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Society

Senior Citizens And Their Crimes Of Passion

Jealousy, fights, fits of rage…even murder: Italy has noticed a rise in reported cases of 60-something and 70-something men who kill their wives and lovers. What ever happened to those his and hers rocking chairs?

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Future

Top Japanese Politicians Float Plans To Build A Real-Life Anime Robot

Worldcrunch YAHOO! JAPAN Japanese Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) ruled Japan for nearly 54 years until the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) rose to power. The LDP has long been the gray flipside to the neon instincts that fuel the Japanese popular culture that brings such gems as karaoke bars and anime alternative universes. But now […]

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Geopolitics

Beirut Has A Refugee Crisis That’s Not About Middle East Peace

Few know the Lebanese capital has been a destination for immigrants in recent years. But now a group of Sudanese men are on a hunger strike, demanding that the UN resettle recognized refugees and grant temporary status to those waiting for their papers.

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Geopolitics

Mexico At A Crossroads – Up Close At Ground Zero Of Nation’s Deadly Drug War

As Mexico goes to the polls to elect a new president, a visit to Xalapa, a city that once attracted cultural elites and foreign university students –until the country’s bloody drug war brought it to its knees.

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Society

Shanghai Subway To Harassed Women: You Had It Coming

Worldcrunch WANT DAILY (China) SHANGHAI – There have been numerous recent reports of female passengers being harassed on Shanghai’s subway. Instead of acknowledging the complaints and enforcing security measures, the Shanghai subway authority has decided instead to post a photo of a woman wearing a transparent dress clearly showing her underwear on its website. The […]

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Society

After 45 Years, Woody Allen Dumps His German Double For Younger Voice

Wolfgang Draeger has dubbed Woody Allen’s parts in German since the American actor-director’s first film appearance in 1965. Did vanity drive Allen to replace Draeger for the German version of “To Rome With Love?”

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Society

Save The Elephants: Gabon President Ignites Huge Bonfire Of Illicit Ivory

Worldcrunch LE MONDE (France), NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC GABON – Authorities in Gabon burned more than 4.5 tons of illegal ivory this week after the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species released a report showing that elephant poaching has reached a record high in the past few years. The year 2011 saw the highest recorded levels […]

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Geopolitics

Germany Denies Asylum To Iranian Lesbian, Suggests More “Discreet Lifestyle”

Samira Ghorbani Danesh, 24, says she fled Iran for fear of repression for being a lesbian. A German court has denied her asylum request, ruling that she can live unbothered back in her native country so long as she hides her homosexuality.

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Geopolitics

Can Thora Arnórsdóttir Get Elected President A Month After Giving Birth?

Worldcrunch ICELAND REVIEW, LE FIGARO MADAME (France) REYKJAVIK – This Sunday, when Iceland goes to the polls to elect its next president, the choice is rather stark. There is the white-haired incumbent, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson,69, and there is Thora Arnórsdóttir, who is not only a 37-year-old newcomer to politics, but also just gave birth last […]

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Society

Did Germany Lose Twice In One Night? The Weight Of European Soccer And Euro Zone Debt

Worldcrunch IL SOLE 24 ORE (Italy), DIE WELT (Germany) BBC NEWS (UK), LE MONDE (France) BRUSSELS – Spain and Italy…Spain and Italy. Sports junkies know by now the lineup for the finals of the 2012 European Soccer Championship, after Italy defeated the favored Germans 2-1 in Warsaw on Thursday night, following Spain’s semifinal win over […]

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Society

Report: DSK And Wife Of 20 Years Split

Worldcrunch CLOSER, VOICI (France) REUTERS PARIS – Disgraced former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and his wife, prominent French journalist Anne Sinclair, have split after 20 years of marriage, a source close to DSK has told Reuters. The French edition of the weekly magazine Closer first reported the news in its online edition, adding that Sinclair, […]

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Geopolitics

Indian Floods Kill 30, Displace Nearly 1 Million (Video)

Worldcrunch AFP, UKPA, ABP News (India) GUWAHATI – Floods caused by heavy monsoon rains have killed at least 30 people and displaced nearly one million in India’s northeastern state of Assam. At least 27 Indian districts have been swamped by heavy monsoon rains that began last weekend. The overall flooding situation is worsening as additional […]

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Society

Accused Of Witchcraft, Congolese Children Face Scorn and Abuse

When a family in Congo suffers an illness or poverty, the blame is often laid on one of the children, who may wind up accused of sorcery. If that happens, other truly horrible things may follow.

Categories
Future

Red Bull – The Making Of An Explosive Cocktail

A favorite of both fitness nuts and party animals, Red Bull has some reported side-effects. Now people have started mixing energy drinks with alcohol, adding to the potential toxicity. France, one of the last countries to approve its sale, asks if its rea

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Geopolitics

How Peru’s Ollanta Humala Can Turn His Presidency Around

Op Ed: Elected on a platform that mixed solidarity for the poor and support for Peru’s all-important mining sector, leftist President Ollanta Humala has been criticized for failing on both fronts. How can the former military officer get back on t

Categories
Food / Travel

A Kebab With Your Salad, And Other New Paths To Healthy Eating

Well-known German Doctor Dietrich Gronemeyer is on a mission to rethink the approach for healthy eating. It’s about balance, rather than saying ‘No,’ or ‘You Must.’

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Society

German Court Bans Religious Circumcision

Worldcrunch DER SPIEGEL, FT DEUTSCHLAND (Germany) COLOGNE – A court in Germany’s western city of Cologne has banned the circumcision of young people for religious reasons. The court has deemed that the religious practice, part of both Jewish and Muslim traditions, amounted to bodily harm. Judges did allow that boys who declared they wanted to […]

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Geopolitics

The Queen Mother Of The Arab Spring

Tawakkul Karman was awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize for her role in the Yemeni uprising that toppled President Saleh after 33 years in power. But this global face of the Arab Spring still has plenty of work to do in her native land.

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Society

When A Chinese Student Falls In Love With New Jersey

Zhou Yinzi moved last year from China to Plainsboro, NJ. Used to dreary classes, she discovered a new world of sexy principals and crushworthy teachers, piercings and booming T-shirts. An exchange student’s love letter — to her teachers, most of

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Geopolitics

Turkish Troops Move Towards Syrian Border, Bombs At Damascus Justice Ministry

Worldcrunch BBC NEWS (UK), HÜRRIYET (Turkey), AL JAZEERA (Qatar) Turkey is deploying troops along its border with Syria, one week after Syria shot down a Turkish jet over the Mediterranean. Turkey’s TRT state television showed footage of columns of military vehicles moving from bases in Iskenderun and Diyarbakir to the border, close to the area […]

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Society

In France, “Cannabis Social Clubs” Start Growing In Defiance Of Pot Laws

Worldcrunch LES INROCKUPTIBLES (France) PARIS – French marijuana activists are stepping up their fight to legalize the drug, opening several “Cannabis Social Clubs’ across the country. Known as a CSC, they are cooperatives of regular marijuana users who grow the plant for their own consumption, explains French magazine Les Inrockuptibles. The goal is to be […]

Categories
Future

Kim Dotcom Case: N.Z. Court Rules Megaupload Search Warrants Illegal

Worldcrunch THE NEW ZEALAND HERALD, CNET AUCKLAND – The New Zealand High Court ruled on Thursday that the January police raid of Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom’s mansion was illegal. Kim Dotcom, whose given name is Kim Schmitz, is a German national who founded the file-sharing site Megaupload.com. The website was shut down and Kim Dotcom’s […]

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Geopolitics

Brazilian Man Facing Execution In Indonesia Appeals To President Dilma

Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira, 50, has been sitting in an Indonesian jail for eight years waiting to be executed for drug trafficking. In a phone interview, he pleads with Brazilian president Dilma Roussef to save him.

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Geopolitics

Central American Drug Cartel Uses Churches As Fronts

Worldcrunch EL UNIVERSAL (Mexico) SAN JOSÉ – The Costa Rican capital is where Los Charros, a Central American drug cartel with links to to one of Mexico’s biggest mafia families, picks up cocaine to transfer through Central America. And Los Charros has found a way to launder money to cover up its trafficking revenue: by […]

Categories
Society

China’s Power Gap

Essay: Why do powerful officials break the rules and earn promotions, while a migrant mother faces bureaucratic traps that don’t allow her child to go to school? Facing up to the question of administrative power is fundamental for China’

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Society

New Homophobia Low: Facebook Page Urges Aborting ‘Gay’ Unborn

LA REPUBBLICA (Italy) ROME – Online homophobia has reached a new low in Italy where a Facebook page circulated this month with the declaration: “Aborting a gay (fetus) is an act of faith.” Rome daily La Repubblica reported that the Italian language Facebook account was opened on June 19 with this false claim: “Thanks to […]

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Society

In Switzerland, Supermarket Labels Spark Memories Of “Jew” Passport Stamps

Essay: Swiss supermarket chain Migros plans to introduce a special label for products imported from Jewish settlements in occupied Palestinian territory. This attempt at “transparency”instead recalls the ‘J’ that Nazis

Categories
Economy

Aleksey Navalny: Russian Political Dissident Picked For Aeroflot Board

Navalny’s home was ransacked by police barely two weeks ago, and he spent 15 days in jail in May. So why did the government support his appointment to the board of Aeroflot, Russia’s largest airline?

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Geopolitics

Rebel Attack On Syrian TV Station, As Assad Declares ‘Real State Of War’

Worldcrunch REUTERS, AL ARABIYA (Saudi Arabia), AL JAZEERA (Qatar) DAMASCUS – Gunmen attacked the pro-Assad television headquarters in Syria on Wednesday morning, detonating bombs and shooting three employees dead, Reuters reports. The Syrian Minister of Information gave a higher death toll for the attack, saying that seven people were killed and that others were injured […]

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Society

‘When Harry Met Sally’ Screenwriter Nora Ephron Dies At 71

Worldcrunch AP, CNN Nora Ephron, the Manhattan-born screenwriter, filmmaker and journalist best known for her romantic comedies (When Harry Met Sally…, Sleepless in Seattle, Julie & Julia…) has died from leukemia in New York, aged 71. Ephron will be remembered as an author who “challenged and thrived in the male-dominated worlds of movies and journalism […]

Categories
Food / Travel

Coca Cola’s Secret Ingredient? Alcohol

Worldcrunch 60 MILLIONS DE CONSOMMATEURS, LE MONDE, LE PROGRES (France) PARIS – Ever wondered what’s the secret ingredient that makes sodas taste so delicious? Sugar, sweeteners, additives, caffeine…. alcohol? Yes, you read it: alcohol. French magazine 60 Millions de Consommateurs, the French equivalent of Consumer Reports, compiled a list of ingredients found in 19 of […]

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Geopolitics

Russian Loggers Put Survival Of ‘Sacred’ Siberian Tiger At Risk

Loggers in the Russian Far East are facing off against conservationists over the fate of forests in wildlife reserves, with the Siberian tiger’s natural habitat hanging in the balance. And for local indigenous peoples, it’s not just an e

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Geopolitics

Colombian FARC Rebels Using Teenagers As Suicide Bombers

EL PERIODICO (Spain), NOTICIAS CARACOL (Colombia) BOGOTA – Colombian police say they have evidence FARC rebels are using teenagers as suicide bombers, reports El Periodico. In a video shot by Colombian police and showed by television station Noticias Caracol, we see an alleged 14-year-old rebel, “loaded with explosives, half-naked and painted green.” She was wounded […]

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Geopolitics

Time To Heal: Rwanda Finally Closes Its Controversial Genocide Tribunals

After 10 years and about two million sentences, the tribunals overseeing genocide prosecutions have finally closed. Many Rwandans feel more relieved than reconciled.

Categories
Economy

China Invests Big In Fellow BRIC Brazil

Worldcrunch FOLHA DE S. PAULO (Brazil) BEIJING – China made its largest investment of early 2012 in fellow BRIC Brazil by acquiring 30% of Petrogal Brasil, a subsidiary of Portuguese company Galp Energia. State-owned Sinopec, or Chinese Petrochemical Company, paid $4.8 billion for the aquisition. Overall, China invested $21.4 billion abroad from January to March, […]

Categories
Society

Who Will Help Feng Jianmei? Chinese Woman Forced To Abort Hounded By Authorities

Exclusive: Two weeks ago she sparked an international uproar in her defense with a grisly photo of her dead would-be second child, after a forced abortion for violating China’s one-child policy. Feng is now being hounded by locals, and her husban

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Society

Swiss Right-Wing Leader Accused Of Anti-Muslim ‘Kristallnacht’ Tweet

20 MINUTEN ONLINE (Switzerland) ZURICH – “Maybe we need another Kristallnacht…this time for mosques.” That tweet was sent from the account of Alexander Müller, a member of the Schweizerische Volkspartei (SVP), a right-wing populist party. The Kristallnacht, or Night of Broken Glass, is the name given to an infamous night in 1938, when the Nazis […]

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Geopolitics

Is This The Man To Clean Up Mexico?

Sunday’s presidential election in Mexico is “a referendum between honesty and corruption,” says leftist underdog candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Categories
Future

‘Cyber Heist’ Using Malware To Siphon Up To Two Billion From Banks

Worldcrunch THE VERGE (USA), GLOBAL SECURITY MAG (France), PC WELT, ZDNET (Germany) A new generation of bank heist has arrived — no balaclava or bags of banknotes necessary. Security firms McAfee and Guardian Analytics have released a 20-page analysis on a global financial fraud ring entitled “Operation High Roller,” a series of highly-organised cyber bank […]

Categories
Society

Charmer, Provocateur, Eccentric: Who Is John Malkovich?

A portrait of the Artist: arrogant and aloof, ambiguous loony, Mephistophelian charmer, lonely provocateur, clothes designer, baroque musician, and Juventus soccer fan.

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