Worldcrunch
“Here you have a stevia, that’s for diabetes,” says Téodora, a sun-weathered snippet of a woman of around 50, proudly beginning a tour of her medicinal plant nursery. She points out the Paraguayan lemongrass, for nerves; and a plant with little purple flowers, called “forever alive”, which is excellent for the heart.” All told, her […]
Here are the songs topping the charts from some music hot spots around world. First, our pick of the week from Varazdin, Croatia Croatian Tambura band: Mejaši
HERZOGENAURACH – The thing with the brush shoes gets Helmut Fischer going to this day. The small man with the friendly smile and pirate goatee sits in the visitors’ room of Puma Deutschland in the small, central German city of Herzogenaurach. Around here, Fischer is known as “Mister Puma.” The 63-year-old has been working for […]
Here are the songs topping the charts from some music hot spots around world. First, warm up with the Worldcrunch pick of the week:
ISTANBUL – On the eve of the traditional Kirkpinar oil wrestling competition, to be held in its 652nd year in the Edirne province in western Turkey, attention was turning to the “pehlivans,” as the wrestlers are called. The pehlivans hailing from Istanbul have arrived in Edirne for the July 5-7 competition, but the contingent from […]
BEERSHEBA – “If we need to be violent to be heard, we will be violent. We will lay down under the bulldozers…” A few kilometers south of Beersheba, the largest city in the Negev desert, Fahdi, his brothers and dozens of other relatives of his large family are gathered in a corrugated sheet metal hut […]
French police probe links to London’s machete murder of a British soldier three days earlier.
This week’s selection of magazine covers from around the world.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014 U.S. UPS RHETORIC AHEAD OF UKRAINE ELECTIONU.S. Vice President Joe Biden threatened Moscow with tougher sanctions if it undermines Sunday’s planned presidential election in Ukraine. “If Russia undermines these elections on Sunday we must remain resolute in imposing greater costs on Russia and we must be equally resolute to invest in […]
Take a tour of what the world’s been saying…
AFP, AAP Worldcrunch DHAKA – Bangladeshi rescuers have found a survivor in the rubble of a garment factory complex more than two weeks after it collapsed, the AFP reports. “She has been located in a gap between a beam and a column. Her name is Reshmi. She may have reserves of water or have drunk […]
IMF APPROVES $17 BILLION IN UKRAINE AIDThe International Monetary Fund approved a $17 billion bailout package over the next two years for Ukraine, with a first installment of $3.2 billion available immediately, Bloomberg reports. The loan “is dependent on strict economic reforms, including raising taxes and energy prices,” with reports of planned severe cuts in […]
FRANCE 24, LE PARISIEN (France) Worldcrunch PARIS – A day after armed men pulled off a spectacular 50 million euro diamond heist at Brussels Airport, two men made off with 3 million euros worth of diamonds after holding up a popular department store in central Paris on Tuesday night. The heist happened in broad daylight […]
AFP, AP, THE INDEPENDENT (UK) Worldcrunch BRUSSELS – Belgium police on Tuesday were looking for eight armed robbers who pulled off a spectacular heist at Brussels airport, making off with tens of millions of euros worth of diamonds. The men cut a whole in a perimeter security fence, drove onto the tarmac and attacked a […]
RIA Novosti, RT (Russia), BBC (UK) Worldcrunch CHELYABINSK – A large meteorite shower has injured at least 550 people and wreaked havoc across three Russian regions and Kazakhstan. “The Russian Urals region has been stricken by a sudden cosmic attack. Unidentified flying objects exploded over several major cities, including Chelyabinsk, where the blast waves blew […]
EFE, EL INFORMADOR, EL MEXICANO, MILENIO (Mexico) Worldcrunch MEXICO CITY– Rescue workers continue to search for survivors after an explosion killed at least 25 people at the headquarters of Mexico’s state-owned petroleum company Pemex. The number of injured had surpassed 100 by early Friday, with some people still believed to be trapped underneath the rubble, […]
ASSOCIATED PRESS, XINHUA (China) Worldcrunch BEIJING – At least 26 people were killed Friday in central China after a truck carrying Chinese New Year’s fireworks exploded and caused the collapse of a highway bridge. It remains unclear how the truck’s load detonated, but the blast was powerful enough to destroy an 80-meter stretch of the […]
MADRID – Spanish has become the most spoken language in the world after English – in real life as well as on social networking sites. It is the second most used language on Twitter, after English, ahead of Portuguese and Japanese. These findings were presented in Madrid last week by the head of the Cervantes […]
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BBC, SKY NEWS, THE GUARDIAN (UK) Worldcrunch LONDON – A helicopter crashed during London’s morning rush hour on Wednesday, killing two people and wounding 11 others. The incident happened at St George’s Wharf on the River Thames near Vauxhall, in southern London. According to The Guardian the helicopter hit a crane on a building site. […]
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THE TIMES OF INDIA, ASIAN AGE (India) AFP Worldcrunch NEW DELHI – Eighteen days after the violent gang rape of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student set off a worldwide outcry, police filed charges in court against the five men arrested in the case, reported the Indian Express. The young woman, who was brutally […]
-Essay- CAIRO – During the painful Ettehadiya battle earlier this month between Brotherhood supporters and youthful opposition, the violence was not just physical. The scene was also a battlefield of chants. We chanted, “horriya” (freedom). They responded, “Sharia.” Then we uttered, “Jika.” Then they fell into a temporary silence, bedazzled and confused about what the […]
YOUTUBE, AFP Worldcrunch MOSCOW – Four people were killed when a Russian jet from Red Wings Airlines overshot the highway at a Moscow airport and crashed on a nearby highway. The Tupolev Tu-204 jet was empty of passengers, and was just carrying eight crewmembers according to the AFP. “Four crewmembers were killed and four more […]
AL MASRAWY (Egypt), SKY TV Worldcrunch CAIRO – After weeks of confrontation over a proposed new Egyptian Constitution, President Mohammed Morsi has signed the decree that makes the new document the law of the land after voters approved a nationwide referendum, according to press reports early Wednesday. Al Masrawy reported the official results of the […]
THE JAPAN TIMES, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN, (Japan) THE NEW YORK TIMES (USA), BBC NEWS (UK) TOKYO – Japan’s new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has unveiled his Cabinet lineup, as he begins the task of resuscitating the country’s economy. Parliament voted Shinzo Abe back to power after Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda resigned Wednesday, ending the country’s […]
Worldcrunch French acting legend Gérard Depardieu said he was surrendering his French passport after France’s prime minister called his move to Belgium for tax reasons “pathetic.” The acting legend had come under criticism last week for declaring permanent residency in the Belgian town of Néchin – allegedly to duck out on France’s new 75% tax […]
SINA NEWS, E-TODAY (China) Worldcrunch BEIJING – A Chinese man recently divorced and sued his wife for giving him an ugly daughter. Not only did he win the case, his ex-wife was sentenced to pay him 750,000 Yuan ($120,000) in compensation, reported Sina News. According to the report, Feng Jian, the indignant husband, was shocked […]
BBC, GUARDIAN (UK), DIE WELT, FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINER ZEITUNG (Germany), LES ECHOS (France) Worldcrunch ATHENS – Greek unions are staging “the mother of all strikes” as Parliament votes on another round of budget cuts, writes the Guardian. The bankrupt Greek government is facing a tough job: convince the Greek people that austerity measures are necessary. “This […]
Worldcrunch PARIS – The third and final presidential debate is slated to cover the major foreign-policy issues of our times: the rise of China, Iran’s nuclear program, Harry’s crown jewels. For the two candidates, suddenly having to shift gears to global concerns in the midst of a domestic, pocketbook-centric campaign means lots of extra homework. […]
PETRA (Jordan), INDEPENDENT, GUARDIAN (UK), AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE (France) Worldcrunch AMMAN – Jordanian police say they have arrested 11 suspected terrorists who had crossed the border from Syria and were planning a major attack against foreigners in Jordan’s capital. The U.S. embassy in Jordan was among the targets, an embassy spokesman confirmed to the Independent. […]
LE MONDE, L’EXPRESS, LA CROIX, EUROPE 1 (France) Worldcrunch PARIS – Speaking to a group of 600 educators at the Sorbonne, France’s 700-year-old university, President François Hollande declared last week that he hopes that his government will become known as the “education administration,” Le Monde reported. One of Hollande’s most talked about reforms was the […]
SÜDKURIER (Germany), AIR PARIS (France) Worldcrunch PARIS – The first time zeppelins flew over Paris, it was to bomb the city during World War I. Now, a German zeppelin company says it is nearing agreement with a company in Paris that plans to offer flights around the Eiffel Tower. The company, Air Paris, already has […]
FRANCE 24, LES ECHOS (France), GUARDIAN, EVENING STANDARD (UK), BLOOMBERG (USA) LONDON – Are the rich and the entrepreneurs leaving France? Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, certainly hopes so. Pointing to the 240,000 Frenchmen who currently live in his city, he invited those unhappy with the French government’s new tax scheme to move to […]
RUE 89 (France), YOUTUBE Worldcrunch Hiding for months in plain view on YouTube, a grainy video has begun to circulate of longtime Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser laughing off the Muslim Brotherhood demands that the state uphold Islamic traditions. The clip is charged with historical significance in light of the Brotherhood’s rise to power earlier […]
HURRIYET, RADIKAL (Turkey), AL JAZEERA (Qatar) Worldcrunch ANKARA – Turkish artillery has continued to target Syria for a second straight day, in retaliation for the shelling of a Turkish town that killed five people. Wednesday’s deadly mortar fire heightened tensions as it marked the first time that Turkish citizens have been killed as a result […]
STERN (Germany), LE TELEGRAMME, LE PARISIEN, NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR, CLOSER (France) Worldcrunch Paris Fashion Week, a twice-a-year ode to luxury consumption, has been going on for several days. It is the best time of year for celebrity-watchers to catch a glimpse of Kate Moss, Kristen Stewart, Salma Hayek, Princess Charlene of Monaco or Valerie Trierweiler, “first […]
TAIPEI TIMES, LIBERTY TIMES (Taiwan), KYODO (Japan), SKYNET.BE (Belgium), REUTERS Worldcrunch A fleet of up to 100 Taiwan fishing boats, accompanied by 10 Taiwanese coast guard vessels, sailed into Japanese-controlled waters this morning, according to the Taipei Times. The waters are near the islands being disputed between Japan, which calls them the Senkaku, and China, […]
LE MONDE, OUEST FRANCE (France) Worldcrunch PARIS – French far right leader Marine Le Pen weighed in on the Prophet Muhammad caricatures and anti-Islam film protests in an interview published by Le Monde on Friday. When asked by the French newspaper what she would do if she was elected president, the Front National party leader […]
FOCUS, BERLINER MORGENPOST (Germany), LES ECHOS (France) Worldcrunch BERLIN – The German Constitutional Court has upheld the legality of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), which had been set up to help bail out countries in the euro zone on the verge of financial collapse. With the decision Wednesday, a great source of anxiety was lifted […]
REUTERS, AP Worldcrunch Is it a bird? Or a plane? No, it’s just Vladimir Putin, taking time out of his busy Kremlin schedule to teach caged birds to fly. The Russian President’s latest publicity stunt involved him doning a white costume and flying a motorized hang glider to help introduce into the wild a flock […]