President Barack Obama didn’t turn his State of the Union speech into an overt pitch for his reelection, but he did push back against his Republican rivals in his address. Politico reads between the lines.
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Month: January 2012
Op-Ed: South American neighbors Chile and Peru have both failed to equitably distribute their new-found wealth. Leaders must offer more than hollow promises, or unrest like the protests over Chilean education and Peruvian mining is bound to intensify.
Theo Angelopoulos, the Greek filmmaker who won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1998, has died in a road accident while working on his latest movie near Athens.
Thousands of Egyptians are gathering in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to mark one year since the start of the uprising which toppled President Hosni Mubarak.
To mark the anniversary of the day that sparked the Arab spring’s most momentous revolution, a reporter visits the homes of those Egyptians who didn’t live to see it through. The remains of their lives are both painful memories for their
The recent drowning of a toddler in Bryansk has turned national attention to the city’s decrepit sewer system. But Russia’s infrastructure problems are nationwide. At least 10 cave-ins – like the one that killed 18-month-old Kiril Didenko – have
Judge Garzón rose to prominence for ordering the arrest of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Now, the famed judge is the defendant after a right-wing Spanish attorney accused the crusading magistrate of illegally opening national wounds from the Franco E
In the 1960s, Mitt Romney was a Mormon missionary in the French cities of Brest, Le Havre and Bordeaux. Though the Church of the Latter-Day Saints is still a tiny minority in this Catholic country, it may finally build its first church in France. But loca
The European Commission will unveil an arsenal of legislative measures aimed at harmonizing the E.U. countries’ various approaches to digital privacy protection. Among the new laws is a “right to forget” clause, guaranteeing people an “out” from services
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Romney Tax Returns Show $45 Million Income
Mitt Romney’s campaign has released details of his federal tax returns, showing that he will most likely pay $6.2 million in taxes on $45 million in income over the two tax years of 2010 and 2011.
Turkey has warned the French president against signing a law that makes it a crime to deny that the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks nearly a century ago constituted genocide, saying it will implement retaliatory measures against France.
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Car bombs kill 13, wound 75 in Iraq capital
Four car bombs have exploded in mainly Shi’ite Muslim areas of Baghdad, killing at least 13 people and wounding 75, underlining a political crisis that threatens to revive sectarian strife in Iraq.
Billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov outlines to Kommersant his presidential program, titled a “Real Future.” He wants to cut the presidential term to four years, privatize industry and foster a free press. Are they just words?
Switzerland is gradually becoming more tolerant of gays. But many homosexuals say they’re still reluctant to come out at work, where clear cases of discrimination continue to occur.
After years of living large, German hacker turned celebrity Kim Schmitz is suddenly in serious trouble. At the behest of U.S. authorities, the Megaupload’s founder was nabbed last week in New Zealand. Die Welt charts the unusual career of a “dotc
A helpful lubricant for human relations or national corruption racket? Either way, the so-called “gift economy,” now in full swing as the Chinese New Year begins, is key to understanding social and economic interaction in China.
Four years after New York stunned previously undefeated New England in the Arizona desert, the Patriots and Giants are going at it again at the Super Bowl — this time in Indianapolis.
The founder of the shuttered file-sharing site Megaupload appeared in a New Zealand court Monday, as the U.S. Department of Justice seeks to extradite him and other company officials on criminal charges.
The EU has agreed to ban Iranian crude oil imports as the Western world turns up the pressure on Tehran to halt its nuclear activities.
Analysis: European leaders accuse Hungary of violating E.U. laws and putting democratic principles at risk. Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban made a special visit to the European Parliament last week. But his conciliatory tone doesn’t mean he
As it does every January, the upscale Belvédère Hotel in Davos will host World Economic Forum guests. Only this year, the VIP’s won’t receive their usual greeting from Ernst Wyrsch, the hotel’s recently-retired director, who has long min
Analysis: The big winner of last week’s elections in Kazakhstan was never in doubt – the president’s party Nur Otan. But due to a recent change in the law, for the first time the parliament is required to have at least one other party represented
In Germany, Weng Fine Art makes quick profits by buying 20th century art priced between 5,000 and 150,000 euros and selling it to galleries via auction houses. A new business model that tries to turn culture into commodity.
After a bitter Socialist primary campaign won by Francois Hollande, Martine Aubry, the party leader and primary runner-up has put all her weight behind her former rival. And If Hollande unseats Nicolas Sarkozy for the Presidency, Aubry may be headed for t
Cosmetic breast surgery and augmentation has been in the news recently following the scandal of dangerously defective breast implants by the French firm PIP. But what really motivates women to go under the knife?
Op-Ed: The killing of French troops by an Afghan soldier has much of France, including President Sarkozy, questioning the country’s continued presence in Afghanistan. A broader hostility to foreigners may also weigh on President Obama’s
Following a similar project outside of Amsterdam, Swiss developers plan to build an entire village for people with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. The $27 million Swiss facility will recreate the environment of the 1950s. Not all think i
Essay: The world probably won’t end in 2012, as some apocalyptic theorists predict. But things still look a bit scary, even from the relatively stable confines of Latin America, as an ever-interconnected global map sizzles with conflict.
Starting later this year, all cigarettes sold in Australia must be packaged in absolutely identical greenish packets. Ciggies without a brand? Some say it could quietly kill the pleasure.
By now, the world knows Captain Schettino, accused of steering the Costa Concordia liner into shallow waters, then abandoning the passengers of his sinking ship. But there is another Captain, Gregorio De Falco, who desperately tried to order Schettino to
General Motors back as the world’s top-selling automaker from Japanese rival Toyota Motor Corp, less than three years after the US carmaker filed for bankruptcy.
Four French troops have been killed in northern Afghanistan after a soldier from the Afghan National Army opened fire. President Nicolas Sarkozy said France was suspending its training programs in Afghanistan following the attack.
British author cancels appearance at the Jaipur literary festival in India following warnings of threats to his life from what he called “the Mumbai underworld.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow would veto any UN Security Council resolution targeting Syrian President Assad’s regime, especially any military strikes. It is the latest sign of deep-seated Russian tensions with the West over Syria. An
Some of the world’s trendiest new “bars” don’t serve beer, whiskey or wine. What they do offer is chocolate, and lots of it. From Paris to Tokyo, chocolate bars are attracting all ages eager to indulge their cocoa cravings and fe
Zurich Airport is among the first to begin to test two devices that can detect dangerous liquids. In the future, all of Europe hopes to gradually relax its strict bans on liquids in carry-on luggage.
On the outskirts of Marseille, France’s second-largest city, a string of gangland murders has brought new attention to an ongoing drug war. Inside the perilous cité housing projects, a loose network of dealers, as well as children and single moth
An exhibit about the Cold War will open this spring in the “Black Box,” a building that now fills the space where American and Russian tanks faced off in 1961. It will eventually be part of a permanent museum exploring the Cold War, in the city where it b
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Eastman Kodak Files for Bankruptcy
Eastman Kodak says that it files for bankruptcy protection, as the 131-year-old film pioneer struggles to adapt to an increasingly digital world.
Argentine leaders have reacted with fury after UK Prime Minister David Cameron accused Argentina of “colonialism” for continuing to claim sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.