Young people sign up for higher education solely for scholarship money, while officials turn a blind eye to those permanently absent from class. Is this a twisted way to buy social peace?
Author: Charlotte Fichou
Cases of vandalism are multiplying against Arab villages and places of worship.
In Japanese schools, parents come and talk about the upside of starting a family. The number of places in day care centers is being expanded; on the walls, posters show male celebrities touting the advantages of being a dad. In view of demographic change, the Asian archipelago nation is trying all it can to get […]
In most countries black-market work is not an exception, but the norm. A recent study comissioned by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) revealed that the shadow economy was booming. Illicit economic activities constitutes between 20 to 30% of GDP in many southern European countries. An estimated two billion people work for this global black […]
BRUSSELS – You know, those spy movies of some bespectacled hero photographing secret files, looking up every few seconds to make sure there’s not a burly KGB agent around. One executive from the Degussa chemistry group found himself in such a scene in 2002, entering a fancy Zurich building with a camera in his hand, […]
-Essay- GENEVA – Have you ever heard of Dan Rollman? If so, you are spending way too much time on your computer – just like me. Dan is a Canadian native who now lives in New York and works in media. On May 28, he caught the attention of Internet addicts when he went viral […]
Like other countries, France faces a rising number of young people who arrive illegally into the country, without their parents or other family members. It poses unique questions.
The World Bank has recently published a report entitled “Turn Down the Heat: Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts, and the Case for Resilience.” Rising sea levels, heat extremes, aridity, impacts on ecosystems… Unsurprisingly, the news is not so good on the climate front, and the experts are raising the alarm. In the first Turn Down the […]
Take a tour of what the world has been saying this week…
BEIJING – Rupert Murdoch has filed for divorce from his wife, Wendi Deng, and the Chinese media is watching with great attentioin whether their ambitious female compatriot is going to get her share of the cake from her fabulously rich ex-husband. It’s likely though that many will be disappointed since it was disclosed long ago […]
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court has delivered a landmark victory for gay rights, by striking down the California law defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman. This ruling forces authorities to recognize same-sex weddings in states where it is authorized already, though it stops short of forcing the remaining 30 […]
Former South African President Nelson Mandela is now in critical condition two weeks after being admitted to a Pretoria hospital with a lung infection, South African President Jacob Zuma told reporters during a Monday press conference. “Mandela can leave us in peace, his work is done,” the Globe and Mail wrote, as South Africans were […]
BENI – For many years in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the military was the main seller of liquor imported from Uganda. But now soldiers have changed sides, and are now fighting those who try to import liquor into Congo. In order to reduce the trafficking and consumption of banned liquors […]
NANTES – “Do not touch…” When she ran her fingers over this Braille inscription on the wall of the Sainte-Croix church, in the city of Nantes, western France, the young blind woman burst out laughing. After translation, her sighted friends were also won over by the irony of the artist. Working under the pseudonym The […]
Take a tour of what the world has been saying this week…
GENEVA – From one culture to another, the temperature of what people drink during their meals can vary. In many Asian countries for instance, people like to drink a hot beverage while they eat. Europeans for their part tend to favor drinks at room temperature, while North Americans prefer them ice-cold – on the rocks. […]
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In Rwanda, Circumcision Is All The Rage
The procedure is gaining popularity amongst young men who believe, erroneously, that it eliminates any risk of contracting HIV/AIDS.
Our intrepid reporter signs up for a new course taught by homeless people in the Polish city of Lodz for those who want to learn how to lives on the streets.
GENEVA – Wife: “I’ve done my share. It’s your turn now.” Husband: “If you leave me in the next five years, I’ll really feel like I sacrificed myself for nothing.” What are they talking about? Working part-time to spend more time with the kids? Turning down a promotion? Giving up paragliding and cycling on weekends […]
Take a tour of what the world has been saying this week…
Since the 2008 melamine-tainted milk scandal, little has changed in the Chinese dairy industry. Interest groups and nationalism are to blame.
The European Union has plenty to fear from the revelations of Edward Snowden, but may be caught between the costs and benefits of America’s vast network of data collection.
GENEVA – He quotes Mahatma Gandhi and wears the traditional Indian dress, but Arun Krishnamurthy is not living in the past. On the contrary, it is his desire to build a better future that led him to give up a promising career at Google and create an organization to help fight environmental degradation in his […]
GENEVA – Chances are that at least once in your life you’ve found yourself at a restaurant, sitting next to someone who claims to know everything about wine. They usually hold their glass up toward the light to see the color of the wine, talk about tannins, grape variety, soil quality… Of course, the most […]
RABAT – Like Asia did in the second half of the 20th century, Africa can move up to the economic big leagues only if it can manage to industrialize and learn to increase its productivity. The future of the continent as a whole, notes economist François Fadi Farra, will not depend on one single economic […]
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Magazines, Mapped! Week of June 6-13
This week’s selection of magazine covers from around the world.
Take a tour of what the world has been saying this week…
In Germany, efforts are on to increase the number of male teachers. Here’s the tale of a veteran of the war in Afghanistan who wound up on very different terrain.
The invention of “killer robots” could radically change the way wars are fought — and raises a whole array of legal and ethical questions. The UN calls for a moratorium.
MUMBAI – Shilpa Dhar is wearing fake eyelashes, jingling bracelets, and cherry-red nail polish. She tilts her head as she speaks, which makes her jet-black hair twirl around her neck. She smiles because her friends have told her she has a nice smile – so she smiles all the time now. “I have a Kareena […]
AL ARABIYA, CNN (US), BBC NEWS (UK), REUTERS, AFP. Worldcrunch IDLIB – Three westerners, including an American woman and a British man, suspected of working with the opposition, have been killed by Syrian forces in the northwest of the country, AFP reported Friday. The deaths occurred on Wednesday, though only confirmed Friday, Al Arabiya reports. […]
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At Least 13 Dead In Iraq Bomb Attacks
BBC NEWS (UK), AL JAZEERA (Qatar), AP, REUTERS Worldcrunch BAGHDAD – A series of bomb attacks killed at least 13 and wounded dozens on Thursday morning in Iraq, in the latest surge of violence sweeping the country, officials told AP. According to the police, most of the attacks happened in Baghdad, including a car bomb […]
Local environmental concerns could undermine big Chinese economic ambitions. That tension, well-known in the West, is playing out near the site a petrochemical plant in Yunnan province.
FRANCE 24 (France), ITAR-TASS (Russia), BBC NEWS (UK), RT (Russia), LE MONDE (France) Worldcrunch BRUSSELS – European Union members decided not to renew the arms embargo on the Syrian opposition early Tuesday, in one of the strongest actions taken to date by the West against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. “Tonight EU nations agreed to […]
An estimated two million people took to the streets in cities all around the world on May 25 for a worldwide day of protest against agro-biotech giant Monsanto and Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) in general. The “March Against Monsanto” movement denounced GMOs as harmful to human health and the environment. Their claims, listed on their […]
LA CROIX (France), LE PARISIEN (France), AFP Worldcrunch PARIS – Some 350 people were arrested over the weekend in Paris, during protests against gay marriage. Meanwhile in the south of France, the Cannes Film Festival celebrated gay romance, awarding the top Palme d’Or prize to a love story about a lesbian couple. Despite the law […]
Editor’s note: Following Beijing, the municipality of Guangzhou introduced passenger car purchasing restrictions last June in order to ease the traffic pressure. Each month a free lottery system is used to decide the lucky ones who get to buy cars. Another parallel system allows people to pay more by bidding for a car license. Public […]
BEIJING – “So,” says Ai Weiwei: “Now they get to listen to this.” By “they” he means his jailers. “My voice may not be perfect, and may not even sound good. I admit I was a little inhibited at first. But it’s a voice and now it’s out there.” As of this week, Beijing avant-garde […]
On the 30th anniversary of her landmark discovery, French Nobel Laureate Françoise Barré-Sinoussi calls for a new approach for definitively defeating AIDS.
DAGENS NYHETER (Sweden), SVENSKA DAGBLADET (Sweden), THE LOCAL (Sweden), THE FINANCIAL TIMES (US) Worldcrunch STOCKHOLM – The Swedish capital suffered through a fourth night of violence, with firefighters reporting at least 90 different incidents around the city by early Thursday. The Financial Times’ correspondent in Stockholm reports that cars were set on fire in 15 […]