City centre beach comes at a cost of €3m
For the seventh year running, the banks of the river Seine in Paris have been transformed into an elongated Club Tropicana set. No less than 2,500 tonnes of sand are shipped in to the capital to make "Paris-on-sea" each summer. An event that not all of the city's residents take to warmly. Read more...
Journalists "struggle" to cover Obama and McCain equally
Barack Obama's faithful press harem has had even more to tell the world this week, with a continuous train of glowing reports filing back to the US from his multinational tour, now in Europe. Feeling a little left in the, dark, McCain is airing his complaints in a new campaign video, "Obama Love". Read more and see the video...
Did China's state news agency forge a photo?
A Chinese blogger has exposed the official news agency Xinhua for what appears to be a forged image. He noticed that two of the people present in the photo look remarkably similar. Read more...
Anti-gay ad?
UPDATE (30 July 08 - 4.30pm): Mars has announced the advert has been withdrawn from British television. Until now it has only been shown on UK TV and not broadcast in the US except for at the Superbowl. The UK's Advertising Standards Authority only received two complaints about it, but the ad was pulled anyway because of controversy in the US.
One of our Observers in Washington, blogger John Aravosis has alerted us to a seemingly homophobic advert from chocolate bar brand Snickers. This is the second time in 18 months that Snickers, who was forced to withdraw a gay-offensive ad last February, has faced criticism for homophobic advertising. Read more and see the ad...
Was AFP fooled by a fake?
Agence France Presse this afternoon released a dispatch about what they say is the personal website of Rodovan Karadzic. According to the site, the former Serbian leader spent his travelling in the name of health, and is now an advocate for alternative forms of medicine. A blogger explains why it could be fake. Read more...
The knife that explodes its victim’s organs
The WASP knife is more lethal than any other. Created for hunting dangerous animals, it kills on impact by injecting a frozen ball of compressed gas into the body of the prey, exploding the organs of the animal. Available to buy online, the British police is worried about the implications the weapon could have if it falls into the wrong hands. Read more, and see the knife in action...
Indifferent holidaymakers sunbathe next to dead Roma girls
UPDATE (23.07.08 - 5pm): We contacted the Naples journalist who took the photos. He thinks that the affair has been blown out of proportion.
Two girls of Roma origin drowned at a beach in Naples on Saturday. Photos of their dead bodies, lying a few metres from indifferent sunbathers, have revived the controversy over Italian attitudes towards the minority gypsy community. Read more...
Faux-amateur videos - the new marketing weapon
They all follow the same format - an anonymous video, supposedly amateur, of an incredible act or experience appears online. Once a buzz has been created, the so-thought home-made footage turns out to be an advert. A successful marketing strategy indeed, but does it meet ethical standards? Read more and see the videos.
The new Batman – "the best superhero film in history"
The latest chapter of the flying rodent-man's adventures, Batman: The Dark Knight came out in North America and Hong Kong on Friday. The release pulled in record audience numbers, even beating Star Wars III. Read our Observers' comments about the film.
A damning video for the Israeli Army
A scene of shocking brutality on the part of the Israeli Army emerged yesterday, in a video filmed by a Palestinian teenager. The amateur footage shows an Israeli soldier firing a rubber bullet at a Palestinian protestor barely a metre away. According to the NGO who got hold of the video, Israeli authorities then tried to cover up the blunder. Read more and see the video...
