The coldest recorded temperature, a long test for Fukushima rice and other ways to measure the news that counted.
Month: December 2013
Politics is not driving the past two weeks of police-led protests and looting, it’s the rising cost of living. Now, if the administration of President Cristina Kirchner would just deal with it.
Friday, December 12, 2014 HOUSE PASSES U.S. SPENDING BILLThe U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed a $1.1 trillion spending bill to fund most government operations until September 2015, The New York Times reports. But the newspaper notes that the liberal base of the Democrat party formed an “unlikely alliance” with the Tea Party in opposition […]
For one prominent Polish columnist, all the European Union’s panting for expansion to the East may lead it to choke on its own ambitions.
Categories
The Risks Of China’s GDP Obsession
BEIJING — Last month, Chinese leader Xi Jinping gave a speech and released a document to local authorities reaffirming a key new reform message: From now on, “officials should no longer blindly compare only their GDP when it comes to performance and success.” Xi added that “the problem of “GDP-based promotions’ shall be rectified.” His […]
The ‘Big Smoke’ was about as fogged in this morning as it ever gets. Here are some breathtaking views of ‘ol London town in an ominous light.
Categories
Indonesia Says No To Monkey Business
Animal rights groups get their wish: no more monkey shows on the streets of Jakarta, which means raids to rescue the animals and job training to prepare their trainers for new work.
A visit to the tiny village in the Dolomite Mountains where the notorious U.S. politician and former Ku Klux Klan grandmaster was residing under a false name. He was deported last week.
Thursday, December 11, 2014 HONG KONG POLICE ARRESTS PROTESTERSBailiffs and police officers began a planned clearing operation of Hong Kong’s main protest site this morning, where the Occupy Central movement started more than two months ago. According to the South China Morning Post, dozens of protesters have been arrested, including radical lawmaker “Long Hair” Leung […]
LUANG PRABANG — As they say, the early bird gets the worm. Luang Prabang, the former royal capital of Laos and a UNESCO world heritage site since 1995, is one of those early morning cities — not necessarily calm, but where a walk at the crack of dawn is very satisfying. As early as 5 […]
The former boxing champion has been plucked by the Western media as the new face of Ukraine’s opposition. The situation is more complicated than that, even as risks for all rise.
MOSCOW — Last week’s U.S. criminal complaint alleging that Russian diplomats in New York systematically defrauded Medicaid reads like a low-down scam at its worse. Moscow, however, is convinced that it is actually the latest geopolitical chess move, the result of deteriorating relations between the two countries. As the accused diplomats prepare to return to […]
GENEVA — Between a mission in Ethiopia and a meeting in Rome, Hans Herren stops over in Geneva to speak at a conference at the World Trade Organization. The Swiss agricultural engineer is a world-renowned expert in insects who has spent most of his professional life in Africa. During the 1980s and 90s, he established […]
Organic fever has been taking over the world over the past few years, appealing to some but shunned by others. Sustainability is a word often linked with organic, as well as all things environmentally-friendly, that surely must benefit all of us. Here’s a short profile of five places embracing both concepts with the aim of […]
PORT VILA — The small boat slices through the turquoise water that separates Efate from Pele — two of the 80-some islands that make up Vanuatu, a Melanesian archipelago in the southwest Pacific. Kaltuk Kalomor, Vanuatu’s Minister of Agriculture, is standing onboard, pointing out the receding coastline, a consequence of the rising sea level and […]
NGOZI — In the north of Burundi, only the wealthiest farmers have the means to buy state-subsidized fertilizer. Poorer farmers make do with the garbage they can collect in the city — to the great delight of urban dwellers. Nsengimana Evariste is a poor pygmy farmer who collects garbage in the city of Ngozi. If […]
Wednesday, December 10, 2014 CALLS TO PROSECUTE AFTER CIA TORTURE REPORTThe United Nations Human Rights Council has called for the prosecution of U.S. officials “responsible for the criminal conspiracy” unveiled in the summary of a Senate report into the CIA’s post-9/11 interrogation methods, The New York Times reports. Praising the Obama administration for their courage […]
Two farewells for a pair of towering figures in world history: the 2005 funeral of Pope John Paul II and Tuesday’s mass public ceremony to mark the death of Nelson Mandela. Not since the global public outpouring in Rome more than eight years ago to pay respects to the Polish pontiff has the world come […]
A poor education ranking in the latest international PISA report failed to humble the country’s top education official, who instead hailed the outcome as a “great triumph.”
JOHANNESBURG – When Nelson Mandela was sworn in as president 19 years ago, he proclaimed that South Africa was entering “a covenant” to create a society that guaranteed human rights for both blacks and whites, “a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.” Mandela, who died on Thursday at the age of 95, […]
In this opium-rich nation, addiction is on the rise as other cocktails are invented including a mix of pure heroin and methamphetamine.
The recession of 2008 created a new population of poor in the U.S., concentrated in the outskirts of once thriving urban areas. In Atlanta, poverty has risen by 122%.
Marriage in Tajikistan, a Central Asian country of 8 million, is celebrated over days and far over budget. A new law tries to change ancient ways for the sake of modern economics.
Tuesday, December 9, 2014 CIA TORTURE REPORT TO BE RELEASED Security has been tightened at U.S. embassies around the world and intelligence agencies have been asked to monitor more closely terrorist communications in anticipation of today’s release of a CIA torture report. The U.S. Senate will release the long-delayed report into the intelligence agency’s brutal […]
The central urban areas of Israel are a proven Silicon Valley success in the Middle East. But the country must find ways to bring the high-tech industry to the north and south.
Monday, December 8, 2014 ISRAEL ACCUSED OF BOMBING SYRIA Syria has officially asked the United Nations to impose sanctions on Israel after accusing the Israeli military of bombing the international airport in Damascus and another target in the countryside near the Syrian capital. “This direct aggression by Israel was carried out to help the terrorists” […]
BEIJING — Both the definition of “Free-Trade Zone” and the “Pacific” should be called into question as the U.S. and Japan try to seal a deal on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) by the end of the year. As an ambitious multilateral trade cooperation mechanism outside the World Trade Organization (WTO), the TPP would not currently […]
Odd and cruel episodes from police blotters around the world…
JOHANNESBURG — “As long as he’s alive, his family members still refrain, but you’ll see when he passes away …” Earlier this year, a man close to several of Nelson Mandela’s relatives told Le Monde of his fear that the unity displayed during the moments of reverence around South Africa’s global icon of reconciliation, would […]
SOUTH AFRICA NIGERIA EGYPT KENYA FRANCE GERMANY BELGIUM SWEDEN SPAIN IRELAND ITALY
The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) governed Mexico, at times with an iron fist, for 70 years until it lost the presidency in 2000. It returned with Enrique Peña Nieto’s victory in this year’s presidential elections. But have politics changed in Mexico? Will the PRI resort to its old ways, asks Luis Rubio,* or will it […]
STUTTGART — Banbo is the first one to get the idea. The 11-year-old female chimpanzee presses her thumb firmly on the button and changes the channel on the TV set up in her enclosed living space. Fifteen-year-old Liboso is less certain and still sometimes presses her feet against the screen. The rest of the group […]
Your weekly shot of what the Arab world is saying, hearing and sharing.
Around the world, famous and regular folk alike are mourning Nelson Mandela, as South Africa prepares for a 10-day commemoration. Here’s a selection of reactions from heads of state to a certain former heavyweight champ to the people of his nation, to as the world says goodbye to the father of South African democracy and […]
Here are some musical tributes to Nelson Mandela, whose lifetime work for peace and equality inspired artists around the world and across musical genres.
When Nelson Mandela’s death was announced Thursday night, in the rush to publish something about him several Italian newspapers made the unfortunate mistake of describing him as “the father of apartheid,” reports Il Post. Il Giornale, owned by the Berlusconi family, Il Messaggero and Il Mattino all featured stories with similar headlines. “South Africa, the […]
BANGKOK — The situation that has taken over Thailand’s capital this past week has been, among other things, surreal. The government has been paralyzed after demonstrators occupied several ministerial buildings, and even entered, on Dec. 3, the complex where Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s offices are located. But below the surface, the upheaval is a political […]
“He’s not human. He’s a robot. Dante Pryor is a socialbot,” lawyer and series’ heroine Alicia Florrick says in the latest episode of the TV series The Good Wife. “How could a robot defame your client?” the judge character asks her. “It’s designed to repackage comments and gossip by others and disperse it onto sites,” […]
Justin Bieber’s graffiti global tour continues, Berlusconi lingers, Pope Francis surprises again, and other notable quotes from around the world…
Colombia marks 20 years since police killed Pablo Escobar, who helped define the nation as the global mecca of violence and drug trafficking. It’s a lot to absorb for one man in particular.