WorldcrunchBertrand Hauger is a graduate of La Sorbonne Nouvelle school of bilingual journalism, and joined Worldcrunch after working briefly as a reporter in a local newspaper in his native eastern France. He now serves as Worldcrunch’s deputy editor-in-chief and director of content.
Courrier International, April 9, 2015 “Should we be afraid of Iran?” asks Courrier International on its cover, featuring a cartoon of an Iranian cleric with an atomic symbol as an eyeball. With or without a nuclear deal, fears of Iran’s expansionism are sending shivers down the Middle East’s spine, according to a series of articles […]
The Tsar Bell on the grounds of Moscow“s Kremlin is the biggest bell in the world, but it has never rung. During a fire in 1737, before the bell’s decoration was completed, guards threw cold water on it, causing a slab to crack off. The bell is so huge — look at the man on […]
On our Nile cruise down to Abu Simbel, we passed by these locals harvesting sugarcane. I couldn’t help but think of Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile — and particularly about its 1978 movie adaptation with Peter Ustinov, a favorite of mine and of my grandson’s. Thankfully, nothing dramatic happened and no Hercule Poirot had […]
An entire industry has been built to exploit Chinese couples desperate desire for their children to obtain U.S. or Canadian passports. But because the process requires both operators and clients to distort the truth, homeland security has launched a crack
A view from Turkey on the new conflict that is not only shaking the map of the Middle East, but costing the lives of innocent victims.
The White House move to impose sanctions on Venezuela was a badly timed swipe against the authoritarian government that may have imploded on its own. Instead, the U.S. gave it new life.
U.S. BOOSTS WEAPON DELIVERY TO SAUDI-LED COALITION The U.S. is speeding up its weapon deliveries and intelligence sharing with the Saudi-led coalition against Houthi rebels in Yemen, as the toll in the latest Middle East war begins to mount. Al Arabiya reported on U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken’s press conference in the Saudi […]
The Sacré-Coeur church in Audincourt is an unexpected modern jewel in the somewhat inconspicuous industrial town where I’m from: The stain-glass windows were made by French cubist artist Fernand Léger. I snapped this photo on the day the church was inaugurated by the archbishop of Besançon.
Though graft is reduced, there are new negative side-effects to the way public officials approach their work in what is billed as the *new normal*.
A HUMANITARIAN DISASTER IN YEMEN The fighting in Yemen is creating a humanitarian disaster, the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF said yesterday. Hundreds of people have been killed in ongoing clashes between Yemeni militias backed by a Saudi-led coalition and Houthi rebels, Reuters reports. ON THIS DAY An eruption of Mount Vesuvius devastated Naples 109 […]
Cumhuriyet, April 7, 2015 “Half Democracy,” Tuesday’s front page of Turkey’s center-left daily Cumhuriyet reads, after the government imposed a nationwide ban on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook Monday. The accompanying picture depicts a man divided between “CENSORSHIP” and “VIOLENCE.” Turkish authorities have now lifted the ban, which had been implemented in an attempt to prevent […]
Modern life, with its rules and material rewards, has robbed people of the most basic sense of happiness. What do we have to lose by ridding ourselves of so many imposed ideas?
French writer François-René de Chateaubriand“s journey to North America had generations yearning for the romantic scenery he described: “Now and then, in the distance, you could hear the solemn rumble of the Niagara cataract, which, in the quiet of the night, echoed in the desert wilderness and died out through the lonely forests.” Unfortunately, visitors […]
Germany’s first Sharia-compliant bank wants to revolutionize the finance sector of the European economic juggernaut. Investment in businesses related to alcohol and gambling are prohibited, as is the practice of charging interest, and Muslim and non-
Our first trip to Tunisia was more focused toward the interior of the country, driving our Peugeot 404 down to Tozeur near the Sahara, but we still saved time for a detour to catch a glimpse of the beautiful island of Djerba in the Gulf of Gabes.
The West’s accord with Iran was not just about a nuclear threat. The U.S. has bigger plans to recalibrate the region’s balance of power among Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt and beyond.
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-Editorial- PARIS — The deal reached in Lausanne on Iran’s nuclear program is a historic breakthrough. Or at least it will be if it leads to a “final” agreement by the June 30 deadline, which is by no means certain. For the first time in 12 years, when the West’s talks with Tehran began, the […]
Taifa Leo, April 3, 2015 “Terrorists make the earth shake again,” reads the front page of Kenya’s Swahili-language newspaper Taifa Leo, alongside a picture of a wounded student being evacuated after the Thursday attack on Garissa University College in eastern Kenya. At least 147 people were killed and 79 were wounded when gunmen claiming to […]
-Analysis- BOGOTA — Cuba, in its effort to loosen the economy and move toward a partially free market system, may be borrowing a page from the history of another communist country, Vietnam. Starting in 1986, Vietnam implemented a series of economic reforms known collectively as Doi Moi. The changes were inspired by the industrialization drive […]
KENYA IN SHOCK AFTER MASSACRE“Terrorists make the earth shake again,” reads the front page of Kenya’s Swahili-language newspaper Taifa Leo after yesterday’s attack on Garissa University College in eastern Kenya. At least 147 people were killed and 79 were wounded when gunmen claiming to belong to the Somalia-based militant group Al-Shabaab stormed Garissa University College […]
They may look dignified and dedicated, but it seems that the guards of Quito’s Carondelet Palace, in the city’s centro histórico, are not doing a very good job: Over the years, the presidential palace has been looted several times.
BEIJIJNG — On March 12, Britain applied to join the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as a founding member. It was the first major Western country to do so. Other European countries including France, Germany, Italy, but also Luxemburg and Switzerland have since followed suit. Not only has the AIIB attracted more than 20 […]
Photo: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Lausanne — Brendan Smialowski/Prensa Internacional/ZUMA IRAN AGREEMENT “A FEW METERS AWAY”Iran nuclear talks resumed today in Lausanne, for a second day since the March 31 deadline. A deal seems within reach, as Iran officials hint at more flexibility over the UN lifting economic sanctions on the country, […]
Studies show that complaining to colleagues creates a large share of office stress. Two writers recently tried to abstain from sharing their woes for a whole month.
Casually parked on a street near the port of Nice, on the French Riviera, was this a James Bond-like amphibious car?
DEADLINE PASSES BUT IRAN NUCLEAR TALKS CONTINUETehran and the six world powers gathered in Lausanne, Switzerland failed to reach an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program before yesterday evening’s deadline but talks have resumed this morning for a seventh consecutive day. According to Iranian news agency Tasnim, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif was hopeful the leaders could […]
The sun setting on Varanasi’s Dashashwamedh Ghat added a certain majesty to these Hindu pilgrims’ ritual ablutions in the Ganges.
He may be a genius, but the legendary physicist is using his renown to hock an outlandish idea that humans must go to space to survive, a notion that only betrays Hawking’s own arrogance.
Lies and mistrust are spreading throughout society, destroying the relationships between people and states. How could it come this far? And what can be done about it?
With scant help common from Frankfurt, a group of French intellectuals is calling for online donations to help the Greek people. Desperate times indeed.
FINAL MOMENTS FOR NUCLEAR DEALIran and six world powers (United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China) are trying to overcome their remaining differences and agree to a framework deal on Iran’s nuclear program. They are gathered in Lausanne, where their self-imposed deadline will come tonight. AIRSTRIKES IN YEMEN CONTINUEA Saudi-led coalition carried out airstrikes […]
The ISIS terror group has devoted the cover of its official propaganda magazine Dabiq to its ambitions in Africa — Tunisia in particular, as the photo of Tunis’ Great Mosque of Kairouan suggests. In the magazine’s eighth issue, entitled “Shari’ah alone will rule Africa,” the jihadist organization once again claims responsibility for the March 18 […]
The hard-packed sand at Daytona Beach makes it easy for cars to ride on the beach — something of a Florida tradition that started long ago, with horses and buggies. I had just the perfect view from my hotel room of some of the modern riders, who now have to pay for the shoreline cruise.
YEMEN AIRSTRIKES MOVE INTO DAY FIVEWarplanes from the Saudi Arabia-led coalition fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen destroyed arms depots overnight in day five of its offensive, Saudi website Al Arabiya reports. This comes after the weekend’s Arab summit in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh, where Sunni nations agreed to form what The Washington Times describes as a […]
Thousands of protesters, including French President Francois Hollande, took to the streets of Tunis Sunday for an anti-terrorism march in response to the March 18 attack at Tunis’ Bardo Museum that left 22 dead. On its front page Monday, the Tunisian daily Attounissia features a picture of Hollande demonstrating alongside Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi, […]
Before you can behold Petra“s Khazneh (Treasury), you need to walk — or ride a camel — for about one kilometer in the extremely narrow gorge they call the Siq. It’s the perfecty theatrical entrance to this truly awe-inspiring temple.
BEIJING — It has taken a full seven years for Adidas to get back on track in China. In 2008, the Chinese market share of Adidas was just one percentage point behind American giant Nike. But just when the top spot in China seemed within the grasp of the German company, sales suddenly plummeted, and […]
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This week I’m traveling to Paris for a family reunion with my daughter, my grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It has been a good 20 years since I set foot in the capital, but some things never change: Notre-Dame and the bouquinistes nearby are still there, like in 1960.