Worldcrunch
KASSERINE – Sitting on his doorstep, squinting under his straw hat, the shepherd looks closely at the military tank that crosses his land with a deafening rumble. “For now, we let them, but if it goes on, we, the people, we will revolt and stop this joke by all available means,” says Ridha Messaoudi. Early […]
Monday, June 30, 2014 ISIS DECLARES CALIPHATE IN IRAQ AND SYRIA Jihadist group ISIS has renamed itself “Islamic State” and declared the areas it occupies in Syria and the territories conquered in recent weeks in Iraq as an Islamic “Caliphate,” promising “a new era of international jihad.” According to The Independent, the move “has huge […]
TURIN – It’s a little like Babel. In Italy, words can have one meaning on one side of the street and something entirely different on the other. From the mountains to the sea, from the north to the south, this is the land of endless dialects. But because families are using these local languages less […]
CARACAS – The ongoing shortage of basic products – including food, personal hygiene products and medicine – is having a huge effect on Venezuela. President Nicolas Maduro and his government have made several announcements to fight the shortage and have accused the opposition of fanning the flames. Meanwhile, people continue to struggle to find the […]
Lance Armstrong hasn’t told “the whole story” yet. Ever since his long-awaited January confession with Oprah Winfrey, the high priestess of American talk shows, the now former seven-time winner of the Tour de France hasn’t uttered a word, just a rare tweet from time to time to his four million followers on Twitter. So when […]
A newly unearthed trove of documents linked to the reign of Augusto Pinochet reveals the regime’s obsession with controlling its youngest members. Some parents even reported on students.
They were shocked by 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, and they firmly believe the world is coming to an end. To cope with the imminent disaster, some of these preparation enthusiasts (or “preppers”) turn their SUVs into armored fortresses while others buy fancy bunkers. Julie Zaugg met one of those so-called “survivalists.” NEW […]
This week’s selection of magazine covers from around the world.
Worldcrunch The sun is shining, the sky is blue and it’s time to head to the beach. But, where? According to travel website Tripadvisor earlier this year, the best beach in the world is in Lampedusa, Sicily. Each year their list is released, which also rates hotels, entertainment and destinations, which is compiled thanks to […]
BAGHDAD — On Fridays, you can get a taste of just how special Mutanabbi Street used to be. For a couple of hours once a week, this neighborhood in the Iraqi capital returns to its former glory when everybody who is anybody in the Baghdad’s art and culture scene is out on the famous “book […]
Recycling is slow going in Poland, and you can see the results all of the streets and sidewalks. What does it all say about the Polish character?
PARIS – Jessica is the pseudonym she used. Her real name is Vasvija Ferhatovic. She was born in Rome on Jan. 24, 1985 and the only “job” this young woman ever had is thief. In May, a Paris criminal court convicted her and 15 other girls to sentences between one and five years in jail. […]
Take a tour of what the world has been saying this week…
Edged out for a time by greasy, imported food, traditional meals are staging a comeback in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
BEIJING – Rupert Murdoch has filed for divorce from his wife, Wendi Deng, and the Chinese media is watching with great attentioin whether their ambitious female compatriot is going to get her share of the cake from her fabulously rich ex-husband. It’s likely though that many will be disappointed since it was disclosed long ago […]
While Syrian rebels and Assad’s soldiers fight each other near the border, Israelis accustomed to rhetoric but relative tranquility are getting ready to defend themselves for real.
Friday, June 27, 2014 UKRAINE SIGNS EU PACT Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko penned this morning an association agreement that includes free-trade and political cooperation with the European Union, the same that former president Viktor Yanukovych had refused to sign months ago, triggering massive protests in Kiev that eventually brought his presidency to an end. “I […]
ISTANBUL – If Turkey’s nationalist left tend to blame everything on imperialism, the country’s nationalist right has a tradition of pointing fingers at lobbies and vested interests trying to block Turkey’s progress. That same old tune can be heard today, as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself has started blaming recent unrest in Turkey on […]
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court has delivered a landmark victory for gay rights, by striking down the California law defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman. This ruling forces authorities to recognize same-sex weddings in states where it is authorized already, though it stops short of forcing the remaining 30 […]
Both for the consequences they face from Chinese authorities and for their radical forms of protest, these women’s rights activists can make Femen seem tame by comparison.
Around this time of the year, high school students across the world file into stuff classrooms for their final exams. Some are nationwide tests, others are the sadistic work of your local mathematics teacher. Despite all of the pre-test stress, things tend to run smoothly in the end. But not always… Empty class room in […]
Beyond the playboy billionaires and international tax dodgers, people work regular jobs in this slice of Mediterranean paradise.
WARSAW – There is a smell of perfume in the air and salespeople dash between white leather armchairs and handbags worth thousands of euros. Welcome to the first Polish Louis Vuitton store, which opened in Warsaw earlier this month. I am here to meet Robert Eggs, president of the French luxury brand for Northern Europe. […]
Thursday, June 26, 2014 SYRIA STRIKES ISIS IN IRAQ Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki confirmed in an interview with the BBC previous reports that the Syrian military had carried out air strikes against ISIS near the Iraqi border town of Qaim, explaining he had not requested them but “welcomed” the strikes against the jihadist group. […]
AMMAN – The majority of Syria’s 25 million-strong population is Sunni, and while activists increasingly blame the Alawite-led shabiha Ba’ath operatives and mercenary Hezbollah forces for keeping the Assad regime in place, it is in fact the Sunni population that is quietly propping it up. Whether out of fear, genuine ideological support or financial interest, […]
BUENOS AIRES – After a period when South American regimes seemed untouchable, the forces of opposition have revived in Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela. Up until a few months ago, South American presidents seemed invincible. They were reelected automatically. If someone faced a term limit, a successor would be designated who would later achieve a crushing, […]
Known as sisa, this Greek methamphetamine-based concoction is spreading across the streets of Athens — the latest sign of the side effects of the economic crisis plaguing Greece.
-Analysis- ROME – Silvio Berlusconi’s sentence to seven years in prison and a life ban from public office signals the end of his political adventures. More generally, it also marks the end of Italy’s so-called “Second Republic”: the political era that began in 1992 of which the ex-prime minister has been the ubiquitous figure, just […]
TAIPEI – It was at 10 p.m., after she had attended yet another social event, that Lu Yuexiang was finally able to meet us at the restaurant. Lu, 48, is the chairperson of the Chinese Production Party, which she founded in 2010 to fight for the rights of mainland-Chinese immigrants in Taiwan. The party, which […]
Wednesday, June 25, 2014 UKRAINE CEASEFIRE TEETERS Following yesterday’s request by President Vladimir Putin, the Russian Senate repealed a law, passed when tensions with Kiev were at their highest, that allowed Putin to use military intervention in Ukraine, RT reports. Despite this step towards a political solution, there are growing doubts over the temporary ceasefire […]
To help mark France’s annual Fete de la Musique, Le Monde looks back at an old study that asked whether country music causes suicide.
MOSCOW – Earlier in June, during the last congress of the All-Russia People’s Front, a movement created by President Vladimir Putin in 2011, Putin announced that one of his primary goals was to create a new era of industrialization in Russia. Russia’s Minister of Economic Development Andrey Belousov announced in the same meeting that by […]
MILAN – “Prestanome for hire: thirty years old, good credit rating, permanent job…” More and more advertisements like this one are finding their way onto the Internet. Literally a “lend-name,” the prestanome has made the leap from mafia-esque dodgy dealings into the real world. “The only thing I had left was my name: so I […]
Former South African President Nelson Mandela is now in critical condition two weeks after being admitted to a Pretoria hospital with a lung infection, South African President Jacob Zuma told reporters during a Monday press conference. “Mandela can leave us in peace, his work is done,” the Globe and Mail wrote, as South Africans were […]
– Op-Ed – BERLIN – Two people recently “disappeared” into the vastness that is China. The whole world is talking about one of them: Edward Snowden whose revelations about digital spying by the National Security Agency have fueled fear and indignation. Big Brother, your name was and is USA. Nobody is talking about photographer and […]
BENI – For many years in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the military was the main seller of liquor imported from Uganda. But now soldiers have changed sides, and are now fighting those who try to import liquor into Congo. In order to reduce the trafficking and consumption of banned liquors […]
Google+, the social network of the American web giant is, in fact, a lot more than a social network. Larry Page, the web giant’s CEO, describes it as “the social backbone” of a company whose ambition is simple, if not the least bit modest: to control the Internet. “If Google+ was just a social network, […]
Tuesday, June 24, 2014 ISIS CLAIMS CAPTURE OF IRAQ OIL REFINERY Jihadist group ISIS has claimed to have taken control of Iraq’s biggest oil refinery in Baiji, after it offered hundreds of Iraqi soldiers safe passage if they laid down their weapons, Al Jazeera reports. But Iraq’s foreign minister rejected the claims, and New York […]
-Essay- PARIS – From the Turkish protests in Istanbul to the French anti gay-marriage protests, and from euthanasia rights to fledgling forms of participatory democracy, it is difficult to ignore the growing aspirations of Europeans toward autonomy and freedom of choice. This new individualization dynamic is silently revolutionizing European values. Individualization is the the power […]
Brazil is just the latest, though largest, recent example of a Latin American country that has seen grassroots movements catch fire from below.