Two very different tragedy-at-sea stories occupied the front page of Thursday’s Rome-based daily La Repubblica. The Italian island of Lampedusa was once again witness to the horror of would-be immigrants dying after setting out from North Africa in an attempt to reach European shores. As many as 300 people were feared dead after taking a […]
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Learning And Playing Music Makes You Smarter
Musical education, not only at a young age but also into adulthood, could have a significant and lasting impact on the development of the brain as well as on speech awareness, a study published in the The Journal of Neuroscience reveals. According to the researchers from Canada’s Rotman Institute, practicing music before the age of […]
LEADERS AGREE ON UKRAINE CEASEFIREAfter hours-long negotiations in Minsk, leaders Petro Poroshenko, Vladimir Putin, Angela Merkel and François Hollande (Photo: Henadzi/Xinhua/ZUMA) have reached what the French president described as a “comprehensive deal” for a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine to begin at midnight Saturday. Putin was the first one to speak after the meeting adjourned, saying […]
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Song Du Jour #8, Spice Girls
Four previously unreleased Spice Girls songs recorded in the late 90s have “leaked” online this week. Three of them were soon deleted but one ballad, “A Day In Your Life”, is still there.
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The Belly Of Paris
“Le Ventre de Paris,” as French writer Émile Zola called it, has changed considerably during the past century. The Halles de Paris, this gigantic cast iron and glass food market right in the middle of the capital, was demolished in the early 1970s and replaced with the questionable Forum des Halles shopping mall. Today it […]
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Song Du Jour #7, The Smiths
The Smiths’ second and most commercially successfull studio album Meat Is Murder was released exactly 30 years ago, on Feb. 11, 1985.
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Ukraine, All Eyes On Minsk
UKRAINE, ALL EYES ON MINSKAngela Merkel, François Hollande, Petro Poroshenko and Vladimir Putin meet in a crucial peace summit on the Ukrainian conflict Wednesday in Belarus’ capital Minsk. The leaders of Germany, France, Ukraine and Russia will attempt to find a compromise and broker a durable ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, where clashes between government forces […]
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El Capitan Del Titicaca
Lake Titicaca is located on the border of Peru and Bolivia. I’ve already shown you what the Peruvian side looks like, so this is me standing on the Bolivian shore of the lake — for once in front of the camera and not behind it.
UKRAINE LAUNCHES OFFENSIVEUkrainian government forces launched an offensive against pro-Russian rebels near the port city of Mariupol today, Reuters reports. Leaders from Germany, France, Ukraine and Russia are set to gather tomorrow in Minsk, Belarus, to discuss a possible ceasefire. After meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday in Washington, U.S. President Barack Obama acknowledged […]
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Song Du Jour #6, Elka
Right behind Madonna in the top of the Russian charts, the Ukrainian singer Elka is enjoying commercial success with her single “Body Ofigel.”
A federal ruling legalizing same-sex marriage in Alabama took effect Monday. But in up to 52 of the state’s 67 counties, most judges refused to go through with processing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples, the International New York Times reports in its issue Tuesday. Chief Justice Roy S. Moore of the Alabama Supreme […]
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Bordery Forgery
This footbridge between two of the Thousand Islands in the Saint Lawrence River is often hailed as being the “shortest international bridge in the world.” The border that separates Canada from the U.S. is said to pass exactly between Zavikon Island and Little Zavikon Island, making for a great anecdote told by many tour guides. […]
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LAST QUARTER MOON: Feb. 9-15
(March 21 to April 19) Passions are more ardent this week, as well as a desire for someone you cannot have or who resists you. Love that does arise shudders with uncertainties, but it is all-encompassing; let it go, you have no choice. Longtime couples may take big strides in their relationships. In terms of […]
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Song Du Jour #1, Saturn’s Pattern
It’s only a snippet, but it’s a good way to start the week. Paul Weller has released a teaser of his upcoming album “Saturn’s Pattern”, which will be released next spring. The former frontman of The Jam said this album “is one of the best things I’ve done,” according to this month’s issue of Uncut. […]
NEW HOPE FOR UKRAINEGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to meet U.S. President Barack Obama later today in Washington for talks that will focus primarily on a ceasefire for eastern Ukraine. This comes after emergency meetings Friday and Saturday in Kiev and Moscow to negotiate a possible agreement ahead of a four-way meeting Wednesday in […]
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Extra! SwissLeaks In The Spotlight
Geneva-based daily Le Temps features on its Monday front page an ominous-looking photo of HSBC’s Geneva headquarters together with the headline “What the Falciani files reveal,” referring to the latest developments in the giant tax evasion scheme led by the world’s second largest bank, HSBC via its Swiss subsidiary, HSBC Private Bank. According to a […]
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Mighty Piton
Don’t let it fool you: The roads that lead to the Reunion Island“s Piton de la Fournaise (in the background) may be barren and stunningly quiet — but the volcano is one of the most active in the world. Just two years before we went there, the March 1998 eruption lasted 196 days, and le […]
This was the week that Greece’s newly elected Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras took his case to other European leaders in a push to renegotiate the massive Greek debt. His charisma and no-apologies leftist politics got the world talking.
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Worldcrunch’s Weekend Staff Playlist #6
Our staff playlist for this weekend involves an interesting mix of Brit rock’n’roll, Mandapop, Brazilian samba and some sort of Russian techno. Enjoy!
WARRING UKRAINE PARTIES CALL TRUCEPro-Russian rebels in Ukraine have reached agreement with government forces on a humanitarian corridor to allow the evacuation of civilians out of Debaltseve, a key railway hub in the heart of the latest fighting, AP reports. A rebel spokesman said 1,000 civilians would be evacuated today, though it’s not clear where […]
The fallout from the Petrobras scandal continues to consume Brazil. A former head of the energy giant has alleged that the governing Workers’ Party had received between $150 and $200 million in kickbacks from 90 of the biggest contracts Petrobras signed with major companies from 2003 until 2013, O Globo reports Friday. According to the […]
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Song Du Jour #5, Gang Of Four
Gang of Four, the emblematic post-punks from Leeds, released a video yesterday featuring The Kills’ Alison Mosshart for their track “England’s In My Bones”. The song will appear on their upcoming 9th studio album What Happens Next, which will be released on Feb. 24 in the U.S. and on March 2 in Europe.
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Appointed Chairman
Who needs a moving truck?
Argentinian President Cristina Kirchner came under intense criticism after she mocked Chinese pronunciation on Twitter while on a state visit to China seeking investment. But there was no mention of the diplomatic faux pas in the Thursday edition of Chinese newspaper People’s Daily, which instead chose to feature a picture of a friendly, if slightly […]
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Song Du Jour #4, Polycat
The synth-pop band Polycat is currently topping the charts in Thailand, its home country. Produced by the Bangkok-based record label Smallroom, the quintet was voted new artist of the year 2012 by the Thai radio station Fat Radio.
JORDAN VOWS “HARSH” WAR VS. ISISJordan’s King Abdullah II has vowed to wage war against terrorist group ISIS. He explained that his country’s response to the killing of a Jordan pilot, shown in a video that has shocked the world, “will be harsh because this terrorist organization is not only fighting us, but also fighting […]
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Spanish Steps To French Church
The Italian Renaissance Trinità dei Monti church, at the top of the famous Spanish Steps in Piazza di Spagna, was a little bit like a home away from home for us French travellers. “La Trinité-des-Monts,” as we call it, was built by a French king and has been under French responsibility ever since — together […]
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Song Du Jour #3, Lust For Life
British film director Toby Tobias told Metro today that Iggy Pop, who will star in his upcoming movie Blood Orange as — guess what — a rock’n’roll legend, was “such a gentleman” that he saved an injured stray cat while on set in Ibiza. We thought this deserved a few spins of his “Lust For […]
JORDAN EXECUTES TWO PRISONERS AFTER PILOT BURNED ALIVEJordan hanged two Iraqi prisoners Wednesday in retaliation to the killing of a Jordanian pilot by the terrorist group ISIS. Sajida al-Rishawi, a female jihadist involved in a 2005 bombing that killed 60 people in Amman and whose liberation had recently been requested by ISIS, and Ziyad Karboli, […]
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Down By The River
Same brand, different technique: These Ecuadorian women were washing their clothes using Ariel, a brand of laundry detergent popular both in Latin America and Europe. Their washing machine was just slightly bigger than ours — the Ambato River, a stream that ultimately empties into the Atlantic Ocean via the Amazon.
The world’s canals can attract all sorts of old indestructable items, from plastic bags to styrofoam cups. But if you’re in Egypt that can apparently include your occasional floating sarcophagus. Madr Masr reports that Egypt’s Antiquities Ministry has launched an investigation into the mysterious discovery last Friday of three ancient wooden coffins carrying sarcophagi drifting […]
Thanks to the French-language website Hip Hop We Trust, created by the collective of graphic designers We.ch, religious hip hop devotees can sample audio recordings of texts from the Bible, the Torah, the Koran or Buddhist scriptures with top French and U.S. rappers such as 2Pac, Eminem, RZA, IAM or NTM. “”This is my sound, […]
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Song Du Jour #2, McNulty’s Rap
This clip of Dominic West, a.k.a. Jimmy McNulty from the series The Wire, rapping last week with emcees Sinead, Bugsey and Jah Digga from Nottingham, UK., is priceless.
HAGUE ISSUES GENOCIDE RULINGAfter years of investigation, the Hague’s International Court of Justice has ruled that Serbia did not commit genocide against the Croats during the Balkan wars in the 1990s. While acknowledging that crimes had been committed, the court argued that Croatia failed to prove that Serbia had intended to “destroy in whole or […]
The English have long occupied Malta, hence the driving on the left with steering wheel on the right-hand side. But they haven’t managed to import the Anglican religion: Catholicism is still deeply rooted in the island, as evidenced by the religious icons and Latin formula Verbum Dei caro factum est (“The Word of God was […]
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Extra! Fidel Castro Resurfaces
Granma, February 3, 2015 HAVANA — Cuba’s Communist Party newspaper Granma has published the first photos of Fidel Castro in months, amid rumors that the health of the 88-year-old former Cuban leader has recently deteriorated. Granma“s front page Tuesday reads “More than three hours with Fidel.” In an article entitled Fidel es un fuera de […]
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FULL MOON – February 2-8
(March 21 to April 19) Professionally speaking, you have become a beacon for others around you. You may have noticed in the last two weeks that some people — despite having argued against your ideas — are now listening to you more. It’s a blessed sky to start new projects, which will be released in […]
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Extra! DSK’s Pimping Trial Begins
Almost four years after the New York trial that ended his political career, Dominique Strauss-Kahn is back in court Monday in a case that once again centers on his sex life. This time, he’s defending himself against charges of “aggravated pimping” related to the presence of prostitutes at sex parties. In the northern France city […]
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The Cradle Of The Himalayas
A wicker basket worked just fine as a crib for this baby in eastern Nepal, though she looked just about ready to outgrow it.
U.S. PONDERS ARMING UKRAINEThe United States may decide soon to equip Ukraine’s armed forces with “defensive weapons and equipment,” The New York Times reports, adding that many military and administration officials “appear to be edging toward that position.” Secretary of State John Kerry, who will travel to Kiev Thursday, is said to be open to […]