Clik here to view.
👋 Elo!*
Welcome to Thursday, where European leaders hold an emergency meeting to increase Ukraine support, 15 are injured after South Korean jets accidentally bomb a village, and we’ve got one flamin’ hot quiz question for you. And for Chinese media The Initium, Fang Tianyin looks at how the U.S. and China are aligning to squash internet freedom.
[*Tetum, Timor-Leste]
✅ SIGN UP
This is our daily newsletter Worldcrunch Today, a rapid tour of the news of the day from the world's best journalism sources, regardless of language or geography.
It's easy (and free!) to sign up to receive it each day in your inbox: 👉 Sign up here🗞️ FRONT PAGE
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
“Confronted with the Russian menace, ‘innocence is over,’” headlined French daily Libération, quoting French President Emmanuel Macron’s Wednesday night address where he warned of the threat of Russia to greater Europe. Macron called for Europe to better prepare for self defense before today’s summit in Brussels where European leaders are expected to look for ways to support Ukraine in its conflict with Russia before a ceasefire is imposed by the U.S., which has already paused military aid to ratchet up pressure.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• EU leaders to back defense surge, support Zelensky after U.S. aid freeze. European leaders are meeting Thursday to endorse bold measures to ramp up defense spending and pledge support for Ukraine, after Donald Trump's suspension of military aid to Kyiv. Leaders of the European Union's 27 countries are being joined by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Brussels summit. Meanwhile, a Russian missile attack on a hotel has killed four people in Zelensky's home town in Ukraine. Read this piece by French analyst Pierre Haski: Not Just Ukraine — Europe Also Knows It Still Needs The U.S.
• Hamas says Trump threats encourage Netanyahu to evade Gaza ceasefire deal. Hamas said on Thursday that U.S. President Trump's repeated threats against Palestinians constituted support for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to back out of the Gaza ceasefire. Trump demanded on Wednesday that Hamas "release all of the hostages now, not later," including the remains of dead hostages, "or it is OVER for you."
• South Korea air force jets accidentally drop bombs on homes. South Korea’s air force has said that one of its fighter jets accidentally dropped eight bombs in the wrong place during a training exercise, leaving 15 people injured.
• Top Hong Kong court overturns convictions of 3 organizers of Tiananmen vigils. This marks a rare victory for the Chinese territory’s pro-democracy activists. Chow Hang-tung, Tang Ngok-kwan and Tsui Hon-kwong, core members of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, were convicted in 2023 during Beijing’s crackdown on the city’s pro-democracy movement. Read more: Tiananmen Square — A Foreign Journey To The Forbidden Heart Of China
• New Zealand sacks diplomat who compared Donald Trump to Chamberlain. Speaking at a Chatham House event in London featuring Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen on Wednesday, Wellington’s ambassador to the UK Phil Goff compared Trump’s efforts to end the war in Ukraine with the 1938 Munich Agreement by then UK leader Neville Chamberlain that allowed Nazi Germany to annex parts of Czechoslovakia.
• North Korea halts tourism just weeks after reopening following five-year ban. After COVID-19, the country opened itself up to Russian visitors in 2024, but it was only last month that Western tourists were allowed into the remote, eastern city Rason. However several tour companies now say that trips to the country have been cancelled until further notice. Pyongyang has not given a reason for the sudden halt.
• News Quiz! One single Cheeto cracker sold at Goldin auction house for $87,840. Why the high price tag?
A. It is gold-plated
B. It belongs to an original 1948 batch
C. It is caviar-flavored
D. It is shaped like a Pokémon
[Answer below]
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
$105,000
The small island nation of Nauru is selling citizenship for just $105,000 to outsiders looking for a “golden passport” to the country. The funds raised from the offer will help to relocate the 12,500 people on the low-lying island to higher land as the effects of climate change lead to sea levels rising, storm surges becoming more destructive, and coastal erosion becoming more rapid. While some buyers of the passports may be doing it out of charity, some will likely see it as an opportunity: Nauru citizens can enter more countries than many other passport-holders, including those from India, Egypt and Lebanon.
📹 ON THIS DAY VIDEO — 4 HISTORY-MAKING EVENTS, IN 57 SECONDS
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
➡️ Watch the video: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
📰 IN OTHER NEWS
🎥 The documentary No Other Land by a Palestinian-Israeli collective satisfies multiple and divergent audiences at the same time, and has been met with critical success. But the film never evokes the idea that there is another land for Palestinians: that of historic Palestine.
— AL-MANASSA
🇺🇸 Who are the six people behind the decision to freeze military aid to Ukraine after the Oval Office clash with Volodymyr Zelensky? Their backgrounds are enough to raise concerns for Ukraine and Europe, which they see as relics of the past that need to be dismantled.
— FRANCE INTER
💻 Washington once promoted an open, unrestricted internet, and criticized Beijing's efforts to control its citizens' access. But the recent “sell or ban” controversy over TikTok shows that the United States may now be siding with China when it comes to digital sovereignty. Is internet freedom dead?
— THE INITIUM
📣 VERBATIM
“We do not want to be Americans, nor Danes, we are Kalaallit.”
— Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede rejected the idea of the semi-autonomous island becoming a territory of the U.S., an ambition that Donald Trump repeated in his speech to Congress on Tuesday. “We are not for sale and cannot be taken,” Egede said, using “Kalaallit,” the native way of saying Greenlanders. A recent poll shows strong opposition in the territory to the prospect of joining the U.S. The island is currently a territory of Denmark, with most Greenlanders saying they would eventually like to declare independence.
✍️ Newsletter by Emma Albright & Jake Shropshire
Let us know what’s happening in your corner of the world!
Quiz Answer: D. A Cheeto shaped like the Pokémon Charizard has sold at auction for a total cost of $87,840. It was initially discovered and preserved sometime between 2018-2022 by 1st & Goal Collectibles. The Cheeto surged in popularity on social media platforms in late 2024.