WorldcrunchSTERN (Germany), LE TELEGRAMME, LE PARISIEN, NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR, CLOSER (France) Worldcrunch Paris Fashion Week, a twice-a-year ode to luxury consumption, has been going on for several days. It is the best time of year for celebrity-watchers to catch a glimpse of Kate Moss, Kristen Stewart, Salma Hayek, Princess Charlene of Monaco or Valerie Trierweiler, “first […]
ROME – It was a disquieting statement from the former butler of Pope Benedict XVI, as he took the stand in a Vatican court hearing his case. Paolo Gabriele, who lived for six years in the papal apartment, explained the motives that had led him to photocopy the Pope’s private papers: “Over time, I developed […]
One million CVs. That is how many resumes L’Oréal receives, year in, year out, in the 130 countries where the cosmetic giant has offices. From “job dating” on social networks to the avatars on Second Life, there have been various attempts to kill off the CV, but it keeps on being reinvented. Trends have come […]
GOMA – The stories here in eastern Congo are terrifying: large numbers of apes have begun attacking villagers. The main cause is the six-month-old war in the region, which forces the primates to leave their territory, and makes them see humans as a threat. The stories from Tongo, a village 60 kilometers (37.2 miles) north […]
LUANDA – The curtain will soon be rung down for the last time at the Elinga Theater in Angola’s capital, Luanda. The theater, where many rebellious artists got their start, holds an important place in Angolan culture. But it will soon be destroyed, its pink walls reduced to rubble by bulldozers. Like so many old […]
PARIS – For months, consumption has been stagnating, and purchasing power is not improving. Will the French, like the Spanish, start buying their yogurts one by one instead of in packs as a way to face the global financial crisis? Remarks by Jan Zijderveld, head of European operations for the Anglo-Dutch conglomerate Unilever, on the […]
-Analysis– Karen L. King, the first woman to occupy the Hollis Chair of Divinity at Harvard, recently caused a sensation in Rome. At the International Congress for Coptic Studies, she revealed a fragment of papyrus measuring 4 cm by 8 cm (1.6 inches by 3.15 inches), dating back to the fourth century and covered with […]
LE SOLEIL (Canada), POPULAR MECHANICS, SMITHSONIAN (USA), GUARDIAN (UK) Sure, fewer party balloons and squeaky-voice clown pranks would be a shame. But recent reports of a worldwide shortage of helium could also create supply problems in the production of some of the most advanced technologies, reports Quebec news site Le Soleil. Reserves of helium, a […]
REUTERS, (U.S.) DAPD (Germany), NEUE ZURICHER ZEITUNG (Switzerland) NEW YORK – As television images back home showed off Tehran’s latest weaponry, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad prepared for his final official discourse to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday. Tensions are as high as ever over Iran’s nuclear program and Ahmadinejad’s threats against Israel, and […]
-Analysis- Since the beginning of the crisis provoked by the Islamophobic film The Innocence of Muslims, the media have written about it from almost every angle: Coptic extremism, the danger of Salafism, the “arrogance” of the West, the “backwardness” of the Arab world, the shock of civilizations between the Sacred and Freedom of Speech, the […]
NAHA – In mid-September, tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Ginowan, a town on the main island of the Japanese Okinawa archipelago. But these were not protests against the Chinese navy presence near the Senkaku Islands, (called Diaoyu by the Chinese), whose sovereignty is disputed between Japan and China. The Okinawans were protesting the […]
ARIRANG NEWS (Korea), BBC NEWS, CURRENT BIOLOGY (UK), MEDICAL DAILY (USA) Worldcrunch During Korea’s Chosun Dynasty, young men living in poverty often chose to castrate themselves to live within the relative comfort of the imperial palace walls, reports Arirang news. They were used to guard gates and manage food, and were the only men outside […]
TEL AVIV – A small synagogue nestles in a dead-end street near the ocean promenade in Tel Aviv. The synagogue, used by Jews from Aleppo, Syria, was crowded last week for prayer services on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. As in the other 10,500 places of worship in Israel, the congregation recited a special […]
TAIPEI TIMES, LIBERTY TIMES (Taiwan), KYODO (Japan), SKYNET.BE (Belgium), REUTERS Worldcrunch A fleet of up to 100 Taiwan fishing boats, accompanied by 10 Taiwanese coast guard vessels, sailed into Japanese-controlled waters this morning, according to the Taipei Times. The waters are near the islands being disputed between Japan, which calls them the Senkaku, and China, […]
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST (Hong Kong), REUTERS, WALL STREET JOURNAL (USA), ASAHI SHIMBUN (Japan) Worldcrunch BEIJING – Wang Lijun, former mayor and head of police in the Sichuan city of Chongqing, was sentenced Monday to 15 years in prison for corruption and attempting to defect for his role in one of the most damaging political […]
GOMA – In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, mothers of disabled children, rather than being given the help they need, are typically blamed for the disability — and often literally chased out of their homes. Lingering local superstitions say that a mother is somehow responsible for her child’s health problems — and the consequences […]
PARIS – Pirates, spies, moles, thieves: those who want to steal the scientific treasures of French research laboratories had better be careful. With a new measure to protect the “nation’s scientific and technical potential,” in the next few months every organization, university and engineering school will be receiving instructions on how to protect themselves. Indeed, […]
GENEVA – Sami, age 7, is puzzled. On the screen of his iMac, a small Darth Vader orders him to conjugate verbs in the future tense. The boy hesitates at the first question. “You… will likes?” Darth Vader squeaks. Wrong! Sami pulls his grammar book out of his desk, checks it, and corrects his answer […]
-Analysis- For a week, Beijing and Tokyo have been challenging each other in the China Sea. They are playing a dangerous game in a high-risk zone. Any day now, an incident could degenerate into an armed confrontation. The U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is currently in Beijing trying to calm the waters. We are way […]
GENEVA – People strolling, music, smiles, bursts of laughter. Customers walk between clothes and trinkets, homegrown zucchini and children’s games, spread on tables or on the ground. A neighbor has brought his electric razor; another has just found a book by French sociologist Marcel Mauss. This kind of flea-market-with-veggies could be coming to your neighborhood […]
LE MONDE (France) Worldcrunch PARIS – Genetically modified corn from Monsanto, touted as safe for human consumption, has been shown to cause breast tumors in female rats and kidney and liver disease in male rats, a new study shows. NK603 corn was originally engineered by Monsanto, a worldwide agricultural conglomerate, to be resistant to the […]
PARIS – If you go by its website, Mars Kebab is the only fast-food restaurant in Paris that delivers sandwiches to the planet Mars. In the real world, Mars Kebab doesn’t exist, but that doesn’t keep it from having an excellent reputation on the web. Its promotional video has been viewed 105,000 times on YouTube, […]
PARIS – Is there a way that the countries of southern Europe can avoid sinking further into debt at unsustainable interest rates, without resorting to euro bonds, which Germany refuses to consider? Former IMF director Dominique Strauss-Kahn has an idea that he presented this past weekend at the YES (Yalta European Strategy) Forum which was […]
BENGHAZI – At noon, the poster with the Kalashnikov is still hanging under the veranda: “People of Benghazi, return your weapons to Freedom Square from ten in the morning until seven in the evening.” The Minister of the Interior has asked. The Defense Ministry has asked. The Religious Affairs Ministry has asked. There was even […]
LES ECHOS (France), FINANCIAL TIMES, TELEGRAPH (UK), WALL STREET JOURNAL (USA), REUTERS Worldcrunch Europe’s two largest defense companies have until October 10 to decide whether to pursue a merger that would create the world’s largest defense conglomerate, with annual revenue of 78 billion euros and more than 225,000 employees worldwide. According to the French business […]
PRAGUE – The Czechs have a strong taste for alcohol. They are the world’s foremost beer drinkers, and rank second for drinking hard liquor, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). This love of alcohol has taken a tragic turn with the appearance on the Czech market of large quantity of adulterated vodka and rum. […]
In no uncertain terms, the editor-in-chief of Moroccan daily Le Soir/Echos condemns the violence at US embassies in nearby Muslim capitals.
VATICAN CITY – Three years ago, on the eve of Pope Benedict XVI’s departure for the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, it was the murder of Luigi Padovese, the vicar apostolic of Turkey, which loomed over the trip. This time it is the killing of four U.S. diplomats in Benghazi and the uprising across the region […]
Essay: The fury of fundamentalist Muslims should not obscure efforts to consolidate democracy.
BORDEAUX – The sale of the Château de Gevrey-Chambertin at the end of August has revived the specter of France’s vineyards being transferred en masse into the hands of Chinese billionaires. However, in the Bordeaux region itself, these new investors seem to be rather well received by professionals in the field. Until August 22 of […]
MILAN – Some stories do have a happy ending. The most multiethnic school in Italy, Lombardo Radice public school in Milan, had a new batch of first graders again this week. Last year it wasn’t allowed to open to a new incoming elementary school class because it had “too many foreigners.” It had appeared to […]
FOCUS, BERLINER MORGENPOST (Germany), LES ECHOS (France) Worldcrunch BERLIN – The German Constitutional Court has upheld the legality of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), which had been set up to help bail out countries in the euro zone on the verge of financial collapse. With the decision Wednesday, a great source of anxiety was lifted […]
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, RADIO AUSTRALIA (Australia), CNN, WALL STREET JOURNAL (USA), REUTERS Worldcrunch BEIJING – Xi Jinping, the 58-year-old Chinese Vice President, widely expected to be the next leader of the People’s Republic of China, has not been seen in public since September 1. Several meetings planned with foreign leaders have been canceled, reports Reuters […]