A French prosecutor has ordered an initial inquiry into claims that ex-IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn was involved in “gang rape” in Washington.
Month: May 2012
A suicide bomber blew himself up at a military parade drill in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, killing at least 38 soldiers and wounding scores of others in what is one of the deadliest attacks in the city in months.
RAI2 (Italy) SANT’AGOSTINO – The magnitude 6.0 earthquake that struck the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna has left at least seven dead and dozens wounded. The property damage is also extensive in a region around the historic city of Ferrara. In this video from state broadcaster RAI, we see a portion of the local city […]
DIARIO DEL SUR (Mexico) ARRIAGA – The impoverished Mexican state of Chiapas couldn’t be less hospitable to the many Central American migrants who cross over from Guatemala in search of better opportunities up north. In the border town of Arriaga, criminals prey on the new arrivals, as do coyotes (people smugglers) and even local authorities, […]
Mounting a television screen on a urinal is the latest way for advertisers to reach a “captive” audience — in this case, exclusively male.
Essay: As the “Culture Wars” heat up again in the race for the White House, a Chinese commentator makes some key distinctions between private and public morality. And suggests China take notes.
EL DIARIO NUEVO (Nicaragua) MANAGUA – Is Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega the “Ho Chi Minh of Latin America?” That’s apparently what Surinam’s new ambassador in Nicaragua believes. During a televised swearing in ceremony in Managua this week, the ambassador, Subhas Chandra Mungra, said that Ortega, like the deceased Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh, stands out […]
More than 30 people were killed last August when NATO jets bombed the small Libyan town of Majer. NATO says it was a “legitimate” target. Villagers tell a very different story, of innocent victims, and pain made worse by NATO’s
PREMIERE (France) CANNES – Marilyn Monroe will unfortunately be the only woman to be in the spotlight during the Cannes Film Festival this year. Indeed, every single one of the 22 movies competing for the Palme d’Or was directed by a man. As is often the case, women’s only role will be to present the […]
A court in the German city of Detmold is currently trying the case of Arzu Ö, a Kurdish teenager who was murdered last November, presumably by members of her own family. Prosecutors say she “dishonored” her family, followers of the little-known Yazidi rel
LA RAZÓN (Argentina) BUENOS AIRES – An Argentine dog groomer has landed himself in a heap of trouble after accidentally killing one of his canine clients. The dog in question died on Oct. 2, 2010 due to a sedative overdose, La Razón reported. The groomer, identified as Mario Cabibbo, injected the drug prior to trimming […]
LE JOURNAL DU GEEK (France) TOKYO– Researchers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology have broken the record for the world’s fastest Wi-Fi. Using a 542GHz wireless connection in the 300GHz-3THz spectrum, they achieved speeds of 3Gpbs, reports Le Journal du Geek. If that’s a little too technical for you, what you need to know is […]
BEIJING DAILY, cyYES.com (China) SHANGHAI – The Americans are stirring trouble again. This time it’s the U.S. Consulate in Shanghai. Following the American Embassy in Beijing, the Shanghai consulate announced two days ago that it’s going to publish the air quality index every hour using the PM 2.5 measurement that tallies micro-particles. For the first […]
This weekend, the soccer team from Montpellier may become the champion of the French Ligue 1 for the first time in its history. It would be just one more success for this small southern city at the top in 22 different sports.
From the slums of Rio to the city’s wealthiest neighborhood, The Handcraft and Sewing Co-operative of Rocinha has come a long way, catching the eye of fashion gods such as Christian Lacroix and Carlos Miele.
Some working parents couldn’t make it without the grandparents taking on steady child-care duties. But in Zurich, Switzerland, if the kids are with the grandparents for an extended stay, it must be reported to the city — or the family risks a fi
Chinese have set out en masse in recent years to find their fortune as immigrants in Europe. Lately, though, more than usual are returning home in the face of Europe’s economic crisis and opportunities in their booming native land. In Wenzhou, th
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Iran: Map Sets Off Dispute With Google
Incensed over what it views as a Western-Arab plot, Iran threatens to sue Google for deleting the name Persian Gulf from its online mapping service and leaving the body of water nameless.
European markets suffered a jittery session on Friday as concern continued over Greece and Spain. Confidence in European banks was undermined by ratings agency Moody’s, which cut the credit ratings of 16 Spanish banks late Thursday.
An overnight bus plunges off bridge into a river in central Vietnam. In addition to those killed, 21 others were injured.
The Indian government is intensifying its fight against Maoist rebels in its central and eastern regions. In the central state of Chhattisgarh, policemen are being trained for jungle combat in real life conditions, learning to kill snakes and rappel from
CORRIERE DELLA SERA (Italy) Church and home are twin pillars of life in Italy, a historically Catholic country that plays host to the Vatican. And so it is, not surprisingly perhaps, that the high priests of home furnishing, Ikea, have moved far ahead of the Catholic Church – not to mention, the Italian government — […]
French women buy more shoes each year than their other European counterparts. But what KIND of shoes says even more. Italian women are more apt to go for high heels…and others?
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How The Facebook IPO Looks In France
Stakes are huge as the US-based social network goes public. But the effects of the estimated $100 billion Facebook IPO will ripple beyond Palo Alto and Wall Street, as tech “ecosystems” across the world bank on the network’s reach. Here’s how FB
Europe’s economic woes are prompting the Formula One auto racing circuit to seek new markets, including in Latin America, whose export-driven economies are running on all cylinders. Argentina hopes to host a race in 2013, in the seaside resort city o
CHINA TIMES (Taiwan) BEIJING – The U.S. ambassador to Beijing, Gary Locke, has become a lightning rod for online debate in China about the ethics (and wealth) of political leaders — both American and Chinese. In contrast to the high-spending lifestyle of many top Chinese politicians, the 62-year-old ambassador has been known to purchase cups […]
The presiding judge in the U.N. trial of Gen. Ratko Mladic has delayed indefinitely the presentation of evidence that had been scheduled to start later this month, due to “errors” by prosecutors in disclosing evidence to defense lawyers.
A horse that got spooked during a photo shoot on a California beach took a three-hour swim in the ocean before he was rescued by the Harbor Patrol and the Santa Barbara Coast Guard.
Cabinet ministers in Greece’s interim government are were sworn in as the country grapples with a political and economic crisis that could have effects far beyond its borders.
ACTUEL (Morocco) CASABLANCA – Should Morocco abandon the French language? The question is now being openly debated after the government announced it was pushing for more Arabic programming on public television, reports Moroccan magazine Actuel in a special feature devoted to the issue. Morrocan Culture Minister Mustapha El Khalfi has made reassurances that French programming […]
China’s modern legal system has thousands of laws governing every aspect of life. But instead of using this system to further democracy, Chinese officials increasingly use it to harass and intimidate the civil rights lawyers fighting for justice.
Analysis: In Menglian County, a remote area of China’s Yunnan province, young women’s passport applications are being rejected. Local officials say it’s because too many have gone abroad to become prostitutes, and come back with
SORTABLE.COM (Canada) Who hasn’t forwarded an e-petition, retweeted something about a cause, or posted a Kony video on their Facebook page? You might not know it, but if you did any of this kind of civic stuff without getting out of your chair, you were being a Slacktivist. The term, first coined in 1995, means […]
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Frog-Killing Fungus Sweeps The Globe
A skin fungus known as “Bd” is killing off amphibians the world over. Hikers may be inadvertently helping spread the microorganism, which scientists believe may be a hybrid of two less dangerous fungi. In Europe, Bd already affects 20 different amphibian
As one case regarding whistleblowers selling account information to German tax authorities is closed, Switzerland is faced with a new whistle-blowing scandal as two Swiss banks employees hand over client information to U.K. tax officials.
CORRIERE DELLA SERA (Italy) MILAN – Police have seized a seaside hotel complex on the Sicilian island of Pantelleria believed to have belonged to the family of former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Valued at 20 million euros, the resort and adjoining terrain is part of some 1.3 billion euros worth of Italian property held by […]
Founded in 2009, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is vying to become one of the world’s top universities. It is trying hard to attract students from overseas, notably Brazil, by showering them with perks that are unheard
Charles Taylor begins his address before the international court in the Netherlands that found him guilty last month of aiding and abetting war crimes in Sierra Leone.
France’s Total says it has succeeded in stopping the gas leak at its well at the Elgin platform in the North Sea, after pumping heavy mud into it.
Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb military commander, goes on trial at a UN tribunal on 11 charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes stemming from some of the bloodiest events of the Bosnian war in the 1990s.