When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in .

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime .

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital Magazine NEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Free trial

30-days free access, then $2.90
per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
blog

Brussels Manhunt, "Reprehensible" Exxon, Viva La Vinyl

Brussels Manhunt, "Reprehensible" Exxon, Viva La Vinyl

BRUSSELS MANHUNT CONTINUES

Belgian police are hunting two suspects believed to have participated in Tuesday's Brussels terror attacks that killed at least 31 people and injured 270, Le Monde reports. One of them can be seen on airport security footage accompanying killers Ibrahim el-Bakraoui and Najim Laachraoui. Police believe he fled after dropping off a bag containing a bomb and that the other at-large suspect was in the Brussels metro with the third bomber, Khalid el-Bakraoui, moments before his accomplice blew himself up. According to the newspaper, the three dead suicide bombers, and potentially the other two suspects, were part of the Paris terrorist network and known to the police. Laachraoui is believed to have made the bombs used in November in Paris. Turkish President Erdogan told reporters yesterday that Ibrahim el-Bakraoui had been arrested in Turkey and deported to Europe last June as a potential Islamist militant, claims that represent "a major political embarrassment for Belgium," the Financial Times writes.

  • Belgian newspaper La Dernière Heurereports that the initial targets of the el-Bakraoui brothers, both of whom were supposed to be in jail, were Belgium's nuclear power stations. The recent arrest of Paris terrorist Salah Abdeslam, who appears to have been part of the same group of French-Belgian terrorists, reportedly forced the attackers to change their plans and act quickly before being caught.
  • Abdeslam's lawyer Sven Mary has claimed that his client didn't know anything about Tuesday's attacks. He has also said Abdeslam wants to return to France "as soon as possible … to explain himself." The terrorist had initially refused extradition after his arrest last Friday. According to newspaper Le Soir, the last surviving terrorist behind the Paris attacks hasn't been talking to investigators since Tuesday's killings. Yesterday, Belgian media reported he had been placed in a cell close to Mehdi Nemmouche, who is suspected of killing four people at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels in 2014. According to the reports, Nemmouche kept Abdeslam up to date during the attacks and told him several times to keep his mouth shut. Abdeslam's lawyer dismissed the claims as "materially impossible."
  • While some experts and EU leaders fear new attacks, AP reports that ISIS has trained at least 440 fighters to attack Europe in deadly waves. They are reportedly organized in a "network of agile and semiautonomous cells."

VERBATIM

"If European politicians, European elites, believe that we can solve the problem of terrorism by organizing another protest march, laying flowers where victims were killed or by lighting up monuments with the colors of the attacked countries, they're being terribly naive," Niezależna quotes Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło as saying. She also announced she was suspending Poland's commitment to welcome more refugees as part of an EU-wide relocation program. "I do not see it possible to allow migrants in Poland at the moment," Szydło said. Read more from Reuters.


SYRIA, IRAQ CLOSE IN ON ISIS-HELD CITIES

A Syrian army offensive to retake the ancient city of Palmyra from ISIS is underway. Government troops backed by the Russian warplanes that remain in the country have entered the "heart" of the city, which has been held by ISIS since May 2015, Al Arabiya reports, citing Syrian state media. If successful, the offensive would represent both a major boost to President Assad and his allies, and a major blow to ISIS. Meanwhile, across the border, Iraqi ground troops backed by U.S. airstrikes have launched an offensive to retake the ISIS-held city of Mosul. Read more from Newsweek.


NORTH KOREA HAILS SOLID-FUEL SUCCESS

North Korea is claiming to have successfully tested a solid-fuel rocket engine. If true, it would bolster Pyongyang's missile capabilities,The New York Times reports. Using solid fuel instead of liquid fuel means a greater ground mobility for missiles that can also be launched much quicker. "We have anticipated this and we have been making necessary preparations," the spokesman for South Korea's Defense Ministry said.


SNAPSHOT

Photo: Danny Lawson/PA Wire/ZUMA

More than 5,000 of the world's best Irish dancers, aged between 8 and 30, are participating in the 46th annual world Irish dancing championships at the Glasgow Royal concert hall, from March 19-27.


DEBRIS "ALMOST CERTAINLY" FROM MH370

Debris recently found by an American tourist on a beach in Mozambique is "almost certainly" from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which went missing two years ago with 239 passengers on board, the BBC reports.


$416 MILLION

The record industry made $416 million from U.S. vinyl sales last year. The figure represents a 27-year high, as vinyl purchases brought in more money than free, ad-supported streaming.


WORLDCRUNCH-TO-GO

Suffering with a low birth rate and grappling with how to maintain a workforce and economic development, Japanese officials believe they have a solution in AI. "Over the past few years, Japanese firms have competed in investing huge amounts of funds in the research and development of artificial intelligence," China's Economic Observer reports. "Toyota, the largest Japanese automobile maker, is among them. In a recent press conference, company president Akio Toyoda announced that the firm will spend $1 billion over the next five years in a joint AI research project with Preferred Networks, a small company located near Tokyo University."

Read the full article, Can Artificial Intelligence Solve Japan's Demographic Decline?


ROCKEFELLERS ABANDON EXXONMOBIL

The Rockefeller family, which has played a crucial role in the development and expansion of the oil industry, has announced that it is divesting from fossil fuels and its holdings in ExxonMobil, one of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil "babies." According to the Rockefeller Family Fund, Exxon's conduct on climate issues is "morally reprehensible."


ON THIS DAY


Hungarian-American illusionist Harry Houdini was born on this day in 1874. That and more in today's shot of history.


KIWIS KEEP THEIR FLAG

After months of drawing, campaigning and debating, and after spending no less than $17 million, New Zealand voters have decided to keep their flag as it is. Prime Minister John Key said he was disappointed that New Zealand would keep its Australia-like banner, but he urged all Kiwis "to use it, embrace it and, more importantly, be proud of it."


MY GRAND-PERE'S WORLD



WEIRDOVISION

If you thought the Eurovision song contest couldn't get any weirder, this year's contestant from Belarus will make you think again.

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Future

Life On "Mars": With The Teams Simulating Space Missions Under A Dome

A niche research community plays out what existence might be like on, or en route to, another planet.

Photo of a person in a space suit walking toward the ​Mars Desert Research Station near Hanksville, Utah

At the Mars Desert Research Station near Hanksville, Utah

Sarah Scoles

In November 2022, Tara Sweeney’s plane landed on Thwaites Glacier, a 74,000-square-mile mass of frozen water in West Antarctica. She arrived with an international research team to study the glacier’s geology and ice fabric, and how its ice melt might contribute to sea level rise. But while near Earth’s southernmost point, Sweeney kept thinking about the moon.

“It felt every bit of what I think it will feel like being a space explorer,” said Sweeney, a former Air Force officer who’s now working on a doctorate in lunar geology at the University of Texas at El Paso. “You have all of these resources, and you get to be the one to go out and do the exploring and do the science. And that was really spectacular.”

That similarity is why space scientists study the physiology and psychology of people living in Antarctic and other remote outposts: For around 25 years, people have played out what existence might be like on, or en route to, another world. Polar explorers are, in a way, analogous to astronauts who land on alien planets. And while Sweeney wasn’t technically on an “analog astronaut” mission — her primary objective being the geological exploration of Earth — her days played out much the same as a space explorer’s might.

Keep reading...Show less

The latest