The Bay of Gibraltar has a serious pollution problem. Efforts to clean up the mess, however, have so far been hindered by historic animosities between British and Spanish authorities, which have conflicting claims over the bay.
Author: Worldcrunch
Op-Ed: Turkey’s top military brass resigned en masse, setting off speculation of why, and what will happen next. But the origins of the move can be traced to the military’s many attempts to discredit the ruling party of Prime Minister Erdogan.
After outing some high-profile tax evaders by selling Liechtenstein bank account information to investigators, Heinrich Kieber disappeared. Recently, he turned up in Australia, only to disappear again.
The 41-year-old Italian was bidding farewell to his brother, who’d been killed by a truck in Mexico.
Recent revelations in the Japanese press suggest that TEPCO and other Japanese nuclear energy firms contribute heavily to the opposition Liberal Democratic Party. The power companies may have bedfellows in the governing Democratic Party of Japan as well.
A R A B I C A ارابيكا RAMADAN’S TOLL *As Ramadan begins, the Syrian government’s campaign to stamp out protests is intensifying, with more than 140 civilians reported dead in the past 48 hours. Meanwhile, the scale of protests is also intensifying as the military shifts its focus back to the central Syrian city […]
Op-Ed: In the halls of power in the United States, some seem to think the old regime is still in power. But big things have changed in Egypt, says the writer, including Cairo’s bowing to Washington’s every whim. A viewpoint on the eve of the Mubarak trial
Humans often hurl animal-based insults at each other. But in Germany, crass language can be costly, especially if you call someone an “alte sau.” Silly goose, not so much.
Survivors say the boat stranded off the Italian island of Lampedusa had absolutely no room on deck. Bodies of victims were found in the hold below, and showed signs of struggle.
The EU is tightening regulations on hedge fund managers, who have begun looking for friendlier places to do business. More and more are turning to a new refuge in the old financial-friendly confines of Switzerland.
Efforts by the government to reorganize the island’s economy have sparked renewed opposition demands for serious democratic reforms. Willing for now to overlook their own differences, dissidents have joined forces under a new declaration.
Exclusive: Things haven’t been the same for Germany’s E.ON since the March 11 nuclear catastrophe in Japan. The subsequent phase-out of nuclear energy in Germany is costing the company billions. E.ON is now planning radical cost-cutting measures that are
With the lingering threat of violence from Islamists and groups seeking independence from Moscow, Russia has turned to French firms to create a safe and lucrative winter sports business in the Caucasus.
Analysis: Beijing’s monstrous traffic jams have eased after the introduction of a new policy to impose a lottery system to limit automobile purchases. But as other Chinese cities follow suit, bigger economic and democratic questions are being rai
NATO has pushed Afghanistan to promote women in all sectors of public life. Quraishi, one of only three top-ranking police officers, is charged with pushing gender equality, with limited success. But the real threat is the spectre of a return to power of
A pack of pups is proving to be a big hit in the La Roseliere retirement home in France, where residents just can’t resist the charms of the big silly tail waggers. Other area nursing homes are also starting to experiment with dog therapy.
The privately-run German postal service has more logistics business than any other single enterprise. Now it is taking its stab at competing in the Internet age – and the news business.
Concluding that the “hardware” of brain activity when we sleep is basically the same as when we don’t, Italian researchers have been able to measure brain activity of people who have remembered their dreams after waking up.
While a housing crisis grips the rest of Israel, the 22,000 inhabitants of this East Jerusalem settlement enjoy affordable rents. The political price for the controversial project is not so easy to calculate.
A R A B I C A ارابيكا A NEW ARMY*Syrian Colonel Riyadh al-Aasad announced in a video posted on YouTube the formation of the “Free Syrian Army.” Sitting with a uniform brandished with two stars on each epaulet, al-Aasad read a statement while surrounded by six uniformed soldiers. “The army’s job is to protect […]
Categories
Yogic Flyers On A Mission In Switzerland
The Swiss federal government is developing the criteria for certification of practitioners of alternative medicine. To do so, they’ve mandated an association with a board member who is a yogic flyer.
The American fast food chain’s latest attempt to adapt to local tastes may make global bread connoisseurs shudder. In September, it will add French bread rolls to its breakfast menu. And by next year…a baguette sandwich.
Venice is falling apart at the seams – quite literally in some of its best-known places. Critics say unregulated tourism is destroying Italy’s beautiful and fragile lagoon city.
A joint project by NATO and the Karzai government has so far convinced nearly 2,000 Taliban to lay down their arms. But in Afghanistan’s Laghman province, some of those “converts” say they’re already considering going back.
Graffitist “OZ”, who’s been tagging Hamburg buildings for two decades, was sentenced again Friday to 14 months for continuing to deface property. An underground hero to some, criminal vandal to others, the spray painter insists that not even jail
A R A B I C A ارابيكا PALESTINIAN FEUD One of the most powerful men in the Palestinian Authority, Mohammed Dahlan, is under investigation on murder and corruption charges. Palestinian security forces raided Dahlan’s home near Ramallah on Thursday, seizing 16 weapons and 12 vehicles, and detaining 12 “illegal” armed men, Al Jazeera reported. […]
In recent years, authorities in Guatemala have tried to crack down on illegal child adoptions by foreigners. Corruption, however, is preventing the impoverished Central American country from eradicating the blight of child trafficking.
A pair of city councilors is urging Zurich to cut its decades-old ties with FIFA, soccer’s worldwide governing association. Not only do they say scandals have made FIFA bad for the city’s image, it’s also a waste of money.
Analysis: After the deadly Norway attacks carried out in the name of fanatical conservative ideology, it is time for Northern Europe to take stock of its increasingly extreme views on the political right: from rabid defense of Danish cartoons to the rise
The Russian President singles out need for “absolutely fair” parliamentary elections amid a regional vote-rigging scandal, and questions about whether he himself will run for reelection.
Op-Ed: By now, a resolution to Turkey’s most intractable internal conflict must include the PKK, which has both widespread popular support and blood on its hands.
Even before Norway’s Anders Behring Breivik singled out multiculturalism as an existential threat to the West, both political leaders and ordinary citizens were taking up the cause. To avoid more violence, it is worth understanding just what we a
A R A B I C A ارابيكا SNUBBED?“Trusted sources’ tell the Kuwaiti daily “The Gazette” that Jordan’s King Abdullah recently refused to meet with an envoy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The report comes the day after the King met in Amman with the visiting editors-in-chief of Kuwait newspapers. Jordan enjoys a reputation […]
Authorities in Bahrain have lifted the state of emergency first put in place in April, when police began cracking down hard on the country’s Arab Spring-inspired protest movement. Tensions, however, remain palpable as talks that were supposed to ease the
Criticism is quickly building after last weekend’s crash killed 35 on a high-speed rail line that had been touted by the government.
Israelis have traditionally considered Richard Wagner the “composer of the Holocaust soundtrack.” This week, the Jewish state’s top Chamber Orchestra faced the taboo head on, performing a Wagner piece for the first time in his native Ger
A handful of elementary schools in northern Italy have taken to teaching children about bird hunting. Environmentalists are crying foul and asking the national government to ban school courses that promote killing wildlife.
A R A B I C A ارابيكا DUMA The Syria Revolution Facebook group continues to post clips from protests around the country. The dates are impossible to verify, but here, the person filming a small nighttime march in the Damascus suburb of Duma makes a point of shouting the date as July 25th over […]
Greenpeace disputes the Russian government’s forest fire statistics in the region around Moscow. The controversy is especially charged following last summer’s blazes that decimated agriculture and killed hundreds when huge plumes of smoke blew into the ca
Street children in Egypt are easy targets for both criminals and police. Neglected and abused, they are still waiting for the promises of the revolution to trickle their way.