With its blue waters and soft breezes, the island of Zante is the essence of a Greek paradise. It turns out it was also home to widespread scams of state benefits that help explain what is so deeply broken in modern Greece.
Month: July 2012
A new humanitarian crisis is unfolding after the fall of Gaddafi: thousands of immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa, as well as some from Pakistan and Syria, have been detained in the middle of the desert in southern Libya. No way out, and conditions are li
Folha d S. Paulo has uncovered documents showing that Brazil wants to give its struggling neighbor a break on trade deals. It’s a sign of how deep are Brazilian fears about Argentina’s economic health.
LE MONDE, LE COURRIER DE L’ATLAS (France), AFP TUNIS – A Tunisian university dean risks a five year prison sentence for allegedly slapping a student who refused to take off her veil, Le Monde reports. The case is the latest development in the bitter row at Manouba University between secularists and Salafi students who follow […]
lv7 (Argentina), EL PERUANO (Peru) Worldcrunch LIMA – Ongoing protests this week against the construction of a US-backed gold mine in the northern Peruvian province of Cajamarca have left at least four dead. According to the lv7 website, the local population has rallied in protest to oppose the project called Conga, directed by the American […]
Police say the main suspect paid someone to kill his girlfriend in order to cash in on an insurance policy to buy a stud farm.
Categories
No Israel, Time Is Not On Your Side
Analysis: The Arab Spring and conflict in Syria have taken the focus off of the intractable standoff of the Israeli-Palestinian situation. But Israel should not be fooled into thinking that stalling is anything resembling a real strategy — or solution.
NANFANG DAILY (China), GUCHENG.COM (China) Worldcrunch GUANGZHOU – For a country like China, founded on the precepts of fairness and justice, where the proletariat are supposedly the masters, this wasn’t supposed to happen. Thanks to photographs posted this week by a Chinese blogger, we see the space under a viaduct in Guangzhou city covered with […]
SYRIA STEPS (Syria), AL ARABIYA (Saudi Arabia), BBC (UK), AP (US), LE MONDE (France) Worldcrunch PARIS – Over 100 countries gathered for the Friends of Syria conference in Paris on Friday, hoping to broker a diplomatic solution to the on-going violent conflict and to bring an end to Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The conference opened after […]
Lyon is the hometown of France’s new Women’s Rights Minister, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, who wants new measures to stamp out prostitution. With French sex workers demonstrating in the streets, Le Monde looks at how prostitution has evolved in Lyon.
CLARIN, LA NACION (Argentina), EL PAIS (Spain), AP Worldcrunch BUENOS AIRES – Former Argentinean dictator Jorge Videla’s landmark 50-year sentence for stealing babies from leftist prisoners was greeted Friday with a mix of closure and vindication by many in the South American nation who suffered through the so-called “dirty war” three decades ago. The guilty […]
The 2008 economic crisis struck particularly hard in Iceland, where banks went bust and the currency value evaporated. But a hard line both at home and abroad has helped turn things around. But can the model be copied?
LE MONDE (France), EL ATWAN (Algeria), REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS (France) Worldcrunch Algeria marked the 50th anniversary of independence Thursday, an event with significance in both Algeria and France, its former colonial ruler. As part of its coverage of the anniversary, French daily Le Monde published a commentary by Raphaëlle Branche, a historian at Université de […]
Drug dealers often “cut” their pure product with other substances to increase profit margins. A seven-year-long Brazilian police study found such relatively benign substances as caffeine to some pretty awful stuff.
Categories
Giant ‘Pig King’ Gets Buddhist Funeral
CHANGJIANG NEWS NET (China), HUNAN ONLINE (China) Worldcrunch WENZHOU – A few days ago a special Buddhist funeral ceremony was held in a temple at Taishun in Zhejiang province. But it was not a person being laid to rest, but rather a renowned “Pig King” from a nearby village, the Hunan online reported. Dozens of […]
Essay: There is something deeply revealing about the Chinese that the nation is so consumed by the ‘regular guy’ persona of US Ambassador Gary Locke.
AP, WIKILEAKS Worldcrunch LONDON – Online whistle-blower organization Wikileaks announced the publication of over 2.4 million Syrian emails on Wednesday morning, a move which may shed some light on the inner-workings and dealings of the Assad regime as the violent internal conflict continues. Wikileaks made the announcement on its official Twitter account and gave a […]
NEWSDAY, AP Worldcrunch NEW YORK – Three people have been confirmed dead and several others are missing after a yacht carrying July 4 revelers capsized off the Long Island town of Oyster Bay. AP reported that the US Coast Guard and private boat owners rescued 25 passengers around 11 p.m Wednesday night, an hour after […]
In his only interview following news that confirmed the existence of his Higgs boson, the British physicist recounts the long years of uncertainty, the tears at Wednesday’s announcement — as well as a certain bet that Stephen Hawking must now pa
Categories
Fukushima Was A ‘Man-Made’ Disaster
AFP, ASAHI SHIMBUN (Japan), NAIIC (Japan) Worldcrunch TOKYO – Lambasting both Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) and the prime minister’s office, the national task force investigating last year’s accident at Fukushima’s No. 1 nuclear plant concluded that human error played a role in the reactor’s meltdown, and was not only due to the tsunami that […]
Essay: The euro crisis has exposed something deeper than debt: a reminder that Europe must be outward, not inward, looking. Conventional wisdom says the British are not committed to Europe. The smart money says they’re the right model for the who
EL DIARO SINEMBARGO, EL UNIVERSAL (Mexico), AP Worldcrunch MEXICO CITY – Though victory congratulations for his rival continue to arrive from world leaders, Mexico’s leftist challenger for President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, is conceding nothing as evidence of voter fraud in last weekend’s election has led to a parital recount of the ballots. Protesters in […]
GUARDIAN, TWITTER WORLDWIDE Worldcrunch In a bitter defeat for large media and pharmaceutical companies, the European Parliament on Wednesday roundly rejected the global ACTA anti-counterfeiting accord. The Guardian reports that the US and Japan are likely to proceed with approval of the international accord, and it remains to be seen whether European supporters try to […]
Fifty years after its independence, Rwanda is billing itself as the “African Singapore.” However, the country’s development is benefiting only an elite of the population, as disenchantment spreads.
Interview: The legendary Italian actress shares memories of when it all began, and describes a life that remains rich with honors and new artistic challenges.
REUTERS, NEW SCIENTIST, CERN (Switzerland) Worldcrunch GENEVA – Physicists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva have announced that they have observed a new subatomic particle that may well be the crucial Higgs boson, a.k.a. the “God particle,” thus potentially putting an end to an almost 50-year-long game of hide-and-seek with the […]
SUDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG, DIE WELT (Germany) –Worldcrunch KARLSRUHE – Police say three people and a suspected gunman were dead Wednesday during a home eviction gone awry in Karlsruhe, southwest Germany, reports Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Earlier in the morning, it was reported that a gunman took three to four people hostage, including a bailiff, after authorities attempted to […]
AL JAZEERA (Qatar), XINHUA (China) Worldcrunch RAMALLAH – The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) has given the go ahead to exhume the body of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat this Wednesday after a special investigation by Al Jazeera revealed unusually high levels of deadly polonium on his personal effects. Arafat’s widow Suha Arafat asked for the […]
Here’s one way to try to get elected mayor – buy yourself a village. And thanks to eBay, you can make an offer with a click of your mouse.
Worldcrunch ÉPOCA (Brazil) SÃO PAULO – We can all agree that Brazil is the country of beautiful beaches, sensual rhythms and slim, gorgeous bodies. Right? Well, at least for that last category, we may have to leave things loose on our definitions. Once considered worldwide sex symbols of toned slimness, the ladies of Brazil are […]
Worldcrunch LE MONDE (France) PARIS – Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s home and office were raided by police investigators on Tuesday, according to Le Monde. His lawyer’s offices were also raided. The raids are part of an ongoing investigation into the alleged illegal financing of Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential campaign by billionaire Liliane Bettencourt, the French […]
Mexico’s President-Elect Enrique Peña Nieto is a handsome guy. Stand him arm-in-arm with his second wife, actress Angélica Rivera, aka “La Gaviota,” and it all gets quite stunning.
The approval of European bailout measures has been widely criticized. But a German branch of the global activist group Attac went the next step, comparing the fiscal response to a 1933 law that paved the way for Hitler’s regime.
Worldcrunch LE SOIR ECHOS (Morocco), LA VIE ECO (Morocco), AFP OUJDA – A Moroccan court has ordered the investigation of a controversial imam, Abdellah Nhari, for inciting hatred, reports Le Soir Echos. In a video posted on YouTube (see below), Nhari suggests that Mokhtar Laghzioui, editor-in-chief of the Arabic newspaper Al Ahdath Al Maghribia, “must […]
Worldcrunch CUMHURIYET (Turkey), HÜRRIYET (Turkey), BBC NEWS (UK) Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has finally responded to last month’s shooting down of a Turkish plane after it entered Syrian airspace, saying he regretted the incident. “We learned that it the jet belonged to Turkey after shooting it down. I say 100 percent: “if only we had […]
Worldcrunch LA STAMPA, CORRIERE DELLA SERA, IL SOLE 24 ORE (Italy) TURIN – Sergio Pininfarina, among history’s most accomplished car designers and a symbol of “Made in Italy” style, has died at the age of 85. Italian media reported Tuesday morning that Pininfarina died at his home the night before after a long illness. Noted […]
Jiang Dalong beat out a dozen competitors to win a bid to takeover failed Swedish carmaker Saab. Having made his millions in renewable energy, Jiang talks to Caixin about Saab’s (green) road back from the dead.
Worldcrunch ADEVARUL, ANTENA 3, ZIARE.COM (Romania) BUCHAREST – Former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase remains in a hospital room in the Romanian capital. His aides say the 62-year-old is recovering – gradually — from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the neck in a June 20 suicide attempt gone awry after having been sentenced to prison on […]
Essay: As the Barclays “Libor-gate” financial scandal unravels, France’s leading business daily says it’s time London lawmakers and City bankers should stop lecturing continental Europe and take a good hard look in the
Analysis: Don’t be fooled by the fact that Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan didn’t launch a military response to the downing of a Turkish jet. He has made it clear in other ways that Bashar Al-Assad’s days are numbered.