WorldcrunchLe Nouvel Obs, formerly known as Le Nouvel Observateur (“The New Observer”), then as L’Obs, is France’s most widely read weekly newsmagazine. Founded in 1964 by Claude Perdriel, it has been part of Le Monde group since 2014, and is based in Paris.
What do a Pretty Woman, Charlie’s Angel And Smurfette have in common? They all have the voice of actress Celine Monsarrat, who finally drops the mask on a 30-year career of finding the perfect pitch for incarnating other people’s roles. PARIS — I started in this field a bit by accident thanks to an aunt […]
-Analysis- PARIS — What can Europe do after Kiev’s desperate call for help in dealing with the invasion of Russian troops in eastern Ukraine, where separatists are gaining control? Let’s leave aside for the moment the hypothesis of military aid. European defense doesn’t exist. What’s more, we run the risk of escalation — an imbalance […]
PARIS — The figures are dizzying. According to the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization, 1.3 billion tons of food — one-third of the world’s total food products — are thrown away or wasted each year. Among the food we needlessly toss are yogurt pots that have passed their “best before” date and potatoes that aren’t […]
Israel’s supporters have responded to criticism of the Gaza intervention by asking why similar anger isn’t directed at the toll in Syria. It’s a bogus comparison, for many reasons.
Blaming French Jews for Israel’s actions in Gaza is just the latest vile expression of a rising wave of anti-Semitism that has resurfaced in the heart of Europe.
JERUSALEM — Nobody wanted to believe it. Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet had of course called up reservists and warned the 100,000 inhabitants of Gaza who lived near the border not to stay long. But for most Israeli political analysts, this had appeared to be mainly an exercise in communications. And everything pointed to their being right […]
Just over a year ago, when Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands handed her eldest son Willem Alexander the reins of the country, everybody in Britain wondered whether Queen Elizabeth II would be next. Now, as Spain’s Juan Carlos, 76, steps down to “renew” the monarchy, questions are rising again about the British queen’s succession. But […]
PARIS — France, the sick man of Europe… Until now, we have been using this old phrase as a provocative way to characterize this country’s current economic situation. But after the results of Sunday’s European elections, this phrase now can be used to refer to something broken in French politics. With the victory of the […]
Reports of the Thai army taking control in a military coup come as a growing number of activists are openly challenging the country’s long-reigning King Bhumibol.
PARIS — The 3D printing revolution promises to change the very way products are manufactured and sold, across a vast array of sectors. Inevitably this has sparked a race to directly print living cells of human beings. This technology is now available in the US and Japan, dubbed 3D bioprinting, with wide-eyed investors flocking to […]
A French reporter is the first Western journalist to get inside the village of Lukqun where in June 2013, 27 people were killed under unclear circumstances before access was shut off.
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.
PARIS — Elegance is the watch word here, as a young model walks down the aisle, wearing a pair of astonishingly shaped stilettos, its complex patterns reminiscent of certain architectural constructions. The graceful shoes, created by French designer Pierre Renaux, were made entirely with a machine that is on the verge of changing the world, […]
BEIJING — When he was 17, Zhao Bowen was a bored student who made an audacious decision. In a country where the cult of diplomas knows no boundaries, he quit school and decided not to take the exam that would have allowed him university entry. “All that fuss just to learn things that you can […]
Did you know ‘The Hunger Games’ was written by a woman? Do you care? Examples of sexism continue to plague the male-dominated world of science fiction.
The two explosions that killed at least 23 people this week in Beirut are the latest sign that the country is moving toward the kind of conflict that has torn it apart in the past.
Poor women come to this Indian clinic to rent their bellies to wealthy couples from around the world. A practical solution to modern problems or the worst kind of social engineering?
TEL AVIV — It’s the joke of the evening and they tell it again and again, happy with themselves, a lukewarm glass of Coke in their hands: “Are you ready to hear a lie? Because if I tell you the truth, we’ll have to kill you.” They probably wouldn’t, but then again the participants of […]
PARIS — Desperately wanting to find their soul mates, people who use dating sites often fall victim to pointless conversations, hurt feelings, and even addictive or irrational behaviors. We spoke with four disappointed users, who share their stories. Julia, 30, stewardess “After being single for a year and a half, I got tired of not […]
-Op-Ed- Last week finally saw the epilogue of the eventful Bo Xilai affair. The former high-ranking official of the single-party state, both a member of the Chinese Community Party (CCP) Politburo and the most powerful figure of the Chongqing municipality, was sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in the Shandong province. But this legal […]
-OpEd- PARIS — The Kerry-Lavrov agreement finally ends any illusion of a new “Cold War” that would have featured a showdown in Syria between friends of Washington and allies of Moscow. With the deal inked between American Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, it has become clear that the U.S. […]
HAIFA – His pack is ready: spare clothing, two clean uniforms, his combat boots and a charger for his smartphone. If he is called, Haim Halévy, a 32-year-old from Haifa, will only have a few hours to join his field regiment stationed on the Golan Heights. The fateful phone call may arrive today, tomorrow, in […]
Properties of Saudi princes, the sultan of Brunei, billionaires from Qatar and Asia, and a few of the wealthiest people in France, Parisian palaces-turned-hotels are a high-rolling industry.
After the chemical attacks, military intervention is a question of humanity, but also of realpolitik. That does not, however, mean it will resolve the situation in Syria.
To counter Islam, conservative groups are twisting the ideas of the Enlightenment writer famous for his advocacy of freedom of religion.
Google+, the social network of the American web giant is, in fact, a lot more than a social network. Larry Page, the web giant’s CEO, describes it as “the social backbone” of a company whose ambition is simple, if not the least bit modest: to control the Internet. “If Google+ was just a social network, […]
SALOU – It’s about 4 p.m. in the lobby of a hotel in the Costa Dorada, on the Catalan coast of Spain. A brunette sporting micro-shorts and a boy without a shirt are miming a sexual act amongst a sweaty and inebriated crowd. The deejay shouts into his microphone: “Have you had enough?” Of course […]
PARIS – After years at Dior, designer Hedi Slimane was named creative director at Yves Saint Laurent in 2012, where he has embarked on a strategy to revolutionize the legendary French fashion house. He has just opened a new flagship store on Paris’s luxurious Avenue Montaigne and renamed the brand “Saint Laurent.” Black, white and […]
A French journalist upset by the shuttering of local book shops gets a temp job with Amazon, where only the “supermotivated” survive to work under conditions that violate labor codes.
“They’re going to need a bigger island…” Surfers on this Indian Ocean island are (mostly) staying out of the water after the fourth deadly attack. Up close, very close, with those targeted.
-Op-Ed- PARIS – Guerilla scenes, an intolerable gratuitous violence, hundreds of angry youths looting shops… this is not Aleppo in Syria, but central Paris. On May 13, violence broke out in one of the French capital’s ritziest neighborhood as supporters gathered to celebrate the soccer team Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) winning the French League 1 championship […]
Disgusted by the “spirit of May ’68” the new generation of French Catholics isn’t shy about taking on what they see as the moral wasteland that has taken over the country’s establishment.
SAINT-TROPEZ – Star, entrepreneur, chef, and the most decorated cook in the world, Alain Ducasse always has a place to be. He’s perpetually traveling around the world from one of his restaurants to another: from Paris to Tokyo, from Abu Dhabi to Las Vegas, he’s always curious to see where the flavors will take him. […]
A French correspondent gauges reaction to the Boston Marathon attack, noting how much has changed since 9/11 in the way America faces its fears and vulnerabilities.
STOCKHOLM – “This is happening right now in Homs, Syria…” Hans Eriksson shows a shaky video of column of smoke just after a bombing from Bashar al-Assad’s troops. Bambuser is the name of the service launched by this 44-year-old Swede, which allows any smartphone user to broadcast live what’s happening in front of him – […]
PARIS – “It was an intense challenge but absolutely awesome!” says actress Ellen Page (Juno, Inception) about the new PlayStation game Beyond: Two Souls. Page interprets every scene using the same performance-capture technology as Avatar, which records movement and voice. The game, created by French developer Quantic Dream, and to be released in October, pushes […]
Beware of “Ransomware”…
Hung Huang has come to Paris to unlock the secrets of the Chinese fashion market.
CANNES – “The MP3 is dead.” As the Midem yearly music industry event opened in France last week, Yves Riesel, president of music streaming service Qobuz, declared the end of the top online music format. “From Feb. 1, we won’t be selling MP3s anymore. All of our downloadable content will be in CD quality sound, […]
PARIS – “The melting Arctic is under threat…Let’s take action!” Last July, Greenpeace launched a vast media campaign to “stop Shell from drilling in the Arctic”, as the oil giant was getting ready to open its second Arctic well off Alaska. Greenpeace’s campaign garnered huge support from the general public, but it also reached the […]