Essay: A coming monstrosity or an engine for new jobs? The chattering class in Chile’s capital of Santiago are appalled at photos of a huge new mall being built in the southern island town of Castro. Locals, it seems, see a very different picture.
Month: March 2012
Southwest France has seen its third deadly shooting in the past week, as a killer rides up on a scooter at a Jewish school in Toulouse, killing three children and a teacher.
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London 2012: Olympic torch route unveiled
Olympic organisers have unveiled a street-by-street route map of the 12 875km torch relay for the 2012 London Games.
At least five people were killed after a salvo of mortars targeting Somalia’s presidential palace missed and landed on a nearby refugee camp.
In the small town of Philadelphia, Mississippi, site of the infamous civil rights murders depicted in the movie “Mississippi Burning”, the first African-American mayor looks to the future to heal wounds of the past.
Southwest France has seen its third deadly shooting in the past week, as a killer rides up on a scooter at a Jewish school in Toulouse. Police are investigating possible links with recent killings of French soldiers in the region.
We’ve seen so many reproductions of Leonardo Da Vinci’s masterpiece we’re not sure how she really looks. Even at the Louvre, huge crowds and a glass case make seeing her hard. Now French cultural officials have *the* photo to re
A possible precedent-setting decision in India has Western drug makers on edge. Indian authorities have told a local firm it can produce a generic version of Nexavar, a cancer drug developed and sold by Bayer, whether the German pharmaceutical giant likes
A new survey shows that the French have also become experts in digital romance, with both its highs and its heartbreaks and whole new ways of hooking up.
Wall Street was buzzing this week after Greg Smith quit his top executive job at Goldman Sachs with a scathing criticism of the investment bank in the New York Times. In Switzerland, where banking secrecy is paramount, his public act is virtually unthinka
Venice is dedicating a retrospective to one of the defining icons and arbiters of 20th-century fashion (and culture), Diana Vreeland. The influential and ever demanding editor of Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue helped label clothing and luxury design a
Brazil is spending freely as it prepares to host the 2014 World Cup. The event is also expected to attract investment from abroad, and possibly boost Brazil’s country brand. But will it singlehandedly boost GDP by 1.5% as one top economist claims?
Vladimir Putin’s victory in the presidential elections has not deterred opponents, some of whom have also faced arrests by authorities. And now, as plans begin for the next major rally, on May 5, protest organizers say they will ignore government
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Archbishop of Canterbury to Step Down
Rev. Rowan Williams, the spiritual head of the world’s Anglicans, announced he will step down at the end of the year.
North Korea will launch a satellite mounted on a rocket to mark the 100th birthday of its late former President Kim Il-sung, state media reported.
The U.S. soldier accused of slaughtering 16 Afghan villagers last weekend saw his friend’s leg blown off the day before the rampage, his lawyer said.
Analysis: Li Na became a national hero after she became the first Chinese player to win a Grand Slam singles final at last year’s French Open. But she has enraged many after declaring that she plays tennis for herself, not her country. Patriots a
Long considered “lonely hunters,” at least one species of sharks, the blacktip reef shark, is inclined to mingle across a variety of social ties and relationships. Researchers were able to apply new insights from studies of the way Faceb
In London’s most luxurious apartment complex, Arab sheiks and Russian oligarchs share a movie theater and private golf course. A two-story penthouse here recently sold for 162 million euros, a new record for the most expensive home on the planet.
No longer willing to let top management call all the shots, major investors in many of Germany’s top firms are demanding more of a say in how companies go about their business.
Mickey Mouse muscled his way into the French tourism market in 1992 with the opening of Euro Disney. Now called Disneyland-Paris, the park is France’s top tourism attraction and employs nearly 15,000 people. But not all are thrilled.
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How Life Got Lonely In Tahrir Square
Once the symbol of national unity, Cairo’s central square has become a mix of camped-out revolution holdouts and pent-up bursts of violence. Has this instantly iconic location too quickly lost its historical significance? Or does Tahrir just refl
A Swiss couple held captive by the Pakistani Taliban for over eight months have been recovered safely, claiming they escaped their captors in the lawless tribal belt.
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Egypt prosecutes 75 over soccer disaster
Egypt’s prosecutor general has referred 75 people to criminal court in connection with soccer riots last month that left over 70 people dead.
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China ousts Bo Xilai as Chongqing party boss
Leadership succession in China plunges into high drama as the favorite to join country’s ruling panel is toppled amid defection scandal.
New regulations specify that pilots can now fly up to 11 hours straight at night, and 16 hours at a stretch during the day. One pilots’ union official calls the new rules the biggest setback in air travel safety since World War II.
Op-Ed: By now, we can call the US intervention in Afghanistan a failure. It’s what happens when you go to into a drawn-out conflict without a plan B…and other lessons to be learned before the next war.
Nearly half the world’s top snooker tournaments are now held in China, where prize money is much higher than in the sport’s original home in Britain. But money alone doesn’t explain snooker’s newfound popularity with Ch
There is now some real science beyond the myths and stereotypes about what sets that relatively rare redheaded breed apart from the rest of us. Though sometimes taunted by schoolmates, redheads turn out to be more resistant to physical pain than blonds an
In the Middle East, water is more than just a precious commodity — it’s a serious sticking point in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After a French politician denounced Israel’s policy as “water apartheid,” a deeper l
If you like Banksy, the now rich and famous UK street artist and activist, you’ll love P183, the Russian graffiti and guerrilla artist. A member of no party, whose identity remains a mystery, P183 is emblematic of the country’s growing a
A bus crash in Switzerland has killed 28 Belgian and Dutch tourists, 22 of them children, as they returned from a ski trip.
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Santorum wins Alabama, Mississippi
Rick Santorum marches forward to the next GOP primary battle with wins in Alabama and Mississippi, throwing cold water on rival Mitt Romney’s prediction that his campaign was reaching a “desperate end.”
A bomb attack has killed three people including the suicide bomber inside a government compound in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu.
Global demand for lithium is on the rise thanks to its use in electric car batteries. That could mean big business for Chile, which has near 23% of the world’s reserves. A leftover dictatorship-era statute, however, threatens to stand in the way.
Professor Giulio Fanti has spent much of his life in search of a scientific explanation for the Shroud of Turin, the linen cloth that purports to bear the image of the crucified Jesus of Nazareth. He has now arrived at his best conclusion, which may requi
In most Chinese cities, retail sales peak between Christmas and Chinese New Year. In Beijing, however, the spike tends to occur in March – at least as far as luxury brands are concerned. Could it be the effect of a certain annual event always held this mo
A court in Guatemala has sentenced a former soldier to 6,060 years in prison for his role in the massacre of 201 people during the civil war.
Taliban militants opened fire and killed one Afghan soldier who was part of a government delegation visiting one of the two villages where a U.S. soldier is suspected of killing 16 civilians.
A ferry packed with about 200 people capsized in a river in southern Bangladesh, killing at least 31 people and leaving dozens more missing.