Worldcrunch
An accident in an illegal mine near Kolwezi, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has left at least 70 people dead. It is yet another tragedy in a region where hundreds of thousands of people work with no rules or safety measures, extracting the minerals used in our digital devices. It’s the latest chapter of a recurring story of exploitation.
When 27,000 farmed salmon escape from a Norwegian aquaculture facility, it sets off a high-stakes chase that could determine the fate of wild salmon populations. With a bounty on each fish, local fishermen set out to recapture them — both for profit and to protect the fragile ecosystem.
Updated October 21, 2024 at 11:30 a.m. On this day in 1966, 116 children and 28 adults died as a coal waste heap slid and engulfed a school in Aberfan, South Wales. What was the Aberfan Disaster? The Aberfan disaster occurred when a large colliery spoil tip (coal waste heap) collapsed and slid down a […]
July 6, 2024 at 11:10 a.m. Frida Kahlo was a renowned Mexican artist known for her distinctive and vibrant self-portraits. She was born on this day in 1907. Kahlo is considered one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. What was Frida Kahlo’s childhood like? During her childhood, Frida contracted polio, which left […]
On this day in 2010, the Copiapó mining accident in Chile comes to a happy end as all 33 miners arrive at the surface after surviving a record 69 days underground. What was the 2010 Copiapó mining accident? The 2010 Copiapó mining accident, also known as the “Chilean mining accident,” was a mining disaster that […]
The idea that the streets of Monaco are lined with luxury vehicles isn’t an overstatement. The recently crowned “supercar capital of the world” also comes with risks, as stretch limousines and sports cars must navigate the tiny city-state’s meandering streets and narrow squares. Yet last Friday, when a Bentley crashed into a Belgian man outside […]
The Colombian man was located in Brazil, and has spoken by phone to his 95-year-old mother, but still not seen her.
First, the good news: A major archeological find has been discovered in the north of Peru. A ceremonial mound or temple that’s thought to date back some 3,200 years, the site also contains a mural with a vaguely visible image of a giant spider and, for reasons yet unknown, a spoon. Cool, right? This is […]
Close brushes with bulls are part of the culture of Arles, which maintains a strong tradition of bullfighting in local Roman ampitheaters and annual festivals with well-organized courses of the bulls through the streets of the southern French city. But on Tuesday, it was the bulls who chose the time and place to brush with […]
Why did the bear cross the road?
Welcome to Monday, where Belarus agents hijack a Ryanair flight, a freak storm in China kills 21 marathoners and Bob Dylan gets sung in 11 languages for this 80th birthday. We also feature a Le Monde reportage from Siberia on Nikita Ouvarov, the Russian teenager busted for hanging anti-government posters, who was jailed without a […]
Welcome to Monday, where Russia is warned of Navalny “consequences,” Egypt’s second deadly train crash in a month kills 11, and Mars gets its first ever helicopter ride. Le Monde also explores the feeling of deep injustice surrounding grieving, one year into the pandemic. [rebelmouse-image 27046599 original_size=”600×200″ expand=1] [rebelmouse-image 27046600 original_size=”394×47″ expand=1] • Navalny to be transferred to hospital: Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny will be transferred to hospital according to the Russian penitentiary service. The pro-democracy activist is said to have lost 50 kilos after going on a hunger strike. Yesterday the U.S., France and Germany warned Russia against […]
In my 60+ years of driving, I was never involved in any kind of serious accident — barely a flat tire. Not everyone is so lucky. This was the scene a day after a bad turn along the coastal road from Fréjus to Cannes in southern France. I never did find out the fate of […]
The recent disappearance of a navy submarine reveals some persistent traits from Argentina’s dictatorial past: lessons from the ocean’s victims and Jungian wisdom.
It was the worst nuclear plant accident in history, measured in both casualties and cost. And though the death count paled in comparison to the more than 100,000 killed by the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, the amount of radioactive material released in Chernobyl was 400 times higher. Six months after the 1986 disaster, the Soviet […]
MUNICH — Traffic collisions. Heart attacks. Even terrorist attacks. Tragedies strike every day, tearing people away from their loved ones forever. But events like this have a collateral impact beyond the victim’s next of kin. They also affect the messengers, the proverbial bearers of bad news. People with certain chosen specific vocations — police officers, […]
TEHRAN — How much is a life worth in Iran? In what may be a small but significant sign of progress, senior Iranian clerics have ruled that relatives of fatal car crash victims should receive the same amount of insurance compensation regardless of whether the deceased was a man or woman. The same new parity […]
A SYRIAN TRUCE, ISIS EXCLUDED The Syrian government and the umbrella group for the main opposition agreed this morning to the terms of a ceasefire that was negotiated yesterday between the United States and Russia, the BBC reports. But the truce, set to begin midday Saturday, excludes ISIS, al-Qaeda and affiliated groups, Al Jazeera reports. […]
TRUMP, SANDERS ROLL IN NEW HAMPSHIRE Republican billionaire businessman Donald Trump and Democratic Senator and self-described socialist Bernie Sanders notched impressive wins in yesterday’s New Hampshire presidential primary. GERMANY TRAIN CRASH BLACK BOXES RECOVERED Two of three black boxes from the two trains that collided head-on in yesterday’s deadly crash in southern Germany have been […]
SEVERAL KILLED IN GERMAN TRAIN CRASH At least eight people were killed and more than 150 injured this morning when two passenger trains collided near the southern German town of Bad Aibling, Süddeutsche Zeitung reports. According to the train operator Meridian, both trains had partially derailed. Emergency teams reportedly freed all casualties by midday. “The […]
SAUDI ALLIES CUT TIES WITH IRAN Photo: Ahmad Halabisaz/Xinhua/ZUMA After Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait has also broken its diplomatic ties with Iran, recalling its ambassador from Tehran today, the BBC reports. The Mideast diplomatic crisis began after Saudi Arabia executed Shia Muslim cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and 46 other […]
Folha de S. Paulo, Dec. 22, 2015 “Fire destroys museum in São Paulo,” writes Brazilian daily Folha de S. Paulo on its front page Tuesday, featuring a photograph of the fire destroying part of São Paulo’s historic “station of Light” on Monday afternoon. The “estação da Luz,” one of the city’s main railway stations, was […]
La Tercera, Dec. 9, 2015 “Environmentalist entrepreneur Douglas Tompkins dies,” writes Santiago-based daily La Tercera on its front page Wednesday, after U.S. conservationist and North Face Inc. founder Douglas Tompkins died in a kayaking accident, in his adopted country of Chile. Tompkins, 72, was kayaking with five others on General Carrera Lake in far southern […]
CHINESE ANGER GROWS AFTER EXPLOSIONS Families of firefighters who died battling the fires that followed last week’s massive explosions at a storage warehouse in the Chinese port city of Tianjin protested and clashed with police amid revelations that several hundred tons of poisonous cyanide were stored where the explosions took place, the South China Morning […]
Rescue efforts continued into Wednesday as a total 14 survivors were rescued from the Eastern Star, the cruise ship carrying 456 that sank Monday night in China’s Yangtze River. So far, 19 bodies have been recovered, leaving more than 420 people unaccounted for, most of whom are by now feared dead. The boat, which departed […]
HUNDREDS MISSING AFTER CHINA SHIPWRECK At least 400 people were missing this morning after a Chinese ship carrying 458 passengers and crew was hit by an apparent cyclone and sank in the Yangtze River late yesterday, Chinese news agency Xinhua reports. So far, there are only 15 to 18 survivors, and just five bodies recovered, […]
BLACK BOX EXAMINED AFTER GERMANWINGS CRASH Photo: Maxppp/ZUMAA search and recovery operation continues in the French Alps, as investigators have started examining the black box of the Germanwings flight travelling from Barcelona to Düsseldorf that crashed yesterday with 150 people on board. French officials told reporters that the first findings from the recording devices would […]
“Nothing but debris and bodies” reads French daily Libération“s front page, conveying the state of shock and disbelief around Europe the day after an Airbus A320 carrying 150 people crashed in the southern French Alps. According to Alain Vidalies, France’s junior minister of transport, there were no survivors from the crash of flight 4U9525. Search […]
More than 300 dead in last week’s mining disaster in Soma, rage from the people, and utter insensitivity from an Erdogan government interested only in its own fate.
An Indian shrine built in memory of a dead traveler and his motorbike has attracted prayerful followers who credit the unusual temple for all manner of good tidings.
KERMANSHAH — It looks like a bank heist that took a very bad turn. Police of the Kermanshah province in western Iran suspect that a unidentified man’s body found in a bank ventilation shaft belonged to a would-be thief who suffocated there overnight. Employees of a branch of the Bank Saderat (the Exports Bank) called […]
KENYAN RED CROSS, DAILY NATION (Kenya), AFP, ALL AFRICA Worldcrunch NAIROBI — At least 41 people died and 27 more were injured in a bus crash in Kenya Thursday morning, the Kenyan Red Cross said. “It is difficult to tell exactly what happened, but all indications point to speeding and possibly overloading,” police officer Samuel […]
BBC, PARDA PHASH (India), INDIA TIMES Worldcrunch PATNA — At least 37 Hindu pilgrims were killed after being hit by a train as they tried to cross tracks at a train station in the Northeastern Indian state of Bihar. The accident, which left another dozen injured, sparked furor among locals and other pilgrims who assaulted […]
AP Worldcrunch MOGADISHU – An Ethiopian Air Force cargo plane crash-landed at Mogadishu’s seaside airport on Friday, killing four people on board, the African Union said. Two crew members were rescued by emergency personnel and are being treated in the African Union military hospital near the base, said Mahamat Saleh Annadif, an African Union representative […]
REUTERS Worldcrunch OKINAWA – A U.S. military helicopter crashed on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa on Monday, Japanese officials said, an incident that could add to anger over the concentration of U.S. military bases on the island. The crash took place at a maneuvering ground inside the U.S. Marine’s Camp Hansen in central Okinawa, an […]
Monday, August 4, 2014 LIMITED CEASEFIRE FRAGILE AFTER ISRAEL STRIKE KILLS CHILD Palestinians have accused Israel of breaking its own ceasefire Monday after it launched a strike on the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, killing an eight-year-old girl and wounding 29 people. Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said the strike took place after […]
BBC NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch AVELLINO – A bus has plunged off a viaduct in southern Italy on Sunday night, leaving at least 38 people dead, rescue services say. The bus hit several vehicles before smashing through a parapet and toppling down a steep slope near the town of Avellino, in the Campania region. At least […]
Tuesday, May 20, 2014 THAILAND ARMY DECLARES MARTIAL LAW Thailand army chief Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha declared martial law throughout the country this morning in an attempt to restore peace and order after months of anti-government protests and the recent dismissal of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, The Nationreports. But the army insisted that the move was […]
KAMPONG SPEU – Part of a shoe factory collapsed on Thursday in Cambodia, killing at least three workers, and adding to concerns about industrial safety after last month’s disaster in Bangladesh. The concrete roof of the Wing Star Shoes factory collapsed on Thursday morning, in the Kampong Speu province, west of the capital Phnom Penh. […]