Cash For Kim: North Korean Forced Laborers In Poland
On its website, the CRIST shipyard advertises that they build ships for various clients throughout Europe. And we know that North Koreans are still working here today. VICE gained exclusive access to documents that reveal the wages of North Korean laborers in Poland before the Kim regime’s deductions.
When The iPhone Nearly Killed A Nation
Nokia dominated the first decade of the cellphone boom, becoming a beloved brand around the world and pumping billions of dollars into the Finnish economy. Then, along came Steve Jobs and his iPhone in 2007 and ruined everything. Tens of thousands of jobs were lost. Nokia sold its phone business to Microsoft. And Finns took a serious hit to their country pride.
The Rise And Fall Of Subway
With thousands of store closures in the last three years and petitions against Subway from its franchise owners, the fast-food chain with the most locations globally seems to be on the rocks. This video unpacks what’s going on and where Subway’s headed from here.
Why We Shouldn’t Bail Out The Airlines And Cruise Companies
Despite the obvious vulnerability of the sector, boards/CEOs of the six largest airlines have spent 96% of their free cash flow on share buybacks, bolstering the share price and compensation of management… who now want a bailout. They should be allowed to fail.
The ‘Lost Rambos’ Of Papua New Guinea: How Weapons And Hollywood Changed Tribal Disputes
Tribal fighting has long been present in the Papua New Guinea highlands, but the influx of modern automatic weaponry in the 1990s turned local disputes into lethal exchanges. Bootleg copies of the American film Rambo circulated in remote communities, becoming a crude tutorial on the use of such weaponry.
The Story Of A German Conman
It was one of the biggest white-collar scams in German history. In the 1990s, Manfred Schmider and his company FlowTex took investors for more than two billion euros. Today, the conman himself can’t believe how easy it was to get away with a major fraud.
The Great Affordability Crisis Breaking America
In one of the best decades the American economy has ever recorded, families were bled dry by landlords, hospital administrators, university bursars, and child-care centers. For millions, a roaring economy felt precarious or downright terrible.
Inside Belarus, Europe’s Last Dictatorship
In October 2016, Alexander Lukashenko swept to his fifth term as the Belarusian president, marking 22 years in power. The autocratic regime still employs the use of internet surveillance, censorship, and intimidation to exert control over its people and press.
What Happened When A Tiny Nation Got Filthy Rich Overnight
Nauru, an island in the South Pacific, is known for its high rate of poverty and unemployment. Only a few decades ago, the island was listed among world’s richest countries while it was a major phosphate exporter but as the resources exhausted, the national systems started to fail.
Tech’s Most Controversial Startup Makes Drone-Killing Robots
Founded by Palmer Luckey and backed by Peter Thiel, Anduril is rekindling the connection between the American military and Silicon Valley. The company’s surveillance technology consists of large towers, packed with sensors, and small surveillance drones that can be set up to guard the perimeter.
Former FBI Agent Explains How To Read Body Language
Former FBI agent and body language expert Joe Navarro breaks down the various ways we communicate non-verbally. What does it mean when we fold our arms? Why do we interlace our fingers? Can a poker player actually hide their body language?
Should We Abolish Private Schools?
A disproportionate number of people who occupy the top jobs across the UK – from the prime minister and leading politicians to judges and entertainers – were privately educated. Campaigners who think this situation has gone on too long are asking why we have private schools and whether it is time to get rid of them.
The Invasion Of Venezuela, Brought To You By Silvercorp USA
It is the afternoon of Sunday, May 3, 2020, and Jordan Goudreau is confirming that a botched attempt to infiltrate Venezuela with a team of expatriate soldiers (and later, two U.S. citizens) on a hopeless mission to topple the government of President Nicolas Maduro is his doing.
At War With The Thruth
A confidential trove of government documents obtained by The Washington Post reveals that senior U.S. officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign, making rosy pronouncements they knew to be false and hiding unmistakable evidence the war had become unwinnable.
Death On Demand: Has Euthanasia Gone Too Far?
Countries around the world are making it easier to choose the time and manner of your death. As the world’s pioneer, the Netherlands has also discovered that although legalizing euthanasia might resolve one ethical conundrum, it opens a can of others – most importantly, where the limits of the practice should be drawn.
The Threat To Freedom Of Expression In Japan
The closure of part of the 2019 Aichi Triennale reflects a broader climate of aggression, censorship and nationalist revisionism. Art is the frontline in debates around free speech precisely because it creates space for questioning values and challenging historical assumptions in public.
The Future Of Energy Storage Beyond Lithium-Ion
Over the past decade, prices for solar panels and wind farms have reached all-time lows. However, the price for lithium-ion batteries, the leading energy storage technology, has remained too high. So researchers are exploring other alternatives, including flow batteries, thermal batteries, and gravity-based systems.
The German Island With A Population Of 16
The 16 residents who live on the tiny German island of Oland must cope with extreme flooding on a regular basis. But they have no intention of leaving.
“A Failure Of The Imagination”, The Story Of A Zero-Waste Restaurant
Five years ago, Douglas McMaster opened the restaurant Silo, hoping to change the unsustainable practices of modern food systems. His aim was simple, yet frighteningly ambitious: create an award-winning menu using a zero-waste food system designed from scratch. This is the story of that restaurant’s first five years.
“Skater’s Paradise”, A Monochromatic Portrait Of Four Berlin Boarders
Youri Fernandez turns his lens on the art of skateboarding in this monochromatic portrait of four boarders as they make Berlin their playground, soundtracked by a metronomic composition from electronic musician Petit Fantôme.
Hagia Sophia: Church Of Divine Wisdom And Subject Of Global Dispute
Hagia Sophia has been the ‘apple of discord’ between the Greeks and the Turks, the ‘east’ and the ‘west’ for 567 years, but as history likes to repeat itself we are now witnessing a revival of this old dispute. A museum has been converted to a mosque.