Sony Corp. racked up a record annual loss of 457 billion yen ($5.7 billion) in its fourth straight year of red ink as the once-glorious maker of the Walkman and PlayStation struggles to turn things around under a new president.
Categories
Author: Worldcrunch
Categories
Olympic flame lit in Greece
The London 2012 torch has begun its journey to the Games after being lit at a traditional ceremony at the ancient site of Olympia.
Categories
In Somalia, The Show Must Go On
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
Categories
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, What Next?
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.
LES INROCKUPTIBLES (France) ATHENS– “The time has come for this country’s traitors to fear us,” said Nikolaos Michaloliakos, leader of the Golden Dawn, the neo-Nazi movement that won 7% of the seats in Greece’s Parliament this past Sunday. Until a few weeks, reports the Inrockuptibles magazine, no one had heard of these skinheads. Here’s the […]
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
Categories
Al-Qaeda bomb plot foiled by double agent
Saudi Arabia’s intelligence agency and the CIA have used an informant to infiltrate an Al-Qaeda cell in Yemen and hand over a new bomb purportedly designed to slip through airport security.
LE JOURNAL DU MALI (Mali) BAMAKO – Want to try and guess which part of the world has a projected growth rate of 6% for 2012? South Asia? South America? Wrong – It’s Africa! “Africa is on the brink of a major transformation,” declares Elsie Kanza, World Economic Forum director for Africa. So long associated […]
Twitter is contesting a US court order ordering it to hand over tweets written by an activist who took part in the Occupy Wall Street protests last year.
An inferno at a three-story clothing store in the southern Philippines kills 17 employees, most of whom were women asleep and trapped on the top floor.
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 […]
Analysis: The 10-year alliance between the US and Pakistan has always been shaky. But a year of bitter disputes have put the final nail in their partnership, leaving Pakistan to set out in search of new “friends,” including age-old rival
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
LA REPUBLICA (Peru) LIMA – A government geological institute in Lima has confirmed what many Peruvians are already keenly aware of: there’s a whole lot of shaking going on. Already in 2012, Peru has registered 66 quakes, according to the Instituto Geofísico del Perú (IGP). On average, the coastal country – which is part of […]
Angela Merkel openly supported Nicolas Sarkozy during France’s just concluded presidential campaign. Now that her man was beaten by Socialist candidate François Hollande, Merkel is ready to make concessions on growth, but won’t budge on deficit.
A plot to bomb an airliner that al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen hatched was thwarted two weeks ago through a tip that Saudi intelligence officials provided.
Ukraine has postponed a regional cooperation summit of Central and Eastern European nations boycotted by most heads of state over the treatment of jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
Categories
Time To Abolish China’s One Child Policy
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.
In surprise move, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and opposition head Mofaz agree to form unity government, cancel early elections
Lucas Santos was an illegal immigrant when he arrived with his family 13 years ago. His father eventually got a green card, and Lucas has landed in Congress with a prestigious internship where he works on immigration issues and dreams of a political caree
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 […]
Essay: With his hyperactivity and “cop-in-chief” attitude, Nicolas Sarkozy was unlike any French president before him. His failure to win a second term is due to his own mistakes and an economic crisis he couldn’t contain. Now F
Police arrested nearly 600 during demonstrations against Vladimir Putin’s latest presidential inauguration. Hundreds of others were injured in the melee and one photographer died. Putin’s press secretary said later that police should hav
LA NACIÓN (Argentina) BUENOS AIRES – From a consumer’s perspective, the Argentine capital can be the best of cities…or the worst, depending on what you’re in the market for. A ticket on Buenos Aires’ Subte underground costs $0.50. That’s about a fifth of what the New York City subway charges. Cigarettes are cheap too: roughly […]
Essay: Dominique Moisi, a special advisor at the French Institute of International Relations, has a few words of advice for president-elect François Hollande. His first plea: Let’s not waste the next five years.
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
Vladimir Putin, who has dominated Russian politics for more than a decade, returns to the presidency Monday after winning a controversial election in March. The inauguration comes a day after hundreds of people were arrested in anti-Putin protests.
Greek and French election results rattled investors on Monday by undermining confidence in the region’s plans to cut spending and tackle its debt crisis, sending the euro to a three-month low.
A day after an airstrike killed a senior al Qaeda operative in southern Yemen, militants attacked two government military posts in the region, killing 26 soldiers and taking 16 hostage.
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
François Hollande defeated incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy for the French presidency, with a final tally of 51.6%, against 48.38%. Change was also in the air in elections in Greece and Serbia.
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.
(REUTERS) PARIS – Socialist candidate Francois Hollande won France’s presidential election runoff on Sunday, beating President Nicolas Sarkozy by a clear margin, according to projections of polls. Polling institutes predicted Hollande would win between 51.8 and 52.0 percent of the vote versus Sarkozy’s tally of between 48.0 and 48.2 percent. Hollande will become France’s first […]
Editorial: President Cristina Kirchner received Congressional approval this week for the Argentine government’s announced takeover of YPF, an oil and gas company. The move will help pay for her government’s pricey social programs. But at what cos
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
Even as they share the same passion for politics, Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande have very different world views — and polar opposite personalities.
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.