China has joined other world powers in warning North Korea that they will not tolerate any more provocations after the isolated nation’s failed rocket launch last week.
Month: April 2012
An incensed Spain has threatened swift economic retaliation against Argentina after it seized control of YPF, the South American nation’s biggest oil
company, in a move which pushed down shares in Spanish energy giant Repsol, the major sharehold
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Breivik takes stand in Norway massacre trial
The man accused of killing 77 people in bomb and gun attacks in Norway last July has boasted of his actions in a statement at his trial in Oslo.
French media has long had a thing for First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. Nowadays, however, the model turned pop singer is having to share the spotlight with another politician’s partner, former television news presenter Valérie Trierweiler.
Analysis: Critics who accuse Turkey’s ruling – and largely unchallenged – AKP of trying to gradually implement Sharia law are missing the point. Religious conservatism is indeed gaining ground in Turkey. But so too is secularization of the countr
Getting ahead these days in the land of Baudelaire and Balzac means mastering the language of Shakespeare – or at least, Zuckerberg. No longer just a plus, strong English is often required for both entry level and top manager slots. But it’s brou
Essay: Though hard to bear, we should watch Breivik bask in the spotlight of his trial for the slaughter of 77 people in Norway. Like the youths that opened fire in a Colorado school in 1999, Breivik’s narcissism was fed by mass culture that warp
Yvonne, Germany’s world famous freedom-seeking cow, is set to make her cinema debut in 2014. A deal has already been struck to produce an animated version of her feel-good story.
Accidents involving drivers over 65 are on the rise in Berlin, prompting one researcher to call for mandatory “mobility checks.” Under the plan, seniors would have to take regular skills tests. The expert says older drivers should also receive required me
The man who carried out bomb and gun attacks in Norway last year which left 77 people dead has pleaded not guilty at the start of his trial in Oslo, where he arrived clenching his fist in a far-right salute and saying he did not recognise the authority of
Afghan soldiers have stormed a half-built tower block after heavy dawn fighting and killed six Taliban fighters, ending a brazen assault which heralded the start of their spring offensive.
Spanish bonds lead a slump among the euro-region’s higher-yielding government securities, after a minister from the Iberian nation called on the European Central Bank to buy its debt to stem the financial-market turmoil.
Israelis have long ignored the vast scorching flatlands of the Negev desert in the southern part of the country. But more and more now see it as a healthy alternative for a weekend getaway — or for checking out for good.
Analysis: Venezuela could be in for a wild ride between now and October, when voters decide whether to reelect their ailing president, Hugo Chávez, or hand the job to his youthful challenger, 39-year-old Enrique Capriles.
In northern Mexico’s Comarca Lagunera region, rising arsenic levels in the groundwater are leaving many residents sick and disabled. The culprit? Widespread dairy farming, which is sucking the area’s aquifers dry. Those who can’
The Natural History Museum in Switzerland has just opened a fascinating exhibition dedicated to a rather odd subject: poop. Called KK.ZOO, the exhibition is far more pleasant than it sounds. Highlights include a 65-million-year-old T-Rex turd.
Analysis: Homicides have soared in Central America as local street gangs are fed by Mexican drug cartels, which have taken over drug trafficking routes once handled by Colombians.
Authorities in Switzerland’s Geneva canton would love to bid adieu to the area’s non law-abiding asylum seekers. They’re now offering people a new incentive to ship off on their own accord: cash. But when does the offer go too far?
Despite the largest livestock head count on the African continent, a series of nagging problems prevent Ethiopia from realizing its agricultural potential. But now, the government in Addis Abeba has a plan to turn the country from famine poster child to a
Near the northern city of Ferrara, a priest has denied communion to a mentally-disabled child, saying that it can only be offered to those who “understand the mystery” of the rite. The parents are taking their case to the European Court
Newark Mayor Cory Booker was taken to a hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation he suffered while rescuing his next-door neighbors from their burning house.
Once among the NBA’s most despised players, former New York basketball prodigy Stephon Marbury has reinvented himself in China, where he’s the “spiritual leader” of the champion Beijing Ducks. He’s also learnin
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North Korea rocket breaks up in flight
Defying warnings from the international community, North Korea launched a long-range rocket, but it broke apart before escaping the earth’s atmosphere and fell into the sea.
David Cameron has become the first British prime minister to visit Burma after arriving in the capital Nay Pyi Taw.
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Russia’s Asteroid Problem
Russia has good reason to be concerned about asteroids. The country had two near misses in the 20th century century alone. Efforts to better prepare the nation for such an event, however, are unlikely to be effective unless Russia first builds better tele
Cell phones contain trace amounts of gold, silver, copper and other valuable minerals. Lawmakers in Germany are cluing into these hidden treasures, but haven’t yet come up with an effective way to harvest them.
German political leaders have warned about the growing presence of Salafists, who follow a strict interpretation of Islam. Critics, who have accused them of links to terrorists, have criticized the Salafists’ handouts of 300,000 Korans across Ger
Amanda Knox will publish her account of being accused – and cleared – of murdering her roommate Meredith Kercher. Her ex-boyfriend has a book deal too. But the victim’s father, who still believes the pair murdered his daughter, is fighting back with his o
Repression, evictions, demolition: three words you don’t normally associate with the Eurovision Song Contest. Azerbaijan has bulldozed its capital’s center to make way for the glitzy palace that will house the contest, evicting people an
At least 23 people were killed when a bus collided head-on with a truck in Suzhou city in eastern China, in the latest serious accident on the country’s chaotic roads.
Connecticut’s House of Representatives has approved a bill to ban the death penalty that was passed by the state Senate last week and is expected to be signed into law by the governor, making Connecticut the fifth state to ban capital punishment
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George Zimmerman’s attorney to ask for bail
The attorney for George Zimmerman plans to ask a judge to allow the neighborhood watch volunteer charged with killing an unarmed, black teen to post bond — though he believes it will be difficult.
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Tibet: How Many More Sacrifices?
Journalist Ursula Gauthier managed to get past Chinese roadblocks to get into Tibet, where she met the families and friends of those who have sacrificed themselves by immolation to protest against Chinese rule.
Analysis: the ouster of Bo Xilai, one of China’s most powerful political leaders, threatens to shake Beijing’s domestic affairs. But the spectacular –and notably public– fall from grace will reverberate around a world ever more influen
In the Italian city of Caserta, infertile couples bought the babies of Bulgarian women who were specifically brought to Italy when they were eight months pregnant. Three have been arrested, as disturbing details of the special arrangements emerge.
Official numbers are next to impossible to come by, but the ongoing debt crisis in Greece seems to be sparking a new wave of New York-bound emigration. For some, like “Mike” from Astoria, Queens, this is actually their second stint in th
After 15 years of running the “Hut” at the base of the Matterhorn mountain, Kurt Lauber knows the peak like a big brother. The “Watchman” has roped together memories of perilous rescues and the daily quirks of a mountain life.
Did the monumental scam artist make a suicide pact with himself way back in the 1990s? Has Madoff discovered that true happiness is a warm cell? A Swiss psychologist pieces answers the question: is Madoff a sociopath?
Analysis: Laws like Florida’s “Stand Your Ground,” which authorizes armed self-defense, are multiplying in the United States under the influence of a lobby that drafts bills and offers them ready-made to local governments. A French visit to the “Gunshine
As analysts try to gauge the new and largely untested North Korean leader, one Beijing-based Japanese commentator sees similarities between Kim Jong-Un’s situation and what Emperor Hirohito faced when he began his 60-year reign in Japan. It does