REUTERS Worldcrunch ISLAMABAD – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry agreed with Pakistan on Thursday to re-establish a “full partnership” — a partnership hurt by U.S. drone strikes and a 2011 NATO air attack in which 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed. Speaking after talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad, Kerry said the […]
Category: Geopolitics
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Zimbabwe Election “Compromised”
BBC NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch This week’s election in Zimbabwe was “seriously compromised” with up to a million people prevented from voting, the country’s largest observer group said Thursday. Most of those turned away were in urban areas, where support for Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is strong, said the Zimbabwe Election Support Network. It noted that […]
CBS (USA) Worldcrunch MINNEAPOLIS – Dozens of gay couples began tying the knot early Thursday morning at Minneapolis City Hall, as Minnesota became the latest state, together with Rhode Island, to legalize same-sex marriage. “I didn’t expect to cry quite that hard,” said a beaming Cathy ten Broeke, who with Margaret Miles was the first […]
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Why China Is Still No Superpower
China will overtake the United States as the world’s singular superpower. This is the conclusion of a 39-country survey of public opinion conducted by the Pew Research Center. Reading this piece of news, some Chinese have responded with excitement, others with doubts. According to this survey, a majority of the public in 23 out of […]
XINHUA (China) Worldcrunch SHANGHAI – Over 10 people in Shanghai have died of heatstroke in the east China city’s unprecedented summer heat, local health officials said Tuesday. The Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control & Prevention said the persisting high temperatures this summer have caused a spike in the number of heliosis patients in the […]
GULF OF GUINEA – In the dark of night, dozens of oil wells are spitting orange flames. They are the only things to be seen on this jet-black sea. This area south of Nigeria is one of the largest offshore oil fields in the world. There are no lights on the deck of the Latouche-Treville […]
CNN Worldcrunch SAN DIEGO – A University of California San Diego student left unmonitored in a holding cell for five days by the Drug Enforcement Administration has settled a lawsuit for $4.1 million, his attorney said Tuesday. “This was a mistake of unbelievable and unimaginable proportions,” said attorney Julia Yoo. Daniel Chong, 25, drank his […]
Worldcrunch A day after a U.S. military court convicted Bradley Manning of 20 charges — including espionage, theft and computer fraud — the world press reacted Wednesday to the WikiLeaks whistleblower judgment. Some newspapers chose to emphasize the fact that Manning was found not guilty on the most serious charge of aiding the enemy. UK […]
Thursday, July 31, 2014 ISRAEL CALLS UP 16,000 RESERVISTSAs the conflict in Gaza continues, Israel announced it was calling up 16,000 extra reserve soldiers for its offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza — bringing the total of soldiers mobilized to 86,000. The BBC quotes Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as saying he is “determined” to […]
India’s working poor include more than 5,000 men and women at one facility who wash and iron clothes by hand 14 hours a day, seven days a week, earning barely enough to survive.
Wednesday, July 30, 2014 ANOTHER GAZA SCHOOL HIT, MORE CIVILIAN DEATHS A second Gaza school was hit by Israeli Defense Forces, killing at least 19 people. Today’s assault was on the United Nations-run Abu Hussein School in Gaza’s Jabaliya refugee camp where displaced Gazans have sought shelter, CNN reports (video included). In total, at least […]
BBC NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, has met Egypt’s ousted President, Mohammed Morsi, her spokeswoman says. Ashton visited Mr Morsi on Monday evening and held two hours of “in-depth” discussions with him. The location of the meeting was not given, but Mr Morsi has been detained since he was […]
BBC NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch DERA ISMAIL KHAN – Taliban militants have freed 243 prisoners in an assault on a prison in north-west Pakistan, officials say. The attack in the town of Dera Ismail Khan began with huge explosions at around midnight on Monday (15:00 GMT). Gunmen then opened fire with rocket-propelled grenades and machine-guns, police […]
REUTERS Worldcrunch ORLANDO – Dozens of explosions rocked a propane tank servicing plant in central Florida, northwest of Orlando, late on Monday, injuring seven workers — at least three critically — and prompting the evacuation of nearby homes, authorities said. No one outside the plant was hurt by the blasts, which began at about 10.30 […]
The Russian leader is expected to try to jumpstart negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program with the new president, considered more moderate than his predecessor.
Tuesday, July 29, 2014 U.S. SAYS RUSSIA VIOLATED NUCLEAR MISSILE TREATY The United States claims Russia has violated a landmark Cold War-era arms treaty by testing a prohibited cruise missile, an assertion that President Barack Obama has conveyed by letter to President Vladimir Putin, The New York Times reports. “It is the most serious allegation […]
BBC NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch WASHINGTON – Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will resume peace talks in Washington on Monday, the U.S. State Department has announced. The talks, stalled since 2010, follow months of shuttle diplomacy by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. The statement came hours after Israel approved the release of more than 100 Palestinian […]
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At Least 38 Dead In Italy Bus Crash
BBC NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch AVELLINO – A bus has plunged off a viaduct in southern Italy on Sunday night, leaving at least 38 people dead, rescue services say. The bus hit several vehicles before smashing through a parapet and toppling down a steep slope near the town of Avellino, in the Campania region. At least […]
AL JAZEERA (Qatar) Worldcrunch BAGHDAD – A wave of 13 car bombs has struck mainly Shia areas in and around the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, killing at least 33 people and injuring more than 150, security and medical officials have said. The deadliest of Monday’s attacks occurred near a taxi terminal in the city of Kut, […]
Monday, July 28, 2014 UN’S MIDNIGHT CALL FOR CEASEFIRE GOES UNHEEDED The UN Security Council agreed on a statement during an emergency midnight meeting calling for “an immediate and unconditional humanitarian ceasefire” in the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas that has killed more than 1,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and more than 40 Israeli soldiers […]
AFP (France), TUNIS AFRIQUE PRESS (Tunisia) Worldcrunch TUNIS – The General Union of Tunisian Labour called for a general strike Friday, after thousands took to the streets to protest the killing of secular opposition leader Mohamed Brahmi, the state-run news agency TAP reports. People gathering in Mohamed Ali Square in Tunis (Photo – Ochlocratie via […]
MENA (Egypt), NEW YORK TIMES (USA), RT, AP Worldcrunch CAIRO – Ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi is being detained over alleged ties with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, and questioned on related charges of murder and kidnapping. A top Cairo court has ordered that Morsi be questioned on whether he collaborated with Hamas for his […]
IL TEMPO, ANSA (Italy) Worldcrunch ROME – Italian police arrested at least 116 people Friday, in two major anti-mafia operations in Rome and the southern Calabria region. In pre-dawn raids along the coast near Rome, some 500 police officers apprehended 51 people. A helicopter, dog units and maritime police took part in what the Italian […]
Brazil is filled with young people wrapped in the flags of their different countries — but mostly South American. Pope Francis meets his flock at the World Youth Day event.
Friday, July 25, 2014 NO ALGERIAN FLIGHT SURVIVORS French President François Hollande confirmed in televised comments today that French soldiers reached the wreckage of Algerian Airlines flight AH5017 in Mali, and retrieved one of the plane’s two black boxes. None of the 110 passengers and six crew members survived. French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told […]
BBC (UK), XINHUA (China), REUTERS Worldcrunch JINAN– Bo Xilai, a former rising star of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chief of Chongqing Municipality, was charged on Thursday with corruption, abuse of power and embezzlement, reports Xinhua news agency. The indictment, delivered to the Jinan City Peopl’es Court, marks the latest twist to a political […]
BBC (UK), EL PAÍS (Spain), EL MUNDO (Spain) Worldcrunch SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA – The death count had risen to 78 by Thursday morning after an express train derailed in northwestern Spain. More than 140 other people were injured (including 20 in critical condition) in the crash near Santiago de Compostela, reports El Mundo. The train […]
MOSCOW – Honestly? Stanislav opens his eyes wide. “I swear!” he exclaims, “I gave him water, a glass of water to be precise. He often passes by to go to the smoking area by gate 31.” That is where the flights for Italy depart. We station ourselves by the smoking area for almost an hour, […]
BOGOTA – Negotiators for rebel group FARC — engaged now in historic peace talks with the Colombian government — received an interesting visit in Havana last month. During a pause in negotiations with Bogota officials in the Cuban capital, FARC loyalists met with a group of former members of the IRA. Indeed, the veterans of […]
GAZA: NO TRUCE, BANNED BROADCAST, SEEN FROM SPACE 37 Palestinians were killed this morning in Gaza, taking the death toll after 17 days of the Israeli operation to 734, with more than 4,000 injured, Ma’an news agency reports. Hamas meanwhile claimed to have killed 8 Israeli soldiers early this morning, as Tel Aviv was targeted […]
EL UNIVERSAL (Mexico), BBC (UK) Worldcrunch MICHOACAN – Twenty gang members and two federal police officers were killed in late- night clashes between the police and the Knights Templar drug cartel in this southeastern Mexican state, El Universal reports Friday. Police say 15 of its officers were injured when members of the drug cartel ambushed […]
RIO DE JANEIRO – This modern pilgrimage through the heart of South America began last Friday at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Buenos Aires. The church, where the current Pope used to preside, was jam-packed with 500 young people from a dozen different parishes, their parents, priests and friends, as Jorge Bergoglio’s successor Archbishop Mario Aurelio […]
Wednesday, July 23, 2014 GAZA: WAR CRIME ACCUSATIONS An emergency UN Human Rights Council is being held in Geneva as Israel’s “Operation Protective Edge” enters its 16th day, with the death toll in Gaza now standing at least 647, after new attacks this morning. UN human rights commissioner Navi Pillay opened the meeting saying that […]
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At Least Six Killed In Cairo Clashes
AL-AHRAM (Egypt), REUTERS Worldcrunch CAIRO – At least six people have died on Tuesday in clashes between ousted president Mohammed Morsi supporters and opponents in central Cairo. According to a health administration official, as many 33 people were also injured in the clashes that erupted near a Muslim Brotherhood sit-in at Cairo University, reports Al-Ahram. […]
A recent investigation of unsolved political murders and forcibly evacuated villages in southeastern Turkey cites JITEM, a clandestine intel unit linked to the Turkish military.
GAZA WAR ENTERS THIRD WEEK Israel’s assault on Gaza and Hamas rocket fire into Israel show no sign of abating. Gaza’s Health Ministry officials reports 604 Palestinians killed in 15 days, with more than 3,700 injured. Most of the victims are civilians. Nine Israeli soldiers were killed yesterday, taking the total to 27 since the […]
BBC (UK), CHINA DAILY (China), CNN (US), XINHUA (China) Worldcrunch Two powerful earthquakes have killed at least 54 people and injured 337 in northwest China, according to state media. The quakes hit along the border of two counties — Min and Zhang — at around 7:45 a.m. local time, according to state news agency Xinhua. […]
Monday, July 21, 2014 GAZA DEATH TOLL TOPS 500 Israel pushed ahead with its military operation in Gaza, with Reuters reporting massive attacks, including one that killed 25 members of the same family, as the death toll reached 508 in 14 days of the operation “Protective Edge,” with at least 81,000 displaced. The Guardian also […]
DETROIT NEWS, NYT (USA), LE MONDE (France), O GLOBO (Brazil) Worldcrunch DETROIT – From Kalamazoo, Michigan to Paris, France, news of Detroit’s bankruptcy — the largest municipal financial default filing in American history — was making headlines far and wide and close to home on Friday. “Detroit, the cradle of America’s automobile industry and once […]
BOSTON MAGAZINE, ROLLING STONE Worldcrunch BOSTON – In an angry response to this week’s controversial Rolling Stone cover of alleged Boston bomber Dzokhar Tsarnaev, a police photographer has given pictures of the dramatic capture to Boston Magazine to publish on its website. Massachusetts State Police Seargent Sean Murphy leaked the photos he took of the […]