Worldcrunch
Analysis: After getting elected to a third term, Russian President Vladimir Putin skipped last month’s G8 in the US, and spent three long days in China this week. You do the math.
Worldcrunch MILANO OGGI NOTIZIE (Italy) MILAN – In Italian restaurants, if you want to drink water with your meal, you have two choices: bottled still water or bottled fizzy water, each about 2 euros a pop. Tap water is rarely served, and when it is, you often have the bad surprise of being billed for […]
In the Russian capital, where rush-hour traffic lasts past midnight, the Mayor has decided to make the city more pedestrian and bicycle friendly. Will drivers finally give way?
Worldcrunch SINGPAO.COM (China) ZHEJIANG – Earlier this week, a nursing student used her blog to post some photos she’d taken in a neo-natal ward in Zhejiang Province. The young woman had made paper cut-outs of blue eyebrows and pig ears and noses, and attached them to two sleeping babies. She then picked up each child […]
Are iron-fisted bans on tobacco the best way to reduce smoking? Or will it end up replacing regulated tobacco by counterfeit, dangerous, organized-crime produced cigarettes?
Worldcrunch BBC NEWS (United-Kingdom), RMC (France), LA STAMPA (Italy) Although the 14th European Soccer Championship is only just kicking off in the Ukraine and Poland, it has been the topic of headlines for many weeks now. The two countries hosting the competition are at the center of multiple controversies: *There is a culture of hooliganism […]
Worldcrunch REUTERS PESHAWAR – A bomb exploded on a bus on the outskirts of the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Friday, killing at least 19 people, police officials told Reuters. (DEVELOPING…)
AL ARABIYA (Saudi Arabia), FRANCE 24, LE NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR (France) PARIS – Syria appears set to descend into all-out civil war, as pressure from the international community heightens following allegations of a new massacre in the central province of Hama. United Nations observers are attempting to reach the town of Al Koubeir to investigate the […]
As Euro 2012 kicks off in Ukraine and Poland under a cloud of controversy, a female protestor in Brazil is already planning for the World Cup in two years — joining forces with feminist group Femen from Ukraine, which has a unique way of making themselve
CHINA TIMES, ECONOMIC OBSERVER (China) BEIJING – “Chinese people should tolerate a certain degree of corruption, because nowhere in the world is any country able to solve this problem completely. The importance is just to limit the corruption so people can tolerate it…” This commentary appeared three days ago in the Global Times, a branch […]
LES NOUVELLES NEWS (France) PARIS – The women’s semifinals were held Thursday at Roland Garros, an opportunity for some of the world’s best female athletes to shine. Yet the French Open organizers decided to turn centre court’s signature clay surface… pink! Sinking deeper in old clichés, the tennis officials set up a special “women’s village” […]
Call it the Internet’s ‘Neutral Territory’ – Switzerland is one of the few places in the world where Internet users can take whatever they want from the Web, regardless of the source. But creators of content are fighting back.
In the Jabal al-Akrad mountains, the Free Syrian Army rebels are fighting an uneven war against Bashar al-Assad’s army: with outdated weapons, depleting ammunition and barely a doctor to be found.
Worldcrunch AP, BBC NEWS DAMASCUS – Damascus denies reports of new mass killings in Syria’s central Hama region as pressure continues to build on the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Syria discarded as “absolutely baseless’ claims by opposition groups about a new massacre in which government forces allegedly killed some 100 people, AP reports. The […]
Worldcrunch EL PAIS, REUTERS, BLOOMBERG, IL SOLE 24 ORE TOKYO, LONDON, MADRID – Markets rallied in Asia and Europe on Thursday, with all eyes on the response to a gathering financial crisis in Spain. The Spanish Central Bank successfully auctioned more than 2 billion euros in medium and long-term bonds, El Pais reported, adding a […]
President Fernando Lugo has recognized his second child from his days as a supposedly celibate Catholic man of the cloth. Other paternity suits from various women are outstanding. Some estimates of the number of offspring might make a rock star blush.
ANT1 (Greece) ATHENS – Only weeks after the neo-Nazi Greek party Golden Dawn entered Parliament, one of its deputies physically attacked two left-wing women rivals during a TV show on ANT1. Ilias Kasidiaris, Golden Dawn’s spokesman, exploded when Rena Dourou, from the far-left party, referred to Kasidiaris’ current trial for armed robbery. Kasidiaris stood up […]
A painting of black President Jacob Zuma, in full frontal nudity, by a white artist creates a racial controversy that reminds South Africa the wounds of the Apartheid are not even close to be healed.
A wind of change is sweeping through Berlin, as Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble declares the need for stronger banking cooperation in Europe. Is this the big shift that can save the single currency?
LE SOIR (Belgium) MONS – Rock stars aren’t the only ones with groupies – bow-tied prime ministers have some too. During local celebrations last Friday, Belgium Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo was targeted by just such a super-fan. While the professorial PM was posing with Socialist Party supporters, a young woman pounced on him and […]
South Korea is rediscovering its beautiful coastline, and is working hard to turn its sleepy fishing ports into tourist destinations. Yeosu World Expo 2012 is the first among many events aimed at drawing visitors into the region.
Worldcrunch TERRA (Brazil) RIO DE JANEIRO – Does anyone have any doubts about Gisele’s beauty? Well apparently, before rising to supermodel status, Brazil’s Gisele Bündchen was rejected 42 straight times when trying to get an international runway job in London, the website of the Brazilian magazine Terra reported. “I turned to myself and asked ‘am […]
AL-ARABIYA (Saoudi Arabia) / SANA (Syria) DAMASCUS – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had commissioned a regime insider to form the next government according to the al-Arabiya news channel. Riad Hijab, who served as minister of agriculture in the previous government, was appointed to replace outgoing Prime Minister Adel Safr. The formation of the new cabinet […]
PAJHWOK (Afghanistan), L’EXPRESS (France) PUL-I-ALAM – At least 17 civilians were killed during a NATO air strike in Afghanistan on Wednesday morning, Afghan news agency Pajhwok reports. The attack struck the Logar Province, in the eastern part of the country: women and children were among the victims. The intended target of the raid was the […]
CTV NEWS, BBC NEWS (Canada) VANCOUVER – Vancouver’s False Creek Elementary School and St George’s school for boys have both received a package containing human body parts in what some suspect may be the latest twist in the case of Canadian porn actor Luka Rocco Magnotta, who was arrested The packages contained a human hand […]
Op-Ed: Moroccan author and political scientist offers a subtle thesis: sexual repression is a gateway to corruption and political repression.
Worldcrunch THE AUSTRALIAN, AFP SYDNEY – Venus and the Sun have put on a show for skywatchers, in a rare astronomical event that will not be seen again for another 105 years. The nearly seven-hour transit of Venus moving across the face of the Sun was best seen from the far northwest of America, the […]
Hibiscus flowers, palm trees- the loud colorful shirts sported by Magnum PI are making an unlikely comeback on catwalks and in Europe’s most fashionable stores.
A recent study compared the sleeping patterns of people living in western and eastern Germany, who all share the same time zone. When it comes to zzzz’ing: longitude matters!
THE STRAITS TIMES / CHANNEL NEWS ASIA (Singapore) SINGAPORE – “Since January, there have been nine fatalities, compared to four cases in 2011 and eight in 2012,” reports the Straits Times. Is the newspaper talking about car accidents or bird flu? No, that’s the number of maids that have died from falling out of a […]
Named one of the world’s richest and most powerful women by Forbes in 2005, Former Prime Ukrainian Minister Yulia Tymshenko sits in jail as her country is set to co-host the European Soccer Championship.
More than a quarter million people have already signed a petition asking for the show to apologize for the way it bullies its contestants.
LIBERATION, AFP (France) PARIS – Damascus has declared as “personae non gratae” top diplomats of the US, UK, France and several other Western nations, French-language newspaper Libération reports. The move comes a week after governments around the world expelled their Syrian diplomats in the wake of the Houla massacre in late May. The ambassadors of […]
AP, CNTV (China) BEIJING – Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing on his first visit to his country’s vast neighbor since resuming the Russian presidency earlier this month. He later sat down for talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao that are expected to touch on the crisis in Syria as well as on Iran, […]
A women’s right to an abortion is rapidly vanishing in Turkey, as Prime Minister Erdogan recently called it “murder.”
LE PARISIEN, LE MONDE (France) NICE – In the French Riviera city of Nice, couples must now marry in silence. Or at least, not so noisily. Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi pushed through a controversial decree last week forbidding married couples to celebrate their wedding too loudly within the walls of the city. Since June 1, […]
STERN (Germany) BERLIN – Luka Rocco Magnotta , the Canadian porn actor wanted for the murder and dismemberment of his lover, is to appear in court in Berlin the day after being arrested in the German capital following an international manhunt. “The suspect will be presented today Tuesday to the judge who will confirm his […]
Op-Ed: French Philosophy Professor Emmanuel Jaffelin tells us why we shouldn’t be “Harvardizing” the world’s universities, and reminds us that knowledge is not about securing a return on student debt.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, tobacco powder is a common cure for colds, headaches and many other ailments.
Authorities in Shenzen, China are offering a slew of free services such as shoe shining and haircuts. But this is not most citizens’ idea of urgent public reform.