Standard procedural bulletin on use of speed sensors may help explain unsolved crash of Rio-to-Paris flight AF447 Airbus 330 (flickr) A seemingly innocuous memo could revive speculation about the cause of the June 2009 crash of an Air France flight from Rio-to-Paris. Les Echos has learned that on Monday, Airbus sent an operational engineering bulletin […]
Author: Worldcrunch
Swiss-based Ethical Coffee Company, run by a former top Nespresso executive, ready to crank up its production of its biodegradable, single-use coffee pods. ANNEMASSE – The challenge to Nespresso starts brewing here. The Ethical Coffee Company (ECC) has leased a 4,000 square meter factory in the French town of Annemasse, just across the Swiss border. […]
Swiss-based Ethical Coffee Company, run by former top Nespresso executive, ready to crank up its production of biodegradable single-use coffee pods. By Gabrielle Serraz LES ECHOS/Worldcrunch ANNEMASSE – The challenge to Nespresso starts brewing here. The Ethical Coffee Company (ECC) has leased a 4,000 square meter factory in the French town of Annemasse, just across […]
Algeria’s Our Lady of Africa was long associated with French colonialism, until it became a symbol of interfaith tolerance
A new study rejects the hypothesis of suicide, concluding that Callas’ vocal decline and 1977 death were caused by a degenerative disease. Maria Callas, Henry Koerner, Oil on canvas, 1956 (via Flickr) BOLOGNA – To this day, the causes of both the vocal decline and eventual death of legendary soprano Maria Callas have remained a […]
German scientists have created the technology to manipulate live video, making objects disappear from screens like magic. Karen Eliot via Flickr German researchers claim to have developed the world’s first technology to manipulate moving images in real time. The Diminished Reality System, as it is called, can delete objects from a screen during a live […]
Shares of Prime Minister’s TV network Mediaset rise — then fall — after surviving no-confidence in Parliament. Though Berlusconi still denies politics and business are linked, the markets disagree. By Francesco Spini MILAN – Earlier in the week, as Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi faced a pair of crucial confidence votes, and riots broke out in […]
Leaked diplomatic cables reveal feigned amity, eagerness for the U.S. to take on Iran Arab leaders eye Iran’s Ahmadinejad (Daniella Zalcman) EYES INSIDE – THE MIDDLE EAST While its founder makes bail in London, WikiLeaks’ revelations are setting off a unique game of truth and consequences in the Arab world, where leaders are used to […]
A new labor report shows the narrowing gap between developed and developing worlds is also driven by Western decline Textile workers in India (Jessica Steiner) PARIS – The International Labor Organization (ILO) has released a new and very detailed survey on wages in 115 countries. As always the study’s results are highly anticipated, as a […]
A new labor report shows the gap between developed and developing worlds narrows not just because of their growth, but our decline PARIS – The International Labor Organization (ILO) has released a new and very detailed survey on wages in 115 countries. As always the study’s results are highly anticipated, as a global snapshot of […]
Critics say Venezuelan President wants to use an emergency flood-response law to nip power from growing opposition presence in National Assembly Hugo Chavez has sights set (Flickr) EYES INSIDE – LATIN AMERICA Once more, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is pushing the accepted bounds of democracy. Under a national emergency law voted on Thursday, Chávez could […]
Rising incomes, traditions heat up competition for best spots to host your big day. A banquet hall black market is born Bride and groom in China (Nghong Lam via Flickr) EYES INSIDE – CHINA When a nation’s economy grows 10 percent a year, everything is booming, new markets emerge, innovation is rampant. That goes for […]
Rising incomes, traditions heat up competition for best spots to host your big day. And a banquet hall black market is born Bride and groom in China (Nghong Lam via Flickr) EYES INSIDE – CHINA When a nation’s economy grows 10 percent a year, everything is booming, new markets emerge, innovation is rampant. That goes […]
Low costs, abundant rain make moment ripe for Bonduelle expansion to Latin America, even as the French firm eyes Green Giant takeover via flickr BRASILIA –- From a bird’s eye view, the landscape resembles the geometric paintings of Vassily Kandinsky. Circles upon circles are etched into the deep red laterite-coated earth. In Brasilia’s savannah, where […]
Silvio Berlusconi barely survives a confidence vote, and riots erupt in a country plagued by politicians who listen only to themselves TURIN – A political system shut off from the country produced exactly what’s been predicted for months: shouts, insults, head counts, celebrations. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi barely survived a no-confidence vote. And […]
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How To Buy A Boeing
From factory to first flight, follow the path of a B777 order bound to be the 200th Boeing in the Air France fleet. Not quite like buying a car B-777 Mathieu Marque via Flickr SEATTLE – Miraculously, the heavy rain gave way to sunshine, a rare site in Seattle. On the runway of the Boeing […]
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The Godfather’s Appetite
Cannoli and killers: a new book connects Cosa Nostra power with the seduction of Sicilian cuisine An Italian restaurant in Warsaw (Tulio Bertorini via flickr) Francesco La Licata ROME – At the table, any conflict can be smoothed out, peace made, war declared, business done, oaths sealed, alliances forged. At the table, in short, we […]
Daughter and likely successor of National Front party founder Jean-Marie Le Pen compares Muslim street prayers to Nazi “occupation” of France.
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The Secret Of Schibsted Media’s Success
The Norwegian company’s bold transition to the Web is now a model for media groups around the world OSLO – On December 1, Schibsted officially took over Leboncoin, a French online gem specialized in classified ads. Already a Leboncoin shareholder, the Oslo-based media group put down another 200 million euros, including 140 million in cash, […]
Barack Obama v. Julian Assange: a duel between two Internet heroes (Steve Rhodes, flickr) The arrest of the founder of WikiLeaks has triggered, among other things, a showdown between two modern-day heroes. Julian Assange and Barack Obama are representatives of the Internet’s revolution in politics and information. Indeed both would-be heroes were born on and […]
From St. Peter’s Square to Tuscan farms, Italians weigh the effects of the “growth” of plastic Christmas trees imported from China MILAN – The tree in St. Peter’s Square is a 30-meter tall fir from the Italian Alps. The Douglas fir adorning the White House was carried by a horse-drawn carriage and welcomed inside by […]
Blaze in overcrowded facility kills 81, marking unofficial end to national (and global) celebration of rescue of Chilean miners No good news lately for Chilean President Sebastian Piñera (rt), who’d basked in October’s rescue (Photo: Hugo Infante, govt of Chile) EYES INSIDE – LATIN AMERICA Just two months after Chile basked in the storybook rescue […]
Diplomats in Washington and Europe see a major pendulum swing back toward good relations with Moscow. Will it last? Putin and Obama (Mark Rain via Flickr) PARIS – “One step forward, two steps back,” Lenin once said. But there are signs now that relations between Russia, the United States and Europe may just be set […]
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Where Does Wine Come From?
First developed by the Phoenicians, viticulture was eventually spread by the Romans into Gaul, where it was turned into the wine we know today.
France sinking, China rising in results from the highly anticipated “Pisa” global education study.
Returning to profitability, the world’s largest airline group will reduce first-class seating as travel consumers look to trim costs By Bruno Trevidic SEATTLE – With Air France-KLM expecting a return to profitability in 2011-2012, the company has begun to revamp its long-haul fleet to reflect a new post-crisis, penny-pinching economic reality. Chief Commercial Officer Bruno […]
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A Raucous Opening Night At La Scala
As Wagner’s “Die Walkure” inaugurates the season at the world’s most famous opera house, politics and culture and people clash in Milan La Scala (via flickr) By Alberto Mattioli MILAN – This time, Daniel Barenboim picked up a microphone instead of a baton. The famous conductor, having come on stage to applause at the opening […]
After 2003 looting and years of disrepair, a onetime cultural gem in Baghdad gets restoration help from Florence and Venice. Iraqi National Library after it was attacked in 2003 (IFLA) LA STAMPA/Worldcrunch By Carla Reschia FLORENCE – Iraqi officials responsible for returning their ransacked National Library to its former glory are turning to a country […]
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Le Web 2010’s Platform is…Platforms
Paris hosts Europe’s largest digital convention, with this year’s edition focused on the “social” and “mobile” Internet Focused on LeWeb (via Flickr) By Nicolas Rauline PARIS – Silicon Valley is making its annual trek to Paris. For the seventh consecutive year, Géraldine Le Meur and her husband Loic Le Meur, a French-born San Francisco-based blogger […]
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A Religious Awakening As China Booms
Disoriented by economic growth, China has gone from 100 to 300 million believers. But religion is still held on a tight leash by the authorities.
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A Religious Awakening As China Booms
Disoriented by economic growth, China has gone from 100 to 300 million believers. But religion is still held on a tight leash by the authorities.
The French first lady’s fame has reached new levels in India
The French first lady’s fame has reached new levels in India LE FIGARO/Worldcrunch By Charles Jaigu NEW DELHI – On December 4, French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in India, a state visit aimed at strengthening economic ties and forging a new nuclear deal between Paris and the surging South Asian democracy. And, while Sarkozy’s maiden […]
Compared with Irish binge drinkers, French wine drinkers are healthier
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Rethinking Diplomacy After WikiLeaks
Like a global version of the Chinese water torture, Wikileaks has been dripping revelations day after day that will render diplomacy painful and less useful for the common good. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange/Worldcrunch (Jose Mesa via Flickr) Paris-The fact that international relations’ specialists aren’t learning anything new from these revelations is beside the point. What […]
With Christians increasingly targets of violence, Italy’s Foreign Minister makes their safety a centerpiece of his Baghdad trip. Fate of Iraq’s best-known Christian, former Saddam aide Tariq Aziz, also on agenda. Baghdad – Pressed by Italy’s Foreign Minister, Iraq has announced that it will form a parliamentary commission to investigate the recent spate of killings […]
France’s business and management schools top the Financial Times’ annual European rankings, but French higher education system still lags in other surveys. By Dominique Seux PARIS – Four of the top10; five of the top 15; eighteen of the top 70. France can indeed be proud of the 2010 results of the annual European business […]
In the northern city of Brescia, a Pakistani father allegedly tries to kidnap his daughter to stop her from marrying her Indian boyfriend. Tourists flock to the Verona balcony where Juliet was said to have called out to Romeo (Flickr) By Beatrice Raspa Mairano – Shakespeare’s telling of the ancient tribal tragedy of Romeo and […]
By Philippe Escande Paris – Frédéric Vincent is one unhappy CEO. The Chinese are invading us, they do not comply with our basic rules for doing business. This was the essence of the message Vincent, the chief of French cable maker Nexans, sent in a letter to European Commission President José Manuel Barroso. In question […]