By a twist of history and weight of geopolitics, Greek law recognizes the authority of Sharia in settling civil matters for the country’s Muslim minority. One widow is fighting to end this European anomaly.
Tag: europe
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A Norwegian Kind Of Pet
In 1967 the rugged road from Tromsø did not go any further than the village of Hammerfest, where reindeer were strolling freely in people’s backyards.
After the Greek election of radical leftists and the European Central Bank’s new liquidity, Europe is still where the rest of the world looks to understand themselves. History has so much to say.
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Unmistakably Portuguese
The traditional pavement in front of Funchal“s 17th century Igreja do Colégio can be found throughout Portugal but also in the country’s former colonies. My grandson recently took pictures of similar black-and-white sidewalks bordering Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach.
Greece’s anti-austerity party Syriza won Sunday’s general election with 36.3% of votes, putting the country on a potential collision course with the European Union over its 240 billion euro bailout package. Party leader Alexis Tsipras said that, “The verdict of the Greek people renders the troika the IMF, the EU Commission, and European Central Bank […]
It shares many of its objectives with the al Qaeda global terror network, but ISIS understands the value of going viral in a whole new way.
The Polish Solidarity leader and Nobel Peace Prize Winner offers a combative vision for how Europe can stand up to Moscow. He speaks from experience.
A Polish reporter checks out sentiment in the heart of UKIP country after the anti-immigration party’s success in recent European elections.
France and the entire European continent, but also the U.S. and Russia, all look very different than they did at the last commemoration 10 years ago. Ghosts of the past indeed.
BERLIN — It looked as if a great moment might be in the making: German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his Polish colleague Radoslaw Sikorski had teamed up with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, and the trio flew to Kiev for joint talks with the then-Ukrainian government and opposition. At the time violence on Maidan […]
They must look good and know how to…shop.
BERLIN — “You’re the ones who created this mess I’m in…” Mohammad points his finger at me, and doesn’t even want to tell me his real first name: “Call me Mohammad, we are all the same to you racist Italians anyway.” His age, though, he does tell me: He’s 47, but looks a bit younger […]
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?
-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, […]
Europe represents the freedom from political dictatorship. But at what cost?
PARIS — Five years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, it seems that we are passing through an unprecedented layer of thick fog. We see one country suddenly accelerating while its neighbor suffers a “sudden stop.” But this isn’t the first time. The world was consumed by the same sort of uncertainty five years after […]
Not prone to emotional effusiveness, the Finnish have developed a particular taste for euphemisms: “Naturally, this is a day of big change for Finnish industry,” Premier Jyrki Katainen affirmed modestly last Tuesday, when the country’s best-known company, Nokia, sold its mobile phone outfit to Microsoft for $7.2 billion. That is about 15 times less than […]
BUENOS AIRES – Washington’s blatent public pressure to keep Edward Snowden from obtaining political asylum has fed a new wave of anti-Americanism worldwide. It also represents a test for the United States’ bilateral relations with several countries, including Russia and those in its own “backyard.” What explains the willingness of Barack Obama’s government to pay […]
-Essay- PARIS – From the Turkish protests in Istanbul to the French anti gay-marriage protests, and from euthanasia rights to fledgling forms of participatory democracy, it is difficult to ignore the growing aspirations of Europeans toward autonomy and freedom of choice. This new individualization dynamic is silently revolutionizing European values. Individualization is the the power […]
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Europe’s New Dismal Jobless Numbers
EUROSTAT, IL SOLE 24 ORE (Italy) Worldcrunch PARIS – The euro zone has registered yet another record high unemployment rate of 12.2%, European statistics agency Eurostat reports on Friday. Earlier in the day, Italy, the third-largest economy in the currency bloc, reported a first quarter jobless rate of 12.8%, the highest in the 36 years […]
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Fellow Germans: Stay The Course!
New polls finding Germany has few fans in Europe should guide neither Berlin’s policies nor Germans’ own sense of self-worth. Other Europeans will come around, for their own good.
–Analysis- BERLIN – At the Sankt Oberholz café, Germany’s future lies in the balance. Here, in Berlin’s “trendy” Mitte district, an international crowd of entrepreneurial 20 and 30-somethings meet. They make up two camps. On one side, you have those who prefer to speak English as they discuss their new projects and business plans. On […]
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 […]
There are signs of historical insecurity in Russia’s move away from Europe and the U.S. But at the end of the day, China looms as the real threat for Moscow’s future.
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.
BLOOMBERG, REUTERS Worldcrunch BRUSSELS – European banks climbed after Cyprus reached an overnight, last-minute deal with its international creditors on a 10 billion-euro ($13 billion) bailout. European and Asian shares rallied on Monday at the news of the rescue bailout, with U.S. yields also rising, thus ending a week of financial panic worldwide. In Brussels, […]
NICOSIA – Cyprus is in a state of shock. The banks have been closed for days and somehow, the country has to raise 5.8 billion euros to qualify for the bailout package proposed by euro zone finance ministers. The initial rejection by the Cypriot parliament to the controversial bank account levy plan, has left this […]
-OpEd- PARIS – A lot of people in Europe, especially the French, cheered heedlessly when the Arab Spring took off in 2011. But then came the 70,000 dead from the Syrian war; the proliferation of terrorism in Libya and Mali; the assassination of the main Tunisian opposition leader Chokri Belaid in a country where there […]
AP Worldcrunch ROME — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday the Obama administration will provide the Syrian opposition fighting against President Bashar Al Assad $60 million in assistance and provide food and medical supplies, the Associated Press reports. The AP says the move marks the first time American aid, though still not military […]
A Belgium perspective on the urgent risks that Italy’s economic implosion will spread. France could be next.
MUNICH – Horsemeat passed off as beef – across Europe, the food scandal continues to make headlines. On the food circuit in Munich, at Kaspar Wörle’s horsemeat butcher shop, it hasn’t caused much of a stir – except for the fact that the phone has been ringing uninterruptedly since the scandal broke. “People want information,” […]
BERLIN – Europeans are in a virtual state of paralysis about the future, frozen by a fear that – were they to turn away from Brussels – the result would be a rise of reactionary nationalism. Not surprisingly, these new chauvinisms are perfectly suited for some political agendas – on all sides of the ideological […]
BERLIN – In my local video store, they’ve just created a new section for TV series. The very great majority of the series are American: The Wire, Mad Men, The Sopranos, Desperate Housewives, Sex and the City, Girls, Modern Family, Lost, 24, various CSIs, and so on and so forth. The dominant culture in Europe […]
After UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s support for a referendum on pulling out of the European Union, a German viewpoint on what it means for a country and a continent.
THE IRISH TIMES (Ireland), LA STAMPA (Italy), THE NEW YORK TIMES (U.S.A.) Worldcrunch DUBLIN – It’s such a simple system. You buy something and it is sent to you. What you don’t know is that the transaction is done through a company in Luxembourg that pays very little to the Grand Duchy and almost nothing […]
FRANCE 24 (France), CNN (USA) Worldcrunch FRANKFURT – European Union finance ministers have agreed on a deal giving the European Central Bank (ECB) new powers to supervise eurozone banks. This agreement came early Thursday after the ministers held talks for more than 14 hours in Frankfurt following months of tense Franco-German divisions. All finance ministers […]
PARIS – She has always wanted this kind of assignment. As far back as she can remember, Mireille Ballestrazzi, 58, has dreamed of a job where “adventure and exercising responsibility” would come together. In many ways, it has already been her mission for the past 30 years inside the French police force. But now things […]
BELGRADE – “Go to Republic Square first, and then walk along Knez Mihailova Street, that’s Belgrade at its most beautiful…” With the counsel of the young woman at Reception, a rickety Dacia taxi gets me from the residential neighborhood of Senjak – pretty, but with some parts in urgent need of a facelift – past […]
BERLIN – The euro zone has granted Athens two more years to rein in its debt, Süddeutsche Zeitung has learned. Euro zone leaders have agreed to give Greece until 2016 instead of 2014 to push deficits down under to 3% of GDP. Deadlines for the implementation of employment and energy reforms and the selling of […]
The Luxemburg-based European Court of Justice ruled this week a product the Czechs call butter is not butter, which means that the beloved spread known as “pomazankove maslo” (“spreadable butter”) can no longer be labeled as such. Non-Czechs would never have called it butter, which it bears no resemblance to – it doesn’t even really […]