Worldcrunch
BEIJING – The official announcement came from Zhang Ping, head of China’s top economic planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission: the government would “speed up household registration reform” as part of its drive for urbanization of the rural population. Dubbed hukou, the household registration system dates back to the Mao era, and prevents […]
LA VOIX DU NORD, AFP (France) Worldcrunch ROUBAIX- A 73-year-old French woman rang in the New Year in a supermarket in northern France after being locked in for the night. The elderly woman went into bathroom after feeling slightly dizzy, reported La Voix du Nord. When she came out, she found the supermarket empty – […]
GDP v. Happy Planet Index? Some New Year’s number crunching from Moscow, comparing life in cold and warm climates, rich and poor countries, free and less free societies.
THESSALONIKI – Great defender of bears and forests, a winemaker who left the family business to launch his own high-end wine – Iannis Boutaris was an eccentric businessman. Since 2010, he is the atypical mayor of Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city with a population of 800,000. In his seventies, Iannis Boutaris wears colorful suspenders; tattoos, […]
MATADI – “I used to be ashamed of my small breasts, but I have finally fulfilled my dream of making them bigger,” says a cheerful woman from Matadi, southwest of Kinshasa, the Congolese capital. In this region, big boobs have become the new standard for feminine beauty. “It is sexy and so feminine. Men love […]
GENEVA – To distinguish themselves from Facebook and Twitter, new social networks are trying to find a different economic model. A trend is emerging – the return to paid subscriptions. From App.net to Diaspora, here is a short review of these new actors. App.net, the paying Twitter “We are selling our product, not our users.” […]
CASABLANCA – Saturday September 1st was a sunny day, the afternoon sky was blue and the summer holidays not quite over. A young couple, Mr. and Mrs. Ajouhi wanted to bring their six and three-year-old children to the Tahiti Beach Club on the Corniche Boulevard in Casablanca, Morocco. Established in 1940 and currently owned by […]
In the 17th and 18th centuries, opera performers could take any role they wanted. Sopranos were kings, countertenors their lovers; although, in an old theater tradition that went back to the Greeks, wet nurses were always played by men, and the character was re-written if no male could be found to play it. Only in […]
SUDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG (Germany) Worldcrunch BERLIN– This past year was the first for Germany’s innovative new Family Care Leave law that allows workers to take time off the job to care for needy relatives. But since coming into force at the beginning of 2012, Germany has met with little interest according to Federal Ministry of Family […]
XINHUA (China), VOICE OF AMERICA (USA), REUTERS Worldcrunch BEIJING – Chinese legislature has passed a law that includes mandatory real-name registration for Internet users, Xinhua reported on Friday. The new rules were announced by the official Xinhua news agency on Twitter: Rules approved Friday in China to enhance protection of personal info online and safeguard […]
BEIJING – The tale of Cao Tian, a wealthy real estate developer from the Western city of Zhengzhou, has captured the attention of many Chinese. But it’s not, as one might have imagined, for his business success or personal riches. It all started when Cao Tian first announced his intentions last year to run for […]
HAMBURG – Irina Galtsova has to concentrate on what she’s doing. If she makes a mistake, the inhabitants of Bonga Island won’t be able to plant any more palm trees, go fishing, or make pottery. Plus she could ruin the fun for hundreds of thousands of women who love the computer game she designs. The […]
The struggle for power in Lumbini, Nepal as a Chinese group pushes a “mega project” to draw Buddhist tourists from around the world.
LOS ANGELES TIMES, NEW YORK TIMES Worldcrunch News spread over the Christmas holiday that the acting trade had lost two of its most ordinarily recognizable faces, Jack Klugman and Charles Durning. Klugman, who died at the age of 90 on Monday, broke through with supporting movie roles in Hollywood, but was mostly remembered for his […]
BERLIN – What is the first thing Chinese people think about when asked about Germany? Sure, Oktoberfest, the Cologne carnival, but mostly: the car industry. German automakers Mercedes, BMW and Volkswagen were mentioned spontaneously by nearly 25% of Chinese people polled in a recent survey. Asked about China, Germans made associations like “economic power” and […]
CAIRO- The khatba has made a comeback in the last few years. A modern and polished version of the modestly dressed middle-aged matchmaker from the movies who visits families with a collection of pictures of prospective brides and grooms, a few Cairo women are looking once again to facilitate marriages and help people find their […]
CHAMONIX – Bruce Springsteen sang the song, but Lizzy Hawker was actually born to run. She just replaced the New Jersey rocker’s urban jungle for mother nature, open spaces, and most of all– mountains. Lizzy Hawker is the queen of ultra-trail running, an increasingly popular athletic and mystical sport. Ultra-trail running or ultra-marathon is any […]
BUKAVU – During the occupation of the Congolese city of Goma by the M23 rebels last month, the nearby border with Rwanda remained open, and daily exchanges between the two central African neighbors continued as usual. “We have no problem with the Rwandans as people. They are our brothers, our neighbors,” explains a Congolese teacher […]
LONDON- We’re at 70 Lower Clapton Road, northeast London, where David and Eleanor are manning the register. While the clock approaches noon, the machine passes the 500-pounds mark (more than $810). It’s been ages since the two owners of independent bookshop “Pages of Hackney” managed to tally such amount, all done without any special marketing […]
ERIZE – In the 1950s, the town had a thousand residents. Now it’s down to 17 souls. Among them are a group of women who have some ideas about how to stop the town of Erize, located in the eastern part of the Buenos Aires province, from disappearing from the map altogether. Earlier this month, […]
-Essay- BEIJING – Lately there seems to be a refreshing breeze blowing through China, which might even change the very essence of our “national conditions.” What are these Chinese “national conditions” anyway? They are many things – each uniquely Chinese. For instance, our tradition of “official-orientated consciousness.” We are accustomed to seeing large crowds at […]
BUENOS AIRES – They’re the daughters of Argentina’s upper class, and they go to the most prestigious and traditional high schools in the country. Today, the differences in school curriculum for boys and girls are shrinking, and the social role that girls “are expected” to meet is being tied increasingly to the values imparted to […]
SIDI BOUZID – In town to commemorate the anniversary of the death of Mohamed Bouazizi, who set himself on fire two years ago, Moncef Marzouki and Mustapha Ben Jaffar were greeted with stones and tomatoes. The President of Tunisia and the Head of the National Constituent Assembly had to leave the stage that was set […]
The Aegean town of Sirince has just 600 residents, but thousands are flocking there to survive supposed “end of the world” on Friday.
CLARIN, NOLAPLANCHES.COM.AR (Argentina) Worldcrunch BUENOS AIRES – December 20 is the Day of the Wrinkled Shirt in Argentina. This unlikely celebration was called by nolaplanches.com.ar (translates as: don’t iron it). It sounds like a housewife’s dream, but the Day of the Wrinkled Shirt is actually an environmental initiative put on through the collaboration of three […]
PARIS – As the end of the year approaches, it is difficult to escape the gift-giving madness. Santa has the family covered, of course, but the office is a different matter. Here, a postman replaces the old man with the red coat. The person who sent the present is rarely from Lapland – most often […]
TIME, THE ONION (USA) Worldcrunch Even though Kim Jong-un seemed like a shoe-in for Time’s Person Of The Year 2012, having accumulated more online votes than anyone by far, the magazine announced today that Barack Obama had won the coveted title instead. Barack Obama is TIME’s 2012 Person of the Year | ti.me/VQVajw #POY2012 — […]
DIE ZEIT, SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG (Germany) BERLIN – Lotte, the daughter of German Family Minister Kristina Schröder, is not yet two years old, but her mother is already busy helping her grow up to be a modern woman. Toward that end, Schröder says she is very selective when choosing her classic children’s books, including the legendary […]
JAPAN TODAY, NHK (Japan), AFP Worldcrunch HIROSHIMA – A worker at a waste disposal facility in Hiroshima in western Japan, has found more than 10 million yen (about $120,000) in cash in a pile of garbage. The money, whose origin has yet to be determined, was spotted by a monitor on a conveyor belt. Some […]
EL PAIS (Uruguay) CLARIN (Argentina) MONTEVIDEO – The past year has been a momentous one for supporters of gay marriage. And 2013 looks like it may begin with at least one more country — and the second ever in Latin America — to legalize same-sex marriage. Last week, the lower house of Uruguay’s legislature approved […]
DUBLIN – Ireland, its scenery, its music, its hospitality… who has never dreamed of having a couple of drops of Irish blood in their veins? That’s the idea behind “The Gathering.” In 2013, Ireland is calling on “all the Flynns, O’Malleys and Schweitzenburgs to come back home (…) no matter when their families left.” The […]
GLOBAL TIMES, XINHUA (China), THE GUARDIAN (UK), CNN (US) Worldcrunch Chinese authorities have arrested at least 101 people for spreading rumors about an impending apocalypse, the state-run news agency Xinhua reports. The 101 people arrested (including 37 in Qinghai and 34 in Fujian province in the east of the country, according to CNN) all belong […]
Online nvitation was for Dec. 21, the Mayan calendar’s fateful day…
BEIJING – After the end of last month’s 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China seems to have witnessed a nationwide wave of corruption investigations against the rich and powerful. First several high-ranking officials from Canton were dismissed from their posts. Then it was the turn of Li Chungcheng, the Deputy Party […]
CALCATA – Alessandro Falconi had promised he would pick up his guests by car, but he is an hour late. Luckily, the 30-kilometer drive to Calcata, where Falconi runs a small Bed & Breakfast, more than made up for the long wait. The roads in this countryside north of Rome are narrow and winding. Falconi’s […]
SOUTHERN PEOPLE WEEKLY (China), MING PAO (Hong Kong) Worldcrunch HONG KONG – Martial arts star, Jackie Chan, has kicked up a fuss this week when suggesting that Hong Kong authorities should crackdown on the nation’s burgeoning protest movement. Chan, who was born in Hong Kong, told China’s Southern People Weekly: “Hong Kong has become a […]
-Film Review- PARIS – Since December 2001, movie fans all over the world have been divided into two categories. On one side, you have the Peter Jackson fans – the “chosen ones,” possessed by an unwavering and somewhat disturbing faith, and on the other side, you have the heretics, pagans and other trolls of the […]
CHINA TIMES (Taiwan), XINHUA (China) Worldcrunch XIAMEN – Recently, a 17 year-old boy from the Chinese northeastern city of Changchun, in Jilin Province, secretly sold the four tires of his parents’ sports car to buy an iPhone 5. He sold the tires for about a sixth of their real value. His mother had previously refused […]
LENS – Matthieu Debas, the owner of the “Chez Cathy” bar, is peeling some potatoes for tonight’s French fries. Across the street, he can see the faint lights of the construction site. On Rue Paul-Bert, cars are zigzagging around heavy equipment, lit up by the lights of the diggers. As the inauguration date of the […]
NOUMEA – Stanley Jemes’ dream is to move back to Maré Island. There, he would grow sandalwood and yams, far away from town, “where everything is for sale.” On the island where he was born, Stanley would live with his family, like a tribe. “In Maré, we all live together. Here in Tindu, it’s everyone […]