Category: Trends

For more than two years, members of the House of Representatives have enjoyed a privilege unavailable to any of their predecessors: the ability to vote on legislation without being in the Capitol. The practice, put in place in response to the pandemic, has afforded some lawmakers a semblance of work-life balance like never before. One […]

“What time will you be here today?” asks Jonny Fowle via WhatsApp. “I’ve got us about £150K of whisky to drink.” An invitation from Fowle is a precious thing. As the head of rare spirits for auction house Sotheby’s, he is surrounded by some of the world’s most coveted and expensive liquor. Plus he doesn’t […]

Comment on this story Comment BEIRUT — The Lebanese army has arrested a suspect in the killing earlier this month of a U.N. peacekeeper from Ireland who died when his convoy was shot at in southern Lebanon, officials said Tuesday. The area of the Dec. 14 shooting attack, near the southern town of Al-Aqbiya, is […]

Comment on this story Comment SAINT BRIEUC, France — If France’s power grid were to near its limits in the coming weeks, officials say, the warning signs wouldn’t be subtle. Millions of people would receive phone alerts. On government sites, power consumption charts would switch to red. The final option would be one that until […]

Comment on this story Comment BELGRADE, Serbia — Serbs on Tuesday erected more roadblocks in northern Kosovo and defied international demands to remove those placed earlier, a day after Serbia put its troops near the border on a high level of combat readiness. The new barriers, made of laden trucks, were put up overnight in […]

People in China reacted with joy and rushed to plan trips overseas Tuesday after Beijing said it would scrap mandatory COVID quarantining for overseas arrivals, ending almost three years of self-imposed isolation. In a snap move late Monday, China said from January 8 on, inbound travelers would no longer be required to quarantine on arrival — […]

Comment on this story Comment SAO PAULO — Lulapalooza, the Jan. 1 inauguration of Brazil’s once and future president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, will be a carnival for this country’s progressives. Hundreds of thousands are expected to gather in the capital to see the lion of the Latin American left sworn in, then samba […]

Comment on this story Comment ECATEPEC, Mexico — On a November afternoon, Mónica Citlalli Díaz left home in a sprawling suburb of Mexico’s capital and headed to the school where she’d been teaching English for years. It seemed an ordinary day, but on this one, she never arrived at work. Her absence was an immediate […]

Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai in his Kabul home in October. (Elise Blanchard for The Washington Post) Updated December 27, 2022 at 2:00 a.m. EST|Published December 22, 2022 at 2:00 a.m. EST Comment on this story Comment KABUL — A blue penholder, a dictionary and sheaves of papers, some bearing the seal of the ousted […]

Comment on this story Comment China will relax its infamously strict coronavirus restrictions for entry into the country starting Jan. 8, according to a lengthy list of new policies issued Monday by China’s National Health Commission. It is the most significant move so far to reopen a national border that has been all but closed […]