Worldcrunch
–Analysis– Over this past weekend one of my Economist-devouring, Washington Post-reading, New York Times-gobbling buddies who does not work in the field of foreign affairs asked me, “Hey, what’s up with Erdogan and the Turks?” I’ve been asked this question so many times this summer by so many people that I’ve lost count. It’s been […]
As war has made regular work scarce, Ayham has trafficked in anything that has a buyer. But lately he says the face of the black market has started to change.
Syria is more reminiscent of the Balkan wars in the 1990s than Iraq or Afghanistan. It’s imperative for the West to act to force Assad’s hand, not just to slap his wrist.
Properties of Saudi princes, the sultan of Brunei, billionaires from Qatar and Asia, and a few of the wealthiest people in France, Parisian palaces-turned-hotels are a high-rolling industry.
It was prepared during the global economic collapse of 2008, but it isn’t now.
“I would not call it a war, but the sanction of a monstrous violation of human rights,” the French president tells Le Monde.
THE NEW YORK TIMES Worldcrunch WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service has announced that same-sex couples who are legally married will be recognized as such for federal tax purposes, even if they live in a state that does not recognize their union, The New York Times reports. It is the broadest federal rule change to […]
THE GUARDIAN (UK), LE MONDE (France), BBC, AFP, REUTERS Worldcrunch LONDON — The U.K. Parliament dealt a heavy blow to a gathering international coalition against the Syrian regime – and David Cameron’s premiership – by voting against a crucial government motion that would have paved the way for British involvement in a possible intervention in […]
In Poland, Catholics have already seen it all on the religious front at home. To expand their spiritual horizons, many now look for new religiously significant destinations farther afield.
WASHINGTON POST Worldcrunch WASHINGTON – The U.S. commando raid in Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden was guided from space by a fleet of satellites, according to a top-secret U.S. intelligence documents revealed Friday by the Washington Post. As the May 2011 mission unfolded, the satellites aimed dozens of receivers over Pakistan to collect electronic […]
Here are some of the songs topping the charts from music hot spots around the world. This week, Worldcrunch listened to Johnny Cash and especially to his “Ring of Fire”. September 12 will mark the tenth anniversary of the ledgendary American singer’s death. “Ring of Fire” was written by Johnny Cash’s wife June Carter and […]
The conflict in Syria has reshuffled the deck for Kurds across the region, from Turkey to Iraq. A recent mass exodus from Syria is just one sympton of a deeper problem.
A Polish army officer got himself deported to Auschwitz to document war crimes in the concentration camp. Now for the first time, Germans can read this vivid account.
Gang fights, clandestine excavations, a thriving black market for cigarettes. In post-Mubarak, post-Morsi Egypt, life and violence go on for the people of Bab El Bahr Street.
GENEVA – The other day, someone posted a photo of a Coca-Cola bottle named Jonas on my Facebook wall. I was honored, though I couldn’t quite say why: was it because of the object itself, even though until then, I had been mostly annoyed by the new global marketing campaign where Coca-Cola replaced its logo […]
Friday, August 29, 2014 UKRAINE PLANS NATO MEMBERSHIP NATO officials are holding an emergency meeting in Brussels this morning after it released satellite imagery showing “well over 1,000” Russian troops in Ukraine, warning that 20,000 more were “amassed at the border,” the Financial Times reports. Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk, meanwhile, announced that Kiev would […]
LE MONDE Worldcrunch PARIS – It seems France’s love affair with taxing its citizens has reached a new high: the French Treasury sought full income tax payments from a 37-year-old convicted drug dealer for the sum he’d earned selling cannabis. According to Le Monde, two weeks before Farid, a former drug-dealer, got out of prison […]
SAUDI GAZETTE, BBC, LE MONDE (France) Worldcrunch RIYADH – For the first time in Saudi Arabia, a new law has been passed that prohibits all forms of physical and sexual abuse, a measure hailed by human rights groups as a breakthrough in protecting women and children. Sources at the Ministry of Social Affairs told the […]
KENYAN RED CROSS, DAILY NATION (Kenya), AFP, ALL AFRICA Worldcrunch NAIROBI — At least 41 people died and 27 more were injured in a bus crash in Kenya Thursday morning, the Kenyan Red Cross said. “It is difficult to tell exactly what happened, but all indications point to speeding and possibly overloading,” police officer Samuel […]
As the country plans to seize farmers’ land and move them into more populous, resettled areas to drive the economy, it’s clear who the losers will be.
After the chemical attacks, military intervention is a question of humanity, but also of realpolitik. That does not, however, mean it will resolve the situation in Syria.
GUIPAVAS — In the Jacques Brel retirement home in Brittany’s town of Guipavas, Marcelle Plougoum looks at Jean-Noël Michel tenderly. They first met in a medical center for senior citizens, and have loved each other for three years in this modern residential community surrounded by gardens. “We stay together all the time,” Marcelle explains. “Being […]
Exactly 40 years after a hostage situation in a Stockholm bank, the now 72-year-old ex-convict recalls the bond formed with his captives. The psychiatrist who coined the term helps explain.
Greenwald was on vacation in Brazil when he met his partner Miranda and traded in his NY law career for journalism. Now the couple are both in the spotlight over the Edward Snowden leak.
Thursday, August 28, 2014 UKRAINE DENOUNCES “RUSSIAN TROOP DEPLOYMENT” Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko cancelled a trip to Turkey over what he described as “Russian troop deployments” in eastern Ukraine. His decision comes amid reports of a Russian “invasion” and the gathering of special OSCE meeting in Vienna. Writing on Twitter, U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey […]
USA TODAY, HUFFINGTON POST Worldcrunch WASHINGTON — Wednesday marks the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech. President Barack Obama will speak on the same steps of Washington’s Lincoln Memorial during the “Let Freedom Ring and Call to Action” commemoration. Former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton will also speak after […]
BBC, AL JAZEERA (Qatar), AFP Worldcrunch BAGHDAD — Coordinated bombings in Iraq’s capital of Baghdad killed at least 44 people and wounded 157 more Wednesday, the BBC reports. Aimed at the Shia Muslim community, bombs exploded during rush hour in most of the city’s Shia neighborhoods and in two mixed towns to its south. A […]
FOREIGN POLICY, REUTERS, BBC, RUSSIA TODAY, SANA (Syria) Worldcrunch DAMASCUS – American intelligence services say they have intercepted “panicked phone calls” between an official at the Syrian Ministry of Defense and a leader of a chemical weapons unit last Wednesday, after the alleged chemical attack took place. The magazine Foreign Policy, which reported the claim […]
After months of talk, the United States and its allies may now be on the verge of military intervention in Syria. As American military leaders met with European and regional leadership in Amman to discuss the Syrian crisis, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told the BBC Tuesday that the U.S. has “moved assets into place” […]
Israeli authorities granted some one million visas to vacationers from the West Bank to cross the border during the recent Ramadan holiday. Some had never set foot in Israel before.
Western sources say Russia sought out the American whistleblower when he was on the run in Hong Kong. The Kremlin denies it.
Though Kurdish Syrians have largely avoided any involvement in the country’s civil war, they are now caught in the middle and fleeing in droves. A visit to the refugee camp in Iraq.
With the ownership change of the 24-hour news channel Globovision, the last remaining television source for reporting that challenges the government is gone.
REUTERS, THE GUARDIAN (UK) Worldcrunch LONDON — Oil prices have risen to a five-month high, stock share prices are falling, and demand for safe-haven assets has risen amid international fears about the Syrian crisis and the anticipation of U.S. and possibly European military intervention there, Reuters reports. After U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said […]
Wednesday, August 27, 2014 UN DENOUNCES ISIS AND SYRIAN GOVERNMENT ACTIONS In a report following months of investigation in Syria, the United Nations said there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that Syrian government forces had used chlorine gas, a chemical agent, eight times on civilian areas in April. The UN also denounced crimes committed by […]
Meanwhile, Japan and South Korea cash in thanks to rigorous health standards and smart labeling.
BBC, NEW YORK TIMES, AL JAZEERA, AFP Worldcrunch DAMASCUS – As the United States appeared to toughen its stance against Syria, United Nations inspectors were forced Tuesday to postpone their investigation into the sites of the alleged chemical attacks in the suburbs of Damascus, according to the AFP. The Syrian Foreign Affairs Minister Walid Muallem […]
BBC, O GLOBO (Brazil), LA RAZÓN (Bolivia) Worldcrunch BRASILIA — Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota resigned last night in the wake of a diplomatic row with Bolivia, the BBC reports. He sent his resignation to Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff after it emerged that a Bolivian senator accused of corruption who had been sheltered in the […]
BRASILIA — “I threw on a helmet and rode the motorcycle through the streets of Brasilia,” a content Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff recently, and casually, told the country’s Minister of Mines and Energy Edison Lobão, who listened in disbelief. The minister said that he was shocked at first, just like the reporter to whom he […]