XINHUA NEWS, CHINA BUSINESS TIMES (China) Worldcrunch SHANGHAI – Not so long ago, the world’s luxury brands were enjoying the rapid development of the Chinese market, but since the end of 2012, this trend has taken a sharp downwards turn. As Xinhua News pointed out, even though in 2011 the GDP per capita in China […]
Month: May 2013
While U Slept DEADLY FIGHTS IN EASTERN UKRAINE Ukrainian troops have briefly retaken the city hall building in the eastern city of Mariupol after heavy fights at barricades around the city held by pro-Russian activists overnight, CNN reports. A spokeswoman for the pro-Russian side said that five militants had been killed in the fights. Meanwhile, […]
AFP, ALJAZEERA (Qatar), PAK TRIBUNE (Pakistan), REUTERS, ZEE NEWS (India) Worldcrunch KURRUM – The death toll from a bombing at a political rally near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border has increased to at least 25 as of Tuesday morning, making it the deadliest attack to date on the current national election campaign, says the AFP. The explosion […]
BURZACO – Carolina Ortega is 37 years old, a trained journalist, and she works as an advisor for Argentine Congressman Felipe Solá. She grew up in the city of Burzaco, just outside of Buenos Aires. When she was just 7, following her parents’ acrimonious separation, her father left home, and the family never saw him […]
Excessive feasting by public officials has a long and wide history in China. The fundamental source of its prevalence is actually not even the hearty appetites of the officials in question. These people are sacrificing a lot themselves in this banquet culture. On the lighter side, people may just lose a previously slim figure. In […]
Worldcrunch Last month, Andrea Benitez, daughter of a senior Mexican official made headlines, for what can only be described as a temper tantrum. Benitez, whose father is the Federal Prosecutor for Consumer Affairs, telephoned public inspectors to shut down the Maximo Bistrot, a restaurant that had not given her the table she had requested. Such […]
-OpEd- More than 500 people died on April 24 when a factory collapsed near Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. In November, more than 100 workers perished in a fire at the Tazreen garment factory on the outskirts of the city. Not long afterwards, more than 50 people were hurt in a fire at a textile […]
Italy’s seven-time prime minister, known as one of the most powerful and intriguing post-War politicians, died Monday at 94.
SEOUL – North Korea recently attacked newly elected South Korean President Park Geun-hye, making a jibe at the “venomous swish of her skirt.” The swish of South Korea’s long traditional silk skirts has long been used as a macho joke – if not an insult – targeted toward strong women. Aggressive women, women who do […]
SZ-NEWSBLOG (Germany) Worldcrunch MUNICH – The trial began Monday of National Socialist Underground (NSU) activist Beate Zschäpe, 38, and four other accused extreme right-wing terrorists, with all eyes fixated on the one female defendent. Along with four men, Zschäpe is accused of participation in two bombings and 10 murders, the first of which was committed […]
UNITED NEWS OF BANGLADESH (Bangladesh), AP Worldcrunch DHAKA – At least 15 people have died in and around the capital of Bangladesh on Monday in clashes between police and Islamic hardliners demanding that the nation implement an anti-blasphemy law. Eight people, including two policemen and a paramilitary soldier, were killed during clashes in Kanchpur just […]
OVER 30 DEAD IN EASTERN UKRAINEUkraine’s Interim Interior Minister Arsen Avakov announced on his Facebook page that more than 30 pro-Russian militants, labelled as “terrorists,” had been killed in the army’s offensive in Eastern Ukraine, The Guardian reports. According to officials, four Ukrainian troops were killed and at least 30 were injured in the fighting. […]
HAARETZ, JERUSALEM POST (Israel), NEW YORK TIMES (U.S.), REUTERS, AFP, BBC Worldcrunch DAMASCUS – The situation in Syria has gotten both more dangerous and more complicated over the past 72 hours. On Monday, Chinese officials indirectly criticized Israel’s weekend strikes in Syria, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began a five-day visit to China. During a […]
Every drive a SpinCar or ride an IzzyBike? You probably never will, since both have been unable to raise funds necessary to go to production. The trouble today with *heavy* startups.
BEIJING – China is busy in America’s backyard. Over the past five years, Chinese businesses have been expanding their footprint in Latin America in a number of ways, beginning with enhanced trade to ensure a steady supply of bulk commodities such as oil, copper and soybeans. At this year’s Boao Forum for Asia, for the […]
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NATO, The Existential Question
With major geopolitical changes and severe economic restraints, some wonder if the military alliance is destined for the dustbin of history.
FIGHTING CONTINUES IN EASTERN UKRAINEUkrainian troops have launched a new offensive against pro-Russian militants in the eastern city of Sloviansk, with reports of shootings at rebel-held checkpoints outside the city, forcing them to retreat deeper into the town’s center. At least one woman was killed and another 11 pro-Russian militants were reported injured in the […]
PUNTA PIRULIL – You probably couldn’t live any further west than Don Orlando does. He lives in Punta Pirulil on the western edge of the green island of Chiloé, off the coast of Chile. In his book In Patagonia, British writer Bruce Chatwin (1940-1989) described Chiloé as an island of “black storms and black soil.” […]
How the always changing ‘work-in-progress’ that is the United States of America looks to a European, where the past still holds everything in place.
DIE WELT (Germany), NATURE COMMUNICATIONS (UK) Worldcrunch BONN – The equivalent of pressing a button that activates your body’s fat-burning mechanism…and watch the pounds disappear. It sounds like advertising hype, but researchers at the University of Bonn and their colleagues at Germany’s Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices believe it may be revolutionize the […]
ALEPPO — The atmosphere was tense in Bustan al-Qasr after a Friday protest turned into a fight between two groups, one calling for an Islamic state after President Bashar al-Assad’s fall and the other demanding a free and liberal future for Syria. The shabiha — pro-government militias or spies in civilian clothing — were spotted […]
Worldcrunch PARIS – La Stampa’s veteran war correspondent Domenico Quirico has been missing in Syria more than three weeks now. Our Turin-based partner released the news earlier this week after working quietly with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs to trace the journalist. Heading for Homs, he crossed the Syrian border through Lebanon on April 6 […]
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Magazines, Mapped! Week Of May 3
This week’s selection of magazine covers from around the world.
In the first interview with the foreign press since his victory, the new Venezuelan President tells Le Monde that he will carry on Hugo Chavez’s policies, both at home and abroad.
It’s online of course…
Worldcrunch LONDON – The annual list of the world’s 50 best restaurants is out… and the Internet is officially HUNGRY! Spain’s El Celler De Can Roca in Girona beat out Noma in Copenhagen, which had taken home the top spot for the previous three years. The list is organized by Britain’s Restaurant magazine, with the […]
ZHEJIANG DAILY, ECONOMIC OBSERVER, HUBEI DAILY (China), CHINA TIMES (Taiwan) Worldcrunch BEIJING – Is Feng Shui a superstition or a true form of wisdom? A confessional article by a Chinese official published by the Zhejiang Daily recently sparked enthusiastic discussions among the Chinese public and press. “Put a screen at the entrance to block the […]
NBC NEWS (USA) Worldcrunch Southern California firefighters early Friday were battling a growing, brush-fueled wildfire that had reached the beach in Ventura County and was pushing toward the upscale city of Malibu, officials said. The so-called Springs Fire, made worse by howling Santa Ana winds and unusually dry vegetation, was within “seven or eight miles” […]
ISLAMABAD – A senior prosecutor investigating the 2007 murder of Pakistan’s ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was shot down in an ambush on Friday morning near Pakistan’s capital Islamabad. Chaudhry Zulfikar Ali was also Pakistan’s main state prosecutor in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, in which 166 people were killed. Zulfikar was shot multiple times by gunmen […]
The Turkish Prime Minister complains about the “pots and pans” unearthed by archeologists in Istanbul delaying the construction of the tunnel project under the Bosphorus. A closer look.
BUENOS AIRES – Sixty-one years after the death of the legendary Argentine First Lady Eva Perón, she “speaks” again in Marco Aguinis’ new novel La Furia de Evita (Evita’s Fury). Aguinis, a former Argentine Minister of Culture, who has written more than 40 books, has devoted his 11th novel to the life and death of […]
The “dual” vocational training system used to be derided as limiting university degrees. Now it is being lauded in the U.S., and exported to struggling southern European countries.
Yahoo! wanted to buy the video platform Dailymotion, owned by France Telecom. But with the French government opposed come reminders of what needs fixing in France’s startup world.
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Giant Rubber Ducks, The Worldwide Tour
THE STANDARD, SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST (Hong Kong) Worldcrunch HONG KONG– A five-story-high rubber duck floated into Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour on Thursday morning. Maybe you’ve seen this before. Maybe not. Maybe you’re really not amused? Well this particular duck happens to be a piece of conceptual art from Dutch sculptor Florentijn Hofman; and the […]
UKRAINE LAUNCHES MILITARY OPERATIONThe Ukrainian government launched what France24 describes as a “large-scale military operation that included an air assault” to retake the town of Sloviansk in the eastern part of the country. But Pro-Russian militants fought back and shot down at least two helicopters, killing two Ukrainian soldiers, with one dead and one injured […]
ROME – Italy is a place of culture, beauty, and a well-oiled style of life — crisis or not. Foreigners always return for more. But in order to make sure that the tourists keep coming back — and telling their friends — some guidelines are needed. According to data from the federation of hotels “Fedalberghi”, […]
KCNA (North Korea), CNN (USA), BBC NEWS (UK) REUTERS Worldcrunch PYONGYANG – U.S. citizen Pae Jun-ho, detained in North Korea since last November, has been sentenced to 15 years of hard labor, North Korean state news reported on Thursday. Pae Jung-ho, known in the U.S. as Kenneth Bae, was tried on April 30, for allegedly […]
AL JAZEERA (Qatar), LE MONDE, AFP (France), SPA (Saudi- Arabia) Worldcrunch RIYADH – Saudi Arabia’s health ministry has announced that five people have recently died from a new SARS-like virus, and that two more are being treated in an intensive care unit, reports Al Jazeera. The statement, released late Wednesday night, noted that the five […]
The German soccer clubs Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich (whose flags you will see strategically placed below) recently thrashed Spanish teams Real Madrid and FC Barcelona in their respective Champions League semifinals. German Sky sports seized the opportunity to taunt the two teams before their recent games. And after Bayern’s defeat of Barcelona Wednesday night, […]
Once it was USA for Africa, now Ethiopia’s expats are returning to be part of a striving new middle class.