Worldcrunch MEXICO CITY – We’re not sure if this is fodder for a Disney cartoon feature, or a Stephen King horror movie: a woman in her car was caught on video by a fellow motorist trying to abandon her dog on the streets of the Xochimilco district of Mexico City. The faithful pooch, who appears […]
Category: Society
In the southern Italian region of Calabria, the organized crime syndicate known as the “Ndrangheta is known for its cruelty and ever more central role in the international drug trade. But in his book Rebelling Sweethearts, journalist Lirio Abbate is focused on a largely untold chapter in “Ndrangheta’s story: its women. Abbate, an award-winning chronicler […]
AFP, LE MONDE (France) Worldcrunch PARIS – The Chief Rabbi of France was forced to step aside, after a scandal over alleged plagiarism and lying about his education background, reports Le Monde. Gilles Bernheim, 60, announced the decision on Thursday, following an emergency session of the Central Consistory, the main Jewish administering institution in France. […]
MUNICH -The opposite of good is well-intentioned. And the present conflict between Femen activists and Muslim feminists demonstrates how a “well-intentioned” action can fail so miserably. Femen activists are supposed to be the good guys – the ones who stand for freedom and emancipation. To spread their message they protest topless – naked but not […]
FEZ – It is the fourth stage of the Tour du Maroc bicycle race, and we are somewhere between Guercif and Fez. Since this morning, the wind has not stopped sweeping this stretch of road, and the cyclists with it. Everyone is pedaling in slow motion, at about 15 kilometers per hour. Some of the […]
EUROSPORT, YOUTUBE Worldcrunch A Japanese TV show created a soccer goalkeeper robot that reacts at the speed of light, apparently making it all but impossible to score. After several top Japanese players were stymied by the machine, Argentinian soccer legend Lionel Messi accepted the challenge. (No word on how much he was paid to show […]
AAP (Australia); NZ HERALD, RADIO NEW ZEALAND, SCOOP (New Zealand) Worldcrunch WELLINGTON – Parliament on Tuesday approved a measure that would make New Zealand the first country to legalize synthetic drugs, otherwise known as party pills. If it gains final approval later this year, the Psychoactive Substances Bill would create a system to test and […]
SUDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG (Germany) TIMES OF ISRAEL Worldcrunch AMSTERDAM – Of the 110,000 Jews deported from the Netherlands during World War II, only 6,000 returned home from the concentration camps. The survivors mostly found that their homes had been destroyed, or had been taken possession of by non-Jews. It was then, if they were from Amsterdam, […]
BEIJING – Last month Shandong University announced that 97 of its students wouldn’t be granted their diplomas due to “poor academic performance after frequent warnings.” Ninety-seven is a drop in the bucket next to the school’s 43,000 undergraduates; and even of those 97, all but 16 have been given a reprieve allowing them to graduate […]
BUENOS AIRES – Argentina’s capital has a new problem: the growing number of “underground” parties in improvised nightclubs and bars – a sector that is thriving in utter illegality. In the past two months, authorities have closed down 15 so-called mega-parties, where alcohol was being sold without a license and which operated without a city […]
RIO DE JANEIRO – Cleide Oliveira, a 45-year-old beauty salon owner specialized in straightening curly hair, says she’ll soon be forced to find a new job. Since November 2011, when a Unidade de Polícia Pacificadora or Police Pacifying Unit (UPP) was created in Rocinha — Brazil’s biggest favela near Rio de Janeiro — she has […]
CHINA TIMES, ECONOMIC DAILY (Taiwan); XINHUA (China) WUHAN – In a booming economy, even the dead can help you turn a profit. Friday was Tomb Sweeping Day, or the Qingming Festiva, in China. Set officially as a national holiday on April 4 or 5, this has traditionally been a family day on which people pay […]
LEMERA – One woman now lives with her daughter in a densely populated neighborhood of the city of Bukavu, in eastern Congo. Six months ago, she had been sentenced to permanent exile from her native village of Lemera, in the South Kivu province, after a tribal court tried and convicted her of using witchcraft to […]
This classic Paris address, which inspired the movie Ratatouille, is even more fancy — and delicious — in real life.
After several high-profile miscarriages of justice, could a Chinese movement take root to abolish capital punishment? But public outrage cuts both ways.
FRANCE 3 BRETAGNE, LE TELEGRAMME (France) Worldcrunch PARIS – From Ernest Hemingway to Carla Bruni, the French capital has seen its fair share of notable visitors over the years. But this week saw a surprising arrival from the provinces: four black woolly sheep brought in from Ouessant Island, a remote island to the west of […]
CORRIERE DELLA SERA, LA STAMPA (Italy) Worldcrunch VENICE – The city famous for its canals and occasional “high water,” has withdrawn its candidacy to become European Capital of Culture in 2019 because it is already flooded with tourists, reports Corriere della Sera Forrestn While other cities line up for all the residual payoff of getting […]
AFP, LE MONDE (France), HAARETZ (Israel) Worldcrunch PARIS – The Chief Rabbi of France, Gilles Bernheim, has admitted to having plagiarized and lied, after it emerged that several parts of his book Forty Jewish Meditations were taken from other sources, reports Le Monde. “The plagiarizing unmasked on the Internet is true,” Bernheim wrote in a […]
NEW YORK TIMES, HARTFORD COURANT (USA) Worldcrunch WASHINGTON – Connecticut lawmakers approved a comprehensive package of gun laws in the early hours of Thursday. The sweeping package bans the sale of magazines carrying ten or more bullets, requires background checks on all firearms sales, sets up a registry of weapons offenders and imposes mental health […]
The most memorable graffiti and wall murals are often demolished by the force of urban real estate development projects.
Mediapart uses old-school reporting to get major scoops, including a probe that just forced France’s Budget Minister to resign. But you have to pay to read. A news model for the future?
TURIN – Music and organized crime are a duo that have gone hand-in-hand since way back when. Outlaws often see songs as a way to glorify what they do, creating legends that inspire as well as frighten the regions they come to dominate. The Mexico we hear about today is said to be held hostage […]
It’s simple economics: people with math skills have higher-paying job offers than teaching.
An interview with Zhang Xianmin, founder of one of the many independent cultural events that were banned last year by the Chinese government.
A new study in Germany explores the role of Christian belief in driving Nazi brutality.
Some say, in the long run, segregating bus and tram lines will actually make it worse.
REUTERS, AP Worldcrunch RANGOON – On Monday, Burmese readers had a choice of daily newspapers for the first time in 50 years, as a state monopoly on newspapers ended. Sixteen publishing licenses were granted by Burmese authorities, but only four privately owned newspapers managed to hit the stands today, reports Reuters. The other newspapers failed […]
LYON – Those familiar with the Freegan movement know that dumpster diving to find food to eat is nothing new. But organizing free food distributions to denounce food waste is a novel form of Freeganism – as practiced by the activists from the Gars Pilleurs organization founded by two young men from Lyon, east-central France. […]
Welcome to the international day of distrust for everything and everyone you know. As we are coming to discover, April Fool’s Day was both made for the Internet — and made for the Internet to eventually destroy. Here are some of this year’s early entries: 1) Google Nose Pick your smell, get your nose against […]
Categories
Art Forgery Is A Family Affair In Russia
KOMMERSANT (Russia)

 Worldcrunch MOSCOW – It was a very particular family enterprise. Twin brothers, both professional artists, painted more than 800 paintings and then sold them, with the help of one of the brother’s daughter, claiming that they were the work of well-known 20th century Russian artists such as Kazimir Malevich. Painting by Kazimir Malevich. […]
MOQATTAM – After stray dogs violently attacked two children in Moqattam last month, their families pressured the local veterinary council to put an end to the problem by poisoning the animals with strychnine — a deadly pesticide. As a lethal product, strychnine should not be deposited at random, as it can also threaten residents’ health. […]
ROME – Refuse from the shacks float by in the river’s brown, putrid water. There is mud everywhere and the acrid smell of burning plastic lingers in the air. Chickens crow and dogs bark, rusty chain-links act as fencing and a gate. It looks like Manila, but this is Rome. Welcome to the “City of […]
BERLIN – There are impressive museum collections – indeed entire museums – of works by Pablo Picasso: in Malaga and New York, Paris and Barcelona, Münster, Madrid, Basel and Cologne. The best one? Berlin – part of the legendary collection of art dealer Heinz Berggruen (1914-2007) housed since 1996 in a palazzo-style building across from […]
Worldcrunch CARACAS – An animated video has been released by ViVe, the cultural TV channel owned by the Venezuelan government, depicting Hugo Chavez passing into immortality. The short video shows El Comandante being welcomed into the afterlife by famous Latin American heroes of the past that it felt best represented Chavez’s political ideals. From right […]
In Spain and Latin America, debate is raging in the publishing world about whether a dead writer’s heirs have the right to publish works, which in life, the author did not want to publish.
The shooting of teenage blogger Malala Yousafzai was just the tip of the iceberg. Extremists are taking aim at all girls schools of northwest Pakistan. What does the Taliban fear?
LÜDENSCHEID – There aren’t many places more secretive nowadays than a certain German automobile factory, even if the shiny Mercedes sedans and Porsche sports cars it rolls out are bound for mantlepieces, not autobahns. You see, this factory makes German model cars. Still, giving visitors a tour is virtually impossible, says Britta Sieper, 35, who […]
Known for its gender equality, Sweden has begun to turn ugly. Some point to a “Breivik effect” spreading through Scandinavia since the 2011 massacre in Norway by a right-wing extremist.
BEIJING – To stem surging housing prices and curb speculation, China has recently issued a new policy that enables local governments to impose a 20% tax on profits earned from the sale of a second home. This is a huge hike from the current 1-2% tax. The move immediately triggered panic among the affluent class […]
China’s basketball legend Yao Ming wants to save the sharks. Wang Haifeng wants to save 500 jobs. Who are you rooting for? Have you ever tried shark fin soup?