Categories
Geopolitics

Journey Back To Tahrir For A Disgraced Actor And Mubarak Nostalgic

Spat on and kicked out of his job running a top Cairo theater company, Tamer Abdel Moneim, a bona fide *fulul*, says he’s proud he always stuck by the deposed former strongman.

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Society

Monica Bellucci And Vincent Cassel Split – End Of Europe’s Top Glamor Couple

ANSA (Italy) Worldcunch PARIS – Italian-born model and movie star Monica Bellucci and her French actor husband Vincent Cassel are breaking up after 18 years together. The news was confirmed by Bellucci’s agent after recent rumors had circulated about their possible separation, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. The couple was a long-lasting symbol of […]

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Economy

Merkelnomics v. Abenomics: German Rigor Or Seductive Japanese Stimulus?

One writer outlines what German Chancellor Angela Merkel is doing right; and sees potential deep flaws in the economic policies of Japan’s Shinzo Abe.

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Geopolitics

Putin Meets Poroshenko, China Rainmaking, Emmy Selfie

U.S. APPROVES SYRIA SURVEILLANCE FLIGHTS President Barack Obama approved manned and unmanned surveillance flights over Syria in a bid to hit ISIS positions without reinforcing President Bashar al-Assad, The New York Times reports, describing the decision as “a precursor to potential airstrikes there.” According to officials, Washington has no intention of notifying or asking the […]

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Geopolitics

Israeli Forces Kill Three Palestinians In West Bank Clashes, Peace Talks On Hold

AFP, BBC Worldcrunch RAMALLAH – Three Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli forces Monday after a raid in the Qalandiya West Bank refugee camp, which threatens to derail ongoing peace talks. Clashes erupted in the camp after Israeli forces attempted to arrest a suspect, the AFP reports. Medical sources said at least 19 other people […]

Categories
Eyes on the U.S.

California Fire Threatens Yosemite And San Francisco Water Supplies

BBC, AFP, CBS Worldcrunch GROVELAND — Firefighters are still struggling to contain the intense wildfire raging north of Yosemite National Park in California. Some 2,800 firefighters are battling the so-called Rim Fire, which covers 133,980 acres. Yosemite Park spokesman Tom Medena told CBS News that the fire is edging closer to the source of San […]

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Geopolitics

Israeli Officials Believe U.S. Will Act After Chemical Attacks in Syria

TEL AVIV — Israeli officials are under the impression that the United States soon will conduct a Syrian military operation even without a decision from the U.N. Security Council. This comes after a Friday phone call between U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Martin Dempsey and Israeli Army chief of staff Benny Gantz. A […]

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Geopolitics

Syria: UN Team Examining Site, Assad Warns US

AL JAZEERA, BBC, NEW YORK TIMES, LE MONDE (France), IZVESTIYA (Russia) Worldcrunch DAMASCUS – As pressure mounted for a strong Western response against the regime of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, United Nations inspectors were heading Monday to the site of last week’s suspected chemical attack in the outskirts of the Syrian capital. Both the Syrian […]

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Economy Society

In Peru, A Troubled City On Top Of The World Tries To Rise Out Of Purgatory

Once a simple gold-mining camp, La Rinconada is considered the world’s highest city. But its 30,000 inhabitants live amid ice melt and endless piles debris. Can Peru finally clean it up?

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Geopolitics

ISIS Seizes Stronghold, Napa Quake, Hemingway’s Tab

Monday, August 25, 2014 ISIS SEIZES SYRIAN ARMY BASE The terrorist group ISIS has gained control of a Syrian army air base near Raqqa, in the country’s north, after days of intense fighting during which at least 346 ISIS fighters and more than 170 Syrian troops were killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human […]

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Society

Olympics, No Thanks! Local Opposition Grows On Eve Of 2020 Host Announcement

Two weeks ahead of the naming of the 2020 Olympics location, as officials in Istanbul, Madrid and Tokyo do last-minute bidding, protests rise in each city against the effects of hosting the Games.

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Geopolitics

Cold War Reckoning: Tracking Down Romania’s Communist Torturers

RAMNICU SARAT — The door closes, hinges grating like a desperate man’s lament. Only a single sunbeam manages to make its way through the bars of the prison cell. A few minutes in this long, heavy silence and one can imagine the daily life of a prisoner, locked up inside a two-square-meter cell. In eastern […]

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Mondo Society

Hit It! What’s No. 1 On World’s Music Charts

Here are some of the songs topping the charts from music hot spots around the world. Worldcrunch’s pick of the week is The Clash’s “Bankrobber.” The band’s frontman, Joe Strummer, who died in December 2002, would have been 61 this week. The song chronicles the life of the narrator’s father, who “loved to steal your […]

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Society

It Really Is A Jungle Out There For These Young Colombian Students

A school located in a remote stretch of the Amazon teaches indigenous children, many of whom come to learn Spanish, under extraordinarily rustic conditions.

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Mondo

Magazines, Mapped! Week Of August 23-29

What has the world been reading this week? Check out our selection of covers from top magazines around the world…

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Geopolitics

Syrian Boy’s Whole Family Dies, And Other Testimony After Reported Chemical Attacks

DAMASCUS – A boy, who appears to be sitting in some sort of makeshift hospital, describes how his entire family was killed early Wednesday morning on an attack in their home in the eastern suburbs of Damascus. Below the video (courtesy of c.m.o algota) is a transcript of the child’s account: “First thing, my grandfather […]

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Society

Economic Fears Are Fueling A New Twist To Horror Film Genre

These thrills do not come cheap…

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Mondo

Quotes of the week: Manning, Cassidy, May….And MORE!

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Society

Aging China, Capitalist China: Why Beijing Sees Business Opportunity In Getting Old

By 2034, there will be 400 million people in China over age 60. And now, it seems, the state has finally decided to open up the business of caring for the elderly. What that means.

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Geopolitics

Report: CIA, Other Foreign Troops Join Syrian Rebels In Major Anti-Assad Operation

LE FIGARO (France), BBC Worldcrunch PARIS – Specially-trained Syrian rebel fighters, alongside US, Israeli and Jordanian forces, have crossed the border into Syria as an unprecedented assault begins against Bashar al-Assad’s regime, French daily Le Figaro reports Friday. The newspaper cites military sources saying the operation began last week in the southern Syrian region of […]

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Society

Five Suspects Identified After Gang Rape Of Mumbai Journalist

TIMES OF INDIA, BBC Worldcrunch MUMBAI — Police in India have arrested one man and are searching for four others after an Indian photojournalist was gang-raped in Mumbai Thursday. According to the Times of India, the man arrested has confessed to his involvement in the crime and has provided information to identify the four others. […]

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Geopolitics

Israel Retaliates With Bombing of Lebanon “Terror Site” After Rocket Attack

REUTERS, BBC, RUSSIA TODAY, AFP Worldcrunch BEIRUT — Israel’s Air Force bombed a militant target south of Beirut Friday in retaliation for rockets fired into Israel from Lebanon the day before, Reuters reports. “Israel will not tolerate terrorist aggression originating from Lebanese territory,” military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner said in a statement. According to […]

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Economy Geopolitics

Inside Switzerland’s Decision To Bury Kim Jong-Un’s Ski Resort Dreams

After rejections by Austrian and French ski-lift companies, a Swiss competitor was set to supply Pyongyang the means to realize his Alpine fantasy. But then the state stepped in.

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Geopolitics Migrant Lives Society

Influx Of Chechens Drives Record Number Of Russians Asylum Seekers In Germany

BERLIN — There are a record number of asylum seekers pinning their hopes on Germany this year, and refugees from Russia by far represent the largest group. Of those, some 90% are from the North Caucasus, particularly Chechnya. German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich has characterized the situation as “unsettling.” Germany has more asylum requests than […]

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Geopolitics

In Syria, The Time To Act Is Now

The images of an apparent chemical attack in Syria mean that the West’s wait-and-see approach is simply no longer viable.

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Geopolitics

U.S. Anti-ISIS Strategy, Cost Of Gaza War, Darth Rumor

Friday, August 22, 2014 PENTAGON CONSIDERS ANTI-ISIS STRATEGY After a week that saw an escalation in the horror from ISIS, Pentagon officials are trying to develop a strategy to contain and defeat what the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff described as “an organization that has an apocalyptic end-of-days strategic vision.” According to The […]

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Geopolitics

Mugabe Sworn In To Fifth Term After Election Opponents Call “Sham”

AL JAZEERA Worldcrunch HARARE — Zimbabwe’s veteran leader Robert Mugabe has been sworn in for a new five-year term in a massive stadium inauguration that was boycotted by his election rival, Al Jazeera reports. Mugabe pledged “to observe, uphold and defend the constitution of Zimbabwe,” extending his 33-year rule. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who insists […]

Categories
Geopolitics

U.N. Calls for Investigation Into Alleged Chemical Attack In Syria

BBC, LE MONDE (France), RUSSIA TODAY, SANA (Syria) Worldcrunch NEW YORK — Calling this week’s alleged chemical attack in Syria “a serious escalation with grave humanitarian consequences,” United Nations Deputy Chief Jan Eliasson called an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council Wednesday and urged an investigation “as soon as possible,” Russia Today reports. Eliasson […]

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Geopolitics

Corruption Trial Of Disgraced Chinese Official Bo Xilai Begins

New York Times, China Daily, BBC Worldcrunch JINAN — The trial of Bo Xilai, the disgraced former Communist official accused of corruption, bribery and abuse of power, began Thursday morning in the eastern provincial capital of Jinan, according to China Daily. One of the most serious charges against him relates to his wife’s role in […]

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Ideas Society

Rise Of A “Divergent” Middle Class As The Agent Of Change In Latin America

– Op-Ed – SANTIAGO — Recent findings from the World Bank and the Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID) confirm that the middle class is now the majority in South America — and it will continue to grow. Without wading into the quagmire of defining “middle class,” a dicey topic with many nuances and interpretations, it […]

Categories
Ideas

Modern Slavery? Lessons From A Young Banker’s Death In London

What the death of an overworked young German financial trainee tells us about the drunken carousel of the 21st century economy.

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Geopolitics Ideas

Iranian Or Algerian Scenario? Why Civil War May Be Inevitable In Egypt

Since August 14, when Egyptian security forces moved in to disperse the sit-ins of supporters of former president Mohamed Morsi, the nation has suffered considerably. And while the situation is less cut and dry than some observers make it sound, one thing seems clear: there are two players apparently intent on accelarating a conflict that […]

Categories
Geopolitics

Bradley Manning Sentenced To 35 Years, World Reactions

TWITTER, WIKILEAKS Worldcrunch Bradley Manning, the heroic whistleblower for Wikleaks and devious traitor for the Pentagon, was sentenced Wednesday to 35 years in prison by a U.S. military court in Fort Meade, Maryland. Manning had been convicted last month of 20 charges — including espionage — for handing hundreds of thousands of battlefield reports and […]

Categories
Society

New Study: Thyroid Cancer Surge Among Youth In Fukushima Region

LE TEMPS (Switzerland) Worldcrunch BASEL – The nuclear accident of Fukushima is already leading to a surge in the number of cases of thyroid cancer, according to research being presented this week in Switzerland by Japanese scientist Toshihide Tsuda. The Swiss daily Le Temps reports that Tsuda, professor of environmental epidemiology at the University of […]

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Eyes on the U.S. Society

When It’s Made In China And Born In America

To dodge fines in China for violating the one-child policy and give the advantages of an American passport, many Chinese women are flying to the U.S. to give birth. But there are risks involved.

Categories
Geopolitics

Failed U.S. Hostage Rescue, Yoga Guru Dies, Gambling Japan

Thursday, August 21, 2014 WASHINGTON’S FAILED HOSTAGE RESCUE A secret operation involving “several dozen U.S. commandos” failed earlier this summer to rescue photojournalist James Foley and other American hostages held by Islamist terrorists in northern Syria, The Washington Post reports. An article in The New York Times, meanwhile, explains that the infamous ISIS jihadist group […]

Categories
Society

Welcome To The World’s Biggest And Best-Run Animal Shelter

Don’t call it a *pound* – Berlin’s Hohenschönhausen houses a huge number of formerly stray dogs, cats and other species in luxe-like quarters and remarkably attentive individual care.

Categories
Society

It Takes Two Dudes To Tango

Or dudettes. For the first time, the annual Tango World Cup features several same-sex couples – three teams of men and one pair of women.

Categories
Future

Zuckerberg’s Next Big Thing: Internet For All

Worldcrunch MENLO PARK – Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is spearheading a new initiative to bring Internet access to “the next five billion people,” those too poor or disconnected to be able to get online. The new global partnership, Internet.org, launches Wednesday, and also includes several major mobile phone companies. Here’s an introduction video: “Everything Facebook […]

Categories
Geopolitics

Syrian Rebels Claim 200 Dead In Chemical Attack, Government Denies

REUTERS, SKY NEWS (UK), SANA (Syria) Worldcrunch DAMASCUS — Two Syrian opposition groups claim that government forces launched rockets with poison gas Wednesday morning in an attack they say killed more than 200 people in a rebel-held area near Damascus, Reuters reports. Syrian officials denied the claims on state television, calling the allegations “completely baseless.” […]

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