The news in numbers from archeological finds to big babies to bad basketball.
Author: Patrick Randall
A political and environmental coup de théatre by Greenpeace has drawn attention to the need to protect the melting glaciers in Chile’s southern reaches.
Below are some of the songs currently topping the charts around the world. Worldcrunch Pick “We’re making a single-sale collector’s item. This is like somebody having the scepter of an Egyptian king.” This is how Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA, in an interview with Forbes, described the hip-hop collective’s surprise new album, Once Upon A Time In […]
BUENOS AIRES — A shortage of affordable rentals in the Argentine capital has become manna for determined squatters who use “tricks of the trade” to move into once-cherished homes. Not just a homeowner’s nightmare, these situations are becoming bureaucratic ones for many as well. At the top of the list of this new breed of […]
BORDEAUX — Jeanne Lacombe, who runs four vineyards owned by wine magnate Bernard Magrez in France’s Médoc region, is used to waiting: for the grapes to ripen, for wines to age — and now, for her drone. It is due this month, and will come equipped with three carbon fiber feet, six propellers and a […]
With power outages and deep shortages, some civilians are finding new ways to heat homes and cook meals, by using the natural resources around them — and even bomb craters.
A February double murder in the South African city of Soweto illustrates a quiet rise in demon worship among teenagers, influenced in part by American pop culture icons.
“Clean and fair..” is how Egypt’s judiciary was described across the airwaves after the decision to execute 529 members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Amid an ongoing public debate in France on end-of-life palliative care, doctors tell Le Monde how they secretly help their patients die.
Below are some of the songs currently topping the charts around the world. Worldcrunch Pick British singer Kate Bush announced Friday on her website that she will play her first series of shows since 1979 in August and September across the UK. The first woman to top the British charts with a song of her […]
PARIS – On March 12, Mustafa Dzhemilev, a leading figure among the ethnic Crimean Tatars, had a long conversation over the phone with Vladimir Putin. No doubt, they talked about the referendum that was set to take place four days later. According to what Dzhemilev reported to the Ukrainian media, the Russian president asserted that […]
Producers from Rwanda, Burundi and Ethiopia have visited the Colombian estates of producers to discover the social, environmental and aesthetic benefits of growing shade coffee.
Driven by a nationalist vision and contempt of the West, the Russian president knows Europe’s fear of armed conflict is his ace in the hole in Crimea. But what does he lose by winning?
The massacre of 29 people in Kunming this month is related to Xinjiang, a province where the relations between the Han Chinese and Uyghur are more tense than ever.
A former soldier accuses the Colombian Army and aides to former President Álvaro Uribe of ordering the killings of innocent civilians amid a “dirty war” against FARC rebels.
It has been one year since Pope Francis was elected to the head of the Catholic Chuch. It was virtually instant stardom for the Argentine-born Pope, and magazines around the world couldn’t get enough of the supremely humble 266th pontiff. UNITED STATES ARGENTINA: BRAZIL: PERU: ITALY: POLAND: PORTUGAL: GREAT BRITAIN/IRELAND: FRANCE: GERMANY: SWITZERLAND: GREECE: NIGERIA: […]
Evidence is piling up that the Damascus regime has used rape – of daughters in front of fathers, wives in front of husbands – as a targeted weapon.
Restrictive U.S. entry requirements deprive talented people of work opportunity but also drag down the competitiveness across the Americas.
KEMPTEN — Perhaps it’s a rather tired comparison, but the Allgäu region in the southern German state of Swabia is well known for its snow. This past weekend it was piled several feet deep on the Nebelhorn mountain. Eight ski lifts were in operation, with winter vacationers on every run. A few miles to the […]
KAMPUNG CHETTI — The Malaysian states of Penang and Malacca are home to UNESCO World Heritage Sites, but now a 600-year-old village in Malacca is under threat from a high-rise development and highway project. About 300 people live here in Kampung Chetti, the heart of the Chettis community whose heritage can be traced back to South India. Their ancestors came here 600 years ago as traders, and since then they have intermarried with the locals and have created a strong bond with the other Malaysian races, says resident SK Pillay. “We can mix very well with the Chinese, we can […]
Tensions are running high in Simferopol, the capital of the region of Crimea. A Polish reporter tries to take the pulse of a people increasingly divided.
Below are some of the songs topping the charts around the world. Worldcrunch Pick The first clips of the long awaited Jimi Hendrix biopic All Is By My Side were released yesterday, showing Outkast’s Andre 3000 playing the famous guitarist (see below). The film was premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in Sep. 2013, […]
The crisis in Crimea says more about Russian ambitions and European foot-dragging than it does about indecisiveness in Washington.
The singular tale of a young French-Malian who spent three years in the world’s jihad hot spots in an attempt to join al-Qaeda fighters. No one would take him.
Pressing news, random facts and other summings up of recent events in the world that counts.
The hotel’s location is practical, in one of the most sought-after areas of Edinburgh: just steps away from the railroad station, with the Old Town and Princes Street shopping only close by. Old and imposing on the outside, inside it’s all modern, minimalist, and even a little Scottish. Chairs in the reception area are upholstered […]
The West has woken up to the gravity of the situation. But what real options are on the table?
BEIJING — There is a career crisis in China’s judiciary, and it’s especially acute here in the capital. First the numbers. According to statistics obtained by Li Yuanfang, a National People’s Congress member, of the 2,053 judges recruited in Beijing between 2008 and 2012, 348 have since resigned. That’s 16.9% of new recruits leaving their […]
Here are some of the songs topping the charts around the world. Worldcrunch Pick Former Blur frontman Damon Albarn has released a new video and track, “Lonely Press Play,” from his upcoming album Everyday Robots. Shot by Albarn himself using just a tablet, the clip shows brief images of his travels around the world, from […]
-Commentary- OSLO — In Oslo, where snow falls abundantly, visibility is virtually nil. But what this white desert suggests is not melancholy à la Ibsen or a metaphysical Munch Scream. On the contrary, deep satisfaction and hope dominate here. In other words, unlike the French, Norwegians are happy people. They claim to feel no remorse, […]
CAIRO — He might as well already be president. His photo is on every wall in Cairo. His constant television appearances, broadcasts of his speeches and video clips glorifying the army eclipse the presence of interim leader Adly Mansour. Even Field Marshall Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s mention of his night visions from 35 years ago, in […]
The financial crisis has seen middle-aged French increasingly returning to their family nests. For many, it can be a special kind of shame to move back in with elderly parents.
The world was surprised, and very likely pleased, by this past weekend’s capture of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, head of the Sinaloa drug cartel and one of the world’s richest and most powerful drug traffickers. Pleased for good reason, because “Shorty” Guzmán, who was on the run for 13 years after a prison escape, is believed […]
-Analysis- PARIS — Is this 1989 all over again? One generation after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the protests in Ukraine instinctively bring to mind the revolutions that swept away the dying communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe. The images of crowds, initially peaceful and festive in Kiev’s Independence Square, are similar to […]
Two French teenagers, aged 15 and 16, organized their journey in just a few days, via the Internet, to set off on Jihad in Syria. Once there, they were soon disillusioned.
DALOA — The Ivory Coast was on the verge of losing its last forest elephants. It is a risk with some bitter irony, as elephants are the emblem of the nation. So a rescue operation like those already carried out in Zambia and Malawi, but unprecedented in West Africa, was launched at the end of […]
Here are some of the songs topping the charts from music hot spots around the world. Worldcrunch Pick This week, British heavy metal band Motörhead announced they will organize a festival cruise setting off from Miami next fall. Named “MotörBoat,” the rock ’n’ roll cruise will also hit Key West and Cozumel before returning to […]
KIEV — After a brief respite in clashes, the Ukraine capital exploded again Thursday, with scenes of urban warfare and photographs of corpses lining Kiev’s central square. Death tolls Thursday range from several dozen to more than 100 victims, according to various sources. Hundreds of injured were also reported as videos and testimonies of snipers […]
BEIJING — Chen Dongsheng has amassed a fortune with attention to both the mundane of insurance and the glamour of fine art. He is the founder of three completely divergent enterprises — China Guardian Auctions, the first Chinese auction company to specialize in the sale of Chinese artwork; Kangtai Life, one of China’s largest life […]
The English chose to build their towns next to rivers. The French instead built on the ruins of Roman cities. A look at how these centuries-old decisions have impacted today’s economy.