Worldcrunch
Wednesday, November 5, 2014 REPUBLICANS TAKE CONTROL OF U.S. SENATE The Republican Party won control of the U.S. Senate for the first time since 2006, gaining at least 7 seats, 1 more than they needed to have a majority after scoring important victories in Tuesday’s midterm election in North Carolina, Colorado, Iowa, West Virginia, Arkansas, […]
And it’s about to get worse in the country that has granted temporary asylum to Edward Snowden.
See the solar eclipse through shades, the Boston Red Sox win the Series, a “poisoned” USB key and other images that have made news in the past seven days. (cover photo: Imahinasyon)
Tuesday, November 4, 2014 MIDTERM ELECTION DAY Americans are voting today in midterm elections that are expected to result in a Republican Senate majority, according to The Washington Post’s election model. USA Today makes the same prediction, explaining that with a net gain of 11 seats, the GOP would win its largest majority since the […]
NADOR — Papa Africa carefully wraps his only possession, a cooking pot, in a cover. He then climbs up to the top of a tree to hang it. “It’s because of the police. When they come, they burn and break everything,” he explains as he jumps back to the ground. Next stop is the “Tranquilo,” […]
Monday, November 3, 2014 EAST UKRAINE ELECTIONS Eastern Ukraine’s rebel-held regions of Donetsk and Luhansk held their own elections yesterday, which Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called a “farce” and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini characterized as a “new obstacle on the path towards peace.” Despite Poroshenko’s calls to ignore the vote, Russian officials said […]
Cameron on UK press, Colombian rapper on Bieber graffiti, NSA, Mozambique and other words that drove the news this past week.. (cover photo: bes z)
Georgia’s outgoing President Mikhail Saakashvili has been a darling in the West. Now that his opponents are in power, his fate will tell us much about the nation’s young democracy.
An American spy author and rock star, a chief rabbi from Israel and legendary general from Vietnam are among those to whom we’ve bid farewell in October. Read more below. (photo of Lou Reed in 1976 – Toronto Star/Zuma)
A young Syrian widow who lost her husband and four children to the civil war describes a miserable life in a Jordanian refugee camp – and a heartwrenching decision.
When Gezi Park protesters held up posters of Kemal Ataturk amid a fog of tear gas, they were searching for stability in a changing world. Reflections on 70 years of the Turkish Republic.
Gentlemen, throw away your razors and kiss that soft upper lip good-bye: Movember is here. Every year since time immemorial (OK, 2004), men the world over stop shaving for the month of November to raise awareness about prostate cancer and other men’s health issues — all while looking positively fabulous. Here at Worldcrunch HQ, the […]
The sixth Climate Change Vulnerability Index report produced by risk analysis firm Maplecroft has found that climate change “may pose a serious obstacle to sustainable economic growth in the world’s most commercially important cities.” The index ranked the vulnerability of the world’s countries to the impacts of climate change by evaluating their risk of exposure […]
A workplace murder in China’s Forbidden City, farmyard horrors in northern Italy and a lucky smartphone in Florida are among the crimes that made it on this week’s global police blotter. photo credit: alvaro-qc
Your weekly shot of what the Arab world is saying, hearing and sharing.
Beyond the Taliban’s attack against Malala, there is also widespread corruption and poor state monitoring that leads to many Pakistani schools being simply abandoned buildings.
Friday, October 31, 2014 RUSSIA/UKRAINE GAS DEAL Months-long talks between Moscow, Kiev and Brussels ended with a deal yesterday for Russia to resume supplying gas to Ukraine at least until March 2015, Reuters reports. The agreement is also good news for EU countries that rely on Russian gas because it ensures that gas supplies via […]
What’s the price of John Lennon’s childhoood home? Or the scalp of a president? Find out how the news added up over the past week…
Haven’t finalized your Halloween costume yet? Don’t worry! Worldcrunch has been browsing the news archives of recent months looking for good ideas, bad puns and other ways to abuse the powers of photoshop. Scary, right…??
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 […]
Thursday, October 30, 2014 SWEDEN RECOGNIZES PALESTINE Sweden today became the first EU member in Western Europe to officially recognize Palestine, a month after the country’s prime minister announced intentions for the controversial move during his inaugural address. “It is an important step that confirms the Palestinians’ right to self-determination,” Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom […]
PARIS — The loud complaints of European leaders castigating Americans as vile spies who are betraying their allies are quite surprising. Oh, of course, perhaps they felt obligated to say something while they debated together in Geneva about what the common EU reaction to U.S. spying should be. What is surprising is the seeming astonishment […]
Wednesday, October 29, 2014 ANTI-ISIS TROOPS JOINING FORCES IN KOBANI Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have arrived in Kobani to fight alongside Syrian Kurds in the besieged border city, more than a week after Turkey announced it would let them cross into Syria, The New York Times reports. The 150-strong group were reportedly to be joined […]
In 2003, when Singapore, New Zealand and Chile launched the Pacific Three (P3) Closer Economic Partnership, few could have predicted that this agreement would grow into the greatest force driving the economic and political landscape of the region. The changes began in 2008 when the United States joined the negotiations and proposed launching the Trans-Pacific […]
Tuesday, October 28, 2014 ISIS SAYS KOBANI BATTLE “NEARLY OVER” In a new video showing captive British journalist John Cantlie, and which The Washington Post calls “bizarre,” ISIS claims that the battle for the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani is “is coming to an end. The Mujahideen are just mopping up now.” The video, made […]
Over the past week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel reacted to the newest U.S. spy revelations that suggested her personal cell phone was targeted, and Pope Francis struck a strong note after the suspension of a bishop who lived a breathtakingly extravagant lifestyle. Meanwhile, the biological mother of the little Roma girl named Maria was found. […]
The Arctic, where Russia has dispatched military resources, is the last disputed area of such massive proportions. It’s a region where the interests of Moscow and Washington collide, an excellent stage for a Cold War parody.
In Hamburg, a major Nazi monument is being repurposed into deluxe apartments. A lesson on the luxury boom, and the way Germany faces its uncomfortable history.
ATHENS — Over the past three years, the European country most affected by the global economic crisis is without doubt Greece. Today, almost six in 10 young people are unemployed, 58.8% of those under 24. Many have also moved abroad since the country has struggled to recover from the recession. The “troika” (the International Monetary […]
Squalid conditions in the overcrowded slums of the island country force people to look for new shelters.
IDLIB – On my trip to northern Syria a week ago, I asked my hosts lots of questions. Will the Syrian regime be able to recapture the liberated areas inside Syria? Are you better off with the regime returning to your area, or with the rule of the others, including those run by civilians, the Free Syrian Army or the al-Qaida-backed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)? After all, many changes had taken place since my last visit in early July. The elected president of Egypt, a patron of Syrian refugees in that country, was removed from power by […]
Friday, October 24, 2014 MORE ALLEGATIONS OF ISIS CHEMICAL ATTACK There is a new accusation that ISIS fighters launched a chemical attack, this time against Iraqi security forces north of Baghdad, The Washington Post reports just hours after unconfirmed details emerged of a similar attack against Kurdish fighters in Syria. U.S. officials are investigating. A […]
In Russia, bribes taste good; In Itay, undertakers are on the take; French panty thief and endangered turtle smuggling … and other global crimes that made headlines this week.
How many slaves are there around the world? What’s the (government-set) price of marijuana in Uruguay? Can an online video game star be a millionaire? Take a tour of the news by the numbers…
Thursday, October 23, 2014 CANADA “NOT INTIMIDATED” Details of the suspected Ottawa gunman who killed Canadian soldier Nathan Cirillo in Ottawa yesterday are starting to emerge. The Globe And Mail describes 32-year-old Michael Zehaf-Bibeau as “a man who had had a religious awakening and seemed to have become mentally unstable.” The Toronto Star portrays him […]
After being arrested by French police during a school field trip, then deported with her family to Kosovo, 15-year-old Leonarda has become a symbol of Roma everywhere.
SHANGHAI — The annual rush in Apple stores all over the world started Sept. 20 when the Cupertino, Calif.-based company released its new iPhones 5S and 5C. Outside Fifth Avenue in New York, the queue was the longest in store history. Similarly, in China, people went en masse to buy the latest smartphone, but for […]
Wednesday, October 22, 2014 ISIS SHOWS OFF CAPTURED U.S. WEAPONS ISIS fighters released a video in which they appear to be in possession of at least one cache of weapons dropped two days ago by U.S. military aircraft and intended to supply Kurdish fighters battling against the terrorist group in the Syrian border town of […]
ISTANBUL — The Republican era of Turkey began with the rejection of the Ottoman past by those destined to fill the ranks of the civilian and military cadres under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. This new establishment was keen on modernization and Westernization, with the ultimate goal of creating a modern nation-state from the […]