Worldcrunch
What do you usually give up for lent? Sweets? Meat? Alcohol? This year the classic choices for abstinence in the run up to Easter are joined by a group vowing to give up social networking sites. Alongside chocolate, alcohol and cigarettes a new craze is sweeping the globe: kicking the Facebook habit. Online groups mobilized […]
French industry conglomerate Areva, world leader in the atomic energy industry, faces an uncertain future following the nuclear accident in Japan. (Kimdovhac) PARIS – Areva, the world’s No. 1 atomic energy conglomerate, has seen its share price plummet in the midst of the ever-worsening nuclear disaster in Japan, where it derives roughly seven percent of […]
Nuclear accident fallout and the risk of a massive aftershock have left people — foreigners and the Japanese alike — wondering whether they should leave.
A 26-hour journey across the decimated region between Tokyo and Sendai finds villages drowned in mud, message boards to search for loved ones and the earth still moving.
A R A B I C A ارابيكا EGYPT: PAST & FUTURE *This survey polled more than 22,000 Egyptians to discover public attitudes about the upcoming March 19th referendum on constitutional amendments, which would loosen the grip of the longtime ruling National Democratic Party over the entire political process (from presidential down to municipal elections). […]
Train company project delivers abandoned articles to needy recipients. (Toasty Ken) By Egle Santolini In Naples, they found a complete doctor’s bag, the type used for home visits, with a blood pressure gauge, a stethoscope and all the trimmings. In Verona, a complete set of clinical records that “took who knows how long to put […]
After years of muzzling critics and hiding accidents, Japan discovers the damage of keeping under wraps all things nuclear. And fear is now reaching the rest of the world.
Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000198 EndHTML:0000010197 StartFragment:0000002583 EndFragment:0000010161 SourceURL:file://localhost/Users/jef_israely/Dropbox/Articles/Italian%20Luggage%20Story.doc A new life for abandoned baggage “Gabbianella” volunteers distribute goods to the most needy In Naples, they found a complete doctor’s bag, the type used for home visits, with a blood pressure gauge, a stethoscope and all the rest. In Verona, along the same lines, a complete set of […]
Editorial: Laurent Gbagbo’s refusal to cede power sets dangerous African precedent.
Editorial: The Japanese earthquake sparks danger at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, but not panic. A European Viewpoint. French nuclear power plant (Ylegrand) Until the situation is stabilized at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, the threat of a major atomic catastrophe continues to hang over Japan, and the entire world. Is it best […]
Editorial: A French philosopher looks at the relation between religion and democracy, and suggests Europe’s Christians have a unique claim to reconciling the two.
An Italian geologist explains disaster tolls’ links to poverty and bad planning, and why Japan’s quake damage could have been much worse. But the tsunami is a reminder that even prevention has its limits. Japanese quake (Yuichiro Haga) They have survived the end of the world, the “Big One,” the most powerful of them all. […]
Friday’s earthquake and the tsunami that followed is a massive disaster in Japan. Here’s a quick look at how it’s being covered by the Japanese media. (Pinboke) DEATH TOLL A precise count of victims in the immediate wake of a disaster of this scale and breadth is always hard to verify, especially in the early […]
Secularists in the Swiss canton of Zurich are up in arms over the introduction of a compulsory course on religion and culture in public schools. (hughmiller) ZURICH – The fastest-growing religious status in the central Swiss canton of Zurich is not Islam, but atheism. According to the most recent census, one in five Zurich residents […]
A magnitude 8.9 offshore earthquake strikes northern Japan, setting off a massive tsunami that kills hundreds and could lead to radioactive risk from a nuclear power plant. (NASA Goddard) Japan’s strongest recorded earthquake, and the massive tsunami it unleashed, has left hundreds of Japanese dead and hundreds more missing, while residents fled coastlines across the […]
A magnitude 8.9 offshore earthquake strikes northern Japan, setting off a massive tsunami that kills hundreds and could lead to radioactive risk from a nuclear power plant. (NASA Goddard) Japan’s strongest recorded earthquake, and the massive tsunami it unleashed, has left hundreds of Japanese dead and hundreds more missing, while residents fled coastlines across the […]
After Gaddafi’s forces attacked Ras Lenuf by land, air and sea, Al Jazeera reports that the rebels are “preparing to return to the city.” A R A B I C A ارابيكا By Kristen Gillespie FRONT LINES *After Gaddafi’s forces attacked Ras Lenuf by land, air and sea, Al Jazeera reports that the rebels are […]
As the price of oil soars, U.S. energy companies are keen to prospect the little-known shale oil deposits beneath the Paris Basin, a 170,000-square-kilometer area surrounding the French capital.
To make sure the chic island getaway offers maximum R&R, Capri wants to limit the use of heavy machinery in summer months. August will be completely silent – except, of course, for all the tourists. Capri (shoobydooby) CAPRI – This island is already known for its breathtaking scenery and VIP parties. Now Capri is offering […]
Japan suffers its worst earthquake in 140 years, followed by a 10-meter high tsunami along its Pacific coast.
Essay: Criticism from European and US officials should remind Turkey’s leaders that press freedom is key to how its democracy is judged in the West
The lead story in Al-Shams newspaper, the official daily of the Libyan Information Ministry: “The Brother Leader of the Libyan Revolution welcomed young members of the Zintan living in Tripoli. A R A B I C A ارابيكا By Kristen Gillespie REGIME DAILY SCOOP *The lead story in Al-Shams newspaper, the official daily of the […]
Virtually unknown to the rest of the world, this former judge was the first senior cabinet minister to abandon Gaddafi and join the revolution. Now Mustafa Abud Al-Jeleil may be the last best hope to take down the old regime. With some help.On the road to Baida (Al Jazeera) BAIDA – The road to Mustafa […]
Following the assassination of two political leaders campaigning to change Pakistan’s Islamic blasphemy law, those who dream of a more open society and an enlightened Islam are trying to fight back.
Last year’s European stress tests were exposed as all but pointless by the Ireland bank crisis. This time, if they are not a real test of credibility, all of Europe will pay the price. Bank of Ireland (Goran) PARIS – This time is for real. The stress tests scheduled to be performed on European banks […]
Jovan Divjak, who led Bosnia’s defense in the 1992-95 siege of Sarajevo, has been arrested in Austria on a Serbian warrant. Top French intellectuals demand his release, calling European policy on the Balkans a continuing “affront to reason.”
Hundreds of armed attackers stormed Tahrir Square in Cairo, trying to drive protesters out, causing mass chaos. A R A B I C A ارابيكا By Kristen Gillespie STORMING FREEDOM SQUARE *Hundreds of armed attackers stormed Tahrir Square in Cairo, trying to drive protesters out, causing mass chaos. Grainy footage of the attackers is here […]
A veteran news editor at Switzerland’s SF television network says apparently dramatic battleground images are being staged by insurgents for the benefit of photographers and cameramen…who are in on the game. By Marc Brupbacher Something like a civil war is raging in Libya as rebel insurgents and Muammar Gaddafi’s troops are engaged in intense battles […]
Editorial: A French daily sees links between Arab uprisings, American founding fathers and China’s hard choices.
Even before protests in Tunisia and Egypt, a quieter women’s revolution was underway that’s challenging traditional Arab society. But resistance from men is bound to be fierce. Cairo woman (al Jazeera) Leila al-Aguizy doesn’t look like a farmer. Female Egyptian farmers in the Nile Delta usually wear long, colorful robes and headscarves wrapped around their […]
A R A B I C A ارابيكا 72 HOURS *Al Jazeera reports that the Libyan Transitional Council has ruled out any sort of dialogue with Muammar Gaddafi, giving the Libyan leader 72 hours to leave the country to avoid being prosecuted in the future. The council told a Gaddafi representative that it “will not […]
France’s top business daily dissects the Republican governors’ challenge to public sector unions. Protesters at capitol in Madison, WI (minasodaboy) NEW YORK – Americans do not take to the streets easily. But when they do, the result can be extraordinary. Take Madison, the capital of Wisconsin, flooded nowadays with colorful banners and angry union supporters. […]
The untold tragedy of mass emigration out of Europe’s poorest country of Moldova is that of the some 10,000 children left behind in orphanages by their migrant worker parents.
The Egyptian army, with more than 768,000 “likes,” took to its Facebook page to issue decree no. 27 to order citizens to stop posting classified documents online. A R A B I C A ارابيكا By Kristen Gillespie FACEBOOK CROWD CONTROL *The Egyptian army, with more than 768,000 “likes,” took to its Facebook page to […]
With pro-Mubarak thugs back on the scene and economic uncertainty rampant, the honeymoon of Cairo’s pro-democracy movement may already be ending. Mubarak’s departure have not meant an end to protests in Cairo (Monasosh) Giordano Stabile CAIRO – The baltagiyya are back. The word is spreading among the people in front of the Ministry of the […]
More and more Parisian restaurants are opening up to the explorations of Japanese-French fusion. Sweetbread fusion (jlastras) PARIS – Japanese chefs have been streaming into the French capital for the past ten years. Some remain faithful to the traditional Japanese cuisine, and delight their customers with the immensely rich gastronomy of the land of the […]
Jacques Vergès took on the cases of Klaus Barbie, Carlos the Jackal and Slobodan Milosovic. Now, he makes the case for himself.
Chinese tourists offer European countries a major new source of revenue, but Italians are slow to catch on to the opportunity. Chinese tourists in Rome (Ed Yourdan) Chinese tourists have quietly surpassed their American and Japanese counterparts to become the biggest foreign traveler spenders in Italy. Last year, some one million Chinese came to visit, […]
Researchers have found that chimpanzees use laughter to bond just like we do, vocalizing in ways that are uncannily human. But do they really get the joke?
Conflict across the Arab world means the Tunisian port city of Zarzis is bustling as never before as a point of departure for illegal immigrant crossings to Italy. Tunisian port (Delirante Bestiole) ZARZIS – As his eyes gaze out over the sea, the captain known only as ‘Ress’ informs us that any crossing will have […]