WorldcrunchAs Wagner’s “Die Walkure” inaugurates the season at the world’s most famous opera house, politics and culture and people clash in Milan La Scala (via flickr) By Alberto Mattioli MILAN – This time, Daniel Barenboim picked up a microphone instead of a baton. The famous conductor, having come on stage to applause at the opening […]
After 2003 looting and years of disrepair, a onetime cultural gem in Baghdad gets restoration help from Florence and Venice. Iraqi National Library after it was attacked in 2003 (IFLA) LA STAMPA/Worldcrunch By Carla Reschia FLORENCE – Iraqi officials responsible for returning their ransacked National Library to its former glory are turning to a country […]
Paris hosts Europe’s largest digital convention, with this year’s edition focused on the “social” and “mobile” Internet Focused on LeWeb (via Flickr) By Nicolas Rauline PARIS – Silicon Valley is making its annual trek to Paris. For the seventh consecutive year, Géraldine Le Meur and her husband Loic Le Meur, a French-born San Francisco-based blogger […]
Disoriented by economic growth, China has gone from 100 to 300 million believers. But religion is still held on a tight leash by the authorities.
Disoriented by economic growth, China has gone from 100 to 300 million believers. But religion is still held on a tight leash by the authorities.
The French first lady’s fame has reached new levels in India
The French first lady’s fame has reached new levels in India LE FIGARO/Worldcrunch By Charles Jaigu NEW DELHI – On December 4, French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in India, a state visit aimed at strengthening economic ties and forging a new nuclear deal between Paris and the surging South Asian democracy. And, while Sarkozy’s maiden […]
Compared with Irish binge drinkers, French wine drinkers are healthier
Like a global version of the Chinese water torture, Wikileaks has been dripping revelations day after day that will render diplomacy painful and less useful for the common good. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange/Worldcrunch (Jose Mesa via Flickr) Paris-The fact that international relations’ specialists aren’t learning anything new from these revelations is beside the point. What […]
With Christians increasingly targets of violence, Italy’s Foreign Minister makes their safety a centerpiece of his Baghdad trip. Fate of Iraq’s best-known Christian, former Saddam aide Tariq Aziz, also on agenda. Baghdad – Pressed by Italy’s Foreign Minister, Iraq has announced that it will form a parliamentary commission to investigate the recent spate of killings […]
France’s business and management schools top the Financial Times’ annual European rankings, but French higher education system still lags in other surveys. By Dominique Seux PARIS – Four of the top10; five of the top 15; eighteen of the top 70. France can indeed be proud of the 2010 results of the annual European business […]
In the northern city of Brescia, a Pakistani father allegedly tries to kidnap his daughter to stop her from marrying her Indian boyfriend. Tourists flock to the Verona balcony where Juliet was said to have called out to Romeo (Flickr) By Beatrice Raspa Mairano – Shakespeare’s telling of the ancient tribal tragedy of Romeo and […]
By Philippe Escande Paris – Frédéric Vincent is one unhappy CEO. The Chinese are invading us, they do not comply with our basic rules for doing business. This was the essence of the message Vincent, the chief of French cable maker Nexans, sent in a letter to European Commission President José Manuel Barroso. In question […]