Worldcrunch
-Essay- As someone who writes and lectures about women and gender in Islam, I am often asked if women had any role in the making of the Islamic tradition. Happily, the answer is always yes. There were in fact many prominent women in the early history of Islam. At the top of the list would […]
SINA NEWS, E-TODAY (China) Worldcrunch BEIJING – A Chinese man recently divorced and sued his wife for giving him an ugly daughter. Not only did he win the case, his ex-wife was sentenced to pay him 750,000 Yuan ($120,000) in compensation, reported Sina News. According to the report, Feng Jian, the indignant husband, was shocked […]
UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER, BBC NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch MANCHESTER – A piece of music composed by Ludwig van Beethoven nearly 200 years ago has been unearthed by a University of Manchester scholar. Professor Barry Cooper, a leading Beethoven expert, spotted the work which the German composer wrote around 1820 alongside some original sketches of the famous […]
ONS, BBC NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch LONDON – Britain’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported Thursday that the UK economy has emerged from recession, helped by the Olympic Games. In the three months from July to September, the country’s economy returned to growth at its fastest pace in five years, with its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) […]
Worldcrunch PARIS – The third and final presidential debate is slated to cover the major foreign-policy issues of our times: the rise of China, Iran’s nuclear program, Harry’s crown jewels. For the two candidates, suddenly having to shift gears to global concerns in the midst of a domestic, pocketbook-centric campaign means lots of extra homework. […]
THE TELEGRAPH, THE BBC (UK) Worldcrunch LONDON – That mindless — and seemingless harmful — act of leafing through waiting-room magazines can pose real health risks, according to National Health Service (NHS) officials in the UK. Officials have warned dentists around the country that old magazines may be responsible for spreading bacteria and should be […]
PETRA (Jordan), INDEPENDENT, GUARDIAN (UK), AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE (France) Worldcrunch AMMAN – Jordanian police say they have arrested 11 suspected terrorists who had crossed the border from Syria and were planning a major attack against foreigners in Jordan’s capital. The U.S. embassy in Jordan was among the targets, an embassy spokesman confirmed to the Independent. […]
Why it is time for British art to leave its bad boy behind.
For many researchers, one measure of intelligence is the ratio of brain size to body weight. But that would mean that the tiny mammal known as the shrew would be capable of great intellectual accomplishments, which it is not presently known for. Why is this? A human brain weighs 1.3 to 1.5 kilos (2.9 to […]
THE BOOKER PRIZE FOUNDATION, TELEGRAPH, GUARDIAN, INDEPENDENT (UK) Worldcrunch LONDON – The 2012 Man Booker Prize has been awarded to British author Hilary Mantel for her novel Bring Up The Bodies. Mantel is both the first woman and the first British author to win the prize twice, the Booker Prize Foundation noted Wednesday in announcing […]
LE MONDE (France), DW-TV (Germany) EFE Worldcrunch From London, Barcelona, and Rio de Janeiro, the list of cities worldwide that are being enticed by the allure of suspended cable cars is growing, heralded as a cheap, green and safe means of transport suspended above the normal rush of urban traffic. Although the cable car systems […]
LE MONDE, L’EXPRESS, LA CROIX, EUROPE 1 (France) Worldcrunch PARIS – Speaking to a group of 600 educators at the Sorbonne, France’s 700-year-old university, President François Hollande declared last week that he hopes that his government will become known as the “education administration,” Le Monde reported. One of Hollande’s most talked about reforms was the […]
HET LAATSTE NIEUWS (Belgium), THE SCOTSMAN (UK) Worldcrunch After Catalonia stepped up its bid to secession, separatist parties in Belgium and the United Kingdom have made major gains amid a crisis-hit Europe. British Prime Minister David Cameron is set to meet Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond in Edinburgh Monday to sign a historic deal that […]
SÜDKURIER (Germany), AIR PARIS (France) Worldcrunch PARIS – The first time zeppelins flew over Paris, it was to bomb the city during World War I. Now, a German zeppelin company says it is nearing agreement with a company in Paris that plans to offer flights around the Eiffel Tower. The company, Air Paris, already has […]
Worldcrunch LONDON – Lady Gaga, fresh from a public presentation of her new perfume Fame at London’s Harrods, paid WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange a five-hour visit at the nearby Ecuadorian embassy, where the famous whisteblower has been granted asylum since June. The meeting between the undisputed Queen of Twitter — Lady Gaga has recently reached […]
FRANCE 24, LES ECHOS (France), GUARDIAN, EVENING STANDARD (UK), BLOOMBERG (USA) LONDON – Are the rich and the entrepreneurs leaving France? Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, certainly hopes so. Pointing to the 240,000 Frenchmen who currently live in his city, he invited those unhappy with the French government’s new tax scheme to move to […]
GUARDIAN (UK), NOBEL COMMITTEE (Sweden) Worldcrunch STOCKHOLM – The 2012 Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to British and Japanese researchers who, decades apart, helped show that mature cells can be pluripotent, the Nobel committee announced Monday. “John B. Gurdon discovered in 1962 that the specialization of cells is reversible,” noted the press release announcing […]
Worldcrunch The world’s most famous secret agent is turning 50 – the James Bond film franchise is marking five decades since the October 5, 1962 release of Dr. No, the first movie of the series produced by London’s Eon studio. Twenty-two movies and countless shaken-not-stirred martinis later, moviegoers are trying to sum up — and […]
HURRIYET, RADIKAL (Turkey), AL JAZEERA (Qatar) Worldcrunch ANKARA – Turkish artillery has continued to target Syria for a second straight day, in retaliation for the shelling of a Turkish town that killed five people. Wednesday’s deadly mortar fire heightened tensions as it marked the first time that Turkish citizens have been killed as a result […]
STERN (Germany), LE TELEGRAMME, LE PARISIEN, NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR, CLOSER (France) Worldcrunch Paris Fashion Week, a twice-a-year ode to luxury consumption, has been going on for several days. It is the best time of year for celebrity-watchers to catch a glimpse of Kate Moss, Kristen Stewart, Salma Hayek, Princess Charlene of Monaco or Valerie Trierweiler, “first […]
THE INDEPENDENT, FINANCIAL TIMES (UK) Worldcrunch LONDON – Martin Wheatley, the newly appointed chief financial policeman to the UK vowed on Monday that there will be no stone unturned in bringing corrupt bankers to justice in the City- London’s financial hub. Bad bankers warned: repent or go to jail ind.pn/QEdKg3 — The Independent (@Independent) October […]
TAIPEI TIMES, LIBERTY TIMES (Taiwan), KYODO (Japan), SKYNET.BE (Belgium), REUTERS Worldcrunch A fleet of up to 100 Taiwan fishing boats, accompanied by 10 Taiwanese coast guard vessels, sailed into Japanese-controlled waters this morning, according to the Taipei Times. The waters are near the islands being disputed between Japan, which calls them the Senkaku, and China, […]
Worldcrunch It’s the launch of iPhone 5! As the entire world stands in line and tweets live updates of their quest for iPhone glory, we’d like to provide a little reality check. It’s just a phone, guys. Just think of all these things you could be doing instead: 1. USA – Go to the SPAM […]
LE MONDE, OUEST FRANCE (France) Worldcrunch PARIS – French far right leader Marine Le Pen weighed in on the Prophet Muhammad caricatures and anti-Islam film protests in an interview published by Le Monde on Friday. When asked by the French newspaper what she would do if she was elected president, the Front National party leader […]
BBC, CHANNEL 4 NEWS, THE GUARDIAN (UK), EUROPE 1, LIBERATION (France), NEW YORK DAILY NEWS (USA) Worldcrunch PARIS – A French court has blocked the future publication by a French magazine of the now infamous topless photos of Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, reports the BBC. The court order prevents French magazine Closer’s publisher, […]
AL JAZEERA (Qatar), REUTERS, BBC (UK), SANA (Syria) Worldcrunch Anger against the West is spreading throughout the Muslim world as further reports of attacks on the UK, German and US embassies develop Friday afternoon. Following Pope Benedict XVI’s arrival Friday for a three-day trip to Lebanon, anti-Western protests amassed in the country’s second-largest city Tripoli. […]
It is a variant of the classic East-West confrontation. And in the conflict pitting Samsung against Apple, the Asian technology giant versus the American one, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Apple won the first round when a Californian court sentenced Samsung to pay more than $1 billion of compensatory damages for infringing patents. But the […]
FOCUS, BERLINER MORGENPOST (Germany), LES ECHOS (France) Worldcrunch BERLIN – The German Constitutional Court has upheld the legality of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), which had been set up to help bail out countries in the euro zone on the verge of financial collapse. With the decision Wednesday, a great source of anxiety was lifted […]
SKY NEWS, DAILY MAIL, BBC, THE GUARDIAN (UK), LE FIGARO, LE POINT (France) Worldcrunch Police have cordoned off two roads outside the home of a British family found shot dead in the French Alps, and residents have been evacuated from the immediate area, reports Sky News. Sky reporter Ashish Joshi, outside the al-Hilli house in […]
REUTERS, AP Worldcrunch Is it a bird? Or a plane? No, it’s just Vladimir Putin, taking time out of his busy Kremlin schedule to teach caged birds to fly. The Russian President’s latest publicity stunt involved him doning a white costume and flying a motorized hang glider to help introduce into the wild a flock […]
LES ECHOS (France), DIE WELT, DER SPIEGEL (Germany), IL SOLE 24 ORE (Italy) BLOOMBERG (US), BBC NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch FRANKFURT – Aiming to squelch speculation of an impending demise of the euro, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said policymakers have agreed to an unlimited bond-purchase program to regain control of interest rates in the […]
TAIHAI NET (China), CHINA TIMES (Taiwan) Worldcrunch TAIPEI – The Chinese now have a new reason to visit Taiwan, and it’s not tourism or business: they are heading to Taiwan in droves for medical check-ups and cosmetic surgery. Thirty-nine Taiwanese hospitals are now specially licensed to accept Chinese patients who come on combined medical/tourist trips. […]
RADIKAL, HURRIYET, DOGAN NEWS AGENCY (Turkey) Worldcrunch Ten Turkish soldiers were killed and seven were injured in an attack by Kurdish rebels, which took place in the southeastern province of Sirnak, Turkish officials have said. Clashes between Turkish military forces and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) broke out on Sunday evening at a military […]
DAILY MAIL, BBC NEWS, THE GUARDIAN (U.K.) Worldcrunch British Police are investigating reports on Monday of a lion on the loose in the southeastern county of Essex, near the village of St. Osyth. Residents of #stosyth are advised to enjoy the bank holiday Monday but to be cautious. Officers still in the area conducting searches […]
AFP, REUTERS Worldcrunch Rebels shot down a Syrian combat helicopter while it was bombarding the Damascus neighborhood of Jobar. State television confirmed a chopper crashed near a mosque in the capital, but gave no further details, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it believed it “was hit while it was being used in […]
TIMES OF INDIA (India), BBC NEWS (UK), PAKISTAN METEOROLOGICAL DEPARTMENT (Pakistan) Worldcrunch At least 50 people have been killed by heavy monsoon rains in northern India and northwestern Pakistan. In northern India, the heaviest downpours in more than 30 years flooded large parts of Jaipur, the capital of the desert state of Rajasthan, killing at […]
HINDUSTAN TIMES, (Pakistan), KUWAIT NEWS AGENCY (Kuwait), RFI, LE FIGARO (France) Worldcrunch A woman traveling from Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore to Paris via Milan fell asleep on the flight, only to be woken up 18 hours later at her starting point, reports Kuwait News Agency (KUNA). She woke up expecting to enjoy the glories […]
LE NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR, LE PARISIEN (France) Worldcrunch PARIS – Highly confidential layouts of the Élysée Palace (the presidential residence), the Interior Ministry and the Paris Police Department have been stolen from a contractor’s car in Paris, the French daily Le Parisien reports. According to Le Nouvel Observateur, a flash drive containing detailed maps of the […]
ANALYSIS – The announcement by Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño at a press conference that Ecuador would grant WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange asylum met with cries of approval and applause from assembled journalists. As always, whenever the government of Ecuador calls an official press conference, mostly only journalists close to the government are invited. The […]
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, HERALD SUN, THE AUSTRALIAN, (Australia), BBC (UK) Worldcrunch Australia’s High Court of Justice has upheld a new government law on mandatory packaging for cigarettes that remove brand colors and logos from packaging, reports the BBC. The new law mandates that cigarettes be sold in drab olive-green packs and ban all commercial logos. […]