Worldcrunch
BEIJING – In China, politics is something that worries and tangles up the minds of businessmen, perhaps more than others. Two recent events shed new light on what we can call the political anxiety of Chinese entrepreneurs. The first incident came after the remarks of Liu Chuanzhi, the chairman of tech giant Lenovo, during a […]
MUNICH – It would certainly be nice if all customers were treated well when they shop in supermarkets. But can supermarket employees also expect to be treated with respect? Recently, in a London branch of the UK’s Sainsbury’s chain, a checkout lady refused to serve a customer because the employee felt ignored — the shopper […]
LES ECHOS (France), TELEGRAPH (UK), REUTERS Worldcrunch PARIS – After six straight quarters of contraction, new signs were reported Wednesday that the recession in Europe’s single-currency euro zone may be set to end. Manufacturing in the euro zone increased for the first time in well over a year, boosted by higher private sector output in […]
REUTERS Worldcrunch BEIJING– Share prices across global markets advanced towards five-year highs on Tuesday, as China’s made efforts to avoid a hard landing for its slowing economy, Reuters reports. Local media in China reported that the government was looking to increase investment in railway projects to reduce gluts in steel, cement and other materials, as […]
A recent investigation of unsolved political murders and forcibly evacuated villages in southeastern Turkey cites JITEM, a clandestine intel unit linked to the Turkish military.
BBC NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch LONDON – The United Kingdom, its former empire and the rest of the world is following events at St. Mary’s Hospital in West London where Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge and wife of Prince William, was taken Monday morning in the early stages of labour. The royal baby, as the […]
Berlin-based Die Welt is not taking lightly a recent EU directive that backed French bans on imports of new models of German-built Mercedes.
DETROIT NEWS, NYT (USA), LE MONDE (France), O GLOBO (Brazil) Worldcrunch DETROIT – From Kalamazoo, Michigan to Paris, France, news of Detroit’s bankruptcy — the largest municipal financial default filing in American history — was making headlines far and wide and close to home on Friday. “Detroit, the cradle of America’s automobile industry and once […]
CNN Worldcrunch Al Qaeda’s No. 2 man in Yemen, Said al-Shihri, once emerged from the aftermath of drone strikes in the past to lambast the CIA for trying to kill him. Now, it has been confirmed, US forces have finally struck their target. A message on jihadi websites announced al-Shihri’s death Tuesday. It was purportedly […]
AMMAN – The southern Syrian province of Daraa borders both Israel and Jordan — it is also considered the gateway to Damascus. With the strategic stakes so high, the area has seen fierce battles between regime and rebel forces since the early months of the conflict. As recently as April, the rebel offensive in Daraa […]
Not just cheap — but *free* public transport — deserves a proper public hearing. A look at the irony of those now in power, and their desire to silence legitimate debate.
Last week, the city government of Wuhan, in central China, published a draft law on population and family planning management that quickly became national news. The bill charges “social maintenance fees” against unmarried woman who have given birth to a child but could not provide valid identification of the child’s father, or those who have […]
BEIJING – Who are the happiest people in China? In a survey conducted by Xiaokang (meaning basically well-off) magazine last year, in the eyes of the public, civil servant comes top of the list as a profession. However, the newly published 2012 China Workplace Mental Health Research Report has shown that officials’ own sense of […]
PARIS – News media startups like ours cannot sit still. Not only are we busy each day hunting down great stories, but we must always be on the lookout for new ideas. And so my eyes lit up when my Worldcrunch co-founder Jeff Israely first started talking about applying our own unique formula to a […]
BBC (UK), CNN, WASHINGTON POST (USA) Worldcrunch NEW YORK – A key United Nations lawyer leading a probe on the use of drones has praised President Barack Obama’s speech on changes to the United States’ anti-terrorism policy, which included new more restrictive guidelines for using unmanned aircrafts to strike targets on the ground. UN attorney […]
LEIYANG – After working for many years in Foshan, a city in China’s manufacturing heartland of Guangdong, Zi Xiaohu and his wife recently decided to move back to his hometown in the central province of Hunan. The couple’s child, who remained behind in the village while the parents worked, is about to start preschool. The […]
In a society designed around individual liberty, has marriage become little more than a temporary link-up of working people choosing to spend some free time together? And the kids?
While U Slept DEADLY FIGHTS IN EASTERN UKRAINE Ukrainian troops have briefly retaken the city hall building in the eastern city of Mariupol after heavy fights at barricades around the city held by pro-Russian activists overnight, CNN reports. A spokeswoman for the pro-Russian side said that five militants had been killed in the fights. Meanwhile, […]
Real estate agents from the troubled Mediterranean country have identified potential buyers in China, looking for both cheap real estate, and EU residency. But buyer beware.
REUTERS Worldcrunch LONDON– The California-based search giant Google says it does not have a British presence. From 2006 to 2011, Google generated $18 billion in revenues from the UK, according to statutory filings, and paid just $16 million in taxes. If British tax authorities determined that UK-based employees sell to British clients, UK law could […]
AMSTERDAM- On Tuesday, Japan’s best-known prisoner — Her Imperial Highness Crown Princess Masako – will after 11 years of relative isolation join her husband Crown Prince Naruhito’s at the coronation of Willem-Alexander in the Netherlands. What would be routine protocol for most members of imperial and royal families will, for Masako, 49, represent a huge […]
The Mai-Mai militia in the Democratic Republic of Congo is known to kill and eat captured tribal leaders, which they think gives special powers to shield them from bullets.
EL PAIS (Spain), GUARDIAN (UK), REUTERS Worldcrunch MADRID – Good and bad news arrived Thursday as Europe continues its struggle to emerge from a five-year-long economic crisis. Bad news first: Spain has again marked record-high unemployment figures, with a 27.2% jobless rate for the first quarter of 2013, the seventh straight quarter of rising jobless […]
ISTANBUL – Earlier this month, a Turkish court sentenced world-famous pianist Fazil Say to a ten-month suspended jail sentence for “insulting religious values.” Say, 43, had tweeted the following verse from 11th century poet Omar Khayyam: “You say that the rivers flow with wine, is Heaven a tavern? You say that you will give every […]
SUDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG (Germany) Worldcrunch MUNICH – This Saturday, April 20, a group of right-wing fraternities in Germany will hold what they are calling a “regional conference” in Munich. The extreme right-wing Danubia fraternity has also been invited to attend. Such a summit might not be particularly noteworthy except that April 20 also happens to be […]
BOSTON GLOBE, TWITTER, CNN, REUTERS Worldcrunch BOSTON – Two explosions near the finish line at the prestigious Boston Marathon on Monday have killed at least two people and left dozens injured. During a news conference late Monday afternoon, Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said a third explosion was registered at the John F. Kennedy Presidential […]
EL OBSERVADOR (Uruguay), LA NACION (Argentina) Worldcrunch MONTEVIDEO – Latin American diplomacy is buzzing after Uruguayan President José Mujica — apparently unaware that his microphone was still on — made nasty comments about his Argentinian counterpart, and her late husband. At the end of an online broadcast about relations between Uruguay and surrounding countries, Mujica […]
HINDUSTAN TIMES, ECONOMIC TIMES (India) NEW YORK TIMES (USA) Worldcrunch NEW DELHI — In a landmark decision on Monday, India’s Supreme Court rejected a application by pharmaceutical giant Novartis for a major cancer drug patent, a ruling that could clear the way for cheaper generic versions of medicines to continue to be distributed around the […]
It’s the failure of an entire business model, not just a few banks. Who might be next?
Leading by example can be more powerful than any doctrinal diktat.
FOLHA DE S. PAULO (Brazil) Worldcrunch BALNEÁRIO CAMBORIÚ – A sea lion measuring about three meters (9.8 feet) long left his home in the warm waters of the Golfo do Mar and took a waddle-walk into this Brazilian resort city’s downtown shopping area. It was around 5:20 p.m. Saturday evening when onlookers watched as the […]
The native of Buenos Aires, who rose to be its Archbishop, prefers the subway to limousines — ‘villas miserias’ to ecclesiastical sophistication. The name he took evokes a closeness with those who suffer most.
China’s incoming President has promised to tackle bribery and abuse of power. The country’s digital citizen-reporters will hold him to his word.
Is Italy ready to take back the papacy after being shut out by the Polish John Paul II and Germany’s Benedict XVI? This truck driver’s son is the Italians’ best hope.
NO COMMENT TV Worldcrunch CARACAS – A parade of world leaders, including Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, joined ordinary Venezuelans Friday at the state funeral of Hugo Chavez, who died this week at the age of 58 after a long battle with cancer. The ceremony was led by an emotional Vice President Nicolas Maduro, who declared: “Mission […]
SUDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG (Germany) Worldcrunch BRUSSELS – Freedom of speech, right to a fair trial, access to public education and … a checking account for every citizen? In the future every EU citizen should have the right to a basic bank account, according to proposed European-wide legislation, reports German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. The proposed measure is […]
ROME – The Pope’s resignation is a unique event, although not entirely without historical precedent. Benedict XVI is retiring not in failure but as freely and serenely as Charles V — who wasn’t a pope but an emperor, and one of the West’s major rulers when he put down his crown on October 25, 1555. […]
BEIJING – It has been several weeks since North Korea conducted its third nuclear test on February 12. The international community has condemned it, and the worry expressed is unprecedented. China, in a very unusual move, summoned the North Korean Ambassador to Beijing the same day. The UN Security Council immediately made a declaration condemning […]
ECONOMIC OBSERVER (China) Worldcrunch BEIJING – From Brangelina to Bradillac? You have to be in China, but car lovers and movie fans now have a new automotive pinup after Brad Pitt was named official spokesman for the luxury Cadillac XTS sedan, being rolled out especially for the Chinese market. The parent company of the Cadillac […]
Some Mexican leaders say immigration reform is simply a domestic matter to be left for Washington to resolve. But the stakes for Mexico are simply too big.