SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST (Hong Kong), BBC (UK) Worldcrunch HONG KONG – Hong Kong’s pan-democracy wing has failed to capitalize on the growing anti-Chinese sentiment, after a disappointing outcome in the legislative council elections. Albert Ho, the leader of Hong Kong“s biggest pro-democracy party has announced he will step down as chairman after his party […]
Month: September 2012
HAARETZ, THE JERUSALEM POST (Israel) Worldcrunch JERUSALEM – Three Palestinians were wounded early Monday in three successive Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip in response to a rocket attack launched toward southern Israel from the Palestinian enclave, reports Haaretz. Israeli Air Force helicopters and F-16s were heard around midnight over the Gaza Strip, followed by […]
SKY NEWS, DAILY MAIL, BBC, THE GUARDIAN (UK), LE FIGARO, LE POINT (France) Worldcrunch Police have cordoned off two roads outside the home of a British family found shot dead in the French Alps, and residents have been evacuated from the immediate area, reports Sky News. Sky reporter Ashish Joshi, outside the al-Hilli house in […]
IL MATTINO (Italy) Worldcrunch ROME – With some quick thinking, she might have found a good response when the Carabinieri officers pulled her over. Here’s my seeing-eye dog’s license… It’s a Google car… Oh, am I in the car? I thought this was the elevator… Apparently the 66-year-old woman from the central Italian town of […]
US spy chief Patraeus makes low-profile visits to Ankara and Jerusalem, aiming to repair damage between two key U.S. allies.
PARIS – The event was supposed to start on September 2 at 7 a.m. at the Josephine Baker swimming pool in Paris, on the banks of the Seine River. More than 3000 participants had signed up to take part in the swim that would take them up the Seine to the André-Citroën Park, west of […]
Since June, it is possible to witness the extent of deforestation, in quasi-real time, with just a few clicks. This is thanks to Terra-i, the first satellite deforestation detection and surveillance tool in Latin America. Presented at the Rio +20 conference, Terra-i is based on calculation algorithms bio-inspired and developed at the Vaud School of […]
In the face of the European debt and financial crisis, Hamburg-based economist Dirk Meyer has a “third way”: a system of parallel currencies. A professor at the Helmut Schmidt University of the armed forces, Meyer is convinced that in its present form the euro zone is simply not sustainable in the long term. He used […]
LE NOUVELLISTE, LE MATIN (Haiti), MIAMI HERALD (US) Worldcrunch Bulldozers have started tearing down Haiti’s National Palace. Once a symbol of national pride, its crumbling façade has become a constant reminder of the devastating earthquake that hit the country in 2010. However, as the Palace demolition began on Thursday, the Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste criticized […]
For months, free smartphone instant messaging service WhatsApp has been topping the download charts. It is a favorite application for both iPhone and Android users. To the annoyance of cell phone providers, WhatsApp has become a kind of quasi replacement for the old fee-based SMS. According to WhatsApp developers, their servers handle over 10 billion […]
SHANGHAI – Two weeks ago Cats, the legendary musical with its record $2 billion box office sales and worldwide audience of 73 million people, had its Chinese language premiere in Shanghai. This will be followed by a tour of 162 performances in other major Chinese cities. Following the success of Mamma Mia!, Cats is the […]
EL MUNDO, EL UNIVERSAL (Venezuala) LA NACION (Argentina) Worldcrunch CARACAS – Hugo Chavez is not known for mincing words. But recently, the Venezuelan President has unleashed highly personal attacks against Henrique Capriles Radonski, his opponent in Chavez’s reelection campaign, including some with anti-Semitic undertones. Last week, he called Capriles Radonski ‘jalabola’ and ‘majunche,’ rude terms […]
NEW YORK TIMES, TWITTER Worldcrunch US President Barack Obama took to the stage Thursday to officially accept the Democratic nomination for a second term in office. Delivering his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Charlotte, North Carolina, his promise to America was a far cry from the exuberant speeches along the 2008 […]
MERCO PRESS (Uruguay), TELESUR (Venezuela), BBC (UK), AP, REUTERS Worldcrunch Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos rejected a proposal by FARC rebels for a bilateral ceasefire during talks next month aimed at bringing an end to half a century of war, reports MercoPress. The call for both sides to put down their weapons while talks are […]
CHINA DAILY, XINHUA (China), BBC NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch BEIJING – A series of earthquakes in southwestern China on Friday killed at least 24 people and injured 150 more, reports BBC News. Chinese state media Xinhua said the 5.7 magnitude quake struck the border of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, with its epicenter located in the Yiliang […]
MADRID – Since September 1, undocumented immigrants in Spain are now excluded from public health care. Only pregnant women and minors can still enjoy free public coverage, which had long been available to all undocumented residents. Others can still get care in cases of emergency, but for basic medical treatment, immigrants in Spain illegally will […]
REUTERS, AP Worldcrunch Is it a bird? Or a plane? No, it’s just Vladimir Putin, taking time out of his busy Kremlin schedule to teach caged birds to fly. The Russian President’s latest publicity stunt involved him doning a white costume and flying a motorized hang glider to help introduce into the wild a flock […]
MEXICO CITY – Alfredo, an Argentine in his 30s who lives in Madrid, swears he will never drink tequila again. His Mexican friends tell him that what he had was not the real tequila, their homeland’s national drink. Still, he insists, with the look of someone who has stared the devil straight in the eyes, […]
LES ECHOS (France), DIE WELT, DER SPIEGEL (Germany), IL SOLE 24 ORE (Italy) BLOOMBERG (US), BBC NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch FRANKFURT – Aiming to squelch speculation of an impending demise of the euro, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said policymakers have agreed to an unlimited bond-purchase program to regain control of interest rates in the […]
MOSCOW – Russia’s federal government, which has instituted its own new public order decrees, is starting to be concerned that the outer regions of the country are cracking down on civil society protests a little too enthusiastically. Regional leaders took part in a meeting last month of vice-governors with the presidential administration to discuss laws […]
Women are just sex objects! Making a classic male sexist comment like that has long been taboo in Western societies. Yet two studies, one Belgian, the other American, actually go a long way in proving that women really are perceived that way. A team working with psychologist Philippe Bernard at the Université Libre in Brussels […]
HÜRRIYET, HABER 7 (Turkey) Worldcrunch At least 25 Turkish soldiers were confirmed dead Thursday, after a military depot exploded in the western province of Afyonkarahisar. Terrorism has been ruled out as a cause of the blast, which also left at least eight injured. Veysel Eroglu, the Minister of Forestry and Water, says the explosion Wednesday […]
THE GUARDIAN, THE MIRROR (UK), LE MESSAGER (France) Worldcrunch French police were still searching Thursday morning both for the gunman and the possible motive of a grisly shooting in a quiet village in the French Alps, which left four British tourists dead. The British tabloids Thursday were dominated by reports of the shooting spree, which […]
BEIJING – Every time that German Chancellor Angela Merkel makes a trip to China, she always goes home with a large chunk of investment. Her just concluded visit was no exception. In addition to more than 10 cooperation agreements in areas such as aerospace and the automotive industries, Merkel has also obtained a commitment from […]
HONG KONG – This is the second improvised camp to appear in Hong Kong’s business district. As the last remaining diehards continue to occupy the atrium of the HSBC tower, school kids, students, parents and teachers have set up their own tents and mats outside the parliament buildings at the Tamar site, on Hong Kong’s […]
LE FIGARO (France), LA REPUBBLICA (Italy) Worldcrunch PARIS – World famous elite French chef Alain Ducasse has his own response to the economic crisis, which sounds oddly similar to a Burger King back-to-school offer. “Buy one, get one free…” is the offer available to food lovers in the world’s gastronomic powerhouse. From September 17 to […]
RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazil’s largest mining company Vale has developed, in partnership with the University of São Paulo (USP), a method to identify bacteria and fungi capable of “eating” copper. What exactly does that mean and why does it matter? Now with this process, waste generated by copper processing — one of the steps […]
CAIRO – It is 6 p.m. at Shohada metro station in Cairo. On the cramped platform, a group of women use their shopping bags like shields to protect themselves from wandering hands. In Egypt, rush hour is conducive to sexual harassment, and even assault – a real plague. With a deafening screech, the train hurtles […]
LA PRESSE, CBC (Canada), BBC NEWS, THE GUARDIAN (UK), CNN (USA) Worldcrunch MONTREAL – A gunman opened fire during a midnight victory rally for Quebec’s first female premier-elect Pauline Marois, killing one person and critically wounding another, reports CNN. The shooting cast a shadow over preliminary results indicating that the separatist Parti Quebecois was set […]
ASAHI SHIMBUN, KYODO, NHK (Japan) Worldcrunch TOKYO – The Japanese government has agreed to buy three disputed islands for 2.05 billion yen ($26 million). The Asahi Shimbun reported on Wednesday that Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s government had struck a deal with private landowners to buy three of the Senkaku islands. The islands, which are uninhabited, […]
-Analysis- FRANKFURT – Are Hamas and Hezbollah part of “the global left?” A few years ago, during the discussion following a lecture at the University of California, Berkeley, American philosopher Judith Butler claimed they were. And now the remark is coming back to haunt her. The Central Council of Jews in Germany has strongly criticized […]
LE SOIR, RTBF (Belgium), LE FIGARO (France) Worldcrunch BRUSSELS – Insulting someone on the streets of Brussels is now a civil offense that is punishable by a fine of up to 250 euros. City authorities will now be able to impose fines of between 75 and 250 euros for insults, petty theft or other forms […]
GOMA – There are more than a dozen Pygmy ethnic groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo, making up between five and 10 percent of the country’s population. Traditionally these nomadic hunter-gatherers have lived in the Congolese rain forest, far removed from urban centers. But in recent years, Pygmies have been increasingly forced out of […]
FRANCE DIPLOMATIE, LE NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR (France), THE VOICE OF RUSSIA (Russia) Worldcrunch On August 17, when three members of the Russian punk rock band Pussy Riot were sentenced to two years in a penal colony, the verdict sparked outrage around the world: the U. S. State Department asked Russia to “review this case and to […]
MOSCOW – It has been another rough few weeks for religious understanding in Russia. Last week in the North Caucasian region of Dagestan, an influential Islamic cleric was killed in a suicide bomb attack at his home. In addition to Said Afandi Al-Chirkavi, 74, the bomb killed seven others, including the suicide bomber, and the […]
CHARLOTTE – No, Obamania is not a thing of the past, quite the opposite in fact. Michelle and Barack hugging, Barack with his dog Bo, the complete family portrait… all plastered on t-shirts, books, photos, pajamas, pins, badges, mugs, cushions and posters. “Business is picking up fast,” says Delia, who has sold more than 400 […]
Categories
Taiwan Cashes In On Chinese Medical Tourism
TAIHAI NET (China), CHINA TIMES (Taiwan) Worldcrunch TAIPEI – The Chinese now have a new reason to visit Taiwan, and it’s not tourism or business: they are heading to Taiwan in droves for medical check-ups and cosmetic surgery. Thirty-nine Taiwanese hospitals are now specially licensed to accept Chinese patients who come on combined medical/tourist trips. […]
BBC NEWS, THE GUARDIAN (UK), WASHINGTON POST, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (US) Worldcrunch MANAMA – A Bahraini civilian court has upheld jail sentences against 20 leaders of last year’s pro-democracy demonstrations, including eight prominent activists facing life in prison, reports BBC News. Among those convicted to life were Abdulhadi al Khawaja, who went on a 110-day […]
LA PAZ – Nationalization is in the air — and on the ground — in Bolivia. On May 1, the country’s armed forces were sent to the offices of TDE, a Spanish company that manages three-quarters of Bolivia’s electricity network, to “take control of management and administration.” On June 20, the Colquiri pewter mine, held […]
LE TEMPS (Switzerland), DER SPIEGEL (Germany) Worldcrunch As Greece remains under the watchful eye of Angela Merkel and the IMF to make sure it imposes strict austerity measures, there is one governmental budget that has largely escaped cuts: the defense department. Alexandre Trauvers, writing in Le Temps, reported that Greece’s defense budget amounts to around […]