WorldcrunchThis leading French daily newspaper Le Monde (“The World”) was founded in December 1944 in the aftermath of World War II. Today, it is distributed in 120 countries. In late 2010, a trio formed by Pierre Berge, Xavier Niel and Matthieu Pigasse took a controlling 64.5% stake in the newspaper.
PARIS – Should the 500 euros bill be taken out of circulation? A study by Merrill Lynch raised the question, and it is not a small question, as those bills comprise one-third of the total monetary value of bills currently in circulation, that is to say some 300 billion euros. Still, the bills are very […]
SHANGHAI – Times are tough for billionaires. In Italy, their tax returns are being tracked down. In France, their overseas accounts are being scrutinized. Brussels wants to ban bankers’ bonuses. Switzerland voted to outlaw golden handshakes. Even in the United States, billionaires – unless they are also philanthropists – have become suspicious characters. Fortunately, there […]
Lilian Soto is a longshot to win Sunday’s election, but she may have already changed the last South American country to have female voting rights.
Son of immigrants, Redoine Faïd, 40, dealt drugs on the outskirts of Paris before turning to armed robbery. After repenting on French TV, a daring prison break has added to his legend.
Margaret Thatcher’s legacy was forever tarnished by the ten IRA hunger strikers who died on her watch. Will Guantanamo’s protesters be Obama’s black mark?
Setting limits on having children has meant an army of Chinese civil servants systematically employing kidnapping, torture, forced sterilization and abortions. And for what?
KHADICHAUR – Araniko Highway, connecting Kathmandu to the Nepal-China border, doesn’t look much like a highway. It is narrow strip of roadway sometimes covered in asphalt, sometimes just dirt. This 115-kilometer road, winding between mountains and ravines is also deadly. Or it would be, without the incredible dexterity of the truck and bus drivers who […]
Even Ivy League graduates have to settle for serial internships.
FEZ – It is the fourth stage of the Tour du Maroc bicycle race, and we are somewhere between Guercif and Fez. Since this morning, the wind has not stopped sweeping this stretch of road, and the cyclists with it. Everyone is pedaling in slow motion, at about 15 kilometers per hour. Some of the […]
Hers was a revolution of ideas and economics that still can be seen in the struggle to shape the future of the West.
Authorities worry for the safety of the mostly young sign-ups, but also the risk that they return home radicalized — and set on striking targets in Europe.
RANGOON –Two years after the official end of the Burmese military regime, some citizens are skeptical, whilst others remain deeply critical of the current government. Some people fear the reforms will keep running into many obstacles. Still, there is one point everyone agrees on: the clearest sign that the democratization process is happening is that […]
An interview with Zhang Xianmin, founder of one of the many independent cultural events that were banned last year by the Chinese government.
LYON – Those familiar with the Freegan movement know that dumpster diving to find food to eat is nothing new. But organizing free food distributions to denounce food waste is a novel form of Freeganism – as practiced by the activists from the Gars Pilleurs organization founded by two young men from Lyon, east-central France. […]
It may also turn you into a hypochondriac.
Thousands of young Tunisians who tried to emigrate to Europe after the Arab Spring have disappeared. Their families are desperate to know what happened to them.
ADDIS ABABA – Initially, her idea was to provide work for her family in her native village of Zenabework, about 30 kilometers from Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital. When she announced that she was going to start her own company on a plot of land lent by her grandmother, everyone said: You are crazy! You […]
Known for its gender equality, Sweden has begun to turn ugly. Some point to a “Breivik effect” spreading through Scandinavia since the 2011 massacre in Norway by a right-wing extremist.
China’s basketball legend Yao Ming wants to save the sharks. Wang Haifeng wants to save 500 jobs. Who are you rooting for? Have you ever tried shark fin soup?
Occasionally, D-Day artifacts still wash up on the beaches of Normandy. But these days, it is rare for someone in France to be able to trace them back to America’s Greatest Generation.
CHALLAPATA – Standing beneath the Bolivian sun, it takes just one long look at the quinoa fields stretching as far as the eye can see, to understand why the Andean people call quinoa the golden grain. “We also call it chisiya mama, which means ‘mother of all grains’ in the Aymara language,” smiles Valentina Rodriguez, […]
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.
The death penalty is alive and well in the land of the rising sun — and death row is particularly wretched.
GAZA – They have almost all left: Bachar for Sweden, May for Spain, Imad for Tunisia, Mohamed for Qatar, Assad for Egypt, Adham for Belgium. Moustapha, Asmaa’s brother also left for Belgium, while Mohamed Matar, aka Abou Yazan, the leader of the short-lived March 15 Movement, that tried to bring the Arab Spring to Gaza, […]
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?
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 […]
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 […]
Those who managed to survive the March 11, 2011 disaster that killed nearly 19,000 have suffered from both physical and social fallout.
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.
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 […]
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 […]
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.
PARIS – Their vintage facades date back from a time when apartments didn’t have bathrooms. For many people, washing up meant a sink and cold water. The whole family went to these public baths, regularly or for special occasions. But as time passed, these public baths were transformed into nightclubs, shops – or simply demolished. […]
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 […]
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” […]
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 […]
And why it’s not as bad as you think.
Perhaps the most acclaimed Israeli writer of his generation, and a fixture of the peace movement, Oz continues to surprise at the age of 73.