Features

  Berlin / AFP The dance company that legendary German choreographer Pina Bausch, who died in 2009, built into one of the world’s most acclaimed is doing its utmost to foster her moving legacy. Beloved of fellow artists and seen as a visionary by her peers in the dance world, Bausch mixed dance and theatre to produce a tumult of ...

  Kinshasa / AFP “Getting a letter in the post is a first for me, and what’s more at home!” says Odette Tshibambe, a student in her thirties in Kinshasa. Her excitement is understandable. After 30 years of turmoil for the postal service in the Democratic Republic of Congo, letter carriers clad in smart canary yellow shirts have finally returned ...

  Budapest / AFP Ninety years after his death, the secrets of the world’s greatest escape artist, Harry Houdini, have been unlocked in a recently opened Hungarian museum devoted to the Budapest-born illusionist. Set high in the capital’s lofty Castle district, the House of Houdini lifts the veil on the box of tricks used by the famous magician, who lived ...

  Lampung / AFP It was the middle of the night when the villagers sounded the alarm: a huge Sumatran elephant was raiding their rice fields, and they needed urgent help to drive it back to the forest. Dodot — a veteran Indonesian elephant keeper trained to handle such emergencies — rushed to the scene, fearing villagers would take matters ...

  Minaya / AFP On the arid, wind-swept plateau of central Spain, saffron producers are reaping the benefits of a return to favour of the precious spice introduced by Arabs in the Middle Ages. After a lull in production due to the high cost of growing saffron in Spain, farmers are now back in business as customers have started seeking ...

  Manchar Lake / AFP For generations the Mohanna tribe have lived, loved, worked, and played on Pakistan’s Manchar Lake; their floating settlement serving their needs from birth to death. But an unrelenting flow of toxic wastewater is pouring into the lake — a byproduct of industrialisation and aggressive agricultural practices upstream — and has slowly rendered it inhospitable, poisoning ...

  Reykjavik / AFP An island of ice and lava battered by the Arctic winds, Iceland’s dramatic and pristine landscape is attracting a growing number of tourists, not all of whom are respectful of the fragile ecosystem. Along with hikers, nature lovers, reality TV starlets and fans of the series “Game of Thrones” which was partially filmed in Iceland, 1.3 ...

  Chengalpattu / AFP A small scythe, a crowbar and a bundle of canvas bags are all that Kali and Vedan carry when they venture into the fields of southern India to catch some of the world’s deadliest snakes. Their skills, passed from generation to generation of the Irula tribe they belong to, are crucial for the production of anti-venom ...

  Laval / AFP Welcomed with open arms — some even received coats from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau himself — the Syrian refugees who arrived in Canada a year ago are now facing their share of difficulties. Among them, 50-year-old Fahed Fattouh came with his wife and their two children after they fled the war-battered city of Aleppo via Beirut ...

  Fez, Morocco / AFP Nestled in a labyrinth of streets in the heart of Morocco’s ancient city of Fez, stands the world’s oldest working library. Its sculpted dark wooden door stands almost hidden on the edge of a square where artisans hammer away at copper in a deafening din, delighting passing tourists. But for the few lucky enough to ...