Worldcrunch
Thursday, November 13, 2014 SERIES OF ATTACKS TARGET EGYPT A series of apparently unrelated attacks has targeted Egypt, the most significant and unusual being one on an Egyptian navy ship yesterday in the Mediterranean Sea, which left five servicemen injured and eight more missing at sea. Four of the gunmen were killed and 32 arrested. […]
BUENOS AIRES — There was a time when we resolved everything, absolutely everything, around a café table. Or at least, that was the feeling. A coffee bar provided the perfect backdrop and the necessary mutual understanding with friends that allowed you to talk about anything at all: the world, the country, sports, sex, television, you […]
PARIS – Between 2004 and 2005, Zheyun Ye knocked on the door of almost every professional soccer club in Belgium. By introducing himself as a timely investor, this Chinese expat managed to convince the board of the penniless Lierse SK club to accept a check worth 370,000 euros ($500,000). Except that Zheyun Ye was not […]
Monday, July 14, 2014 GAZA STRIKES CONTINUE AS OFFENSIVE ENTERS 7TH DAY The Israeli army continues to launch air strikes in Gaza, while more rockets are fired towards Israel, as the open conflict reaches its seventh day. At least 172 Palestinians are reported killed with more than 1,100 wounded. The United Nations said that 17,000 […]
Wednesday, July 9, 2014 AIR ATTACKS INTENSIFY BETWEEN ISRAEL AND HAMASIsrael carried out dozens of air strikes early Wednesday, with at least 28 people reported killed and more than 100 wounded in Gaza since Monday. Palestinian authorities said two women and five children were among the victims killed in what the Israeli military called “Operation […]
Thursday, June 12, 2014 JIHADISTS PUSHING TOWARDS BAGHDAD Jihadist fighters with the Islamic group known as ISIS have continued their offensive in northern and central Iraq and are heading south towards the capital Baghdad, where they have said that the “battle will rage,” Sky News reports. Meanwhile, Kurdish forces claimed to have gained control of […]
Tuesday, June 10, 2014 UKRAINE TO CREATE HUMANITARIAN CORRIDORS Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced creation of “humanitarian corridors” for eastern Ukrainian civilians to leave areas where Kiev’s “anti-terrorist operation” in under way, Interfax reports. Human Rights Watch said it welcomed the decision, while leaders of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic expressed their mistrust at the […]
Friday, May 23, 2014 MORE CLASHES IN DONETSK At least five people died in fresh fighting between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian groups near Ukraine’s eastern city of Donetsk, with an AFP photographer saying that four of the dead appeared to be rebels and the fifth a member of a “volunteer force attached to the military.” […]
-Op-Ed- PARIS – Guerilla scenes, an intolerable gratuitous violence, hundreds of angry youths looting shops… this is not Aleppo in Syria, but central Paris. On May 13, violence broke out in one of the French capital’s ritziest neighborhood as supporters gathered to celebrate the soccer team Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) winning the French League 1 championship […]
Friday, May 16, 2014 UN WARNING ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN EASTERN UKRAINE In its monthly report on the Ukrainian crisis, the United Nations warned of an “alarming deterioration” in eastern regions of the country, the BBC reports. The organization denounces violent attacks on “peaceful demonstrations, primarily by supporters of Ukraine’s unity,” adding that local police […]
FRANCE 24, LE PARISIEN (France) Worldcrunch PARIS – Violence broke out in the French capital’s ritziest neighborhood as supporters gathered to celebrate the Parisian soccer team Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) winning the French League 1 championship for the first time in 19 years. Thirty people were injured in the riot, including three police officers. Twenty-one people […]
BBC, THE GUARDIAN (UK) Worldcrunch MANCHESTER – Sir Alex Ferguson announced Wednesday that he will step down as coach of English powerhouse Manchester United after a career that rivals the best in the history of the sport. Ferguson, 71, has just clinched his 13th Premier League title in his 27-year reign of Man U. The […]
The German soccer clubs Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich (whose flags you will see strategically placed below) recently thrashed Spanish teams Real Madrid and FC Barcelona in their respective Champions League semifinals. German Sky sports seized the opportunity to taunt the two teams before their recent games. And after Bayern’s defeat of Barcelona Wednesday night, […]
UKRAINIAN ARMED FORCES PUT ON FULL ALERT Acting Ukrainian President Olexandr Turchynov announced that the country’s armed forces had been put on combat alert, as he fears Russia could launch a continental war, Interfax reports. According to Ria Novosti, Turchynov also admitted that “the power structures are incapable of operatively taking control of the situation […]
EFE, EL MUNDO DEPORTIVO (Spain); CLARIN (Argentina); CALCIO MERCATO (Italy) Worldcrunch VATICAN CITY – Argentina happens to be blessed right now with the world’s greatest active soccer player and the current Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church. On Wednesday, the two Argentine icons got a bit closer when Pope Francis was presented with the No. […]
SAO PAULO – Even though it’s getting ready to host the World Cup next year and the Summer Olympic Games in 2016, Brazil still has no specific law for fighting terrorism. But specialists, who ask not to be identified, say that the country’s neutral position in recent international conflicts does not assure that it is […]
EUROSPORT, YOUTUBE Worldcrunch A Japanese TV show created a soccer goalkeeper robot that reacts at the speed of light, apparently making it all but impossible to score. After several top Japanese players were stymied by the machine, Argentinian soccer legend Lionel Messi accepted the challenge. (No word on how much he was paid to show […]
Worldcrunch VATICAN CITY – Hardly a day passes that we’re not witness to a new example of how truly humble a man the new Pope is. He paid his own hotel bill just hours after being chosen pontiff; he opts for the simple white cassock and his trusty black shoes instead of elaborate capes and […]
Worldcrunch ROME– What do get when you mix a rugby match and a marathon with the patron saint of Ireland and an Argentine Pope? Endless eternal city traffic jams, for sure. Holy chaos? Well, we’ll see. Here is the once-in-a-lifetime agenda for Rome this Sunday. MARATHON milky.way There are an estimated 100,000 people — including […]
Worldcrunch PARIS – David Beckham has finally made his much anticipated debut in Paris, almost one month after signing for Paris Saint-Germain. Here’s Becks warming up before Sunday’s kick-off. Although he only played for the last 14 minutes of Sunday night’s game, Becks was finally given a chance to get his much-advertized bottom off the […]
PARIS – Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the famed Swedish superstar striker of the Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) soccer team has just released his autobiography, entitled “I Am Zlatan Ibrahimovic.” He spoke with Le Monde. LE MONDE: This book sold 700,000 copies in Sweden. Did you expect it to be such a hit?ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC: That is more than 7% […]
WORLDCRUNCH Worldcrunch PARIS – When David Beckham announced that he had signed a five-month contract with France’s Paris Saint-Germain soccer club, millions of fans of both Monsieur and Madame Spice started fantasizing about the Beckhams moving from the city of angels to the city of lights. As it turns out, Becks and Posh’s kids are […]
FRANCE FOOTBALL, AFP (France) LE SOIR (Belgium) Worldcrunch PARIS – When Qatar was chosen as the site for soccer’s World Cup in 2022, the sports world let out a collective: What?…Where?? But for the more cynical, the real question has always been: How? According to Paris-based sports weekly France Football, the answer to that last […]
PORT SAID – Following an unpopular court ruling linked to a deadly burst of violence last year, clashes in this northern Egyptian city have left at least 30 dead on Saturday. The Ministry of Health announced the death toll in a statement, added that more than 300 people have been injured in the clashes. According […]
BUENOS AIRES – The organization of the 1934 World Cup in Italy by Mussolini and the 1936 Olympics in Germany by Hitler helped those governments legitimize their regimes around the globe. Sport in general – and soccer in particular – is a phenomenon that integrates society, promotes values and arouses a large interest amongst very […]
BBC MUNDO (UK), CLARIN (Argentina) RIO DE JANEIRO – The 2014 World Cup in Brazil is just 18 months away, and the entire nation is preparing. Local prostitutes, for their part, are getting ready to make sure they can keep up with the expected influx of international visitors by studying English, French, and Italian, as […]
Worldcrunch ZURICH – The results for Golden Ball 2012 killed any remaining doubt over who is our era’s undisputed emperor of the soccer planet. FC Barcelona’s Lionel Messi won his fourth straight trophy for best player of the year, the first to notch that record for a man whose talent seems to know no limits. […]
GLOBO ESPORTE, FOLHA DE S.P. (Brazil), FOX SPORTS, THE WASHINGTON POST (USA) SAO PAULO – With less than two years before the kick-off of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, things are not looking good for Brazilian soccer. Local team Sao Paulo FC were crowned the winners of the Copa Sudamericana final Wednesday, after Argentinan […]
KABUL – There was a day when executions took place in Kabul’s Ghazi Stadium, and until 11 years ago it was a place where the Taliban punished renegades with public amputations. But for the past few weeks all you could hear in this part of the Afghan capital was the sound of chatter, dancing, celebration […]
CLARIN (Argentina) NEW YORK TIMES (U.S.) Worldcrunch BUENOS AIRES – To combat violence in soccer, both on and off the field, a new law in Argentina will require each top league team to have a security chief who reports directly to the Ministry of Defense, Clarin reports. The role must be filled by someone who […]
CLARIN (Argentina) BARCELONA – For his adoring fans, superstar soccer player Lionel Messi can do no wrong – at least when he is on the pitch. But what about when he’s out of uniform? Watch as the Barcelona FC forward mistakes teammate Thiago Alcântara’s car for his own: The incident occurred just after a team […]
LA REPUBBLICA (Italy) Worldcrunch LECCE – Though Barcelona has “King Lionel Messi”, this week the Italian city of Lecce is rolling out the red carpet for Iya Traore (“The Prince of Paris”) and Abdellah (“Amsterdam’s Maradona”) to show off their tricky soccer skills at the Red Bull Street Style soccer world championship. Held in São […]
FLUTER, DIE WELT, DEUTSCHE WELLE (Germany), ESPN (USA) Worldcrunch No name, no club – nothing that would point to his identity – that was what Fluter journalist Adrian Bechtold had to promise a professional Bundesliga soccer player in return for talking about something that is still absolutely taboo in the top soccer league of Germany […]
AMERICA ECONOMIA (Chile) SANTIAGO – With the World Cup coming to South America in 2014, the soccer-crazed continent is already worrying who will qualify, and who will be forced to stay at home and watch the others soak up the glory. Well, if you are an Argentinian, Chilean, or Uruguayan, your team is going to […]