LE MONDE (France), TUNISIA IT (Tunisia) Worldcrunch A Tunisian television station stopped running a satirical puppet show that regularly mocked politicians and members of the ruling Ennahda party because of pressure from authorities, according to Mongi Khadraoui, secretary general of the National Tunisian Journalist Union (SNJT). The authorities appreciated neither the form nor content of […]
Month: August 2012
BEIRUT – Elias, a 42-year-old Syrian, is chain smoking under the silent gaze of his children. This Christian farmer abandoned his lands, near the Lebanese border, leaving behind conflicts he felt had nothing to do with him, but tormented by the future of Syria and the fate of his minority religion there. Together with 20 […]
LA PAZ – Indigenous people armed with slings and wearing traditional ch’ullu headgear surround President Evo Morales. Soldiers pivot a cannon. A sergeant comes to present arms… If the scene wasn’t taking place on a red carpet in front of La Paz“s biggest mall, it would have been easy to mistake Bolivia for a country […]
-Essay- BERLIN – On Wednesday morning, at Berlin Zoo, Bao Bao the giant panda died in his sleep at the age of 34 — which for a panda is a ripe old age. Berlin mourns him, the zoo mourns him … but all the attention will quickly fade away. The truth is that Bao Bao’s […]
KOMMERSANT (Russia) Worldcrunch MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin made official his control of state-controlled corportations and information outlets, including major telecommunications companies. Although Putin has informally had the power to control the top management at these companies, the companies will now formally have to answer to him and his administration, Kommersant reported. The change […]
These days for Chinese officials the question of age is an even more sensitive issue than it is for a lady. Recently, Zhou Lian, professor at Peking University, likened Chinese officials’ climbing up their career ladders to “participating in a championship,” as everyone vies with everyone else as they try to advance. Within this context, […]
BERLIN – In the debate in Germany over circumcision, you often hear people say jokingly that if cutting the foreskin off a baby boy’s penis for religious reasons is outlawed then piercing little girls’ earlobes shouldn’t be allowed either. But that’s just the scenario that may be shaping up. After a Cologne court ruled in […]
SLATE.FR, LE FIGARO (France), ASSOCIATED PRESS (U.S.) Worldcrunch The cycling world was awash with speculation on Friday that American cyclist Lance Armstrong could be stripped of his seven consecutive Tour de France titles, after announcing he was giving up the fight against doping charges from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). Le Figaro reports that only […]
REUTERS (UK), DAWN (Pakistan), AFP (France) Worldcrunch A US drone aircraft killed at least 12 people in Pakistan’s North Waziristan region on Friday. Reuters reported that the attacks targeted three walled compounds, which are suspected to be militant hideouts used by insurgents crossing the nearby border with Afghanistan. Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported the identities of […]
Worldcrunch THE NORWAY POST (Norway), CNN (USA), BBC NEWS, THE GUARDIAN (UK) OSLO – Anders Behring Breivik, the man who killed 77 people in a bomb attack and gun rampage in July 2011, was sentenced to 21 years in prison, reports CNN. The five judges at Oslo district court were unanimous in ruling that Breivik […]
BERLIN – After the initial euphoria, it’s back to earth for Germans. The decision to exit nuclear power was initially quite popular, but today many are having second thoughts. Their main issue with the decision is its resulting cost, which is paid for by households and small businesses but has spared big industrial consumers. When […]
TIMES OF INDIA (India), BBC NEWS (UK), PAKISTAN METEOROLOGICAL DEPARTMENT (Pakistan) Worldcrunch At least 50 people have been killed by heavy monsoon rains in northern India and northwestern Pakistan. In northern India, the heaviest downpours in more than 30 years flooded large parts of Jaipur, the capital of the desert state of Rajasthan, killing at […]
LE MONDE, FRANCE TV INFO (France), EL PAIS (Spain) Worldcrunch The 80-year-old Spanish woman responsible for what some are calling history’s worst restoration of a work of art spoke out in the media on Wednesday to defend her actions. “We’ve always fixed everything ourselves in this church. The priest asked me to do it, he […]
EGYPT INDEPENDENT, AL-AHRAM (Egypt), AL JAZEERA (Qatar), BBC NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch Egypt’s Salafi Nour Party has slammed the government’s negotiations with the International Monetary Fund about a $4.8 billion rescue package, stating any potential loan that the government receives would be against sharia law. Younis Makhyoun, a member of the ultra-conservative Islamist party said: “Borrowing […]
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South Africa Mourns Its Dead Miners
MAIL & GUARDIAN (South Africa), BBC NEWS (UK), CNN (USA), AL JAZEERA (Qatar), RFI (France) Worldcrunch JOHANNESBURG – Events are taking place across South Africa today to mourn the 44 people killed in recent violence at the northwestern Marikana platinum mine, reports CNN. Politicians, religious leaders, workers and members of the local community are attending […]
VSGLYAD, KOMMERSANT FM, KOMMERSANT, NOVAYA GAZETA, ROSBALT.RU (Russia) Worldcrunch MOSCOW – As the three members of Pussy Riot face jail time, the fallout from their case is being felt around Russia, with very diverse – and unexpected – ramifications. Vzglyad reports that there is a commercial war going on over the Pussy Riot brand. The […]
HINDUSTAN TIMES, (Pakistan), KUWAIT NEWS AGENCY (Kuwait), RFI, LE FIGARO (France) Worldcrunch A woman traveling from Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore to Paris via Milan fell asleep on the flight, only to be woken up 18 hours later at her starting point, reports Kuwait News Agency (KUNA). She woke up expecting to enjoy the glories […]
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Pot Plot Discovered In French Prison Yard
SUD-OUEST (France) Worldcrunch LA ROCHELLE – About 15 30-inch-tall (80 cm) cannabis plants have been discovered in the courtyard of a prison in Saint-Martin-de-Ré, one of the 10 communes located on the Île de Ré island off La Rochelle in western France. The district attorney of La Rochelle has confirmed that an investigation was underway […]
LA REPUBBLICA, AGI (Italy), BBC SPORT, REUTERS (UK), EUROSPORT (France) Worldcrunch ROME – An Italian tribunal has confirmed today a 10-month ban for Juventus FC coach Antonio Conte, reports La Reppublica. Football Federation judges rejected his appeal against a verdict handed down earlier this month, adds Reuters. Antonio Conte, who played for Juventus from 1992 […]
REUTERS, SKY NEWS, BBC (UK), AL JAZEERA (UAE) Worldcrunch Sectarian violence in Lebanon escalated Tuesday night, claiming at least 10 lives, Reuters reports, as the Syrian crisis spills over to its neighbors. Old tensions between Sunni Muslims and Alawites in Lebanon’s second city Tripoli have flared up due to the continuing Syrian conflict, which has […]
BILD (Germany), CHANNEL 4 NEWS(UK), ATHENS NEWS (Greece) Worldcrunch Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is meeting with eurogroup leader Jean-Claude Juncker in Athens on Wednesday, after asking “more time for cuts” in an interview with German publication Bild. Mr. Samaras rejected the possibility of an exit from the euro zone and a return to the […]
KOMMERSANT, RAPSI (Russia) Worldcrunch Moscow – Five days after the Khamovnichesky District Court handed down a guilty verdict against Russian punk band Pussy Riot, the Court’s website was hacked, RAPSI reports. The hackers struck on Tuesday morning, and used the opportunity to post a sexually suggestive music video of the flamboyantly gay Bulgarian singer Aziz […]
Deutsche Bank may have done business to the tune of billions with Iran and other countries, violating U.S. sanctions. Sanctions were imposed on Iran by the international community because of its nuclear weapons program. British bank Standard Chartered, which is said to have violated Iran sanctions, now faces payment of a $340 million settlement after […]
LE NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR, LE PARISIEN (France) Worldcrunch PARIS – Highly confidential layouts of the Élysée Palace (the presidential residence), the Interior Ministry and the Paris Police Department have been stolen from a contractor’s car in Paris, the French daily Le Parisien reports. According to Le Nouvel Observateur, a flash drive containing detailed maps of the […]
For a long time, the only people interested in Yemen were Joseph Kessel and Al-Qaida. After the revolution that brought down 32 years of dictatorship, the interest of the West quickly waned, abandoning the country to its difficult political transition. It is an exhausted country, without a vision nor a hope of something better and […]
CNN, WASHINGTON POST, USA TODAY (USA), BBC NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch Photo: Diana Nyad MIAMI – US Swimmer Diana Nyad ended her bid to cross from Cuba to Florida after suffering severe jellyfish stings, reports CNN. The endurance swimmer, who will turn 63 on Wednesday, was pulled from the water early Tuesday morning, reports CNN. A […]
SANTIAGO – In 2009, the European Union agreed to gradually prohibit classic incandescent light bulbs, finishing the process in September 2012. The idea is to replace them with energy efficient light bulbs and kick start sales of green products. At the same time, Argentina was much more radical – at the beginning of 2011 the […]
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Ethiopian Prime Minister Dead At 57
THE REPORTER (Ethiopia), THE GUARDIAN, BBC NEWS (UK), CNN (USA) Worldcrunch ADDIS ABEBA – Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is dead, a government spokesman said Tuesday, ending weeks of speculation about his health, reports CNN. Meles, who was 57, died Monday night at 11:40 p.m. from an unspecified infection in a foreign hospital, reports CNN. […]
WTA (United States), SPORT.RBC.RU (Russia) Worldcrunch Top Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova has launched her own brand of candy called Sugarpova. Famed Fifth Avenue retailer Henri Bendel held the New York City launch on Monday, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) reports. Sugarpova’s 12 kinds of sweets will be sold worldwide by IT’SUGAR candy stores, and […]
RIO DE JANEIRO – She carries the weight of her people on her shoulders and that makes her beautiful. With her seashell and pearl necklace around the neck, her tanned tattooed skin, her feathers of different sizes and her bright and vividly colored skeins, Vangri Kaingang is a proud native and she’s not afraid to […]
CNN (USA), BBC NEWS (UK), EL NACIONAL (Venezuela) Worldcrunch CARACAS – Venezuela prison minister Iris Varela has confirmed that at least 20 people were killed after violence broke out in a Venezuelan jail, reports El Nacional. The violence occurred between rival gangs, with one of the dead a relative of an inmate, in Yare prison, […]
KIGALI – Every year, about 500 to 750 graduates from universities and higher education institutes are dumped onto Rwanda’s saturated job market. Without a position to match their qualifications, many settle for low-paid jobs while others resort to scams or even prostitution to survive. Twenty-five year old Yvonne has a bachelor’s degree in sociology but […]
SAINT PETERSBURG – A well-known art collector buys a painting from a long-time acquaintance, who is also a publisher of books about Russian art. He displays it in an art exhibition, and an art expert happens to see it and recognize it as a fake that she had see before and identified as a forgery […]
CHINA DAILY, XINHUA (China), BBC NEWS (UK), CNN (USA), AL JAZEERA (Qatar) Worldcrunch HEFEI – Gu Kailai, the wife of disgraced Chinese Politician Bo Xilai, has been given a suspended death sentence for the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood, reports BBC News. Gu’s death penalty has been suspended for two years due to her […]
NEW YORK TIMES, LOS ANGELES TIMES, VARIETY, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER (USA) Worldcrunch LOS ANGELES – Tony Scott, the British-born director of high-octane blockbusters like Top Gun and Days of Thunder, jumped to his death from a Los Angeles bridge on Sunday. He was 68, reports the New York Times. NOOOOOOO!!! #TonyScott Why??? Thanks for doing a […]
THE IRRAWADDY (Thailand), DEMOCRATIC VOICE OF BURMA (Burma), AFP (France) Worldcrunch The Burmese government has announced it is ending media censorship with immediate effect — a symbolic step on the road to freedom in the long repressed Asian country. The Burmese pro-democracy newsmagazine Irrawaddy, based in Thailand, reported that officials from the government’s Press Scrutiny […]
ABC ONLINE, HERALD SUN, THE AGE (Australia) Worldcrunch CANBERRA -Tony Abbott has become the first opposition leader in nearly 26 years to be thrown out of federal parliament, during a heated question time on school funding, reports ABC News. Tony Abbott today was the first opposition leader to be ejected from parliament in 26 years. […]
Early August, Syria’s rebels kidnapped 48 Iranian pilgrims in Damascus. The rebels claimed their prisoners were not pilgrims but in fact elite Iranian soldiers sent by Teheran to support the Assad government. A murderous sect known as the Assassins had a similar Iran-Syria partnership in the Middle Ages. During the Middle Ages, the mountainous regions […]
Two months ago, Uli Sigg, the Swiss art collector and Switzerland’s former Ambassador to China, donated 1463 pieces of his Chinese contemporary art collection to Hong Kong’s M+ museum. The bequest, which included works by 350 artists such as Ai Weiwei and Zhang Xiaogan, initially received widespread praise. Then on June 25,the Art Critic column […]
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India’s Rapidly Shrinking Coastline
PONDICHERRY – India’s coastline is in danger, not because of extraordinary monsoons or devastating tidal waves, but because of erosion, which day upon day, centimeter by centimeter, eats away at the coast. Every year, 75,000 hectares of cultivated earth and almost 35,000 buildings are gnawed or swallowed up by the sea. If erosion is a […]