👋 Sannu!*
Welcome to Monday, where dozens are killed in an airstrike on Rafah that served as cover for Israel to free two hostages, coalition talks start in Pakistan amid uncertain election results, and the Kansas City Chiefs win a second straight Super Bowl as Ivory Coast nabs its third Africa Cup. Meanwhile, independent Russian-language media Vazhnyye Istorii at Ukraine’s strategy to target Russian oil and gas facilities.
[*Hausa, Nigeria]
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🗞️ FRONT PAGE
Hungarian tabloid daily Blikk reports on the resignation of the country’s president Katalin Novak, following outrage over a pardon granted to a former deputy director of a children's home who was implicated in a child sexual abuse case. Novak, a close ally of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, had become the first woman to hold the essentially ceremonial role of Hungary’s president in March 2022. “The pardon granted and the lack of explanation may have given rise to doubts about zero tolerance of paedophilia. But there can be no doubt on this subject,” Novak said, before offering her apologies.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Israel frees two hostages in deadly raid: Israel freed two Israeli-Argentinian hostages in Rafah on Monday under the cover of airstrikes that local health officials said killed 67 Palestinians in the southern Gaza city. Meanwhile, a Dutch court has ordered the government to halt the delivery of parts for F-35 fighter jets used by Israel in its bombardment of Gaza.
• Yemen’s Houthis target U.S.-linked ship with missiles: Houthi fighters have fired on a ship that they identified as United States-owned while it traveled in waters off Yemen. The Iran-linked armed group said on Monday that the Star Iris was targeted with “a number of suitable naval missiles” in “accurate and direct” strikes. A Houthi military spokesman reiterated the attacks from Yemen will persist until Israel halts its war in Gaza. For more, read this recent Daraj article, translated from Arabic by Worldcrunch: Inside Yemen, Rising Opposition To Houthis’ Red Sea Escalation.
• Pakistan's Khan-backed independents lead in final poll count: The final results of Pakistan’s national election put independents, backed by jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, in the lead with 95 of 264 seats. The party of another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, was second with 75 seats after Thursday's vote, lacking a clear majority but it was the largest single party in parliament as Khan's independents ran as individuals.
• Conservative ex-PM Stubb elected Finland President: Final results show that Finland's conservative former Prime Minister Alexander Stubb has won Sunday's presidential election. He secured 51.6% of the vote, while his Green Party rival Pekka Haavisto, the former foreign minister, had 48.4%. It is the first election since Finland joined the Nato military alliance. Stubb, 55, takes a hardline approach towards Russia, with which the Nordic nation shares a long land border.
• Qatar frees eight ex-Indian navy officers previously on death row: A Qatari court has released eight former Indian naval officers previously on death row for unspecified charges. Seven of the men have already returned to India, Delhi's foreign ministry said on Monday. Neither Qatar nor India revealed the charges against the men, who were working for Dahra Global, a private firm in Qatar.
• Marathon world-record holder dies in car accident in Kenya: The men's marathon world record holder, Kenya's Kelvin Kiptum, 24, has died in a road accident in his home country. He was killed alongside his coach, Rwanda's Gervais Hakizimana, in a car on a road in western Kenya. Kiptum made a breakthrough in 2023 as a rival to compatriot Eliud Kipchoge, one of the greatest marathon runners.
• Football and football: The Kansas City Chiefs became the first team to win back-to-back Super Bowls in 19 years, downing the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in overtime in Las Vegas. As for the *football that the rest of the world cares about, Ivory Coast completed a dramatic comeback on home soil to beat Nigeria 2-1 at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, its third continental title.
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
46.80 seconds
Chinese swimming wunderkind Pan Zhanle broke the 100-meter freestyle world record with a time of 46.80 seconds during the 4x100m relay event at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar. The 19-year-old shaved 0.06 seconds off the previous record set by Romanian teenager David Popovici in August 2022. “I didn't expect to break the world record now, I wanted to keep it for the Paris Olympics,” said the athlete, who became the first Chinese male to hold the world record in the event.
📰 STORY OF THE DAY
Kyiv's “long arm” strategy: Can targeting oil and gas plants inside Russia turn the tide?
The targeting of oil industry sites in occupied or border regions has now been replaced by a series of drone strikes of energy-producing structures deep inside Russian territory. These attacks aim to cripple Russia's economy, which could turn the tide on the war, reports independent media Vazhnyye Istorii.
🛢️ In early 2024, the Ukrainian military initiated a series of attacks on Russian oil and gas processing facilities, conducting seven drone strikes between January 18 and February 3. These attacks by drones (also known as UAVs: "unmanned aerial vehicle") mark a shift from the previous targeting of oil industry sites in occupied or border regions, as drones now strike locations deep inside Russian territory: in the Leningrad, Volgograd, and Yaroslavl regions. These attacks are the first of their kind since the onset of the war.
💥 Israeli military expert David Sharp believes the development of the "long arm," striking targets deep within enemy territory, should be a priority right now. Military expert Kirill Mikhailov echoes Sharp's sentiment, saying a mix of "defense and offense" is crucial. He draws parallels with World War II, highlighting how the United States and Britain spent years searching for effective ways to damage Nazi Germany through bombing. After attacks on residential buildings and factories yielded limited results, the Allies discovered Germany’s Achilles heel: installations for synthetic fuel production.
📉 Experts suggest that continued attacks on refineries could further reduce export volumes, potentially leading to fuel shortages domestically and even at the front lines. Currently, petroleum products account for a third of all oil exports, notes oil and gas expert Vakulenko. British writer and historian Owen Matthews emphasizes that strikes on critical infrastructure pose a greater threat to Russia than prolonged conflict on the front lines. "Perhaps this is what will make the war too expensive and painful for Putin," he writes.
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📣 VERBATIM
“NATO cannot be an ‘à la carte’ military alliance.”
— EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell responded to comments made by Donald Trump regarding NATO over the weekend, saying the military alliance could not depend on the whims of the U.S. president. Trump suggested that, if reelected, he would not abide by the collective defense clause at the heart of the alliance and said that he would “encourage” Russia to attack any NATO country that does not meet financial obligations. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg hit back that such suggestions put “American and European soldiers at increased risk” while U.S. President Joe Biden slammed the comments as “appalling and unhinged.”
👉 MORE FROM WORLDCRUNCH
• How Egypt’s Pyramid "Project Of The Century" Backfired In Record Time — DARAJ
• Maduro Makes A Mockery Of Democracy — And Latin America's Left Goes Along For The Ride — CLARÍN
• How The Centre Pompidou's Original Sketches Were Rediscovered — In A Parking Lot — LA STAMPA
✍️ Newsletter by Emma Albright and Anne-Sophie Goninet
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