👋 Zdravo!*
Welcome to Friday, where hundreds are feared dead after major earthquakes hit Myanmar and Thailand, JD Vance lands in Greenland and today’s quiz question will be of particular interest to indie movie buffs. Meanwhile, Simonetta Sciandivasci in Italian daily La Stampa takes a step back to look at the #MeToo movement, in light of the ongoing trial of French actor Gérard Depardieu.
[*Bosnia and Herzegovina]
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🗞️ FRONT PAGE
German daily Frankfurter Rundschau headlines “Trump fuels the trade war” showing an aerial photo of car rows neatly parked in a herringbone pattern. U.S. President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he will impose a 25% tariff on car imports from April 2. In addition, the same tariffs will affect imported car parts from May 3 at the latest. This includes key parts such as engines, gearboxes and drive parts. A detailed list of affected goods is yet to be published. Trump said the measure would lead to "tremendous growth" for the industry, promising it would spur jobs and investment in the US. “The impact will be really huge and very disruptive,” said Sigrid de Vries, director general of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Earthquakes hit Southeast Asia. A 7.7 magnitude quake hit Myanmar, with ripples in neighboring countries including Thailand, destroying buildings, collapsing bridges, and buckling roads across the region. Hundreds are feared dead as rescue operations are underway, with authorities warning of potential aftershocks.
• Stock markets continue to drop following Trump tariffs. Asian and European stock markets extended losses on Friday as U.S. President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on auto parts are due to kick in next week. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that his country’s longstanding relationship with its neighbor to the south, "based on deepening integration of our economies and tight security and military cooperation, is over". He also said Canada would respond with retaliatory tariffs that will have "maximum impact" on the U.S.
• United front in Europe on Ukraine, new minerals deal with U.S. European leaders agreed unanimously that now is “not the time” to lift sanctions on Russia, with French President Emmanuel Macron articulating that sanctions would only be eased with an end to the war in Ukraine. The statement of unity came out of a summit in Paris that included more than two dozen heads of state and government from across Europe, as well as the head of NATO and other countries. At the same time as the summit, the Trump administration proposed a new, more expansive minerals deal with Ukraine that includes no security guarantees for the country. Read this French analysis on the radical changes afoot to what used to be called “the free world.”
• Israel pounds south Lebanon after intercepting rockets. Israel bombarded Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon on Friday after intercepting a rocket fired from its northern neighbour, the Israeli military said. The Iranian-backed militant group denied involvement in the incident. Israel had vowed a strong response to protect its security, in what resulted in a further blow to the shaky ceasefire deal between the sides that ended a year-long war.
• JD Vance visits Greenland. U.S. Vice President JD Vance and his wife are visiting an American military base in Greenland on Friday at a time when President Donald Trump is renewing his insistence that Washington should take control of the semi-autonomous Danish territory. In a scaled-back version of a trip plan that had angered authorities in both Greenland and Denmark, Vance is expected to fly to the U.S. military base at Pituffik in the north of the Arctic island.
• Australians will head to the polls on May 3. High cost of living and a shortage of housing will likely weigh against the government as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese‘s center-left Labor Party seeks a second three-year term. Following the announcement, opposition leader Peter Dutton launched his conservative coalition’s campaign by promising better economic management after 29,000 small businesses had failed across Australia during three years with Labor in charge.
• Japan unveils plan to evacuate 100,000 civilians from islands near Taiwan in event of conflict. This comes amid escalating tensions between Beijing and Taipei. Under the contingency, ships and planes would be mobilized to take about 110,000 residents and 10,000 tourists off five islands in the Sakishima chain in Japan’s far south-west.
• News Quiz! After four decades, the Sundance Film Festival is moving from its original home in Park City, Utah. Where’s its new location?
A. Boulder, Colorado
B. Las Vegas, Nevada
C. Austin, Texas
D. Cannes, France
[Answer below]
💬 LEXICON
Hoka
Hoka, the popular sportswear brand whose name means “to fly” in Māori, is facing criticism for failing to acknowledge the origins of its name on its website. New Zealand experts argue the French-American company disregards Indigenous intellectual property and warn of cultural appropriation.
📹 ON THIS DAY VIDEO — 4 HISTORY-MAKING EVENTS, IN 57 SECONDS
➡️ Watch the video: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
📰 IN OTHER NEWS
🚗🚙 Worried about Trump’s car tariffs? Here's what every car owner and business needs to know about how this crucial industry will be affected around the world.
— LES ECHOS
♻️ Argentina’s informal recycling network, once a lifeline for thousands, is unraveling as falling prices and new policies make waste-picking unsustainable.
— GLOBAL PRESS JOURNAL
✊ People feel the need to pronounce #MeToo dead — but there is an urgent need for it to stay alive.
— LA STAMPA
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📣 VERBATIM
“We're going after them.”
— In an interview with Fox News' Bret Baeir on Thursday night, Elon Musk condemned the spate of vandalism and arson attacks on Tesla cars, dealerships and charging stations around the globe, which are an apparent protest of Musk’s work leading President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The Tesla CEO said he'd even received "death threats" from some protesters. Musk said he blamed the "far left" behind the demonstrators. "The real problem is not that crazy guy that fire bombs at a Tesla dealership, it's the people pushing the propaganda that caused that guy to do it. Those are the real villains here. And we're going to go after them," he said, referring to President Trump and himself. This was part of an exclusive sit-down interview with Musk and seven members of the DOGE team, about the department's cost-cutting mission.
✍️ Newsletter by Emma Albright and Cecilia Laurent Monpetit
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Quiz Answer: After a yearlong search, the Sundance Film Festival announced Thursday that its new home will be Boulder, Colorado, keeping Sundance in the mountains but moving it out of Park City, the Utah ski town.