Vladivostok, Russia’s red-headed stepchild on the Sea of Japan, has spent most of its life being politely ignored by Moscow until someone remembers the Pacific Fleet rusting at anchor and decides to throw a party. This week the city hosts the Eastern Economic Forum, a jamboree where oligarchs, nervous diplomats, and the occasional North Korean…
Community, Circa 2024: A Field Report from the Glorious Ruins of Togetherness By L. M. Valdez, Foreign Correspondent, presently somewhere between a WeWork in Singapore and a refugee tent in Gaziantep — The word “community” once conjured images of kindly grandmothers swapping soup recipes over white picket fences. Today, the same word is more likely…
PARIS—While the rest of the planet argued about whether World War III would begin with a submarine ping or a TikTok trend, Lizzo—flute in one hand, disco ball in the other—managed to become a one-woman diplomatic incident on three separate continents last week. If you missed it, congratulations: you were probably busy watching glaciers file…
London’s Tube Strikes Go Global: A Tale of Rust, Rage, and the Universal Art of Not Getting to Work By the time the first picket sign hit the pavement outside King’s Cross, the ripple was already lapping at distant shores. Commuters from São Paulo to Singapore glanced up from their phones to discover that London—once…
The Blackout That United—and Divided—Us All By A. M. Vance, International Correspondent, Dave’s Locker SÃO PAULO—At 09:17 GMT last Tuesday, the PlayStation Network coughed, sputtered, and finally flat-lined. Across 72 countries, 117 million registered accounts watched their digital worlds evaporate into a single, smug error code: WS-116520-5. In a heartbeat, Fortnite warriors in Jakarta found…
Today’s Weather: A Global Forecast of Mild Panic with a Chance of Existential Dread By Dave’s Locker International Desk Geneva, 07:14 UTC—If you squint at the synoptic charts long enough, the planet resembles a feverish patient whose temperature keeps spiking every time the nurse turns her back. From Anchorage to Addis Ababa, today’s weather is…
Yvette Cooper and the Empire of Small-Print Doom By our Special Correspondent in Existential Limbo LONDON, Tuesday – Somewhere between the soggy Pret sandwich and the next Brexit anniversary, Yvette Cooper has quietly become the West’s most efficient exporter of bureaucratic dread. While other politicians chase headlines the way toddlers chase soap bubbles, the Chair…
Rhode: The Lipstick Empire the World Never Knew It Needed By Dave’s Foreign Correspondent, still jet-lagged in Terminal 3 Somewhere between the collapse of the Turkish lira and the quiet implosion of another crypto exchange, the planet has paused to obsess over Rhode—an American cosmetics line whose name sounds like a mispronounced Greek island but…
The Weeknd Goes Global: How One Torontonian Made the Entire Planet Feel Like 3 A.M. on a Tuesday By the time you read this, Abel Tesfaye—known to customs officials and streaming algorithms alike as “The Weeknd”—has already soundtracked another rotation of Earth. His synth-soaked tales of after-hours heartbreak have become the unofficial dial tone for…
Postcode Roulette: How Your Street Address Became the World’s Least Fun Lottery Ticket By Dave’s Foreign Desk In 2019, a baby born on the north side of the River Liffey in Dublin had a 94 % chance of reaching primary school without contracting tuberculosis. Had the same infant emerged from a womb three kilometres south—still…
Birmingham, England—where the weather has always been a reliable punchline—recently delivered a masterclass in meteorological passive-aggression. A bruised-purple sky dumped golf-ball hail on the Bullring, flash-flooded the A38, and then sauntered off like a drunk who’s just keyed your car. Locals responded with the traditional stiff-upper-lip shrug: “Could be worse; could be Leeds.” Yet, from…
Hurricane Hawaii: A Global Tempest in a Teacup, Served with Pineapple By Dave’s Locker International Desk HONOLULU—While the rest of the planet busies itself with wars, elections, and whatever Elon Musk tweeted at 3 a.m., the Central Pacific has coughed up Hurricane Hone, a Category-4 bruiser currently doing an interpretive dance around the Hawaiian archipelago….
