Worldcrunch
Since August 14, when Egyptian security forces moved in to disperse the sit-ins of supporters of former president Mohamed Morsi, the nation has suffered considerably. And while the situation is less cut and dry than some observers make it sound, one thing seems clear: there are two players apparently intent on accelarating a conflict that […]
TWITTER, WIKILEAKS Worldcrunch Bradley Manning, the heroic whistleblower for Wikleaks and devious traitor for the Pentagon, was sentenced Wednesday to 35 years in prison by a U.S. military court in Fort Meade, Maryland. Manning had been convicted last month of 20 charges — including espionage — for handing hundreds of thousands of battlefield reports and […]
The problem all along, this Turkish writer argues, has been the Egyptian Army. And its takedown of the Muslim Brotherhood will only breed extremist terrorists.
The intricate connection between state power and academic authority is fertile ground for corruption in research and education. Here is one recipe to clean up the campus in China.
SÃO PAULO — When Jorginho wakes up in the morning, he has a breakfast of fruits and yogurt to get his bowels moving. Then he takes an anxiolytic to ease the worries of a stressful day ahead in the big city. Around the corner is Bino, who has a weekly session of acupuncture on his […]
Buyer beware: both prestigious boarding schools and summer tours have major drawbacks.
In Germany, eight university hospitals have opened outpatient sports psychiatry facilities to treat depression for the “over-worked-out.”
HANNOVER – It’s 2 p.m. on an early summer Wednesday at an Autobahn rest stop near Hannover, in north-central Germany. Robert, starting out on the last big stage of his journey, plans to hitch a ride to Cologne. He’s making an unusual exception to journeymen rules on this one — letting a non-journeyman like me […]
BEIJING – Mengyun seems satisfied with her new bedroom, even if it’s less than seven square meters and originally served as a kitchen. “This is the biggest room I’ve ever had in the four years I’ve lived in Beijing,” she says. “And it costs me only 950 RMB ($155) per month.” Peng, the head tenant […]
MENA (Egypt), NEW YORK TIMES (USA), RT, AP Worldcrunch CAIRO – Ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi is being detained over alleged ties with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, and questioned on related charges of murder and kidnapping. A top Cairo court has ordered that Morsi be questioned on whether he collaborated with Hamas for his […]
THE HERALD, NEW ZIMBABWE (Zimbabwe) Worldcrunch CHITUNGWIZA – Chiwoniso Maraire, one of Zimbabwe’s most famous singers, died late Wednesday at the age of 37. Born in Olympia, U.S., in 1976, Chiwoniso shot to fame in the 1990s thanks to her distinctive voice and her playing the mbira — also known as sanza, kalimba or “thumb […]
Royal baby madness has gripped both Britain and the world, with the birth of the first child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, aka Will and Kate. The healthy boy, third in line to the throne, was born late Monday afternoon, weighing in at 8 lbs., 6 oz. With photos of the little prince […]
–OpEd– BEIJING – China’s Supreme Court Chief Justice Zhou Qiang recently declared that any miscarriage of justice is an affront to social fairness. The Chief Justice also announced a preliminary plan for promoting independent and impartial trials, respecting and protecting the rights of lawyers, and establishing a sound mechanism for preventing and correcting wrongful convictions. […]
BERLIN – It’s an animal story with a happy ending, five years in the making. A Berlin woman who’d lost her tabby cat “Pauley” in 2008 had an almost unthinkable surprise waiting for her at the capital’s Tierheim animal shelter. “When I got the letter a few days ago from the shelter saying my cat […]
REUTERS Worldcrunch CAIRO – Seven people were killed and more than 260 wounded when supporters of Mohammed Morsi clashed with the deposed president’s opponents and security forces through the night as violence returned to Egypt“s streets. Two people were killed at a bridge in central Cairo where police and anti-Morsi locals clashed with some of […]
ZOO ATLANTA, THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION (USA), AP Worldcrunch ATLANTA – The world’s second most closely watched pregnancy has reached an end: Lun Lun, Zoo Atlanta’s giant panda gave birth to two little cubs on Monday night — the first twin pandas born in the U.S. since 1987. Both cubs appeared healthy, Zoo Atlanta deputy director […]
The revelations of the NSA surveillance program came on the heels of the Boston Marathon attack. America weighs the links between an alleged terrorist and self-avowed whistleblower.
Recently a home of 400 square meters was put on sale for a cool $21.2 million. That’s an astronomical sum, even for a piece of property advertized as being located adjacent to a good school that guarantees any entrance to the school for the children of the buyers. As news spread of this over-the-top pricetag […]
BERLIN – After the fall of Mohammed Morsi in Egypt, the West is still trying to figure out what words to use to describe what is happening. In Berlin, no one wants to use the P-word, so instead of referring to a military putsch, Germany’s Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle spoke of a “stay in democratic […]
SOUTHERN URBAN DAILY, CNTV (China) Worldcrunch SHENZHEN – Magical elixir for those suffering? Status symbol for China’s super rich? Or just plain…CREEPY!? The Southern Urban Daily was the first to report on the growing popularity among wealthy Chinese for drinking human milk. “Human milk is the best of tonics, it’s even better than bird’s nest […]
With the latest incarnation of Superman on the silver screen in “Man of Steel,” we see the most evolved form of the complicated and conflicted superhero.
Most Americans will spend Thursday marking the birth of their nation 237 years ago, with the founding fathers’ adoption of the Declaration of Independence. July 4th celebrates the American colonies’ independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the establishment of the United States as a nation self-evidently free to pursue happiness and hot dog-eating […]
This week’s selection of magazine covers from around the world.
AMMAN – The majority of Syria’s 25 million-strong population is Sunni, and while activists increasingly blame the Alawite-led shabiha Ba’ath operatives and mercenary Hezbollah forces for keeping the Assad regime in place, it is in fact the Sunni population that is quietly propping it up. Whether out of fear, genuine ideological support or financial interest, […]
Known as sisa, this Greek methamphetamine-based concoction is spreading across the streets of Athens — the latest sign of the side effects of the economic crisis plaguing Greece.
– Op-Ed – BERLIN – Two people recently “disappeared” into the vastness that is China. The whole world is talking about one of them: Edward Snowden whose revelations about digital spying by the National Security Agency have fueled fear and indignation. Big Brother, your name was and is USA. Nobody is talking about photographer and […]
Decades of unbridled industrialization has left much of China’s soil badly contaminated. Some are set to make millions cleaning it up.
-Op-Ed- BEIJING – It would seem that police brutality is not just for ordinary – powerless – citizens in China. A policewoman from central China’s Henan Province was recently arrested when visiting her daughter in the provincial capital Zhengzhou. Mistakenly accused of being sex workers, the woman and her daughter were beaten, tortured and detained […]
A new documentary on German television uncovers the notable tax revenue and nationwide implications of being the “biggest whorehouse in Europe.”
Protests against the construction plans to pave over Istanbul’s Gezi park have exploded into a national standoff. If the project goes to a popular referendum, what will really be at stake?
This week’s selection of magazine covers from around the world.
SANTIAGO – We know that Chilean writer and Nobel Prize for Literature laureate Pablo Neruda (1904–1973) was a serious gourmet – something that his considerable girth attested to. So it’s no surprise if among his many poems there’s also an Ode to Conger Chowder. The conger – a giant eel called congrio in Chile – […]
What the facial evolution of children’s toys tells us about our conflict-driven society.
The National Security Agency’s spying on both its own citizens, and foreigners, has turned the idea of the “open web” on its head.
ISTANBUL – For days now, people from every social circle are in the streets of cities across Turkey protesting the government’s plans to bulldoze Taksim Gezi Park. Among those I have observed are Kemalist nationalists, conservatives, anti-capitalist Muslims, Peace and Democracy party supporters, the Grey Wolves and other ultra-nationalists, homosexuals, transvestites, elderly people, and leftist […]
ISTANBUL – “The media have sold out! The media have sold out!” several thousand protesters chanted in front of NTV offices. Their beef with the Turkish news channel was that it had stayed silent too long about what was going on in and around Gezi Park in Istanbul. The protesters feel the press has let […]
ISTANBUL – This does not look like the semi-official demonstrations that preceded the May 27, 1960 Coup d’état where chants of “the military and the people walk hand-in-hand” were heard. This does not look like those political rallies intolerant to the lifestyle of religious people, where the demand of “We do not want a headscarved […]
NEWS.COM.AU, SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (Australia) Worldcrunch CANBERRA – Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has had another sandwich thrown at her as she was visiting Lyneham High School in Canberra — the second bread-based attack to target her this month. Gillard was visiting the school to announce education funding reforms when a student hurled a white-bread-salami […]
OECD Worldcrunch PARIS – The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has just released its Better Life index — a survey ranking 36 countries according to 11 criteria: Housing, Income, Jobs, Community, Education, Environment, Civic Engagement, Health, Life Satisfaction, Safety and Work-Life Balance. For the third year in a row, Australia takes the […]
LE MONDE (France), BBC NEWS (UK), REUTERS Worldcrunch PARIS – French newspaper Le Monde revealed Monday that two of its reporters went undercover in Syria, where they witnessed the repeated use of chemical weapons by the forces of President Bashar al-Assad. In a report issued on Le Monde’s website, a special correspondent and a photographer […]