WorldcrunchNICE MATIN (France) CANNES – Far from the red carpets and movie stars, Cannes hides its dark side. Look closer into the famous stretch of Mediterranean and you might see a crowd of cans, cigarette butts and other waste that continue to plague this southern French seaside city. Being a tourist attraction not only brings […]
Off the Nigerian coast, near the country’s largest city of Lagos, is a “graveyard” of some 100 grounded and rusted vessels that pose an environmental and security challenge to the oil-producing African country.
Collecting stamps (like gold) used to be banned in China. No longer — and Chinese collectors and investors may be creating a postage-stamp bubble.
LA PRESSE (Canada) After three straight months of strikes, including several violent clashes, the Quebec student movement can finally claim a tangible victory. Quebec’s Education Minister Line Beauchamp resigned Monday evening, to be replaced by Michelle Courchesne. The province’s new minister is expected to meet leaders of the student associations later Tuesday, to “evaluate the […]
During the just concluded campaign, France’s incoming Socialist President François Hollande had vowed to push through gay marriage during his first year in office. Conservative Catholic groups are already gearing up for a fight.
The making of a hoax: how a story about a law allowing Egyptian men to have sex with their dead wives went from rumor to front page of the Daily Mail, the Huffington Post and Al-Arabiya.
EL MUNDO (Spain) SEVILLA – Veteran American rocker Bruce Springsteen kicked off his European tour Sunday night in Sevilla with a special nod to Spain’s indignados, a grassroots movement launched in 2011 to protest austerity measures and high unemployment. Addressing the crowd of some 30,000 in Spanish, the 62-year-old musician dedicated one of his new […]
EL MERCURIO (Chile) SANTIAGO – In the heart of Providencia, a populous middle-class district of Santiago, you might find yourself walking along Avenida 11 de Septiembre. Of course, anyone familiar with modern Chilean history knows that street commemorates “the other 9-11,” the military coup of Sept. 11, 1973 that toppled Chile’s democratically elected Marxist president […]
LA NACIÓN (Costa Rica) SAN JOSE – An American man accused of running a sex slave operation in Costa Rica is on the lam while his associates – a Colombian, a Costa Rican and an Egyptian man – are now behind bars following a series of raids this past week. Police in San Jose, the […]
More than two decades after its political reunification, Germany continues to be divided along religious lines. Christianity still holds a fair amount of sway in the West. Not so much in the East, where two thirds of the population – young and old – are d
Color expert Katrin Trautwein “could never live anywhere that has white walls.” Her three-room apartment in Uster, Switzerland is proof of that. But she rejects the “naïve” notion that yellow is necessarily sunny, or that beige is always bland.
The Chinese people are fed up with their justice system which is rife with corruption and lack of due process. There have been too many cases of wrongful convictions and confessions obtained through torture.
LIBÉRATION (France) CRÉTEIL – The planned deportation from France of a Bangladeshi immigrant has been suspended after his son was crowned French junior national chess championship, Libération reports. Nura Alam, a member of the political opposition in Bangladesh, taught his son Fahim how to play chess in their native country, where the boy evenutally became […]
An Air France male flight attendant is suing the airline for discrimination and violation of his dignity. The cause of turbulence: his cornrows, which the aviation company believes are undermining its glamorous image.
Thilafushi Island, in the Maldivian archipelago, is a giant garbage dump where mountains of toxic trash are burned in the open, threatening to turn the Indian Ocean paradise into an ecological nightmare.
An Italian mother, now 58, and father, 70, are fighting to have their two-year-old back from foster care. The couple appealed in court to get the child back, claiming that she was taken away from them because of their age. Now a judge has ordered a new pr
Thieves in and around Sao Paolo are employing an effective, albeit not very delicate, tactic for robbing ATM machines. They blow them up. In the island town of Ilhabela, a gang of 20 men recently stormed ashore, exploded five ATMs, and took off with a sm
LE QUOTIDIEN D’ORAN (Algeria) ALGIERS – Algerians are turned off and tuned out when it comes to today’s legislative elections, Le Quotidien d’Oran reveals. The Algerian newspaper expects just a fraction of the country’s estimated 21 million voters to cast their ballots in the election, which will decide the next People’s National Assembly. Here’s a […]
EL MERCURIO (Chile) SANTIAGO – A pair of farm workers in northern Chile died Wednesday after being attacked by a raging bull that was captured – several hours later – with the help of a bulldozer. “After its capture the bull was killed,” El Mercurio Online reported. “According to witnesses, its furious reaction could have […]
CHINA TIMES (Taiwan) SEOUL – In 35 separate drug raids, South Korean customs officials say they have confiscated 17,000 “capsules of human flesh” originating in China. These capsules are allegedly made from the corpses of dead babies or fetuses, according to information first reported in JoongAng Ilbo, a South Korean newspaper. This so-called “medicine” is […]
In Mogadishu, artists have been forced to work underground for the past 21 years. Now as the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab warlords lose their grip on the city, Somalian culture rises from its ashes, as symbolized by the reopening of the once bombed Mogadish
Singer-songwriter, former model and novice actress, Carla Bruni has lately mostly been known for being married to now outgoing French President Nicolas Sarkozy. When she became the First Lady, she may have lost her left-wing Bohemian fans. What’s
Protesters in Russia have spent the nights since Vladimir Putin’s inauguration walking the streets of Moscow as a new way to keep the opposition movement kicking after the election. Moscow’s heavy-handed police force is not amused.
As divorce and blended families are becoming mainstream –think of the Brady Bunch as pioneers in the field– the homes where they live have to adapt to the new family dynamic. Architects and real estate agencies are eager to jump on the bandwagon.
LA REPUBBLICA (Italy) ROME – After a lull, Italy has registered a new spate of economic-related suicides following a wave of such deaths last month. Three Italian men killed themselves Tuesday because they could no longer bear their economic situation, La Repubblica reports. In the southern city of Salerno, Generoso Armenante, a 49-year-old who lost […]
Is this what happens when Tiger Moms (and dads and schools…) go berserk? They turn their children into livestock? A photo is circulating in China of a classroom of children preparing for a key exam with intravenous drip tubes, apparently feeding them am
LE FIGARO (France) PARIS – The French political etiquette is about to be put to the test: for the first time in France’s history, the incoming President is unmarried. François Hollande’s personal history is well known: he was together for decades with fellow Socialist party leader Ségolène Royal (who lost to Nicolas Sarkozy in the […]
Acclaimed author Ralf Bönt says it’s high time men “claim a place of their own.” In a new manifesto for the “Dishonored Sex,” the trained physicist notes that while men dominate the top of the social scale, mos
Analysis: Implemented in the late 1970’s in the face of overpopulation risks, China’s one-child policy stands today as an outdated, perverse system that fosters corruption and social injustice.
LA VOIX DU NORD (France) LILLE – “You need a car? HolLowCost, your cheap rental solution.” Now, say that again out loud. Christian Camelot, the 53 year-old owner of the offensively named rental service in northern France admits “To be honest, my company wasn’t doing so well, but three weeks ago I put up stickers […]
Günter Grass has been criticized by many inside and outside Germany for his recent criticism of Israel. Now Herta Müller, a fellow German winner of the Nobel prize for literature, used the release of her new book in Brazil to slam Grass’s moral s
On paper, at least, the rights of Afghan women have improved significantly over the past decade. But what happens after NATO troops pull out in 2014? Some fear that President Hamid Karzai, in an effort to appease the Taliban, will use women’s rights as a
Iraqi theater director Monadhil Daood is producing his own adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, revisiting the classic play to show the difficulties faced by Sunni-Shiite couples in the Arab World.
A picturesque English town is preparing a celebration for its signature contribution to world cuisine: the sandwich. Presiding over the events will be none other than the Earl of Sandwich, a distant relative of the Cribbage-crazy aristocrat who supposedly
A version of “The Scream” by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch sold at Sotheby’s for a record amount, as far as public auctions are concerned. With private sales, however, prices can be in a whole other stratosphere.
Essay: Comic book writer Grant Morrison is known for being a bit outrageous. He once organized a “wankathon” to boost sales. And so his recent “outing” of Batman should be taken with a grain of salt. Still, fans of the caped crusader have long had reasons
The newest trend on the red carpet: Why are it-girls and stars carrying a book under their arm, heading to a movie premiere with Nabokov’s Lolita or Albert Camus’s La Peste? Well, look inside.
Dwindling production, rising costs, new diseases: ten years after genetically-modified cotton was introduced in India with high hopes of boosting the economy, farmers are deeply disappointed with its results and wondering if it was all worth it.
A school outside of Paris has denied enrollment to more than 20 foreign-born students. Amnesty International and other rights groups call it a case of cruel xenophobia. Officials from the town say it’s just a budget problem.
A new play starring veteran Israeli actor Amir Orian features an old, unrepentant Adolf Hitler. Orian’s Hitler didn’t die in 1945, and eventually resurfaces in Israel. The play is part of a recent wave of Hitler culture in Israel that caught the attention