L’EQUIPE (France), BBC NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch LAUSANNE – It is one of the most eagerly awaited announcements in soccer. But on Thursday, no country won the right to host the 2020 edition of the European Championship after UEFA, the continent’s governing soccer board, chose for the first time to spread the event across a dozen […]
Category: Geopolitics
BRUSSELS – Over good food and drink, the dinner Tuesday of all of NATO’s foreign ministers was meant to be an informal exchange of the different points of view on the Middle East. But before the main course had been served most of the ministers had lost their appetite: The alliance’s Secretary General, Anders Fogh […]
AMANDALA (Belize), PRENSA LIBRE, UNIVISION (Guatemala), BBC (UK) Worldcrunch GUATEMALA CITY– Computer software millionaire John McAfee was arrested in Guatemala late Wednesday, after fleeing his home last month in Belize following the murder of his neighbor. The BBC reports that McAfee, who made his fortune developing anti-virus software, has been charged with entering Guatemala illegally, […]
MASRAWY, AL AHRAM (Egypt) Worldcrunch CAIRO – Protests against Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi have turned deadly. Egypt’s Health Ministry confirmed Thursday five deaths and 446 injuries from the latest confrontation, which turned violent Wednesday night in clashes between pro and anti Morsi demonstrators, the news site Masrawy reported. As the clashes intensified, presidential security deployed […]
ASSOCIATED PRESS Worldcrunch BEIJING — Liu Xia trembled uncontrollably and cried Thursday as she described how her confinement under house arrest has been absurd and emotionally draining in the two years since her jailed activist husband, Liu Xiaobo, was named a Nobel Peace laureate in 2010, the AP writes in an exclusive report. Breathless from […]
In December 1984, this Indian city suffered what is considered the world’s worst industrial accident ever.
HAARETZ (Israel), THE GUARDIAN (UK) Worldcrunch Syria’s ambassador to Venezuela has denied allegations Wednesday that President Bashar al-Assad is considering seeking political asylum in Latin America. On Tuesday, Israeli newspaper Haaretz suggested President Assad’s Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Miqdad had previously held meetings in Venezuela, Cuba and Ecuador in order to ensure the President’s safe […]
SÃO PAULO – It was February 10th, 2011, Penitentiary No. 2 in Presidente Venceslau, a rural town in Brazil’s São Paulo state. At 4:51 P.M., a secret conference call began by mobile phone with two prisoners and three criminals on the outside – the conversation would go on without interruption for nine hours and 38 […]
MASRAWY, AL FAGR (Egypt) Worldcrunch CAIRO – After a night of clashes outside the Egyptian presidential palace, Mohammed Morsi is reportedly back in his office Wednesday and “resuming his duties normally,” according to Cairo-based website Masrawy. Protestors continued to camp through the night in front of Itihadiya Palace (Heliopolis), Morsi’s residence since he was elected […]
MANILA TIMES (Philippines), REUTERS, BBC NEWS (UK), NEW YORK TIMES (USA) Worldcrunch MANILA – The death toll from a typhoon that swept through the Philippines archipelago jumped to 238 on Wednesday with hundreds missing, reports Reuters. At least 156 people are known to have died in the Compostela Valley province alone, when Typhoon Bopha struck […]
TUNIS – Overnight, the name of their organization, Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law), became famous. They were brought into the spotlight after the deadly attacks on several U.S. embassies that they were accused of organizing after the broadcast of the Islamophobic movie “Innocence of Muslims.” In 2011, in the course of just a few […]
CAIXIN MEDIA (China) Worldcrunch HAMBURG– Accusations that China has been stealing other countries’ intellectual property are nothing new — and increasingly annoying to Chinese officials. Here’s how one described the situation at a conference last week in Germany: “China just wants a child. China would have liked to adopt one, but you won’t give it […]
EL UNIVERSAL, EL TIEMPO, EL COLOMBIANO (Colombia), EUROPA PRESS (Spain) Worldcrunch RICAURTE– In the deadliest exchange since peace talks began in October, the Colombian army reports that it has killed 20 FARC rebels, including Guillermo Pequeño, leader of the mobile unit of the group, Colombian daily El Universal was reporting Monday. Commander of the Colombian […]
THE JAPAN TIMES, ASAHI SHIMBUN (Japan), BBC NEWS (UK) Worldcrunch TOKYO – The Japanese government has ordered emergency inspections of road tunnels across the country after a roof collapse in the Sasago tunnel, on a highway west of Tokyo, killed nine people. BBC News says that emergency inspections of at least 20 tunnels of a […]
LA PROVENCE, LE PARISIEN (France) Worldcrunch AVIGNON – A French mother is to appear in court after dressing her three-year-old son, whom she named Jihad, in a t-shirt with the words “I am a bomb” written across his chest. A nursery-school teacher alerted the police when her pupil came into school wearing the t-shirt, with […]
MENAKA – In a land far from Mali’s capital of Bamako, the houses are covered in rough cement, the streets in a reddish earth; the town is scattered with crumbling mosques and the dust sweeps through the sweltering heat. Opposite an enormous bazaar, there is another mosque, but this time, the men standing outside are […]
-OP-ED- PARIS – Israel and Palestine, two states living side by side in fair and sustainable peace. This is, for any genuinely pro-democracy advocate – be they Jewish or Arab – the deeper meaning and the real political impact of the vote that took place Thursday at the United Nations General Assembly. Yet this upgrade […]
AL QUDS (Palestine), AL SABAH (Palestine), MASRAWY (Egypt), AL JAZEERA (Qatar), HAARETZ (Israel) Worldcrunch NEW YORK – Newspaper headlines around the Arab world Friday hailed the results of a historic UN vote that grants Palestine entry to the international body as a non-member observer State. After a request submitted by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, […]
BEIJING – The recent speculation about North Korea’s (DPRK) intention of launching a ballistic missile is causing widespread concern. On November 24, the South Korean daily JoongAng Ilbo revealed that the South Korean military had detected North Korea transporting rocket components from its Pyongyang arsenal to its rocket launch site in the Northwest. The components […]
AL-AHRAM, EGYPT INDEPENDENT (Egypt), TIME Worldcrunch CAIRO – As opposition protests across Egypt gather momentum, the Islamist-dominated Constituent Assembly is rushing to finalize a draft of a new constitution that will be voted on Thursday. Egyptian daily Al-Ahram reports that the government body worked into the early hours of Thursday in an attempt to finish […]
Worldcrunch PARIS – Get it!? Ok, we know our pronunciation of both French and Mandarin is less than perfect…But this is the sort of stuff that gets mashed together at Worldcrunch HQ, where the continents converge, cultures cross and alcohol is not forbidden. So we hope you like our super-fresh bottle of Bo Xilai Nouveau […]
AL JAZEERA (Qatar), THE GUARDIAN, BBC NEWS (UK), REUTERS Worldcrunch JERUSALEM – Two Palestinians were reportedly killed during the visit of Egyptian Prime Minister Hesham Kandil in Gaza, dashing hopes of a possible ceasefire between Israel and Palestine According to Al Jazeera, a new air strike hit the Jibaliya refugee camp located at the northern […]
SINA WEIBO (China), TEALEAF NATION (China), LE MONDE (France), ASAHI SHIMBUN (Japan), NPR (U.S.A.) Worldcrunch BEIJING – The Chinese Communist Party’s 18th Congress concluded with 59-year-old Xi Jinping being officially chosen as head of state. The decision at the weeklong meeting was in no way a surprise but came as the culmination of the months […]
IRRAWADDY (Myanmar), BBC NEWS (UK), REUTERS, YAHOO NEWS Worldcrunch RANGOON– Myanmar is set to free 452 prisoners in a goodwill gesture ahead of President Obama’s visit next week. This comes as the latest in a series of reforms implemented by President Thein Sein over the past 18 months after nearly 50 years of repressive army […]
BBC NEWS (UK), JERUSALEM POST, HAARETZ (Israel), REUTERS Worldcrunch JERUSALEM – Three people were killed on Thursday when rockets fired from Gaza struck the southern Israeli town of Kiryat Malachi, a day after Israel’s targetted killing of the military chief of Hamas. Tel Aviv daily Haaretz reports that rockets fired into Israel by militants in […]
-Analysis- NEW YORK – Not long ago, China replaced the United States as the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases on the planet. And now the International Energy Agency (IEA) is predicting two things: the first is that the U.S. will be the world’s biggest oil producer in the next 10 years. The second is that […]
BBC NEWS (UK), AL JAZEERA (Qatar), REUTERS, AP Worldcrunch BAGHDAD – A series of car bombs targeting security forces killed at least 14 people across Iraq, leaving dozens wounded. Car bombs and roadside devices exploded almost simultaneously in Baghdad and several other Iraqi cities. The wave of attacks took place on the eve of the […]
Worldcrunch Tens of thousands of Australians turned out to watch a rare total solar eclipse Wednesday morning, with the spectacle plunging the northeastern state of Queensland into darkness for two minutes. Residents of New Zealand and eastern Indonesia were also able to see a partial eclipse. Take a looks at these photos as the next […]
MOSCOW – It has only recently emerged that Russia and Iraq have been secretly working on major arms deals. During Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki’s visit to Moscow in October, it was revealed that Iraq had already signed a contract to purchase 30 Russian-built military helicopters and 42 rocket launchers for $4.2 billion, with plans […]
DIE WELT (Germany) Worldcrunch A Europe-wide study produced by the GfK research group for Swiss insurance company Zurich Versicherung has found that worry, stress and anxiety about the future affect young Europeans to such an extent that many of them can’t sleep at night. Asleep in school. Photo: Mc Quinn In September, reports Die Welt, […]
PARIS – She has always wanted this kind of assignment. As far back as she can remember, Mireille Ballestrazzi, 58, has dreamed of a job where “adventure and exercising responsibility” would come together. In many ways, it has already been her mission for the past 30 years inside the French police force. But now things […]
REUTERS, THE AUSTRALIAN, THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (Australia) Worldcrunch SYDNEY – Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has called for a Royal Commission, the highest form of investigation in the country, into the hundreds of child abuse cases within the country’s institutions, including abuses and cover-ups by the Catholic Church. Gillard sais she wants the commission […]
Worldcrunch Almost three quarters of central Venice was underwater Monday as severe weather and strong tides submerged the Floating City. However, nothing could put a damper on tourists’ spirits, choosing to snub the gondolas for a dip in St. Mark’s Square. Take a look at these 15 photos that show Venice as one of the […]
BEIJING – First you have to get through the police cordons, four or five of them. Tourists on their way to the Forbidden City are asked to remove their hats and open their coats for inspection. On the steps of the Great Hall of the People, a Tibetan woman in traditional dress and other delegates […]
GUARDIAN, BBC, REUTERS, INDEPENDENT Worldcrunch LONDON – Two more top BBC news executives stepped aside Monday, as the British broadcaster faces a spiraling scandal over two separate bungled reports involving pedophilia. News chief Helen Boaden and deputy Stephen Mitchell have been put on leave following the uproar over the November 2 airing of a report […]
ISTANBUL – Members of the Pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) have joined more than 700 Turkish citizens on the 60th day of a hunger strike aimed at drawing attention to the imprisonment of Kurds linked to an alleged terrorist organization. Some 65 prisoners linked to the Union of Kurdistan Communities (KCK), which Turkey, the […]
JERUSALEM POST, HAARETZ, IDF (Israel), AL-AYYAM (Palestinian Territory), CNN (USA) Worldcrunch Israeli politicians were divided on Monday over the possibility of military ground operations in the Gaza Strip, as rockets rained down on Israel for the third day in a row, reported the Jerusalem Post. Opposition leader Shelly Yacimovich told Army Radio she was against […]
PARIS – The file will be at the top of the pile on the president’s desk. It is the singular priority for the Pentagon, the State Department and the CIA – a political hot potato, a diplomatic puzzle, and a strategic nightmare. It is stamped “danger,” “highly explosive,” and could mean a new war in […]
MOSCOW – This summer there was an unpleasant surprise for many Russian Internet users – the popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia was shut down. Of course, it was only for one day. “Imagine a world without free knowledge,” the home page said, instead of the usual search functions. “The Wikipedia community is protesting censorship that is […]