and even staples like tomato sauce and olive oil are not immune. Beyond appealing to their national pride, consumers are warned that jobs—a rather scarce commodity in Italy—are also at stake.
Talking about “faith in the system,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella had singular advice for women asking for a raise. The ones, he said at a women’s tech conference today, who “don’t ask for a raise” have an advantage:
This post has been updated.
Facebook just completed its $22 billion acquisition of messaging app Whatsapp—a bold move that was saluted as a smart way to stay relevant in a constantly changing environment where new apps and services pop up like mushrooms.
In a recent piece about American parenting and its effects on marriages, Danielle and Astro Tellers semi-jokingly attribute the origin of elevating children to gods—and parenting to a religion—to one viral object: the “Baby on Board“ sign.
If you’re getting married next year, you’re probably already starting to think about it. Weddings have always been expensive, and at least in America, are getting more so. And although there is evidence that a big fat wedding may help you have a longer, better marriage, today’s young adults may have serious trouble affording to celebrate their love with all the splendor and extravagance it deserves.
“It is not enough that 90% have access to some basic health service, every person has to have access to health service,” explains world renowned public health expert Hans Rosling.
There is a great song in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Evita on Broadway (and in the movie starring Madonna) that explains preparations for Eva Peron’s 1947 ”Rainbow Tour” around Argentina, then Europe, to promote her husband and herself as icons of the people. It goes:
On Sunday, Sept. 21, a reported 310,000 people marched in New York City ahead of the United Nations Climate Summit. It was the biggest climate change event ever organized and certainly helped to dispel the myth that “no one cares about climate change.”
Beauty pageants are mostly about female objectification, and Miss America is no exception. John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight reminded viewers that the show started by evaluating contestants based on a body breakdown:
After a survey predicted (wrongly, it turns out) that the majority of Scots would vote for independence, the Better Together campaign resorted to disturbing former prime minister (and Scotsman) Gordon Brown’s state of quasi-retirement and enrolled him as a representative of the No front. Many were skeptical.
It took a 300-page hedge fund report to tell Olive Garden that they had a big problem—there’s no salt in the pasta.
Thirteen years after 9/11, the front pages of today’s newspapers are filled with plans for action against ISIS. Barack Obama, who many Americans believed would end wars, is instead starting a new one.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a new update on the development of the worst Ebola epidemic in history.
The day after Federica Mogherini was nominated as the EU’s new foreign policy chief, she tweeted a picture of her handover notes. “At work,” she wrote.
The news that ALS Association (ALSA), which has reportedly raised almost $90 million through the viral “ice bucket challenge,” only spends 27% of its money in actual research is generating outrage.
West Africa is still reeling from the worst-ever Ebola epidemic: at least 2,615 people have contracted the virus, and 1,427 have died from it. And while the Westerners who are being repatriated and treated at home are saluted as heroes, many African survivors are met with skepticism and face stigma in their own communities.
