Playing for change is a group of artists that promotes solidarity and peace around the world through a musical project that includes singers from all parts of the world. Charity ambitions and artistic performances are its hallmarks. Here is the portrait of this international project. The project was launched by Whitney Kroenke and sound engineer and film-maker Marc Johnson, who was strolling down the streets, camera in hand, in the United States in search of street artists to film. Playing for...

On 28th September 2014, Swiss citizens voted on the proposal to introduce a unified state health insurance. While the French speaking Swiss voted in favour of the proposal, it was rejected by the German speaking part of the nation. But this referendum, typical of the discussions on health care in this small country in the Alps, has revived an age-old debate. Concordia, Helsand, Sanitas, Vaudoise… Just a few of the sixty-something private health insurances currently available in the Swiss...

On 11 December, the Grand Magal in Touba gathered millions of believers gathered in Touba for the Grand Magal. It is the main religious event in Senegal and it takes on a more and more unifying role in a society with many influences. Caught up between religious devotion and political exploitation, Senegal lives at the pace of the Magal for the entire pilgrimage period. Thomas Delattre reports. “Touba! Touba! Touba!” Amongst the noise of car engines and horns, the ticket inspectors’ calls can...

Since the attempted coup d’etat led by ex-soldiers from the Gambian army against president Yahya Jammeh on the 30th December, the Gambians' situation seems like it could change dramatically at any moment. Since the first moments of 2015, Gambia has feared that the wrath of the leader would bear down on this small country whose political system is already completely closed. Return to the issue of a failed revolution. No good news has been announced in Gambia since the last hours of 2014. On the...

Formerly a gem of the American economy, Buffalo has seen, in the course of the last century, the last lights turned off, which lit used to light Niagara Falls some kilometers far off. In less than half a century, economic crises and the collapse of the primary sector finally ended what made Buffalo one of the most powerful cities in the United States. However, all hope is not lost, and the city that French fur traders of the eighteenth century called "Beautiful River" is seemingly moving away...

Portugal has been in crisis since 2008 and is now undergoing important budget cuts and constant reforms. The people are unhappy but protesting would be too risky for them. More and more cases of corruption are being made public, dashing the people’s hopes. Cases of corruption emerge constantly, even in the so-called most developed and democratic of countries. Politicians embezzling money is nothing new, and Portugal is no exception. The difference is that in this country, those cases are...

While the National Assembly is discussing reforms to the right of asylum in France, a heated political debate is troubles troubling Austria around the question of asylum seekers: So, what are the terms of the right of asylum reforms in the Alpine Republic and why is it causing such outra-ge? The status of an asylum seeker in Austria is defined by the Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, signed July 28th 1951. In order to come to a decision on the refugee’s right to asylum, it...

In the tenth edition of the Living Planet Report, the most comprehensive report on planet earth’s health, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) reveals an alarming assessment: an unprecedented decline in biodiversity, as well as an unprecedented pressure on ecosystems. If the decline of biodiversity and the depletion of our planet's resources are not new facts, they have now reached a critical threshold. This is what seems to announce the Living Planet Report, a biannual report by WWF in partnership...

The new fear of European countries is called deflation. In Europe, austerity policies have led to an economic slowdown and are the main cause of this deflationary risk. In popular imagination, deflation is a decline in price level and implicates a recovery of the purchasing power. Reality is radically different: the deflation’s vicious circle is not at all desirable. The first objective of the European Central Bank (ECB) is to maintain inflation at 2% per year. However, for the month of August...

30th Nov. 2012. Tabaré Ramón Vázquez Rosas scooped up 56.6% of the second ballot votes of the Uruguayan Presidential elections. In this small Latin American country of 3.4 million inhabitants, where voting is mandatory with a penalty for non-voters, 2.6 million voters went to the polls, five weeks after a first ballot, part of the legislative process. Tabaré Vázquez, who will officially take office on the 1st March 2015, won against Luis Lacalle Pou, the 41-year-old son of former President Luis...