Germany’s Bavaria offers a snapshot of the global competition for the internatinal crime pie. There, criminal clans from Eastern Europe muscle in where Italian mobsters once reigned.
Category: Geopolitics
Growing ambitions and soap operatic history inside his own family challenge Bashar al-Assad’s rule, as Syrian forces try to snuff out a growing popular revolt.
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The West Must Hold Its Nerve In Libya
Editorial: a Le Figaro correspondent in Libya says the anti-Gaddafi coalition should not give in to gloom or impatience. The rebels still enjoy widespread popular support – but they need help from the West.
Editorial: Pope Benedict uses Holy Week, and the coming beatification of John Paul II, to face down the Church’s demons. And acknowledge its durability.
Anti-corruption officials in Tunisia are looking into French companies linked, willingly or not, with the clan of ousted President Ben Ali.
In Calabria, on the southern heel of the Italian boot, the ‘Ndrangheta crime syndicate may be more powerful than the Church, or even soccer. And on Easter, they all want to hold Santa Maria.
No, the battle for Abidjan is not over. In a vast and densely populated area of the Ivory Coast’s largest city, Laurent Gbagbo loyalists are still fighting 10 days after his arrest.
With the price of western medicine proving too costly for large swathes of India’s population, traditional medicine is being billed as the new financial and medical cure-all.
An insider with a penchant for ruffling official feathers, popular television host Vladimir Pozner pushes boundaries while still toeing the party line.
The Libyan rebel city is witnessing a torrent of journalistic enthusiasm, with new TV stations and free newspapers giving voice to the revolution.
At the gates of Benghazi, military training is being dispensed to all those eager to go to the frontlines. But enthusiasm can’t make up for poor hardware.
The Islamist “Farooq the German,” killed last year in Afghanistan, is now being celebrated as a martyr in a new German-language propaganda video.
Editorial: Barack Obama’s bid for re-election in 2012 could be smooth sailing, but is he chipping away at America’s leading role in the world?
The nude pictures of Turkish-German actress Sila Sahin spark debate over integration of Muslims in Germany, and elsewhere in Europe. It may also be a curveball for feminists.
The world’s largest Muslim nation has been a vibrant, multi-faith democracy for 13 years. But that has not spared Indonesia from a rising number of terrorist attacks and growing religious intolerance.
Though he still cites Al-Qaeda as one of his prime enemies, Muammar Gaddafi issued the first international arrest warrant for Osama bin Laden in 1998. Is there a connection between the mysterious death of a German agent and Libyan efforts to capture the t
Editorial: Berlusconi’s use of the political system to fight his personal battles has become so overwhelming that little else is pursued in Italian public life. Tale of a nation blocked by one man’s troubles.
The Arab world’s revolutionary tide has so far bypassed Saudi Arabia, whose oil-rich royal regime is hoping to buy a bit of peace and quiet with billions in public spending.
Activists say earthquake-prone Turkey risks a Fukushima-style disaster if plans go ahead to build the massive Akkuyu power plant along the Mediterranean coast.
The Shanghai Auto Show is now the biggest car exhibition in the world, surpassing Geneva, Frankfurt and Detroit. The show will premiere some 75 new car models including Volkswagen’s highly anticipated new Beetle .
In recent weeks, Mexican authorities have extracted body after body from a series of clandestine graves in the northern state of Tamaulipas. Now comes the challenge of matching the remains to the country’s growing number of drug war disappearances.
Former inmates of the notorious Diyarbakir Prison, where hundreds of people were tortured in the aftermath of Turkey’s bloody military coup in 1980, may be on the verge of finally getting justice.
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Does The UN Suddenly Matter Again?
The United Nations’ proactive response in the Ivory Coast and Libya has rejuvenated its image worldwide, though some question the motives of Ban Ki-Moon’s prompt intervention.
Essay: A public appeal to the West from the leader of the Libyan rebels, Moustapha Abdel Jalil: ‘Give us time — and arms…’ for negotiating with Gaddafi is not an option.
A portrait of Italian activist and journalist Vittorio Arrigoni who was found dead in the Gaza Strip early on Friday, following his abduction on Thursday. His mother had been expecting him back home.
Despite stiff government warnings, some residents from the evacuated zone around Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant are trickling back in. Others never left.
Chronic shyness and social phobia can make life a living hell. Identifying it early on in life can help.
Blogger Yoani Sanchez and dissident Guillermo Fariñas can taste the wave of the Arab uprising from the shores of Cuba. But the Castro regime shows no signs it’s wobbling just yet.
Editorial: The French daily Le Figaro gives a warm applause to the government for its timely and efficient intervention to help oust strongman Laurent Gbagbo
The newly reopened National Museum of China on Tiananmen Square sits uneasily amid the recent wave of repression that has led to the arrest of hundreds of people including avant-garde artist Ai Weiwei. Ironically, one of the first exhibitions is on the We
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Orphans Of The Dalai Lama
The surprise March 10 announcement of the Dalai Lama’s retirement from political life stunned Dharamsala, capital of Tibet’s exile community, where people fear their cause will be forgotten, and followers could turn to violence.
Counted out just a week ago, see up close how the Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo has held on despite much of his country and virtually all the world stacked against him. Amongst his weapons: his Christian faith, a mercurial wife and a canny surviva
Socially conservative Italy isn’t likely to embrace gay marriage anytime soon. That hasn’t stopped one same-sex couple from trying. While Savona’s Francesco and Manuel haven’t yet managed to tie the knot, they did come
After friendly fire deaths from NATO air strikes, rebels realize the West’s air support is not enough to topple Gaddafi.
Essay: Approximately 250 North African migrants died this week when their boat capsized off the coast of Italy’s Lampedusa island. According to writer Ferdinando Camon, the tragedy challenges everything Europeans thought they knew about immigrati
Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in protest last December, launching the Arab Spring from the small Tunisian city of Sidi Bouzid. Now his family has moved away, facing the scorn of locals who say they’re cashing in at the city’s expense.
Masters at preparing food, the French are also pretty good at tossing it away — to the tune of 44 pounds per person annually. They are not alone. According to an FAO study, only half of the world’s food actually makes it in to people’s
Essay: The upheaval in the Arab world is a reminder that the Turkish military — a NATO member — can play a major role in the region. The secularist military’s political power at home has been greatly trimmed in recent years, but some look to th
Ten candidates, including the 35-year-old daughter of jailed former President Alberto Fujimori, square off in this Sunday’s election, which is likely to result in a runoff.
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The Polar Bear Autopsy Of The Century
Knut, the Berlin Zoo bear who captured the world’s attention after being abandoned by his mother, died last month. After the most complex investigation of an animal’s death in memory, officials say Knut died of a viral infection.