Worldcrunch
👋 Sannu!* Welcome to Thursday, where Kim Jong-un affirms his support for Vladimir Putin, the UAE denounces Israeli plans to annex the West Bank, and today’s quiz question is about a Nazi-looted Italian painting. Meanwhile, we offer a tour du monde of the state of the debate as to whether adults can physically discipline children. […]
👋 Allo!* Welcome to Tuesday, where North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has arrived for a historic visit in Beijing, a landslide kills more than 1,000 in Sudan’s Darfur region, and today’s quiz question features a surprising find by the French police. Meanwhile, Juanjo Ramón in Catalan-language digital media outlet Catalunya Plural looks at how Spain’s […]
👋 Talofa!* Welcome to Thursday, where a suspect is in custody after a shooting in Washington, D.C., killed two Israeli embassy staff, a White House meeting between South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Donald Trump goes awry, and today’s quiz question asks what piece of advice the Netherlands has against cyber crime. Meanwhile, as the […]
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin discussed Ukraine and other international matters during a call on Tuesday. What do the two leaders have in common? A shared worldview alone no longer explains it.
The ZUMA press photographs marking and making news for January 7, 2025 include an earthquake in Tibet, Justin Trudeau’s resignation announcement and Charlie Hebdo commemorations in Paris. Earthquake in the Himalayan region Rescuers help injured people from Zhacun Village in Xigaze, southwest China’s Xizang Autonomous Region after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake jolted this Himalayan region. A […]
A self-immolation that started a wave of revolutions, the death of a dictator and the premiere of the longest-running American animated series.
Russia is expanding its nuclear doctrine and intensifying strikes on Ukraine, including Thursday’s unprecedented launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. This is an apparent response to new U.S. authorization of use of its weapons in attacks on Russian territory. All can be traced to the radical White House transition underway.
Pyongyang has just ratified its new defense pact with Moscow. North Korean soldiers are deployed near Kursk, in an unprecedented engagement that marks a reversal of Kim Jong-un’s foreign policy.
Americans have reelected Donald Trump despite his clear promises to consolidate power and disregard basic human rights. Snapshot of an election of a declared tyrant by a “suicidal” nation. Echoes of history’s very worst tyrant.
With tens of thousands North Korean troops confirmed to be moving toward the Russia-Ukraine front line, to fight on Moscow’s side in Ukraine, the two big questions are: What is Kim Jong-un trying to achieve? And more importantly, how does China fit into this picture?
Tensions have suddenly escalated after North Korea accused South Korea of sending drones over its capital. Threats from Pyongyang are common, but amid an uncertain international context, experts are taking these latest ones more seriously.
Updated Oct. 9, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. North Korea conducted its first nuclear weapon test on this day in 2006. The test marked a significant development in North Korea’s nuclear capabilities. What was North Korea’s first type of nuclear weapon it tested? The exact nature of the device tested has been a subject of debate […]
Updated June 30, 2024 at 11:45 a.m. Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States, visited North Korea on this day in 2019. Trump and Kim Jong-un met at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), specifically at the Joint Security Area (JSA) in the village of Panmunjom. This location is a historic site where previous meetings […]
In matters of foreign policy, whether the war in Ukraine or in Gaza, the rejection of extremes should appear as an obvious fact of reason and ethics. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
Vladimir Putin presents himself as the leading advocate for multipolarism, but continues to reveal his true world view, where we are divided among those that respect nothing but personal power — and fools.
Once again, this week didn’t get any less weird.
Moscow “killed” the body charged with overseeing the sanctions regime against North Korea — now Putin’s ally against Ukraine — dealing yet another blow to the edifice of global governance inherited from the post-war era.
Updated Dec. 28 2023 at 12:00 p.m. After serving in World War II as a Korean-contingent major in the Soviet Army, Kim Il-Sung became the first premier of the newly formed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Years later, he would become the nation’s supreme ruler. How did Kim Il-Sung become the first president of North […]
New research reveals the emergence of “grassroots capitalism” in North Korea, disproportionately through women. It provides a cautionary tale in the most unlikely of countries for patriarchal societies everywhere: underestimate women at your peril.
Considering that our “final war” may be arriving isn’t so far-fetched when states like Iran, Russia and North Korea are courting confrontation and taking “crazy” risks, a little like the European powers of 1914. But let’s proceed with caution.
The Battle of Pyongyang ended in a U.S.-led United Nations victory on this day in 1950. Hours later, the Chinese Army began crossing the border into Korea. What was the battle of Pyongyang? The Battle of Pyongyang was a significant military engagement during the Korean War. It took place from October 14 to October 19, […]
Vladimir Putin was eager to welcome Kim Jong-un for a rare visit to Russia in order to replenish depleting supplies of shells and ammunition. But North Korea has its own demands help to build satellites as part of an advanced space program.
North Korea has industrialized the theft of cryptocurrency to finance its nuclear weapons program and its state-sponsored hackers are getting better at emptying digital wallets. But global law enforcement agents are in hot pursuit, and cashing in crypto is harder than ever.
What should the world make of Kim Jong-un, his young daughter Ju Ae in tow, flexing North Korea’s military hardware? Nothing good, though the scenario that it is mostly just a flex is still the most likely.
South Korean President, Yoon Suk-yeol, made a gesture of reconciliation towards Japan, the country’s former colonizer. It gives Washington hope that its two key Asian allies can overcome differences as they face an emboldened China and North Korea.
How to handle a nuclear armed pariah state is not a simple question.
Representatives for U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, detained in Russia since February, have confirmed they do not know her current whereabouts. This comes after her attorneys said the courts had ordered her transferred to a Russian penal colony on Wednesday. [shortcode-Subscribe-to-Ukraine-daily-box] “Our primary concern continues to be Brittney Griner’s health and well-being,” the WNBA player’s […]
A senior Ukrainian official said that Kyiv was not being pressured to negotiate with Russia, but would do so under certain strict conditions: restoring Ukraine’s borders, compensation for Russian attacks and punishing those responsible for war crimes. [shortcode-Subscribe-to-Ukraine-daily-box] Mykhaylo Podolyak, a Ukrainian official advisor to the head of the Office of the President, speaking to […]
Moscow has been forced to turn to rogue regimes for military supplies for its stalled invasion of Ukraine.
In response to Vladimir Putin’s announcement of partial mobilization, protesters flocked to the streets in outrage across Russia. By Thursday morning, Russian independent monitoring group OVD, puts the number of arrests as a result of the protests at 1,300. [shortcode-Subscribe-to-Worldcrunch-Today-box] Perhaps more telling for both public opinion and the potential effectiveness of the mobilization are […]
Below is an extract from a rare on-the-ground report from Nikopol, across the river from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage. Sign up to our free daily newsletter. “The presence of the IAEA task force is apparently not a deterrent,” writes Francesco Semprini […]
Kyiv’s ambassador in Washington hints that long-range (up to 300km) missiles may finally be coming from the U.S.
Support among the Russian public has increased for both Putin and his war in Ukraine. Russia’s is a different kind of autocracy, dubbed an “Information Technocracy,” where power is held through propaganda and popular support. But this requires Putin to maintain his popularity — and that can only happen if the war succeeds.
? Grüss Gott!* Welcome to Thursday, where Ukraine lashed out at Biden’s prediction about Russian intentions, Austria is betting on a new incentive for the unvaccinated, and the Australian city of Adelaide is baffled by a mysterious spate of googly eyes. We also look at Russia’s latest efforts to dismantle the REvil hacking group, at […]
? Lasso fyafulla!* Welcome to Wednesday, where Quebec will tax the unvaccinated, North Korea says it tested hypersonic missile, and we salute you Magawa, Cambodia’s landmine-sniffing “hero rat.” La Stampa also visits the outskirts of Rome to see how the coronavirus pandemic has amplified longstanding social divides and inequalities in the Italian capital. [*Tamang – […]
? Asham!* Welcome to Tuesday, where Pyongyang test fires a suspected submarine-launched missile, Colin Powell is remembered, Poland-EU tensions rise, and yay (or yeesh): it’s officially Ye. Meanwhile, our latest edition of Work → In Progress takes the pulse of the new professional demands in a recovering economy. [*Oromo – Ethiopia and Kenya] 7 […]
? Halu!* Welcome to Tuesday, where Iraq’s hardline Shia cleric claims election victory, the UK confronts its historic COVID failure and Superman comes out as bisexual. We also look at “silent” Chinese investment in Latin America’s railway sector. [shortcode-LGBTQ–Sign-up-box] [*Inuktitut – Inuit] 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW • COVID update: Thailand will reopen […]
? Bom dia!* Welcome to Monday, where the financial secrets of the rich and powerful are exposed in a massive data leak, the two Koreas get on the phone for the first time in months, Japan has a new prime minister and there’s a spicy Nobel prize winner for medicine. For Paris-based daily Les Echos, […]
? Hyvää huomenta!* Welcome to Tuesday, where North Korea conducts its third weapon tests in just over two weeks, R&B singer R. Kelly is found guilty of sex trafficking, and an unearthed John Lennon tape is up for auction in Denmark. Meanwhile, we take a look at why despite being an oil- and gas-rich country, […]
? Բարև Ձեզ!* Welcome to Friday, where Kim Jong-un’s sister extends an olive branch to South Korea, top Catalan separatist leader is arrested in Italy, and a kindergarten thief gets busted by technology. Meanwhile, we bid an international auf wiedersehen to Angela Merkel’s through iconic front pages that featured the German chancellor over the years. […]