Worldcrunch
LATEST ON UKRAINE The Ukrainian crisis worsened over the weekend after the Russian Parliament approved President Vladimir Putin’s request to send in troops, putting the Ukrainian army on full alert, the BBC reports. According to U.S. officials, Russia now has some 6,000 airborne and ground troops in Crimea, leading them to admit that Moscow was […]
French and Chadian troops search for terrorist groups who melt into the landscape and launch suicide attacks in the towns. Initial plans for France’s rapid return home have been revised.
Would-be parents in the US are more likely than any other nationality to adopt children with disabilities. The issue is heating up again after the death of a Russian boy in Texas.
A Polish reporter in London finds out for herself.
AP, CNN, REUTERS, NEW YORK TIMES (U.S.), THE GUARDIAN (UK) Worldcrunch FORT MEADE– Wikileaks whistleblower, Bradley Manning pleaded guilty on Thursday to 10 of the 22 charges he is accused of in what the U.S. government calls the largest leak of classified documents in the nation’s history, writes CNN. There are many moving parts to […]
KYODO (Japan), WHO, AFP Worldcrunch TOKYO – The Japanese government on Friday refuted a World Health Organization report that found a higher cancer risk for people living in areas contaminated by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, reports Kyodo news. The UN health agency’s report, which was published on Thursday, said that there was a 70% […]
ARMED MEN RAID CRIMEA AIRPORTA group of armed men sympathetic to fallen Ukrainian regime raided the two main airports in Crimea overnight, sending the newly formed Ukrainian government on alert. Interior Minister Arsen Avakov accused Russia of carrying out “an armed invasion and occupation.” The Russian Black Sea Fleet, which has a base at Sevastopol […]
AP Worldcrunch ROME — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday the Obama administration will provide the Syrian opposition fighting against President Bashar Al Assad $60 million in assistance and provide food and medical supplies, the Associated Press reports. The AP says the move marks the first time American aid, though still not military […]
(Hint: it won’t ever come true)
HERALD SUN (Australia), SKY NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch SYDNEY –Australian police have seized 585 kilograms of pure methamphetamine in Sydney bound to flush the major Australian cities. The haul was estimated at $438 million in street value, in what is largest seizure ever of methamphetamine down under. Police had been tipped off in September about “suspicious […]
SLOVENSKA TISKOVNA AGENCIJA (Slovenia), BBC NEWS (UK), REUTERS Worldcrunch LJUBLJANA – The Slovenian parliament has ousted Prime Minister Janez Janša and his conservative government amid corruption allegations and growing discontent over the country’s struggling economy. The country’s National Assembly asked opposition leader and finance expert Alenka Bratušek to form a new government, after Prime Minister […]
CAIRO – It just happened one day, without prior notice. On Jan. 26, Moheddin Marwan lowered the iron curtain of his grocery store at lunchtime. When he came back to work the next day, he just stood there petrified, as motionless as the new barricade that blocked the access to his shop. Stacked up like […]
LE MONDE (France), MILLIYET (Turkey) Worldcrunch After frozen Findus lasagne, Nestle ravioli, IKEA Swedish meatballs, now its the popular “döner kebabs” — the (supposedly) lamb sandwich — that has turned up signs of horsemeat across Europe, reports Le Monde. But the twist in this case is that traces of pork were found as well, in […]
EL UNIVERSAL, MILENIO (Mexico) Worldcrunch TOLUCA – Forbes magazine named her the “most powerful woman in Mexico” in 2012, but now Elba Esther Gordillo, 68, is under arrest for embezzling more than $156 million dollars from the country’s main teachers union. Esther Gordillo, former head of Mexico’s long-ruling PRI party and longtime teachers union chief, […]
THE INDIA TIMES, HINDUSTAN TIMES (India), BBC NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch CALCUTTA – At least 19 people have been killed and over a dozen critically injured in a fire that broke out early on Wednesday morning at an illegal market in the eastern Indian city of Calcutta. It took three hours to contain the blaze, but […]
GUNMEN SEIZE CRIMEAN PARLIAMENTAn armed group seized parliament and another government building in Ukraine’s region of Crimea early this morning and raised the Russian flag, sending the Ukrainian security forces on alert. At least two people have died and some 30 people have been injured since pro-EU and pro-Russian protesters began clashing in Crimea Wednesday, […]
Beppe Grillo’s protest movement was the winner in Italy’s election that signals a failure of an entire political class.
UKRAINE’S NEW GOVERNMENT PRESENTED TO MAIDANThe new Ukraine government will be presented to the protesters of Kiev’s Independence Square tonight, Radio Liberty reports. A member of Vitali Klitschko’s UDAR party announced that the union government would include some of the protesters. HEZBOLLAH VOWS TO RETALIATE AFTER ISRAELI AIR STRIKELebanese militant group Hezbollah said in a […]
LES ECHOS, RTL, FRANCETV INFO (France) Worldcrunch PARIS – A video has been posted on YouTube showing members of a French family of seven, including four children, who were taken hostage last week by Boko Haram, the Nigerian Islamist sect. The three-minute video, which was posted on Monday, shows the French family – two men, […]
BBC NEWS (UK), AL-MASRY AL-YOUM (Egypt), AP Worldcrunch CAIRO – A hot air balloon caught fire and exploded as it was flying over the ancient Egyptian city of Luxor on Tuesday, killing at least 18 tourists. The casualties included French, British, Japanese nationals and nine tourists from Hong Kong, a security official told AP. The […]
FORMATION OF UKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT DELAYEDUkraine’s interim President Oleksandr Turchynov has delayed the formation of a unity government, initially planned for today, until Thursday, Itar-Tass reports. The Parliament also voted to give Turchynov the power to sign laws until the early presidential election, planned for May 25. ISLAMISTS KILL DOZENS OF NIGERIAN SCHOOL PUPILSIslamist fighters from […]
THE KOREA TIMES, THE KOREA HERALD (South Korea), REUTERS Worldcrunch SEOUL – Park Geun-hye was sworn in on Monday as South Korea’s first female president ; she began her five-year term by urging an increasingly hostile North Korea to drop its nuclear ambitions. “North Korea’s recent nuclear test is a challenge to the survival and […]
AFP, NHK (Japan) Worldcrunch TOKYO – A powerful earthquake shook Tokyo on Monday, with buildings swaying for 30 seconds, but few reports of injuries. The magnitude 5.7 quake was centered in the mountain resort town of Nikko, about 140 kilometers northwest of Tokyo, reports the AFP. Earlier reports had put the quake at magnitude 6.2. […]
GRANMA (CUBA), LA NACIÓN (COSTA RICA), SBS (AUSTRALIA Worldcrunch HAVANA – Cuban President Raúl Castro’s reelection for a second term Sunday was no surprise. But Cuba is still absorbing the unexpected announcement that it would be Castro’s final five-year mandate, and his naming of a much younger government minister to be his No. 2, and […]
YANUKOVYCH WANTED FOR “MASS MURDER”A police warrant has been issued for ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, whose current whereabouts are unknown, the acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov announced this morning. Yanukovych, who was last seen at his residence in Crimea, is wanted for “mass murder of civilians,” after last week’s riots in Kiev in which […]
-Essay- We’re all critical of the leaders of our time: Obama let us down, Merkel isn’t Adenauer, and Hollande and Cameron are just pale copies of Monsieur Mitterrand and Lady Thatcher. Meanwhile, in Italy, in front of the disappointing batch of candidates for national elections, nostalgia runs deep for figures of the past from Christian […]
And why it’s not as bad as you think.
CNN, REUTERS AFRICA, NEWS 24, EYEWITNESS NEWS (South Africa) Worldcrunch PRETORIA– Oscar Pistorius has been granted bail after a hearing that lasted four days. He is charged with the shooting of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentine’s Day. In Friday’s ruling, Magistrate Desmond Nair stated that his decision does not mean that the State’s case […]
In recent days, U.S. and Mideast officials have reported that Iran and Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite group, are making military preparations for the sectarian chaos likely to engulf a post-Assad Syria. Counterterrorism expert Matthew Levitt says that Hezbollah has closely aligned itself with Iran’s Quds Force, an elite paramilitary group linked directly to Ayatollah Ali […]
Silvio Berlusconi bad-mouths Angela Merkel, while Mario Monti tries to woo her. But there are deeper reasons the German factor is at play as Italians go to the polls Sunday.
AFP, EL NACIONAL, EL UNIVERSAL (Venezuela) Worldcrunch CARACAS– Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez continues to suffer from chronic respiratory difficulties since his return to the country from Cuba earlier this week. The news came in a televised statement from Venezuelan Minister for Communications Ernesto Villegas, which was the first information from the government on Chavez’s health […]
BERLIN – In late 2011, a former German television correspondent in Tel Aviv, Sebastian Engelbrecht, reported some sensational news: Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal had “renounced armed combat against Israel,” conflicts among Palestinians were in the process of being resolved and “by early May in Gaza and the West Bank a new president and parliament will […]
Delayed by the popular uprisings in the Arab world, the first-ever summit between Russia and the Arab League is on this week in Moscow. Though Syria is on the agenda, many the questions linger.
SYRIAN OBSERVATORY FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, BBC NEWS (UK), AP Worldcrunch DAMASCUS – A series of bombings in Syria’s capital Thursday has killed at least 31 people, among them children and civilians. A car bomb struck the heavy-populated central Damascus district of Mazraa, near the headquarters of Syria’s ruling Baath party and the Russian Embassy. I […]
RIOTERS OPEN FIRE IN KIEV DESPITE DEALA group of rioters opened fire on security forces near Kiev’s Independence Square this morning as they were headed towards the Parliament, Reuters quotes a police statement as saying. This comes despite news of a deal between the government, the opposition and EU foreign ministers after a night of […]
EYEWITNESS NEWS, JACARANDA NEWS, NEWS24 (South Africa), TWITTER Worldcrunch PRETORIA– It has emerged that the lead investigating officer in the Oscar Pistorius case is facing seven counts of attempted murder himself, according to Eyewitness News. Pistorius, the legendary paralympian accused of shooting his girlfriend to death, is back in court Thursday as a bail hearing […]
HAARETZ (Israel), TWITTER Worldcrunch LOS ANGELES – Palestinian filmmaker and Oscar nominee Emad Burnat was detained and questioned for several hours by US immigration officials at Los Angeles Airport, Israeli daily Haaretz reports. After being threatened to be sent straight back home, Burnat was released early Wednesday from LAX airport after the intervention of US […]
CLASHES RESUME IN KIEV DESPITE TRUCEDeadly fights between the police and people occupying Kiev’s Independence Square resumed this morning despite the truce announced last night by the government and opposition leaders, who were supposed to meet this morning to negotiate a peaceful solution to the crisis. Reports about the number of new deaths vary from […]
FRANCE 24 (France), AL JAZEERA (Qatar), REUTERS Worldcrunch TUNIS – Tunisia’s political turmoil continued on Wednesday following Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali’s resignation, after he failed to appoint a non-partisan cabinet of technocrats. Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki is meeting Wednesday with Rached Ghannouchi, leader of the country’s leading party Ennahda to ask him to nominate a […]