Worldcrunch
Five years after the discovery of a major offshore oilfield, people in Ghana are still banking on better times ahead. But foreign companies — notably those from China — are also poised to cash in. A visit to the rapidly expanding city of Sekondi-Takorad
EL COLOMBIANO, EL LIBERAL (Colombia), EMOL (Chile) Worldcrunch Something akin to the suburban cry of “Not In My Back Yard!” (NIMBY) can be heard this week in the Colombian jungle. Indigenous leaders in the southwestern town of Toribio have demanded that both the Colombian security forces and the FARC rebels take their longstanding fight elsewhere, […]
FRANCE INFO, LE DAUPHINE LIBERE (France) Worldcrunch CHAMONIX – At least nine people were killed, at four are still missing after an avalanche at Mont Maudit (“Cursed Mount”), the third highest peak in the Mont Blanc mountain range. Eleven climbers — including a mountain guide — have so far been rescued, but French and Italian […]
CNN, AL JAZEERA, THE GUARDIAN Worldcrunch SYRIA – Following the defection of Syria’s ambassador to Iraq, both diplomatic and military pressure is growing on President Bashar al-Assad as violence continues, including around the capital Damascus. Reports on Thursday suggest that the defection of Syria’s ambassador to Iraq, Nawaf Fares, who called for other members of […]
Essay: The election of the Islamist President Mohamed Morsi has prompted a round of stories about harassment and even murder at the hands of Islamists. Copts and women are particularly worried. But the history is neither new nor as simple as it might see
BLOOMBERG, EL PAIS, EL MUNDO (Spain) Worldcrunch MADRID – Reversing an earlier no-new-taxes pledge, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has announced tax increases and spending cuts totaling 65 billion euros ($80bn) over the next two-and-a-half years to try stave off the accumulating debt crisis, Bloomberg reports. Rajoy’s fourth austerity package in seven months includes a […]
Vladimir Putin has made a priority out of expanding and updating the military capacity of the Russian military, but there is still much heavy lifting required to move beyond the mechanical and human rust of the Soviet era.
BBC NEWS (UK), JEUNE AFRIQUE (France) Worldcrunch THE HAGUE – Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga was sentenced to 14 years in jail on Tuesday by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague for recruting and using child soldiers, some younger than 15, from 2002 to 2003. The sentence is the first to be handed out […]
With results coming this week in Libya’s first post-Gaddafi election, the Muslim Brotherhood is not expected to fare so well. After Islamists won in Tunisia and Egypt, several key factors are thought to be tipping the Libyan electorate in favor o
LA RAZON, LA RIOJA, LOS TIEMPOS (Bolivia) Worldcrunch COCHABAMBA – Bolivian President Evo Morales doesn’t forget his roots. It’s just that his happen to be in the agricultural production of coca, which also is the key ingredient in the production of cocaine. Morales has been elected for a new term as leader of the coca […]
In an interview with Le Monde, Kofi Annan, the UN-Arab League special envoy to Syria, concedes that his mission has so far been a failure. He speaks frankly about Russia and China, but also suggests more focus on Iran and others in coming clean on their i
ADEVARUL, ZIARE.COM, BUCHAREST HERALD (Romania) Worldcrunch BUCHAREST – An escalating political crisis in Romania pitting the prime minister against the president is spreading abroad, with protests in foreign capitals and concern from European officials about the state of democracy in one of the EU’s newest members. Center-left Prime Minister Victor Ponta and his Social Liberal […]
BBC NEWS (UK), REUTERS Worldcrunch CAIRO – Egyptian parliamentary speaker Saad al-Katatni told the state news agency on Monday that Parliament would meet on Tuesday even though Army generals ordered it dissolved last month and took over legislative power, according to Reuters. The move could threaten Egypt’s political stability and herald an open confrontation between […]
AFP, RTL, LE FIGARO (France) Worldcrunch PARIS – Outrage spread Monday after French TV station TF1 aired for the first time extracts of audio tapes between Toulouse gunman Mohamed Merah and the police during the 32-hour siege on his apartment. In the recordings, Mohamed Merah can be heard saying to the police negotiators: “Know that […]
Colombia is a paradox, with rising economic growth concentrated in urban areas and apparent progress in fighting both leftist guerillas and drug cartels. But there’s a dirty little secret that won’t go away: more internally displaced peo
A new humanitarian crisis is unfolding after the fall of Gaddafi: thousands of immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa, as well as some from Pakistan and Syria, have been detained in the middle of the desert in southern Libya. No way out, and conditions are li
lv7 (Argentina), EL PERUANO (Peru) Worldcrunch LIMA – Ongoing protests this week against the construction of a US-backed gold mine in the northern Peruvian province of Cajamarca have left at least four dead. According to the lv7 website, the local population has rallied in protest to oppose the project called Conga, directed by the American […]
Police say the main suspect paid someone to kill his girlfriend in order to cash in on an insurance policy to buy a stud farm.
Analysis: The Arab Spring and conflict in Syria have taken the focus off of the intractable standoff of the Israeli-Palestinian situation. But Israel should not be fooled into thinking that stalling is anything resembling a real strategy — or solution.
SYRIA STEPS (Syria), AL ARABIYA (Saudi Arabia), BBC (UK), AP (US), LE MONDE (France) Worldcrunch PARIS – Over 100 countries gathered for the Friends of Syria conference in Paris on Friday, hoping to broker a diplomatic solution to the on-going violent conflict and to bring an end to Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The conference opened after […]
CLARIN, LA NACION (Argentina), EL PAIS (Spain), AP Worldcrunch BUENOS AIRES – Former Argentinean dictator Jorge Videla’s landmark 50-year sentence for stealing babies from leftist prisoners was greeted Friday with a mix of closure and vindication by many in the South American nation who suffered through the so-called “dirty war” three decades ago. The guilty […]
The 2008 economic crisis struck particularly hard in Iceland, where banks went bust and the currency value evaporated. But a hard line both at home and abroad has helped turn things around. But can the model be copied?
LE MONDE (France), EL ATWAN (Algeria), REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS (France) Worldcrunch Algeria marked the 50th anniversary of independence Thursday, an event with significance in both Algeria and France, its former colonial ruler. As part of its coverage of the anniversary, French daily Le Monde published a commentary by Raphaëlle Branche, a historian at Université de […]
AP, WIKILEAKS Worldcrunch LONDON – Online whistle-blower organization Wikileaks announced the publication of over 2.4 million Syrian emails on Wednesday morning, a move which may shed some light on the inner-workings and dealings of the Assad regime as the violent internal conflict continues. Wikileaks made the announcement on its official Twitter account and gave a […]
AFP, ASAHI SHIMBUN (Japan), NAIIC (Japan) Worldcrunch TOKYO – Lambasting both Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) and the prime minister’s office, the national task force investigating last year’s accident at Fukushima’s No. 1 nuclear plant concluded that human error played a role in the reactor’s meltdown, and was not only due to the tsunami that […]
Essay: The euro crisis has exposed something deeper than debt: a reminder that Europe must be outward, not inward, looking. Conventional wisdom says the British are not committed to Europe. The smart money says they’re the right model for the who
EL DIARO SINEMBARGO, EL UNIVERSAL (Mexico), AP Worldcrunch MEXICO CITY – Though victory congratulations for his rival continue to arrive from world leaders, Mexico’s leftist challenger for President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, is conceding nothing as evidence of voter fraud in last weekend’s election has led to a parital recount of the ballots. Protesters in […]
Fifty years after its independence, Rwanda is billing itself as the “African Singapore.” However, the country’s development is benefiting only an elite of the population, as disenchantment spreads.
SUDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG, DIE WELT (Germany) –Worldcrunch KARLSRUHE – Police say three people and a suspected gunman were dead Wednesday during a home eviction gone awry in Karlsruhe, southwest Germany, reports Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Earlier in the morning, it was reported that a gunman took three to four people hostage, including a bailiff, after authorities attempted to […]
AL JAZEERA (Qatar), XINHUA (China) Worldcrunch RAMALLAH – The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) has given the go ahead to exhume the body of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat this Wednesday after a special investigation by Al Jazeera revealed unusually high levels of deadly polonium on his personal effects. Arafat’s widow Suha Arafat asked for the […]
Worldcrunch LE MONDE (France) PARIS – Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s home and office were raided by police investigators on Tuesday, according to Le Monde. His lawyer’s offices were also raided. The raids are part of an ongoing investigation into the alleged illegal financing of Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential campaign by billionaire Liliane Bettencourt, the French […]
Mexico’s President-Elect Enrique Peña Nieto is a handsome guy. Stand him arm-in-arm with his second wife, actress Angélica Rivera, aka “La Gaviota,” and it all gets quite stunning.
Worldcrunch LE SOIR ECHOS (Morocco), LA VIE ECO (Morocco), AFP OUJDA – A Moroccan court has ordered the investigation of a controversial imam, Abdellah Nhari, for inciting hatred, reports Le Soir Echos. In a video posted on YouTube (see below), Nhari suggests that Mokhtar Laghzioui, editor-in-chief of the Arabic newspaper Al Ahdath Al Maghribia, “must […]
Worldcrunch CUMHURIYET (Turkey), HÜRRIYET (Turkey), BBC NEWS (UK) Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has finally responded to last month’s shooting down of a Turkish plane after it entered Syrian airspace, saying he regretted the incident. “We learned that it the jet belonged to Turkey after shooting it down. I say 100 percent: “if only we had […]
Worldcrunch ADEVARUL, ANTENA 3, ZIARE.COM (Romania) BUCHAREST – Former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase remains in a hospital room in the Romanian capital. His aides say the 62-year-old is recovering – gradually — from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the neck in a June 20 suicide attempt gone awry after having been sentenced to prison on […]
Analysis: Don’t be fooled by the fact that Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan didn’t launch a military response to the downing of a Turkish jet. He has made it clear in other ways that Bashar Al-Assad’s days are numbered.
The bumps and bruises continue 15 years after Hong Kong returned into Chinese hands. Now it’s up to both to try harder.
Worldcrunch EL DIARIO, EL INFORMADOR (Mexico) L.A. TIMES (USA) MEXICO CITY – Though his main challenger has yet to concede defeat, Enrique Peña Nieto appears set to become Mexico’s next President, which would mark a return to power after 12 years for his Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI. Mexico’s federal elections commission is reporting that […]
Worldcrunch THE PRESS ASSOCIATION (UK), KHAAMA PRESS (Afghanistan), REUTERS The UK Defense Ministry confirmed Monday that three British soldiers were shot to death at a check-point in southwest Afghanistan by a man wearing an Afghan police uniform. The gunman was injured and detained after the Sunday attack, a spokesperson for the Ministry told Reuters. According […]
Few know the Lebanese capital has been a destination for immigrants in recent years. But now a group of Sudanese men are on a hunger strike, demanding that the UN resettle recognized refugees and grant temporary status to those waiting for their papers.