Worldcrunch
Part military strategist, part philosopher-king, Frederick the Great ruled what is today the heart of Germany through nearly half of the 18th century. Exactly 300 years from his birth, one German writer takes an unflinching (and ironic) look at Frederick&
In a new book called “My Father, Kim Jong Il and Me,” Japanese journalist Yoji Gomi offers a rare glimpse into North Korea’s ultra-secret halls of power. The book is based on lengthy interviews and e-mails with Kim Jong Nam, the late Kim
Analysis: The sheer volume of producers, along with arcane systems of public oversight, means tainted food scandals are a regular affair in China. Beijing would be wise to look westward for business-driven systems of reducing food safety risks.
As the New Year vacation closes and presidential election nears, Russia’s attention is turning to the planned anti-Putin demonstration on Feb. 4. But with protesters spanning the spectrum from extreme left to Neo-Nazis, some wonder if opposition unity is
Analysis: Elections are scheduled this year in the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Venezuela. In Mexico, the centrist PRI is favored to regain control of the government. In Venezuela, Chávez is looking to hang on to power – health permitting.
Some 500 people annually spend a night in Zurich’s so-called “Boozers’ Hotel,” a sober-up facility run by local police. City officials agree they need to keep the drunk tank operating, but debate over who should pay for
Zurich’s “2047 Crew” is believed to be using paint-filled fire extinguishers to reach higher and wider with their signature tags in the otherwise immaculate Swiss city. It is another sign of graffiti writers getting bolder – both in terms of tools and tar
With French stepping up enforcement, more and more prostitutes are commuting across the border to work in Switzerland, where the practice is state regulated. It is part of an ongoing migratory ebb and flow in Europe within the world’s oldest prof
Argentina could soon jump on the shale gas bandwagon. The South American country has one of the world’s most significant shale gas reserves. And its government has finally moved to make production more cost-effective. Investors are starting to line up.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says economy still faces big challenges to repair damage of financial crisis.
An explosives-packed car slams into a funeral procession in a Shiite neighborhood, the latest in a wave of attacks on Shiites across Iraq since the withdrawal of American troops last month.
Passengers on the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship are expected to receive a compensation lump sum of 11,000 euros each. Sixteen are confirmed dead, and 16 others still missing from the roughly 4,200 people aboard the cruise liner when it crashed.
More than ever before, the economic leaders gathered for this year’s annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos are turning their attention from finance to science – or at least recognizing how intimately the two are related.
By some accounts, private jet traffic around the Swiss mountain resort of Davos has doubled for this year’s edition of the World Economic Forum. Airport parking spots for lear jets are running out…just like the locals’ patience.
Israel is home to roughly 100,000 Falashas, black Jews of Ethiopian descent. They have no government representation and say they’re treated like second-class citizens. Led by a hitherto unknown man named Molat Araro, the Falashas are finally starting to s
In Milan’s principal wholesale fruit and vegetable market, shelves are empty due to an ongoing truckers strike in southern Italy. Truck drivers are livid over austerity measures being pushed through by Italy’s new reformist Prime Ministe
The Kirchners – first Néstor and then his wife, Cristina Fernández – have occupied Argentina’s Casa Rosada presidential palace since 2003. Could son Maximo, a rising political star, keep the family in power beyond 2016, when Cristina’s second term ends?
DEVELOPING – AP reporting that the Iranian President has declared his country’s readiness to negotiate with the West over Iran’s nuclear program.
At least 100 people have died after taking what officials suspect may have been tainted heart medicine in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore.
Australian PM Julia Gillard and leader of the opposition Tony Abbott have been rescued by the police after becoming trapped by an angry mob of protesters in Canberra.
Jean-Claude Mas, the founder of the French firm that produced the faulty breast implants at the centre of a global health scare, has been arrested in the south of France.
Germany is Europe’s only country that has roared back to pre-crisis employment numbers. Still, the International Labor Organization accuses German exporters of being no less than the structural cause of the current euro zone problems.
The French Senate passed a controversial law this week that makes it a crime to deny that Armenians were victims of a Turkish genocide. Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan had angry words for France, but a closer look shows Ankara may have another st
With new no-nonsense Prime Minister Mario Monti committed to cracking down on tax evasion, La Stampa explores the time-honored (and cutting-edge) tricks that some Italian merchants use to duck requirements that all purchases are registered in official sal
Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf,” where he lays out his Aryan ideology, remains taboo in Germany. A British publisher’s plans to sell excerpts of the book at German newsstands was scuttled at the last minute after legal thre
President Barack Obama didn’t turn his State of the Union speech into an overt pitch for his reelection, but he did push back against his Republican rivals in his address. Politico reads between the lines.
Op-Ed: South American neighbors Chile and Peru have both failed to equitably distribute their new-found wealth. Leaders must offer more than hollow promises, or unrest like the protests over Chilean education and Peruvian mining is bound to intensify.
Theo Angelopoulos, the Greek filmmaker who won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1998, has died in a road accident while working on his latest movie near Athens.
Thousands of Egyptians are gathering in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to mark one year since the start of the uprising which toppled President Hosni Mubarak.
To mark the anniversary of the day that sparked the Arab spring’s most momentous revolution, a reporter visits the homes of those Egyptians who didn’t live to see it through. The remains of their lives are both painful memories for their
The recent drowning of a toddler in Bryansk has turned national attention to the city’s decrepit sewer system. But Russia’s infrastructure problems are nationwide. At least 10 cave-ins – like the one that killed 18-month-old Kiril Didenko – have
Judge Garzón rose to prominence for ordering the arrest of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Now, the famed judge is the defendant after a right-wing Spanish attorney accused the crusading magistrate of illegally opening national wounds from the Franco E
In the 1960s, Mitt Romney was a Mormon missionary in the French cities of Brest, Le Havre and Bordeaux. Though the Church of the Latter-Day Saints is still a tiny minority in this Catholic country, it may finally build its first church in France. But loca
The European Commission will unveil an arsenal of legislative measures aimed at harmonizing the E.U. countries’ various approaches to digital privacy protection. Among the new laws is a “right to forget” clause, guaranteeing people an “out” from services
Mitt Romney’s campaign has released details of his federal tax returns, showing that he will most likely pay $6.2 million in taxes on $45 million in income over the two tax years of 2010 and 2011.
Turkey has warned the French president against signing a law that makes it a crime to deny that the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks nearly a century ago constituted genocide, saying it will implement retaliatory measures against France.
Four car bombs have exploded in mainly Shi’ite Muslim areas of Baghdad, killing at least 13 people and wounding 75, underlining a political crisis that threatens to revive sectarian strife in Iraq.
Billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov outlines to Kommersant his presidential program, titled a “Real Future.” He wants to cut the presidential term to four years, privatize industry and foster a free press. Are they just words?
Switzerland is gradually becoming more tolerant of gays. But many homosexuals say they’re still reluctant to come out at work, where clear cases of discrimination continue to occur.
After years of living large, German hacker turned celebrity Kim Schmitz is suddenly in serious trouble. At the behest of U.S. authorities, the Megaupload’s founder was nabbed last week in New Zealand. Die Welt charts the unusual career of a “dotc