North Korea will shift to collective rule from a strongman dictatorship after last week’s death of Kim Jong-il, although his untested young son will be at the head of the ruling coterie.
Author: Worldcrunch
Alcohol, apples and seashells… Swiss authorities have tried almost everything to clear snow off roads and sidewalks. This time, a Geneva-based startup claims it can cut down the use of salt by 70% by replacing it with ‘Snowfree’, a produ
The only program of its kind in Europe requires a group of high school students to manage a 150-bed chalet in the Italian Dolomite mountains for two weeks — with no grownup supervision. But this is not a test: the hotel has real, paying customers who hav
A R A B I C A ارابيكا By Kristen Gillespie DISPATCH, BAGHDADThe ruling political coalition in Kurdistan, the Kurdistan Alliance, said on Tuesday that it would not order the arrest of wanted Vice President Tareq al-Hashimi, accused of being part of an assassination plot targeting Iraq’s Shiite prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki. “The investigation of […]
FIFA and Budweiser are lobbying hard for Brazil to loosen its beer regulations ahead of the 2014 Soccer World Cup. Under normal circumstances, the country’s soccer stadiums don’t sell beer. A bill pending approval by Congress could change that.
Dubbed ‘Italo,’ the new train is not only fast and red, it’s being launched by Ferrari chief Luca Cordero di Montezemolo. Europe’s first privately operated high-speed train service will begin rolling in March. And yes, the train
The Soviet Union once held vast political and economic influence in Africa. Today, Russians see major opportunities there, but some fear that China may have already won the race to conquer the continent’s vast natural resources and economic poten
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Deadly snowstorm halts travel in central US
Fierce winds and snow that caused fatal accidents, shuttered highways in five states and may have caused a deadly plane crash, crawled deeper into the Great Plains early Tuesday, with forecasters warning that pre-holiday travel would be difficult if not i
Syria will execute anyone who participates in terrorist acts or distributes weapons, state television announced Tuesday, in the latest escalation against an uprising which the United Nations estimates has claimed about 5,000 lives since March.
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North Korea leader Kim Jong-il lies in state
Kim Jong-il’s son and heir and senior officials pay their respects as the late North Korean leader lies in state ahead of his funeral next week.
Christian Wulff entered the office of the German presidency last year with his glamorous second wife seen as a major new asset. But a rolling series of allegations of financial and ethical improprieties — including a luxurious new house in her hometown –
Analysis: The death of North Korea’s Kim Jong-Il opens major questions for his nation and the region. During his 16 years in power, the supreme leader — pushed by President Bush’s ‘axis of evil’ showdown – achieved nuc
Analysis: As crackdowns continue against pro-democracy protesters, a closer look at recent events shows that Egypt’s military powers and other key players are taking their cues from the old Pakistan model rather than the new Turkish one.
Master chef Michel Rostang’s famous truffle sandwiches can now be ordered take out. They cost 65 euros a piece. Are they worth it? One reporter took it upon herself to find out.
The Spanish city’s authorities raise the cost of over-doing it for locals and tourists alike. But will it change people’s behavior?
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Stock index futures signal early gains
Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.43 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.26 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.38 percent.
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Fresh violence hits Tahrir Square
At least one person has died in fresh clashes between protesters and troops in the Egyptian capital Cairo, bringing the death toll since Friday to 11.
Seoul put South Korean forces on high alert and Pyongyang urged an increase in its “military capability” as the death of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Il spurred fresh security concerns in the tense region.
Many of India’s 170 million Dalits still live as outcasts. Some of these so-called “untouchables,” however, have turned to entrepreneurship as a way out of poverty and social isolation. Portrait of a nation caught between ancient traditions and bustling i
Op-Ed: As the US officially declares its military engagement over in Iraq, the toll can be measured in human lives, but also in a geopolitical chessboard ever more shaped by energy security.
Analysis: Changes are afoot in Latin America, where the influence of Venezuela’s cancer-stricken president, Hugo Chavez, is waning. President Obama, meanwhile, is looking to forge new ties – in both Latin America and Asia – via the Trans-Pacific Partnersh
The Chinese business world has seen several recent examples of how bad management of customer relations can inflict serious damage on the social web. But will the big corporations see the upside in time?
Op-Ed: The violence of Jewish settlers on the West Bank is no longer only aimed at Palestinians. Some settlers are attacking soldiers who are there for their protection. In the end, though, Jerusalem’s leadership has no one to blame but themselves.
A laboratory in Rennes is developing ‘bio-batteries,’ fuel cells that use bacteria rather than expensive metals to generate electricity.
The Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) looks set to finish first following Thursday’s second round election for the People’s Assembly. Early results have the Nour Party in second place in most of the country’s governorates.
Engineers have brought the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant to a “cold shutdown condition”, nine months after the earthquake and tsunami, Japan has confirmed.
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Batman star ‘roughed up’ in China
Hollywood actor Christian Bale was blocked by security guards from visiting Chen Guangcheng, a Chinese human rights activist living under house arrest.
Retreating from their harsh partisan sniping, and perhaps fearing public rebuke, Congressional leaders have agreed on a large-scale spending measure to keep the government running for the next nine months.
Macedonia has become a new transit country for clandestine Afghan and Pakistani immigrants who gather near the Serbian border as they try to find their way into the European Union. Macedonian police turn a blind eye, and humanitarian groups aren’
Seven grandchildren of French carmaker Louis Renault are challenging the confiscation of property from the company’s 1945 forced nationalization. As the courts decide whether to hear the case, historians raise old questions about French industry’s role in
Op-Ed: Turkey’s economy grew by 8% in the third quarter of 2011, the world’s fastest growth rate after China. At the same time, however, its trade deficit is ballooning. A hard landing awaits. When it arrives, Turkish policy makers must accept re
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Cracking Da Vinci’s Code On Tree Growth
Leonardo da Vinci certainly had an eye for detail – and a brain to match. Among his many musings was a theory that a tree’s branches grow in mathematical proportion to the diameter of its trunk. A French researcher now says he has the math to prove Da Vin
A Belgian M.P. in the European Parliament is so livid over David Cameron’s E.U. treaty veto that he is refusing even to speak the English language. Another accused the British Prime minister Tuesday of selling out to London bankers.
Op-Ed: Emerging countries are wobbling, Italy is paying record interest rates, and the Germans are on alert. With the next economic crisis gathering like a winter storm, politicians must act quickly – never forgetting the lessons of a certain 20th-century
In one of the worst-ever hooch tragedies in West Bengal, 111 people, mostly labourers, rickshaw-pullers and hawkers, died and over 50 were still battling for life in three hospitals after consuming spurious liquor at Mograhat in South 24 Parganas district
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US officially shuts down war in Iraq
After nearly nine years, 4,500 American dead, 32,000 wounded and more than $800 billion, U.S. officials formally shut down the war in Iraq.
A French court has given former President Jacques Chirac a two-year suspended prison sentence for diverting public funds and abusing public trust.
Tanja Höls’ curiosity has earned her a big ‘thank you’ from the State Library in Passau Germany, where the 43-year-old janitor discovered more than 170 valuable old coins worth somewhere in the six figure range. The head of the library h
After two Senegalese men were slain in a central Florence market by a local man inspired by racist hatred, immigrants turned out in the Tuscan city to demand justice and insist that the murder was the fruit of years of official tolerance of xenophobic att
Exclusive: Pushed by human rights groups, the European Union is set to ban the sale to the United States of one of the main active substances needed for lethal injections. Sodium thiopental is already in short supply, and executions are now set to be furt