Abd al-Hadi Rafa Ghanim is one of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners exchanged for Israeli solider Gilad Shalit, who’d been held hostage for five years by Hamas. Ghanim makes no apologies for the 16 murders he committed, but has no interest in further v
Author: Worldcrunch
Villa Altachiara is among the most luxurious residences on the Italian Riviera. After the mysterious death of the last owner, it has become impossible to find a buyer. Superstitious locals blame a curse dating back to ancient Egypt’s King Tutankh
Rice has long been held in great esteem in Asia. Not so in Europe, where it is often dismissed as “food for the poor.” Little by little, however, Europeans are starting to clue in to the fact that rice is far more than just filler food.
The lynchpin at the center of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, Mohsen Fakrizadeh has drawn comparisons to both Robert Oppenheimer and Pakistan’s Abdul Qadeer Khan. U.N. inspectors would love to meet the elusive scientist. Others want him dead.
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China In Africa, A Risky Business
Analysis: Two recent kidnappings of Chinese workers – one in Sudan and the other in Egypt – have shown China that doing business in Africa comes at a price. But with their cultural insularity and tendency to carry cash, are Chinese businessmen exposing th
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Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom denied bail
A New Zealand court refuses bail appeal by the accused Internet pirate. The lawyer for Kim Dotcom says his client was “very disappointed” by the decision.
British Prime Minister David Cameron forced to make third unwanted shake up of his government after prosecutors charged Cabinet minister Chris Huhne over an alleged attempt to pin a speeding penalty on his ex-wife.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says Iran would not yield to international pressure to abandon its nuclear course, threatening retaliation for sanctions aimed at Iran’s oil exports.
In the 1989 film When Harry Met Sally, actor Billy Crystal asserted that men and women can never be friends – because “the sex part always gets in the way.” That may be true for humans, but it’s not the case for one of our closest relatives, the Central A
Some call her the anti-Kate Moss: Bar Refaeli, the Israeli-born supermodel, is natural in her own skin. Lately she has taken up the drums, and begun thinking about motherhood. But for the moment, boys, she’s free as a bird. Just ask Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
Nikolai Winter can be sure his latest sculpture will get some attention: located on a mountaintop at one of the jet set’s favorite ski resorts, his “elegant” female hand is flipping the bird to all the rich and famous who whiz by.
In Port Said, Egypt, more than 70 people were killed after violence erupted at the end of a Wednesday night soccer match. But some are already asking whether the authorities, trying to reassert control after the Arab spring movement, may have played a rol
Op-Ed: The Berlin opera house scheduled a performance of Richard Wagner’s “Rienzi” – Hitler’s favorite opera – for April 20, the Führer’s birthday. After complaints, the show was rescheduled. Still, how could the Deutsche Oper have organ
The death toll from a riot at a soccer game in Egypt rises to 79, as many continue to mourn and look for the reasons behind the deadly melee.
Rescuers have plucked more than 230 survivors from the sea off Papua New Guinea’s east coast after a ferry sank with as many as 350 people on board.
Dundee, famous for working alongside Muhammad Ali for 20 years, is reported to have had a heart attack in Florida, aged 90.
A blog post on the French site of Elle magazine declared that black fashion has finally become “chic” thanks to the high style of Michele and Barack Obama. The article has come under sharp criticism from several prominent black leaders a
China’s model from the last decade of low-end exports is being undercut by cheap labor in neighboring Vietnam and India. With a weaker 2012 predicted, the future of Chinese manufacturing looks in need of a major overhaul.
Analysis: Longstanding diplomatic and business ties with Damascus, and memories of the West’s about-face on Libya are among the key reasons Russia won’t give in on a UN resolution on Syria. But from Moscow, there’s also Vladimir
Islamic investors must obey the Koran’s prohibitions on dealing in a variety of activities. That can include everything from trading in derivatives to hocking pork products. Düsseldorf-based commercial bank WestLB has just launched an investment
As embattled Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh looks to be finally relinquishing power, the nation must struggle to avoid the longstanding tribal and regional divisions. For charismatic opposition leader Yassin Said Numan, it has been his life’
Whether they know it or not, Internet users are constantly building up their digital legacies. But what happens to that ‘dot-com estate’ when someone dies? A growing number of companies are making it their business to bury the cyber lives of the truly dep
The pharmaceutical company Pfizer said a “packaging error” caused incorrect doses It said the tablets did not pose any health dangers, but there was a risk of unintended pregnancy.
Gunmen seize a Dutch and a Swiss tourist and their Filipino guide on board a boat taking them back to a southern Philippine island after a 14-day bird-watching trip.
Mitt Romney’s lopsided Florida victory over Newt Gingrich — a stunning 14 percentage-point margin — may be the beginning of the end of the Republican contest to decide who challenges President Obama in November.
Desperate for all the help they can get, backers of French President Nicolas Sarkozy are welcoming a recent show of support from German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Sarkozy is trailing his socialist rival, François Hollande, ahead of France’s May election.
In the swinging 70s, the long-locked “German Hair Force” was a major source of embarrassment for the country’s military leaders. Forty years later, the German Armed Forces are once again struggling with image issues, this time related to tattoos and pierc
In the face of both economic and identity crises in Europe, Italy’s leading public intellectual pleads for more human exchanges across borders, to go beyond Erasmus university students, who in any case, are beginning to get together to breed a ne
Five things to watch in Florida: Newt Gingrich hopes to hang on as Mitt Romney appears to be pulling ahead in the polls.
Dozens of people are killed in clashes between Pakistani soldiers and militants in the northwest region, casting further doubts on exploratory peace talks with the rebels.
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Euro zone unemployment hits new record
Eurostat agency reports jobless rate in the 17 countries that use the single currency at 10.4% in December. Some 16.5 million people were out of work in the euro zone in December, up 751,000 on the year before.
Slavery and states’ rights are what most say sparked the Civil War. Now a German scholar cites “youth bulge” demographic theory, which ascribes outbreaks of violence to the preponderance of young men in society.
Mani, a photojournalist with Le Monde, was in Homs, Syria on Jan. 26 when he finds out about a massacre of a local family. Rebels lead him past enemy territory to see the bodies of the victims, including several young children. This is his account.
Ciccolella is an Italian family business that leads Europe’s flower market. In 2004, the company forged a unique partnership with Edison, to use hot-water runoff from a new power plant to heat its green houses. Now more expansion — and innovatio
In the early 20th century, European migrants headed in droves to Latin America in search of work and to escape wars and poverty. A century later, the ongoing euro zone crisis is prompting a new generation of Europeans to set out across the Atlantic.
The 71-year-old Brazilian soccer icon is an ambassador for both his sport and his booming homeland. Those two hats are set to blend into one with the next World Cup slated for Brazil in two years. In the meantime, he’s also glad to talk about &am
The U.N. Security Council will take up a draft resolution this week that calls on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down and transfer power.
Oakland City Hall is set to reopen after municipal employees worked to clean up damage they said was caused over the weekend by Occupy protesters, about 400 of whom have been arrested following clashes with police in this Northern California city.
European shares are falling, dragged down by banks after Greece and its private creditors failed to come up with an agreement on a debt swap before the start of a European summit focused on growth and the region’s debt crisis.
Two decades after its own civil war, Algeria was relatively calm as the revolutions of the past year rolled across most of its North Africa neighbors. But with legislative elections slated this spring, both pro-democracy and pro-Islamist parties are deman