Critics of Charlie Hebdo miss the point, again
Calling Charlie Hebdo out for making fun of Alan Kurdi makes as much sense as if PolitiFact seriously tried to debunk The Onion Back in March 2014, a 23-year-old twitter activist named Suey Park launched […]
The Cruelty and Controversy of Beijing’s Black Market for Dogs
From poodles to Labradors to Tibetan mastiffs, one cannot walk five minutes along Rixin East Road, in Beijing’s Tongzhou district, without being stopped by someone trying to sell you a dog. But it’s the xingqi quan, or “week-long […]
Gangs of Beijing
A look into Beijing’s tight-knit and diverse communities Part I: Ultras (above) Part II: Cosplayers Part III: Anti-imperialist dancing grannies Cover Story in That’s Beijing, September 2014 issue
Tearing Down Gulou
You know something is up when – as a customer – you have to be smuggled in and out of a bar. The Drum and Bell bar in Gulou looks shut, the curtains are drawn […]
Rosberg dominates home race again
Monaco: Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg claims victory in Monaco and takes the championship lead while Hamilton struggles to keep the second place German driver Nico Rosberg took the gold cup in his home town of Monaco […]
Municipal elections in Saint Tropez gulf
Banding together to fight off the National Front was not always successful Like the rest of the Var, the Gulf of Saint Tropez moved a bit more to the right in the latest municipal elections. […]
Your say in EU parliament
Understanding how European elections work The European parliamentary elections will take place from 22nd to 25th May, amidst growing criticism of their limited influence on EU policy. However, this year’s elections will, for the first […]
Save the bees
Provence & Côte d’Azur: PACA honey production fell by 40% in 2013 as a third of bees disappear each year Côte d’Azur bee keepers are in fear for their livelihood as bee populations continue to […]
This is the future of Nice
Provence & Côte d’Azur: What will Nice look like by the end of Estrosi’s second term? After a first term which saw many changes in Nice, Mayor Christian Estrosi’s second term is already packed with […]
Municipal elections aftermath
Provence & Côte d’Azur: Prime Minister resigns and Belgian cities sever ties with French cities The fallout from the National Front’s resounding success in Sunday’s municipal elections is being felt on a number of levels. […]
Municipals: what the numbers say
Provence & Côte d’Azur: The left looses big in municipal elections, while the National Front rises to power in some cities With the rise of the far right in France and Europe in recent years, […]
Far right threat
France: Foreigners could help sway municipal elections away from a potential National Front dominance Between the rise of the National Front and Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi’s call to tighten the borders, there is much at […]
Olympic Greenwashing
NGOs sever ties with the Olympic Games Today marks the beginning of the Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia. And thanks to another dominant controversy surrounding the games, environmental concerns have gone largely unnoticed. Prince Albert […]
Shopping mall collapses in Nice
A 300 square metre section of the Lingostière shopping centre in Nice has collapsed. Initial reports suggest only two people have been lightly injured and there doesn’t appear to be any fatalities, however authorities are […]
Lab horses allegedly sold as meat
Eleven months after Spanghero, a new horse meat scandal rocks southern France As if the recent horse meat scandal weren’t enough, 21 people have been arrested across the south of France for allegedly trafficking horses […]
Shake up among main party ranks
Former members from the right wing UMP and socialist parties inch towards a centrist alliance The Socialist Party candidate for Nice’s mayoral race, Patrick Allemand, officially opened his campaign on Sunday, shortly after his right […]
Thirty one pollution sites identified on the Côte d’Azur
Polluted water tables represent 80% of localised pollution sites in France Heavy metal pollution, cyanide, solvents, hydrocarbons… products that have been found in soil along the French Riviera. Among the 31 pollution sites on the […]
Alleged vaccine side effects stir controversy
Health complaints from Marseille, Toulon and all over France put Gardasil vaccine under scrutiny Monaco’s government is pushing ahead with its recommendation that young women receive the HPV vaccine, despite a France-wide controversy over its […]
On morality and indifference
“The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them. That’s the essence of inhumanity” -George Bernard Shaw At first glance, it is tempting to agree with […]
The Summer Exhibition’s Shared Emotions
As I reached for Gallery III’s catalog, on the shelf, I noticed it was also available in braille. More than any form of art at the Summer Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, this […]
The Eye-Opening Discovery of See-Through Brains
Neuroscientists are one step closer to science-fiction with the newest brain-imaging technique called CLARITY. Developed by Karl Deisseroth and his team of scientists at Stanford University, and published in April, CLARITY is a ground-breaking protocol […]
Who benefits from US involvement in Syria?
How Syria is on the loosing end of a win-win situation After weeks of stalling, the US has finally announced it would be providing military support to the Free Syrian Army, much to the satisfaction […]
When guilt fills the logic-shaped gap in your feelings
“Hey, how are you?” The usual question calls for an almost scripted answer: “I’m fine, and you?” Anything above that is also acceptable. But if, God forbid, you feel less than fine, you’d better have a […]
“Les Arabes” ou le chat qu’il ne faut pas appeler un chat
La twittosphère procède à une levée de boucliers aussi ridicule que prévisible face à une agression imaginaire Un nouveau jour, une nouvelle controverse démunie de sens. Tout d’abord, je ne suis pas un supporter du […]