Worldcrunch
PARIS — On the other end of the line, the voice of the person from the IT maintenance service grows insistent. “Miss, I really need your password to unlock your computer.” You blush by yourself, try to be as inconspicuous as possible in the open office before whispering in the receiver: “lapinou69” (“bunny69”). A chuckle […]
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The Sacré-Coeur church in Audincourt is an unexpected modern jewel in the somewhat inconspicuous industrial town where I’m from: The stain-glass windows were made by French cubist artist Fernand Léger. I snapped this photo on the day the church was inaugurated by the archbishop of Besançon.
-OpEd- PARIS — Half-animal, half-human? The astounding developments in nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive science (NBIC) are posing problems that we thought only existed in science fiction. Recent studies have brought us closer to Planet of the Apes, written by French novelist Pierre Boulle in 1963. In three experiments, the last one of which […]
ROUEN — Coming out of the train station, the rue Jeanne d’Arc, a wide street along the river Seine in this northern French city, leads us straight to the Jeanne d’Arc bridge. And between the two, we pass many signs evoking the young warrior’s name: a cafe named “Jeanne d’Arc,” a church, of course, even […]
Here is a preview of our exclusive newsletter to keep up-to-date and stay inspired by Smart City innovations from around the world.
Casually parked on a street near the port of Nice, on the French Riviera, was this a James Bond-like amphibious car?
With scant help common from Frankfurt, a group of French intellectuals is calling for online donations to help the Greek people. Desperate times indeed.
Young adults between 18 and 25 are an increasingly vulnerable population in France. Jobless and rejected by their families, they are finding themselves on the streets in disturbing numbers.
This week I’m traveling to Paris for a family reunion with my daughter, my grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It has been a good 20 years since I set foot in the capital, but some things never change: Notre-Dame and the bouquinistes nearby are still there, like in 1960.
-OpEd- PARIS — Some say that television shows are to our time what serials were to 19th century literature, an inexhaustible source of entertainment and conversations. During “urbane dinners,” it has become obligatory to demonstrate knowledge of this new cultural front. “Tell me which shows you watch and I’ll tell you who you are.” Besides […]
INVESTIGATORS SAY ALPS CRASH WAS DELIBERATEThe co-pilot of the Germanwings flight that crashed into the French Alps Monday, killing all 150 people on board, took sole control of plane and intentionally started the descent, officials say. He has been identified as 28-year-old German national Andreas Lubitz. The New York Times reports that voice recordings from […]
The anonymous author has penned a new book, but lives in fear of reprisal for her writings that celebrate female sexual pleasure and castigate “Arab arrogance” and subjugation of women.
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 […]
In just a few minutes, two technologies can print a sold-out or out-of-print book (or one that a reader simply wants to personalize) that looks exactly like the standard issue. Is this a game-changer for the publishing industry?
“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 […]
“NO SURVIVORS” EXPECTED IN ALPS PLANE CRASHPhoto: A Germanwings Airbus A320 — Xinhua/ZUMAAn Airbus A320 carrying 150 people crashed in the southern French Alps near the town of Digne this morning, and French President François Hollande has said officials expect no survivors in what represents the first crash of a low-budget airline in Europe. VERBATIM“It […]
The architecture and interior design of a residential care home serving autistic people were specially designed to make the patients more comfortable. A look inside the award-winning facility.
I could have run into famous French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson in the steep streets of Bonifacio. In 1969, the same year I went there for the first time, the master took a series of black-and-white pictures of Corsica.
The Sidobre mountainous forest in central France, studded with massive, weirdly shaped rocks, is unique in Europe. And though, contrary to Stonehenge’s standing stones or Brittany’s menhirs, man had nothing to do with these geological formations, the place has also inspired many legends and tales — and allowed my daughter Cécile to pretend she was […]
Both born with the incurable disease of cystic fibrosis, 35-year-old Nicolas and Damien Delmer are desperately sick. With the life they have left, they’re working for the right to die the way they want.
The French great-nephew of the Hungarian-born inventor of the ballpoint pen is writing his own chapter in innovation with a design of a super-light electric car that is turning heads.
CHAMBÉRY — Seen from afar they might be mistaken for a father and son. Dominique is 56. Mohammed is 23. But talking to them and seeing how they interact, it’s clear they’re a couple in love. They agreed to meet early in the morning, in a fast food restaurant in the Landiers industrial zone in Chambéry, southeastern France. It’s an impersonal place, where people come and go without paying much attention to others around them. Dominique and Mohammed prefer it that way. The couple shows up late, which somehow makes sense. It’s their privilege. They’re in love. The rest of […]
The second highest-paid DJ in the world, a celebrity with 17 million Twitter followers, is currently touring the world. The hedonist sits down with Le Monde after a concert in Brazil.
ISIS VIDEO SHOWS CHILD KILLING TEENA video posted online by ISIS shows a young boy fatally shooting 19-year-old Muhammad Musallam, an Israeli Arab whom the terrorist group accused of being a spy for Mossad, the Israeli intelligence services, Reuters IRAQI FORCES ENTER TIKRITThe Iraqi military, in alliance with private Shia militias, have entered parts of […]
Saint-Jean-de-Luz in the Basque country of southwestern France is mostly known now as a popular tourist destination for both French and Spanish summer vacationers. But back when I visited it was still primarily a busy fishing port. This sunny summer day was a mix of both, as we stumbled upon an international Amateur Tuna Fishing […]
In a middle-class home in southern France live a survivor of World War II, her daughter and granddaughters. All three generations are Jewish, but both past and recent history dictate a certain reticence of their identity.
Animals have many of the characteristics of the brilliantly useful machines scientists would like to create: flexibility, adaptability, instinctive intelligence …
Lilou, 32, lives a double life as a married mother of an infant and libertine blogger. Her endless string of lovers are shared on Twitter, with pictures as evidence. And her husband?
-OpEd- PARIS — There’s something both pathetic and surrealistic about France’s obsession, at the moment, with a rather unremarkable economic reform bill (the “loi Macron“) while to the east and to the south, in Ukraine and Libya, real threats are edging closer to our continent. It’s time to wake up! Twenty-five years after the fall […]
The latest issue of Charlie Hebdo published Wednesday, six weeks after the “Survivors’ Issue” that followed the deadly attacks on its headquarters on Jan. 7. As the weekly resumes its regular publication rhythm with the headline “C’est reparti!” (“Here we go again!”), 2.5 million copies of the latest Charlie Hebdo number 1179 have been printed. […]
PARIS — The odd collection of people visiting the building today includes cartoonists and anti-bomb experts. Also in attendance is the new director of Charlie Hebdo, Riss, whose right arm has been in a sling since one of the bullets fired by the Kouachi brothers shattered his shoulder blade before coming out behind his shoulder. […]
I should remember how commanding Chartres Cathedral is with its noble façades, Gothic grandeur and hundreds of delicately sculpted figures. But 44 years later, what I remember most is that while we were visiting the cathedral, some idiot scratched my car!
French yé-yé, American jazz, Scottish punk, Irish accoustic, Portuguese metal and Brit pop… It’s this weekend’s Worldcrunch staff playlist.
I like Don Quixote enough to dress as him for Carnival. But unlike Miguel de Cervantes’ character, I don’t go about attacking windmills, which is lucky, considering we’ve encountered quite a few during our travels.
In 2010, French police seized a huge stash of previously unseen Picasso drawings at the home of the late artist’s electrician. Were they gifts or stolen goods? An ongoing trial will decide.
A hard European retort to an attitude that extends from Silicon Valley to the White House, which says that the United States’ dominance in new technology should give it free license abroad.
The French trip hop singer Siska has released “Unconditional Rebel”, the first single from her upcoming EP, set to be released on March 2. For the clip, the French director Guillaume Panariello performed quite the technical prowess: in a car driving in a straight line at 50 km/h (31 mph), he shot a five-second scene […]
Though it’s closer to the Italian Peninsula, the island of Corsica belongs to France. But the words that come to my mind when I look at this panorama are in Italian: Che pace! (“Such peace!”)
The Ukraine ceasefire reached in Minsk represents a major diplomatic success for Francois Hollande and Angela Merkel, hopefully the first of many.