👋 வணக்கம்*
Welcome to Friday, where Israeli strikes kill at least 40 in central Gaza, a private U.S. company lands successfully on the Moon, and Bobi is officially disqualified as world’s oldest dog. Meanwhile, Valérie Sarre in French business daily Les Echos explores the increasing popularity of “workation,” i.e. the concept of working from virtually any vacation spot.
[*Vanakkam, Tamil - India]
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“Everything burned in 30 minutes,” titles Spanish daily ABC, reporting on the devastating fire that ripped through two joined apartment blocks in the Spanish city of Valencia, killing at least four people. Up to 15 people remain missing after firefighters worked overnight to tackle the blaze. The city has declared three days of mourning. The cause of the fire is unknown yet, but experts say that highly flammable cladding on the building enabled the flames to spread rapidly.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Israel shells Gaza’s residential homes, killing at least 40: Israel’s army has killed 40 Palestinians after attacking residential homes in central Gaza. Meanwhile, the International Court of Justice in The Hague is hearing arguments from more than 50 states following a request by the General Assembly to issue a non-binding opinion on the legal consequences of the Israeli occupation.
• U.S. to impose more sanctions on Russia: U.S. will impose sanctions on more than 500 entities, marking the second anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Deputy U.S. Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in an interview. Adeyemo said this collaborative effort with other nations will focus on Russia's military-industrial complex and businesses in countries that help Russia obtain desired goods. Washington aims to hold Russia accountable for the conflict and the death of opposition figure Alexei Navalny. For more on the impact of sanctions, we offer this recent article by German daily die Welt, translated by Worldcrunch.
• Biden meets Navalny’s family while mother accuses Russia of blackmail: Joe Biden convened a private meeting with Alexei Navalny’s widow and daughter, who firmly believe that the Russian president ordered the opposition leader's death. Following the meeting, the U.S. president said that Navalny's “legacy of courage will endure” through them. Meanwhile, Navalny’s mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, said she was finally able to see her son’s body at the city morgue. She had filed a lawsuit to contest Russian officials’ previous refusal but was later pressured to agree to a secret burial. “They are blackmailing me, they are setting conditions where, when and how my son should be buried,” she said.
• Senegal’s President Sall to step down, but election date still unknown: “On April 2, 2024, my mission ends at the head of Senegal,” the president said during a televised interview, but remains unclear if a new president would be elected before that date. Macky Sall will meet with political leaders next week to discuss elections and what will happen after his departure. “Is democracy in Africa a lost cause?” asked France Inter’s Pierre Haski.
• Dutch PM Rutte set to be next NATO head: The U.S., UK, France and Germany have backed outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to become NATO’s next secretary general. Rutte would succeed Jens Stoltenberg, who steps down in October, and would take over at a crucial time for the transatlantic alliance as Russia’s war against Ukraine rages on.
• Private spacecraft makes first U.S. Moon landing in 50 years: The Odysseus spacecraft built and operated by the Texas-based firm Intuitive Machines successfully touched down near the Moon's south pole. This marks the first U.S. landing on the lunar surface since 1972, and the first such accomplishment by a private company. Interested in lunar exploration? We’ve got you covered, courtesy of Les Echos.
• Bad, bad Bobi! Bobi, the dog who died in October, reportedly at the age of 31 years and 165 days, has officially lost his title as the world’s oldest ever dog, following an investigation by Guinness World Records — the end of a month-long saga that followed suspicion raised by vets and other experts.
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
+72%
That’s the increase in new births, as compared to last year, reported by a hospital in China’s northwestern Shaanxi province. It is one of several examples hinting at a potential natality boost in a country hit by declining birth rates in recent years. The trend, financial news outlet Yicai notes, may be driven by the fact that the Year of the Dragon is considered particularly auspicious in China, as the zodiac sign is linked to “courage and tenacity.”
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📰 STORY OF THE DAY
A French Alps “workation”? Here's how to master work-life balance on your skis!
Working neither from the office nor from home: the flexible concept of “workation” is appealing not only to digital nomads but increasingly to regular employees who want to find new ways to for peak work-life balance, reports Valérie Sarre in French business daily Les Echos.
💻 Many teleworkers practice what is referred to as “workation,” a somewhat barbaric term born from the contraction of “work” and “vacation” — or in French “tracances,” which is no more elegant! In recent years and of course especially since the COVID pandemic, new ways of working have emerged. The concept is, instead of staying “confined” at home, that you can work from almost anywhere, depending on your constraints, desires, private life or hobbies.
📶 Tourism professionals are obviously very well aware of this trend. “In Val Thorens, people sitting with their laptops are part of the landscape,” says Vincent Lalanne, director of the town’s tourist office. “Thanks to the Lyon-Turin fiber optic link, we have a very good internet connection, which is a determining factor.” Four- and five-star hotels have equipped themselves with efficient Wi-Fi networks for their guests, but also for those who enjoy working in their cozy lounge.
⛷️ The trend has also become an economic lever for ski resorts. “Workation ticks a lot of boxes in Verbier,” says Arnaud Walpen, in charge of promotion for the Swiss village. “The Valais Canton, in the heart of Europe, is well connected in terms of transportation and the internet. So visiting us for both tourism and work is a good idea. It was already in the air, but with COVID, we have seen people leaving cities and settling here for five to six months. Some have even stayed.”
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💬 LEXICON
WCNSF
Christopher Lockyear, head of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), warned the UN Security Council that children in the Gaza Strip who would survive the war would “not only bear the visible wounds of traumatic injuries, but the invisible ones too,” adding that some as young as five years old say “they would prefer to die.” The MSF International Secretary said that medical teams on the ground have come up with a new acronym to talk about orphaned children: WCNSF, for Wounded Child, No Surviving Family. Lockyear called for “a sustained ceasefire, not a temporary period of calm.”
👉 MORE FROM WORLDCRUNCH
• The West Bank's Collateral Damage From The Gaza War Is Enormous — DARAJ
• Ukraine To Gaza, India’s Foreign Policy Is Cold Self-Interest — Not Post-Colonial Leadership — THE WIRE
• Can LEGO-Loving "Kidults" Give A Dwindling Toy Industry The Boost It Needs? — DIE WELT
✍️ Newsletter by Agnese Tonghini and Anne-Sophie Goninet
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