KOMMERSANT (Russia) Worldcrunch MOSCOW – There are fresh grumblings in the Russian government suggesting that Vladimir Lenin has finally overstayed his welcome in Red Square. Lenin’s body has been displayed in a specially-designed mausoleum in the central Moscow square since his death in 1924 — the kind of treatment that apparently is destined for Venezuelan’s […]
Month: March 2013
CLARÍN Worldcrunch SÃO PAOLO – “The Girl from Ipanema” made Brazilian women famous for their beauty but now, it seems, the South American country has a new fetish for a different kind of woman says Clarín. For three days, São Paolo will host the first Inflatable Doll World Congress, organized by an online sex shop, […]
FRANCE 24, THE GUARDIAN (UK), AFP Worldcrunch RANGOON – In a milestone for the fledgling Burmese transition away from its longtime military autocracy, the first party conference for Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy’s (NLD) opened Friday. After decades of oppression under strict military dictatorship, leaders of the longtime opposition, are set to […]
A French war correspondent’s new book recounts the horrors of the Libyan dictator’s rape and torture of women, which was yet another way to subjugate the population.
RIO DE JANEIRO – Every Olympics needs a strong mascot. But for the 2016 Summer Games, the two animals leading the pack are in a rather weak position. Each of the two primates being considered to become the face of Brazil’s first-ever Olympics is in risk of extinction: the mico-leão-dourado (golden lion tamarin) and muriqui […]
O ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO (Brazil) Worldcrunch SÃO PAULO – The election of a new President of the Commission for Human Rights and Minorities in Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies typically wouldn’t make much of a splash. But the brand new President, Marco Feliciano, an evangelical pastor, happens to already be well-known for making racist and […]
NEW DELHI – Mukesh is standing barefoot in front of the computer embedded in the wall, deep in concentration. He’s trying to guide the little arrow of the mouse onto the number eight because the talking machine asked him how old he was. This is the first time that he has come to the “Hole […]
Most say the cardinals must shake up the Church. That gives better chances to electing a cardinal from South America… or North America.
-Essay- MUNICH – The day comes in life when you realize you don’t really need a car anymore, you can take the train, or bus. The problem is: you may not want to. It’s not as if retirement comes as a surprise, a sudden unexpected stroke of fate. We get a long time, many, many […]
EL NACIONAL, VENEZOLANA DE TELEVISION, EL CARABOBEÑO (Venezuela), DIARIO POPULAR (ARGENTINA) Worldcrunch CARACAS – Venezuelans have been lining up over the past 24 hours around the Venezuelan Military Academy in the capital to say their last goodbyes to the late President Hugo Chávez. Meanwhile, Chief of the Presidential Guard in Venezuela, General José Ornella offered […]
Palestinians are victims not only of Israeli power politics, but of linguistic deception.
OBAMA-PUTIN PHONE CALL, EU SANCTIONSDuring a one-hour phone conversation, President Barack Obama told Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that he had violated Ukraine’s sovereignty and its territorial integrity by sending troops into Crimea, The Daily Telegraph reports. Putin in turn told Obama that the new Kiev government had imposed “absolutely illegitimate decisions on the eastern, southeastern […]
GUARDIAN, SYRIAN OBSERVATORY FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, JERUSALEM POST Worldcrunch The Philippine Foreign Affairs Ministry on Thursday demanded the immediate release of 21 Filipino U.N. peacekeepers who have been taken captive by Syrian rebels. “The main concern of the Philippine government at this time is to ensure the safety and well-being of our peacekeepers,” Foreign Affairs […]
KCNA (North Korea), AP, REUTERS, CNN Worldcrunch PYONGYANG– With the UN set to vote on imposing sanctions against North Korea for its recent nuclear test, Pyongyang issued perhaps it’s most virulent threat to date, saying it would exercise the right to pre-emptive strikes against Washington. “Since the United States is about to ignite a nuclear […]
Lang Lang look out!
-Analysis- BEIJING – One of the stated functions of the Ministry of Environmental Protection is to monitor the environment, and to publish the findings. But when a Beijing lawyer asked the Ministry to publish its national soil pollution survey, he was turned away. The reason? The findings were a state secret. In China, the “state […]
-OpEd- PARIS – Game over for the last of the European Marxists. Europe is getting ready to cap the size of bonuses for bankers. New rules would prevent bankers in European Union countries from receiving bonuses higher than their annual salary. This world first would put an end to the practice that allows these “workers” […]
ROTTERDAM – Governments are well aware of the danger, but consumers have no idea. One out of five freight containers arriving in European ports has been fumigated with extremely dangerous, carcinogenic or neurotoxic gases. It is a vast phenomenon: one million containers filled with imported goods arrive in Europe by ship every week. These toxic […]
LE NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR (France), FACEBOOK Worldcrunch PARIS – On Friday, the Jeu de Paume museum’s Facebook account was blocked for 24 hours, following a decision by Facebook to remove a photograph the Parisian museum posted on its page and which the social network ruled was a violation of its Rights and Responsibilities guidelines. We have […]
Vac-packed pesto risotto never tasted so good!
RUE89, BVA (FRANCE) Worldcrunch PARIS – In an exclusive interview with right-wing magazine Valeurs Actuelles, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced that he was thinking about a political comeback. After his defeat at the last presidential elections, Sarkozy had said he was leaving politics for good. According to Rue 89, the interview will be published […]
BUENOS AIRES – Whatever your view is regarding the Hugo Chávez’ era in Venezuela, it is impossible to ignore two central facts: 1) Chávez was a product of the deep failure of the Venezuelan political system; 2) The deceased president had a strong influence on Latin America, during a historic moment when many countries in […]
CRIMEAN LAWMAKERS VOTE TO JOIN RUSSIA Crimean lawmakers voted unanimously this morning to join the Russian Federation and asked Russia to examine the request. And the region’s Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Temirgaliev announced a March 16 referendum in which voters will answer two questions: whether they want Crimea to become a Russian territory, and whether […]
BBC (UK), EFE, EL TIEMPO, EL NACIONAL, INFOBAE, INTORNO INTELIGENTE (Venezuela), LA VANGUARDIA (Spain) Worldcrunch CARACAS– Though not unexpected, the death of Hugo Chavez after 14 years in power and a nearly two-year battle with cancer, has left Venezeula without a leader. The government announced Wednesday that the funeral for the 58-year-old President was set […]
Bolshoi Dancer Confesses To Acid Attack
CHANNEL ONE, KOMMERSANT (Russia), BBC NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch MOSCOW – One of Moscow’s Bolshoi ballet leading soloists has confessed to being the mastermind behind an acid attack that nearly blinded the company’s director, Sergei Filin in January. According to a statement released by the Moscow police, Pavel Dmitrichenko, 28, was arrested together with two accomplices: […]
How To Make Poland A Truly Modern Nation
-Essay- WARSAW – Poland has always lacked capital for important investments. The roads have always been bad, muddy, full of ruts and potholes. We have great universities, but they are woefully underfunded. In Poland there have always been “islands of modernity in a sea of backwardness,” according to economic historian Witold Kula. In this sense, […]
Worldcrunch After 9/11, the list of items and products banned on US flights got much longer. But the news from the Transport Security Administration (TSA) is that folding knife blades –and sports equipment – are now permitted again, in order for security personnel to focus on explosive devices. The official report states the following: “TSA […]
AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW, SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, AAP (Australia) Worldcrunch SYDNEY – It’s not called the “Lucky Country” for nothing. Australia’s resource-rich economy continued to expand last quarter, extending the country’s run of 21 years of uninterrupted growth. Fourth-quarter GDP grew by 0.6% from the previous quarter, and 3.1% from a year earlier according to the […]
Worldcrunch CARACAS – After a long battle with cancer, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez died on Tuesday at the age of 58. Both in health and in sickness, whether loved or despised, El Commandante was an iconic figure of our times. Newspapers in Venezuela, elsewhere in Latin America, and around the world are dedicating major coverage […]
BARCELONA – Bas van Abel brought a novel idea to the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The 35-year-old Dutch entrepreneur is currently at work, with ten others, on the first “FairTrade” smartphone – a phone that will contain no gold mined in war zones, will not be assembled in a soulless Chinese factory, and will […]
A visit to the dictator’s birthplace in the former Soviet republic of Georgia where a complicated relationship with the notorious native son plays into current tensions with Russia.
SUDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG (Germany) Worldcrunch BRUSSELS – Freedom of speech, right to a fair trial, access to public education and … a checking account for every citizen? In the future every EU citizen should have the right to a basic bank account, according to proposed European-wide legislation, reports German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. The proposed measure is […]
ROME – Benedict XVI couldn’t have imagined this, because his thoughts were elsewhere: but the news of his resignation was met with cheers by thousands of people in Rome. Why? Because the resignation of a pope has the same effect as the Olympic Games or a Jubilee for the city of Rome: it brings tourists, […]
Karel Janecek became a billionaire before 40. Now, as President Vaclav Klaus steps down in a cloud after a decade, Janecek is leading the fight for those who want to clean up Czech politics.
Worldcrunch VATICAN CITY – The cardinals are meeting at the Vatican this week to lay the groundwork for the conclave to elect a new pope, after this month’s suprise resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. There is much on their agenda: determining Catholicism’s most pressing challenges, looking for the right man for the papal job, clarifying […]
The Microsoft founder and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg are active in trying to eradicate polio. But immunization efforts have led to deadly attacks from Nigeria to Pakistan.
CAN U.S. AND RUSSIA START DIALOGUE ON UKRAINE? U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov are meeting today in Paris with other world leaders, on the sidelines of a long-planned conference on Lebanon. The encounter will be an attempt “to ease mounting tensions,” according to France24. It comes after Kerry’s […]
MEXICO CITY – My neighborhood dealer was a low-class guy. We went to the same public school, but he was few years younger than me. He was never very bright nor did he excel in anything; he spent his afternoons standing outside his house or at the street corner, without bothering anyone, and with no […]
CNN (USA), REUTERS, AFP, UN PRESS OFFICE Worldcrunch NEW YORK – The United States and China have struck a tentative deal on a draft UN Security Council sanctions resolution to punish North Korea for the nuclear test it conducted last month. A deal, the details of which have not been revealed so far, was agreed […]
EFE, EL PAIS (Spain), EL UNIVERSAL (Venezuela) Worldcrunch CARACAS – Hugo Chavez is suffering from another severe respiratory infection said Venezuelan Minister for Communication and Information, Ernesto Villegas, in a video statement. “At the moment the respiratory function is getting worse because of the immunosuppressants. Currently, he has a new, severe infection,” said Villegas. “Right […]