Worldcrunch
-OpEd- BERLIN — It was supposed to sound aggressive when Prime Minister Manuel Valls told French citizens after the terrorist attacks in Paris that the country would henceforth be in a state of “war.” President François Hollande too addressed the nation in these terms. On the only aircraft carrier France possesses, he announced that the […]
Political repression is one thing, but if store shelves are empty, the so-called “revolution” is destined to crumble.
A mini boom in Chinese-language studies has hit Cambodia, which not only trades with mainland China but also counts many ethnic Chinese among its business leaders.
Latifa Ibn Ziaten’s son was a victim of the 2012 Toulouse and Montauban killings, widely considered a pre-cursor to the recent Paris attacks. She’s putting her pain to good use.
“I feel relaxed and calm,” Hayat Boumeddiene told her friends. It was last October, and the 26-year-old was in her father’s living room on the eastern outskirts of Paris, after having just returned from the Hajj, the sacred Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, with her partner Amedy Coulibaly. Three months later Coulibaly, on January 8 and […]
Revelations of massive corruption at Petrobras come with more than economic consequences. The credibility of the entire state is at stake. All eyes are on President Dilma Rousseff.
With “Timbuktu,” Abderrahmane Sissako searches deep to make artistic sense of the senseless horrors committed in the name of radical Islam. His movie has been nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards.
SAUDI KING ABDULLAH DIES“The Good King Leaves, Salman Becomes Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques,” London-based pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat writes on its front page after Saudi Arabia King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud died early Friday at age 90, three weeks after being hospitalized for pneumonia. Abdullah is succeeded by his 79-year-old half-brother Salman […]
BEIJING — One of the overlooked problems brought by China’s infamous family planning policy is a crticial gender imbalance. With the latest release of the country’s demographic data, Beijing has openly acknowledged the situation, as China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission declared that is the country “with the most serious gender imbalance at birth […]
“The Good King leaves, Salman becomes Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques,” Asharq Al-Awsat writes on its front page after King of Saudi Arabia Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud died early Friday at age 90, three weeks after being hospitalized for pneumonia. One of the many sons of Ibn Saud, the founder of modern Saudi […]
GOMA — The situation inside Goma’s Muzenza Prison, in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, is highly charged and threatening to explode as severe overcrowding mixes with questions about the justice system itself. As many as 1,087 prisoners are crammed into a building designed for 150. Four out of every five prisoners are there in pre-trial […]
MURMANSK — Dasha Metelyova gets up shortly before 6 a.m. to apply her makeup and do her hair. In the hall of her apartment building, the paint is peeling from the walls. Dasha steps outside, where it is still dark because this time of year here it only gets light around 10 a.m. Soon the […]
Greece will vote in national legislative elections Sunday to choose its 300 members of parliament, after the ruling conservative coalition failed to maintain its parliamentary majority in December. And no, this is not your ordinary election. Polls suggest a victory of the radical left party, Syriza, with more than 30% of voting intentions, and stakes […]
The theater of Epidaurus is famous for its incredible acoustics. In the center of the picture, our guide is tearing up a piece of paper to prove it: Sitting midway to the top of the rows as we were, we heard it perfectly well.
Right-wing politicians think we should abandon the Schengen Area, and return to national borders within Europe. That would make about as much sense as putting a wall around Sicily.
People’s Daily (China) January 22, 2015 Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first “domestic inspection tour” of 2015 was used this week to try to boost the economy in the impoverished Yunnan Province in southwest China. The People’s Daily featured in-depth coverage and up-close photographs of Xi meeting with locals as the government seeks to rally support […]
What used to be simple outdoor fun is now considered real child therapy in our hyper-connected world.
UKRAINE DEATH TOLL TOPS 5,000At least 13 people died after a Donetsk city bus was hit by a shell this morning amid ongoing fights between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian separatists. It takes the death toll in the Ukrainian conflict to more than 5,000. The attack, during which many more were injured, appears to have […]
New Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is betting on Beijing to cement peace and help rebuild the economy. But China will play its cards carefully, especially its historic alliance with Pakistan.
Jaisalmer, in the western Indian state of Rajasthan, is nicknamed the “golden city of India” for the yellow sandstone used in building its houses. Maybe that also explains the choice for these men’s turbans, which like others, made our travels in this region especially colorful …
Though both nations have been hit by Islamist terror, Nigeria’s Goodluck Jonathan hasn’t gotten the same global support as France’s Francois Hollande. There are many reasons, but it starts with Jonathan’s own attitude toward his citize
For many in these very different extremist camps, it all begins with a “lying media.”
ISIS imposes harsh morality codes on women and girls in Raqqa, Syria. Now females under 45 are not allowed to leave, and one mother of a teenaged daughter says she knows why.
12 WOUNDED IN TEL AVIV BUS ATTACKTwelve people were injured, including 3 seriously, in a stabbing attack Wednesday morning in Tel Aviv. A 23-year-old man from the West Bank city of Tulkarem was arrested after being shot in the leg as he attempted to flee the scene, Haaretz reports. EXTRA! STATE OF THE UNIONIn a […]
U.S. President Barack Obama used his sixth State of the Union address to tell America the “shadow of the crisis has passed.” The Washington Post highlighted that Obama “dropped his veneer of reserve” and took credit for the improving economic situation. As the president announced more government intervention in the economy, with plans for new […]
Almost 60 years of travels, and hardly a drop of rain. Yes, even in Scotland, that’s how lucky we were. And what better proof than these Scots working on their tan in Princes Street Gardens, the charming public park in the centre of Edinburgh — or as we say in French, Édimbourg.
Animosity towards immigrants is strong in Hungary. Controversial Prime Minister Viktor Orban was particularly blunt during a recent television interview: “We don’t want immigrants in our country.” But it was also notable that Orban was speaking from Paris, where he participated in the Jan. 11 unity march after Islamist terrorists murdered members of the magazine […]
He’s coined everything from the PowerBook to Blackberry to your kitchen mop. There’s a method to his magic.
-OpEd- PARIS — Although the time for emotion and indignation about the recent terrorism in France is barely over, the moment for deeper reflection has arrived. What needs serious consideration, without prejudice or exaggeration, is the French way of dealing with cultural pluralism. The link between this subject and recent events is plain to see. […]
Most carmakers know that the real money isn’t in the car itself but in its parts and components, which are increasingly high-tech. Those who invest in development will win the revenue game.
La Nación (Argentina) January 20 2015 Protests denouncing Argentine President Cristina Kirchner erupted all over the country Monday after prosecutor Alberto Nisman was found dead Sunday morning. Authorities are calling the death an apparent suicide, but protestors believe he may have been murdered for accusing the president of concealing Iranian culpability for the 1994 bombing […]
The accusations Alberto Nisman was set to make were harmful to Iran’s interests. And the known intelligence superpower is expert at disposing of its enemies. Many in Argentina doubt that Monday’s death was a suicide at all.
IMF CUTS GROWTH PROSPECTSThe International Monetary Fund has sharply cut its global growth forecast of just six months ago, with almost every economy except the United States expected to grow at a slower pace than previously thought, Bloomberg reports. The Washington-based lender said an economic slowdown in China, recession in Russia, and poor prospects in […]
-OpEd- ISTANBUL — The Turkish authorities all condemned the daily newspaper Cumhuriyet for publishing selections from Charlie Hebdo. From the president to the prime minister, from ministers to parliamentary deputies, the government was united in condemning the Turkish newspaper. Insulting the sacred is unacceptable, they said. Meanwhile, al-Qaeda led demonstrations at mosques around the country, […]
This picture is old, but not as old as it seems: These men were actors taking a break on the set of a war movie on the river Krka in the historic town of Sibenik. Still, the image provides a slice of history, as we were on a trip through the Socialist Federal Republic of […]
As prices on oil and other raw materials drop, the cycle of what some call “macroeconomic populism” is hitting a rather tough patch, especially for Argentina and Venezuela.
PESHAWAR — Shahana Khan had to wake her son up on the morning of December 16. He was late for school and she had to push him out the door. He was one of the 132 students who didn’t come home. “I cry all the time thinking I told him to go to school. I opened the gate for him,” mourns Shahana. At this time she would normally be making him breakfast: “I feel him in the house all the time and hear him. People say it’s just in my head but for me it is very real. I hear […]
While the United States’ political system is gridlocked by ideological poison, the German coalition government limits the benefits of bickering. A search for that perfect dose of acrimony.