FRANCE 24, LE MONDE, BBC, REUTERS Worldcrunch PARIS –Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been placed under formal investigation over claims his 2007 campaign was funded by “exploiting the weakness” of elderly Liliane Bettencourt, the L’Oréal heiress and France’s richest woman. Le Monde reports that Sarkozy’s supporters in the current center-right opposition called the decision […]
Author: Leo Tilmont
BERLIN – With all its other problems, the euro is also getting unexpected — and “underground” — competition from a new virtual currency. It’s called the bitcoin, and in case you haven’t heard, it is the most ambitious (and to-date, successful) attempt to create a new online currency, generated by the calculations of thousands of […]
With his proposal to cut bonuses for European bankers, Belgian politician Philippe Lamberts has become public enemy No. 1 for Britain’s financial industry. Nothing could make him happier.
President Obama’s arrival in Israel with no new peace proposal to offer is reassuring to many Israelis. They should be worried instead.
The justification for war was false and the victims are endless, even extending to those dying today in Syria. A bitter look back from leading Moroccan daily Le Soir.
ALSASUA – Here in the Spanish Pyrenees, the locals celebrate quite a bizarre tradition with roots in ancient times — made alive again by those who like to mingle with the walking dead. During this weeklong Alsasua fiesta, abandoned in the 1930s but picked up again in the 1990s, the “Momotxorros” are dressed in blood-spattered […]
-OpEd- PARIS – A lot of people in Europe, especially the French, cheered heedlessly when the Arab Spring took off in 2011. But then came the 70,000 dead from the Syrian war; the proliferation of terrorism in Libya and Mali; the assassination of the main Tunisian opposition leader Chokri Belaid in a country where there […]
REUTERS, BLOOMBERG Worldcrunch NICOSIA – Global markets tumbled Monday as new doubts spread about the solvency of the eurozone with the Cypriot government preparing to impose a new levy on bank deposits in order to qualify for bailout funds. Finance ministers in the eurozone Sunday had demanded that Cypriots pay up to 10% of their […]
Pope Francis will preach humility and fraternity in the spirit of his namesake St. Francis of Assisi. Can he make it relevant in the 21st century?
DISASI – As the little coffin leaves the hospital morgue in this western Congolese town, there is total silence. Yves Ibama was 14 years old when he was taken from his parents suddenly, after a short illness. On Buzala Avenue, in the densely populated town of Disasi where the wake is being held, everyone is […]
ALEPPO – For nearly three months, a rumor has been spreading through Aleppo: whoever faces hardship, however small, can go to a hearing of the “Committee for the promotion of good deeds and support of the oppressed.” There, in this northern neighborhood of the country’s largest city, members of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) are […]
Beware of “Ransomware”…
PARIS – Among the 2.5 million people who are illiterate in France, there are also executives from the corporate world. Because of the jobs they hold, these people are very good at hiding their inability to read or write, making this phenomenon impossible to quantify — some have dubbed it the “invisible affliction.” When he […]
LES ECHOS (France), EU OBSERVER (Belgium), BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP (USA), WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM, DATA PROTECTION IN EUROPE Worldcrunch BRUSSELS – This week, more than 90 leading academics across Europe launched a petition to support the European Commission’s draft data protection regulation, reports the EU Observer. The online petition, entitled Data Protection in Europe, says “huge […]
KOREA TIMES, CHOSUN ILBO, YONHAP (South Korea) Worldcrunch PYONGYANG – A “large number” of soldiers are deserting the North Korean ranks due to the growing tensions with its southern neighbor, US sanctions and insufficient food supplies, according to a South Korean official source. The number of deserters stationed in the frontlines has multiplied by seven […]
NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR (France) Worldcrunch PARIS – When you think of French cuisine, visions sparkle of a leisurely countryside bistro or elaborate meals conjured up by the likes of super chef Alain Ducasse. On a rainy Monday in the capital, the reality looks much more like a study just released by the consulting firm Gira Conseil […]
Those who managed to survive the March 11, 2011 disaster that killed nearly 19,000 have suffered from both physical and social fallout.
PARIS – The future of the “Made in France” label doesn’t just hinge on Champagne, Airbus or luxury handbags. The Bic company’s annual report, released on Feb. 13, proves it – it’s possible to make a good living in the West with an alternative economic model based on mass-produced cheap products. The company still makes […]
FRANCE 24, THE GUARDIAN (UK), AFP Worldcrunch RANGOON – In a milestone for the fledgling Burmese transition away from its longtime military autocracy, the first party conference for Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy’s (NLD) opened Friday. After decades of oppression under strict military dictatorship, leaders of the longtime opposition, are set to […]
-OpEd- PARIS – Game over for the last of the European Marxists. Europe is getting ready to cap the size of bonuses for bankers. New rules would prevent bankers in European Union countries from receiving bonuses higher than their annual salary. This world first would put an end to the practice that allows these “workers” […]
ROTTERDAM – Governments are well aware of the danger, but consumers have no idea. One out of five freight containers arriving in European ports has been fumigated with extremely dangerous, carcinogenic or neurotoxic gases. It is a vast phenomenon: one million containers filled with imported goods arrive in Europe by ship every week. These toxic […]
Vac-packed pesto risotto never tasted so good!
Worldcrunch After 9/11, the list of items and products banned on US flights got much longer. But the news from the Transport Security Administration (TSA) is that folding knife blades –and sports equipment – are now permitted again, in order for security personnel to focus on explosive devices. The official report states the following: “TSA […]
Karel Janecek became a billionaire before 40. Now, as President Vaclav Klaus steps down in a cloud after a decade, Janecek is leading the fight for those who want to clean up Czech politics.
BERN – Switzerland may be set to become the world champion of shareholder democracy. Swiss voters gave overwhelming approval to the popular initiative against excessive corporate compensation — an initiative launched by Thomas Minder, an entrepreneur from the city of Schaffhausen. Some 68% voted in favor of Sunday’s ballot measure, and each local canton received […]
AFP, BBC (UK), VOICE OF AMERICA (USA) Worldcrunch KARACHI – The death toll has reached at least 45, with 150 wounded from a powerful blast in a mainly Shiite Muslim area of Karachi. There are reports that the explosion was set off by Sunni terrorists, although by midday Monday no group had claimed responsibility for […]
French and Chadian troops search for terrorist groups who melt into the landscape and launch suicide attacks in the towns. Initial plans for France’s rapid return home have been revised.
WASHINGTON – Radioactive sludge has long been leaking from a nuclear site less than 10 kilometers from one of the West Coast’s biggest rivers, and no one seems to care. According to Tom Carpenter, director of environmentalist organization Hanford Challenge, this virtual media blackout should come as no surprise. The consequences of the leak will […]
A Polish reporter in London finds out for herself.
Worldcrunch PARIS – On Friday, the European statistics agency Eurostat, released new European Union and euro zone unemployment figures from January, showing record highs. Here is a breakdown of the alarming numbers: – More than 26 million people unemployed in the 27-member European Union. – Almost 19 million unemployed in the 17-country euro zone. – […]
NGOZI – In the north of Burundi, new brands of “beer” have sprouted recently. They are produced locally in a multitude of small breweries or imported from neighboring countries in little plastic bags. These alcoholic beverages are three times less expensive than normal brews – $0.30 for 50ml – and very strong, containing up to […]
Computer wizard Jinha Lee from MIT (Massachussets Institute of Technology) designed an interactive three dimensional computer called SpaceTop. With a LED screen and two cameras, the interface allows you to manipulate 3D objects. The young whiz said that “It shouldn’t be in the hands of scientists, it should be in the hands of normal people,” […]
VATICAN CITY – Nevermind the “courage, humility, respect and lucidity,” and the other praise we’ve heard associated with Pope Benedict XVI’s historic decision to step down, he leaves behind a papacy stained with failure and a deep feeling of something left incomplete. On some matters, the Pope’s decision is indeed a form of renunciation. “Purification” […]
HERALD SUN (Australia), SKY NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch SYDNEY –Australian police have seized 585 kilograms of pure methamphetamine in Sydney bound to flush the major Australian cities. The haul was estimated at $438 million in street value, in what is largest seizure ever of methamphetamine down under. Police had been tipped off in September about “suspicious […]
CAIRO – It just happened one day, without prior notice. On Jan. 26, Moheddin Marwan lowered the iron curtain of his grocery store at lunchtime. When he came back to work the next day, he just stood there petrified, as motionless as the new barricade that blocked the access to his shop. Stacked up like […]
A Belgium perspective on the urgent risks that Italy’s economic implosion will spread. France could be next.
PARIS – In 140 characters of hacker jargon, French security company Vupen tweeted on Oct. 30, 2012 that they had discovered a security flaw in Windows 8 and that they were selling it to the highest bidder. Our first 0day for Win8+IE10 with HiASLR/AntiROP/DEP & Prot Mode sandbox bypass (Flash not needed) is ready for […]
BOCHUM – Intensive sports make our muscles grow – nothing new there. But now clinical neurophysiologists from Germany’s Ruhr-University Bochum (RUB) have shown that sports can change our brain too. For their research, 26 high-performance athletes (half of them practitioners of judo and karate, the other half marathon runners and triathletes), and 12 non-athletes, had […]
DIE WELT (Germany) Worldcrunch TRIPOLI – Libya’s former dictator Muammar Gaddafi has been dead since Oct. 2011, but Libyans are still faced with his image daily on their one, 20 and 50 dinar notes. However on Feb. 17 – the second anniversary of the start of the revolution – the Libyan National Bank put new […]
ISTANBUL – A Turkish writer has won a court battle against Turkish Airlines for censoring an article published in their inflight magazine. In June 2009, Buket Uzuner was commissioned to write an article about Istanbul’s Moda neighborhood for Turkish Airlines’ Skylife magazine. In her article she criticized the city of Istanbul’s ban on alcohol sales […]