Worldcrunch
U.S., CHINA AGREE ON N. KOREA RESOLUTION The United States and China agreed yesterday on a United Nations draft resolution containing “very tough measures” against North Korea over its nuclear “provocations,” AFP reports. Both countries have bristled at the hubris of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. The draft resolution will now be presented to the […]
-Editorial- SANTIAGO — What’s happening in the United States, with the partial federal government shutdown and the threat not to raise the country’s debt limit, is perhaps the most serious political crisis the country has seen in more than 100 years. There are those who downplay these developments, because the government has been shuttered before […]
Barack Obama’s longtime campaign guru David Axelrod has a new client: Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti. Axelrod slipped into Rome to meet privately with Monti, 69, a political centrist and longtime university professor and European Union Commissioner, who served one year as caretaker Prime Minister. Monti is now in his first campaign for higher office, […]
The Republican Party’s losses in last week’s election have brought about a moment of reckoning for conservatives, as GOP leaders, grassroots activists, and political strategists try to make sense of their defeat and figure out how the party can rebuild itself before the next election cycle. By most accounts, Republicans were stunned by the election […]
MOSCOW – Barack Obama’s re-election has allowed many people in Moscow to sigh with relief: The Cold War really is over. And that is the most important take-away from the Russian capital after the 2012 presidential election in the United States. The Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, had surprised everyone during the campaign by citing Russia […]
TEL AVIV – Following the example of President Shimon Peres, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Ehud Barak did not bide their time in congratulating Barack Obama on his electoral victory November 6. They declared that the two countries “will continue to work together” and that their strategic alliance is “stronger than […]
To say that the U.S. is more divided than ever has become a cliché. The country has been largely divided down the middle ever since Ronald Reagan’s runaway victories in the 1980 and 1984 elections, when the Republican candidate won respectively 44 and 49 out of the 50 U.S. states. What Americans call “a landslide” […]
-Analysis- Barack Obama’s reelection to a second term in the White House is in spectacular contradiction to the trend in Western politics since the beginning of the current economic crisis. One after another, Western leaders have been dumped by voters who have made them pay for the effects of the crisis and the austerity measures […]
EUROPE CORRIERE DELLA SERA (Italy) “Obama: Trust Me, Again. Romney: It’s Me Tomorrow” DIE WELT (Germany) “Two Men, Two Visions” LIBERATION (France): “Double or Nothing” ABC (Spain): “A Duel Until The End” ASIA/PACIFIC THE HINDU (India): “U.S. Presidency Poised On Razor’s Edge” MANILA STANDARD TODAY (Philippines): “Still Too Close To Call” THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW […]
BEIJING – At the final debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, which was focused on foreign policy, the subject of the rise of China was clearly on the agenda. But when the moderator posed the question: “What do you believe is the greatest future threat to the national security of this country?” Obama cited […]
PARIS – Naive or arrogant? Daring or cautious? Four years after he entered the White House, Obama remains an enigma. Naive or cunning?“I never saw someone so competitive. What is the only thing that Barack Obama hates more than losing? Losing twice,” confides Robert Gibbs, his former press advisor. But Obama wants to win fair […]
PARIS – Happy Election Day, America! Happy American Election Day, World! Still undecided? Still hungry for poll numbers?? Still there??? Worldcrunch is here to help. In particular, with our news partners from around the world, we have kept a close eye on how non-Americans have been covering the U.S. campaign: from the Italian correspondent trying […]
SPRINGFIELD – Whenever he has half an hour free, Joe goes into the yard of his little house to split logs. “It’s fun for me. It’s the only thing that really gets my mind off the election.” In the living room there is a pool table, a bearskin on the wall, and his tools. “I […]
NEW YORK – In the focus groups he organizes to understand American voters, Democratic Party pollster Stan Greenberg says lately participants have actually broken down emotionally when answering questions about their lives. “Three-quarters of the population are struggling. Families are overwhelmed, salaries have decreased by 20% and health benefits are falling,” Greenberg, co-author of the […]
DETROIT – An old woman stands in front of a one-armed bandit with a half-lit cigarette between her lips. She takes tokens out of a bucket of popcorn and slides them endlessly into the same slot. You can tell she has been doing this for years. Further in, at the blackjack table, two young men […]
THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE WASHINGTON POST, CNN (U.S.) Worldcrunch With less than a week until election day, President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney remain in a virtual dead heat, according to latest poll figures. The latest Washington Post-ABC News tracking poll tips Romney with 49% and Obama at 48%. There has not been one […]
-Op Ed- SANTIAGO – The most urgent problem for the second term of President Barack Obama or the first term of President Mitt Romney will be a problem that neither of them created. We are talking about the cryptically dubbed ‘fiscal cliff,’ which, if it is not solved, will push the United States into another […]
-Essay- PARIS – If we ask the French what they don’t understand about the U.S. elections, we are spoiled for choices. Having seen French commentary on the Obama-Romney duel, the most pointed area of incomprehension is “what it means to be an American Republican.” We just can’t seem to wrap our French brains around this […]
AP, CBS (USA) Worldcrunch CAIRO – Egyptian official sources say a militant suspected of involvement in the deadly U.S. consulate attack in Benghazi was killed in clashes in Cairo. An Egyptian interior ministry source told CBS News on Thursday that the suspect in Egypt, known only by his first name, Hazem, was killed after neighbors […]
WASHINGTON POST, LOS ANGELES TIMES (USA) Worldcrunch NEW YORK – President Barack Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney took a break from the presidential race on Thursday night to trade jokes and roast each other at charity dinner, reports the Washington Post. Every four years, the Alfred E. Smith Dinner, the Catholic Archdiocese of New […]
NEW YORK TIMES, CNN, CBS (U.S.) Worldcrunch After his dismal performance in the first debate, President Barack Obama rebounded Wednesday night with a feisty performance in his “town-hall” style face-to-face against Republican challenger Mitt Romney. Democrats appeared widely pleased with an Obama who appeared much more focused and forthright against Romney compared to his overly […]
CNN (U.S.), AFP (France) Worldcrunch Republican Senator John McCain has praised U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for taking responsibility for the security failure in Benghazi, Libya, last month that led to four American deaths. After Clinton’s statements in a CNN interview Monday night, AFP reports that McCain issued a joint statement with fellow Republican […]
DENVER – Political experts keep telling us there are no undecided voters this time around. Such received wisdom is reason alone to go look for them. With less than a month left before the U.S. presidential election, statistically there must be at least a handful of undecided voters inside the walls of Cherry Creek, an […]
CNN, WALL STREET JOURNAL, THE DAILY CALLER (US) Worldcrunch Joe Biden and Paul Ryan battled through a tough vice presidential debate Thursday, with commentators largely suggesting that the result was a draw. Immediate polls showed that voters were split on who won the debate with CNN putting Ryan at 48% and Biden on 44%. CNBC […]
CNN, CBS, NEW YORK TIMES (US) Worldcrunch Instant reaction polls, conducted late Wednesday night, showed Republican candidate Mitt Romney won the first presidential debate in Denver, in a performance expected to raise GOP hopes just one month before the election. According to a CNN/ORC poll of 430 people who watched the debate, 67% of registered […]
KOMMERSANT, RT (Russia) Worldcrunch MOSCOW – Mitt Romney turned heads in both Moscow and Washington diplomatic circles last month when he called Russia the “No. 1 geopolitical foe” of the United States. Despite ongoing tensions between the two countries, the assertion surprised many in light of other, more hostile standoffs around the world. But now, […]
NEW YORK TIMES, WASHINGTON POST, MOTHER JONES (US), FINANCIAL TIMES (UK) Mitt Romney’s campaign team hastily scrambled together a press conference late Monday night to respond to a leaked video, in which the Republican candidate labels 47% of Americans as “people who pay no income tax” and are “dependent upon government.” Romney said he stands […]
DER SPIEGEL (Germany), LE FIGARO (France), THE GUARDIAN (UK), POLITICO (US) Worldcrunch According to new international polling data, the majority of Europeans would like to see Barack Obama voted in for a second term. Meanwhile, his Republican opponent Mitt Romney is still a virtual unknown across the pond. Der Spiegel reported Wednesday that according to […]
AL JAZEERA (Qatar), EGYPT INDEPENDENT (Egypt), ABC (US), SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (Australia), AFP (France) Worldcrunch BENGHAZI – The US Ambassador to Libya and three other staff members were killed following an attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi amid protests against an American amateur film denouncing the Prophet Muhammad. Al Jazeera reported that US Ambassador […]
A French reporter travels to the heart of the most pivotal swing state in the Obama v. Romney showdown where economic uncertainty is the only sure thing.
CHARLOTTE – No, Obamania is not a thing of the past, quite the opposite in fact. Michelle and Barack hugging, Barack with his dog Bo, the complete family portrait… all plastered on t-shirts, books, photos, pajamas, pins, badges, mugs, cushions and posters. “Business is picking up fast,” says Delia, who has sold more than 400 […]