When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
Geopolitics

U.S. Advisers Sent To Iraq, Putin Convoys Barred, RIP Lauren Bacall

Crowds gathered Tuesday in Clayton, Missouri, to protest the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by a police officer in Ferguson Saturday.
Crowds gathered Tuesday in Clayton, Missouri, to protest the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by a police officer in Ferguson Saturday.
Worldcrunch

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

U.S. SENDS MORE MILITARY ADVISERS TO IRAQ
Washington is sending 130 more military advisers to northern Iraq to assist in the evacuation of displaced people trapped on Mount Sinjar, The New York Times reports. The article quotes U.S. officials as saying that a ground presence is needed to secure the evacuation, although they insisted they “will not be engaged in a combat role.”

Meanwhile, after a meeting with UK officials in London, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he would not rule out sending troops to Iraq. According to The Guardian, this comes as Britain intensifies its involvement in the country, with British helicopters flying Yazidi refugees out of Mount Sinjar and aircraft transporting Jordanian military equipment to the Kurdish region of Iraq.

Iranians officials say they support the nomination of Haider al-Abadi as Iraq’s new prime minister, a crucial endorsement, while ousted Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki yesterday urged the army and security forces to stay out of the political crisis, suggesting a smooth transfer of power is possible.

SNAPSHOT
Protesters held their hands up in the air as crowds gathered Tuesday in Clayton, Missouri, to protest the fatal Saturday shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was unarmed at the time, by a police officer in Ferguson.

AS TRUCE NEARS END, GAZA TALKS CONTINUE
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are in Cairo to continue talks on a permanent truce as a 72-hour ceasefire in the Gaza conflict expires tonight. There is no sign of a breakthrough to bring to an end to fighting that has killed 1,945 Palestinians and 67 Israelis, 64 of them soldiers, Reuters reports.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman says that if the ceasefire collapses Israel must "take the initiative,” and “finish the story in the shortest time possible." Read more about his comments in our Verbatim feature.

AFP reports that a foreign journalist and four Palestinians were killed as an Israeli missile was being dismantled in Gaza.

FAREWELL
Legendary Hollywood actress Lauren Bacall, born Betty Joan Perske, died Tuesday at age 89 after suffering a major stroke.

PUTIN “HUMANITARIAN CONVOYS” BARRED
Ukraine Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk says that Russia’s humanitarian convoys will not be allowed in the Kharkiv region. “First they send tanks, Grad missiles and bandits who fire on Ukrainians, and then they send water and salt,” Reuters quoted him as saying.

3,770
A new infographic on the daily caloric intake of various countries shows the United States tops the chart with 3,770 calories per person.

MUBARAK’S RETRIAL BEGINS
The retrial of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak began this morning in Cairo without him, as the helicopter that was supposed to deliver him to the court where he was expected to testify was grounded by bad weather, Ahram Online reports. The ex-president is accused of complicity in the killing of some 850 demonstrators in the revolt that ousted him from office in 2011, and it is believed he will plead innocent.

WORLDCRUNCH-TO-GO
For a bit of lighter fare today, our music blog Hit It! features Berlin-based American musician Anton Newcombe, lead singer of the Brian Jonestown Massacre band, performing a cover of French composer William Sheller's "Philadelphia Story." Although he tweeted that “it’s hard to sing in French,” we found his French crooning quite good. Check out the video here.

CANADA TO DONATE EBOLA VACCINES
Canada has announced plans to donate up to 1,000 experimental Ebola vaccines to the World Health Organization in a bid to halt spread of the disease, which has killed over 1,000 people in West Africa. It came just hours after the WHO said it was ethical to use untested drugs on Ebola patients. Read more from CBC.

MY GRAND-PÈRE’S WORLD


JAPANESE ECONOMY FALTERS
Japan’s economy shrank 6.8% in the second quarter compared to last year’s, its worst economic contraction since the tsunami that triggered the Fukushima nuclear disaster three years ago, the Financial Times reports.

FIRST WOMAN EARNS MATH’S TOP PRIZE
Iranian-born Stanford University mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani has become the first woman to be awarded the Fields Medal, math’s equivalent to the Nobel Prize.

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Economy

Lex Tusk? How Poland’s Controversial "Russian Influence" Law Will Subvert Democracy

The new “lex Tusk” includes language about companies and their management. But is this likely to be a fair investigation into breaking sanctions on Russia, or a political witch-hunt in the business sphere?

Photo of President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda

Polish President Andrzej Duda

Piotr Miaczynski, Leszek Kostrzewski

-Analysis-

WARSAW — Poland’s new Commission for investigating Russian influence, which President Andrzej Duda signed into law on Monday, will be able to summon representatives of any company for inquiry. It has sparked a major controversy in Polish politics, as political opponents of the government warn that the Commission has been given near absolute power to investigate and punish any citizen, business or organization.

And opposition politicians are expected to be high on the list of would-be suspects, starting with Donald Tusk, who is challenging the ruling PiS government to return to the presidency next fall. For that reason, it has been sardonically dubbed: Lex Tusk.

University of Warsaw law professor Michal Romanowski notes that the interests of any firm can be considered favorable to Russia. “These are instruments which the likes of Putin and Orban would not be ashamed of," Romanowski said.

The law on the Commission for examining Russian influences has "atomic" prerogatives sewn into it. Nine members of the Commission with the rank of secretary of state will be able to summon virtually anyone, with the powers of severe punishment.

Under the new law, these Commissioners will become arbiters of nearly absolute power, and will be able to use the resources of nearly any organ of the state, including the secret services, in order to demand access to every available document. They will be able to prosecute people for acts which were not prohibited at the time they were committed.

Their prerogatives are broader than that of the President or the Prime Minister, wider than those of any court. And there is virtually no oversight over their actions.

Nobody can feel safe. This includes companies, their management, lawyers, journalists, and trade unionists.

Keep reading...Show less

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch

The latest