Worldcrunch
FUKUSHIMA — In 1970, electronics company Panasonic inaugurated a factory in the Japanese city of Fukushima to assemble radio sets. In the 1980s, when Japanese electronics were at their peak, the site expanded to produce video material and CD players. In 2011, the earthquake that destroyed the Daiichi nuclear power plant left the Panasonic factory […]
In Iraq, near Mosul, ISIS was running a sophisticated operation to make guns and explosives. A new report has found much of the material used came from facilities in Turkey.
PARIS — Our crack staff of serious but seriously subjective journalists, translators and editors have chosen what we believe to be the year’s most engaging and provocative Worldcrunch stories. America And Us, Trump’s Victory Is Very Bad News For The World FRANCE — Les Echos, Nov. 21 Panama Papers: Link Between Magnitsky Probe And Putin’s […]
If Nordic people are the happiest people in the world, it is thanks to the state of welfare and cuddling with friends in the candlelight. Today the word for this ritual invades the life of Francophones.
What has Germany done to make people feel safer after the events of last New Year’s Eve, when hundreds of women were sexually abused in Cologne and other cities? Not much, writes author Birgit Kelle.
PARIS — There was enough news (real and fake) to keep our heads spinning for all of 2016. Yet one project we are particularly proud about this past year is our new Rue Amelot ongoing series of essays. These pieces may or may not take news as a leaping-off point, but ultimately wind up somewhere […]
The architectural icon begun by Antoni Gaudi in the late 19th century is still incomplete. Now city hall wants to end a century-old legal exception, as debate continues about protecting the original architectural vision.
Ceding to Russia’s influence in Syria is a “rare public humiliation,’ for Erdogan and his ambitions to make Turkey a world diplomatic power.
After the Christmas market attack in Berlin, the Western world would be wrong to assume it can prevent its cultural or political dissolution by merely repeating its prayers to the glory of diversity.
Venezuela is not running out of banknotes due to criminal or speculative hoarding.
BIALYSTOK — There are plenty of cities in Poland that have something to hide. Bialystok is one of them. That’s where 80,000 Jews disappeared. Twice. The first time was during World War II; the second time, right after the War, when residents desecrated the Jewish cemetery and used it in the winter for riding their […]
For a fistful of dollars (actually, pesetas), I was able to visit Tabernas and its movie sets that were used in Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns in the 1960s. Cue some chords from Ennio Morricone …
[dailymotion //www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/x55f778 expand=1] Goodbye 2016: A Zapping Video Year In Review by Worldcrunch
For some, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has become both the economic and moral leader of Europe. From tackling the eurozone’s debt crisis to countering Russian ambitions to bucking the tide of populism to welcome a million refugees into her country last year, Merkel has been lauded for her quiet but principled pragmatism in the face […]
Several decades of reflection and study have led neurobiologist Jean-Pierre Changeux to stake out a new field that shows how art influences the brain.
CAIRO — There are 28 letters in the Arabic alphabet. There are four possible written forms for each letter, depending on whether it stands alone, or comes at the beginning, middle or end of a word. Then there are diacritic symbols, indicating the script’s correct pronunciation, which hover gently above or below each letter’s lines […]
A county in China long known for its poets and philosophers is now in the news for something far more notorious — renting out children as thieves for hire. In Dao county in the southern Chinese province of Hunan, a child can be rented for 200 yuan ($29) a day, or 50,000 yuan ($7200) a […]
Make it stop! That’s the message delivered this week by an organization of Protestant churches in El Salvador, Central America’s smallest but deadliest country. The group, known as the Pastoral Initiative for Life and Peace, or IPAZ, is hoping that for the week between Christmas and New Year, gang members, security forces, operatives of so-called […]
The killing of Russian ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov has set off comparisons to 1914 and the singular spark for World War I.
-Analysis- BOGOTÁ — A majority of gay and lesbian students in Colombia feel unsafe in school and almost a quarter of them miss classes because they fear getting bullied, a survey by two non-profits found. Sixty-seven percent of LGBT secondary schoolchildren feel unsafe at school, according to the poll by advocacy groups Colombia Diversa and […]
Another week that will be stained in blood. For people in the West and throughout the (non-Orthodox) Christian world, this happens to be the week before the Christmas holiday, which leads us toward a new year. Few, at this point, have any illusions that 2017 can really be any less dreadful than 2016. Monday’s attacks […]
“Fear of terrorism in Berlin,” read the front page of Berlin-based daily Der Tagesspiegel on Tuesday, a day after a seven-ton truck plowed into a Christmas market in the heart of the German capital, killing 12 and wounding dozens. German police are investigating the event as a terrorist attack. Early this morning, police raided a […]
Before it became the Syrian rebellion stronghold, Aleppo was the heart of ancient civilizations.
Thirty years before Hitler’s crimes, Germany’s southwest African colony was the scene of mass killings of ethnic Hereros, whose descendants are still waiting for answers.
In a normal election cycle, the meeting of the U.S. Electoral College goes virtually unnoticed. The 2016 race to the White House, however, has been anything but normal. Recent allegations from both the CIA and FBI that Russia essentially “hacked the election,” come as the apparent state-by-state electoral college loser Hillary Clinton leads the overall […]
CERIGNOLA — Franco Metta is the mayor of the small town of Cerignola, located in the southern Italian region of Apulia. He recently received a box of biscuits as a Christmas gift from a local businessman, but upon opening the box he discovered 20,000 euros ($21,120) expertly rolled into two packs of 10,000 each — […]
-OpEd- KALAMAZOO — People from China who travel abroad are struck by the stark differences between their countries. In the U.S. and Europe, they probably envy how people live in comfort and are rich enough to engage in arts and public service. These countries in general have more honest and transparent governments, as well as […]
-OpEd- When President Yahya Jammeh accepted electoral defeat in the tiny west African nation of Gambia two weeks ago, voters and democracy advocates alike cheered. Jammeh, who once claimed a “billion-year” mandate and has been in power for 22 years, was finally vacating his throne. But the celebrations were premature. A week later, Jammeh decided […]
For moderate, unarmed rebels, as well as anyone wanted by the government, the rapid and brutal offensive to retake east Aleppo is a sign of what’s to come elsewhere in Syria.
-OpEd- MEXICO CITY — “Little civil wars’ are proliferating in Mexico. Yet the simmering cauldron fomenting these conflicts could also prove transformative. It would depend on how the dynamics are managed and, more importantly, if anyone will be able and willing to take charge of this process of change. These low-grade conflicts are being fought […]
WORLDCRUNCH NOTE TO READERS: This article was originally published in Kommersant on Nov. 10, two days after Donald Trump’s election win. Since then, there have been reports that Russian computer hackers may have interfered in the U.S. election in Trump’s favor. Also Trump had since called Taiwan’s president, sparking a diplomatic row with China. Nevertheless, […]
WARSAW — More than 60 Ukrainians of Polish descent in the breakaway region of Donbass have asked Poland if they could be evacuated there, a request Warsaw has refused. Instead, it offered a modest aid package. “Many of us are elderly people. There are single mothers too. It’s not possible to live here any more. […]
After bashing the investment bank during the campaign, why Donald Trump could not resist picking three top executives to run his economic policy.
The “looking back” on the past 12 months has begun. In Brazil’s case, 2016 may be the worst year in recent memory — and perhaps wins last place for good news of all countries at peace. Sadly, it’s hard to imagine how 2017 could be much better. In southeastern Brazil, 2016 started in toxic mud, […]
‘Flexicurity,’ the Danish labor approach, where it’s easy to be fired but also rehired, has helped unemployment remain among the lowest in the world. But the lack of skilled labor creates new demands.
After the fall of Aleppo, various alliances of convenience will be put to the test, as the scenario suddenly gets more complicated for both Damascus and Moscow.
The Lausanne-based start-up Skioo is organizing trips from Swiss cities to Alpine resorts thanks to an alliance with the U.S.-based car-hire app.
PARIS — Vladimir Putin, a former KGB officer with black belts in multiple martial arts, has the skill and know-how to kill a man with his bare hands. He also has a big scary dog, as a pair of Japanese journalists were reminded before interviewing Putin on Wednesday. The journalists “grimaced” and “stood there frozen” […]
Enough with the praise the Left has shamelessly heaped on Fidel Castro. He was simply a dictator who deprived Cubans of their basic human rights. Looks the same from the right.
TEHRAN — Since Boeing’s announcement Sunday that Iran Air would buy 80 new planes, the deal has been dissected for both its economic and geopolitical significance. The $16.6 billion purchase comes in the wake of the 2015 Iran nuclear accord and marks the U.S. aircraft company’s first deal with the country since the 1970s. Boeing […]