👋 Hæ hæ!*
Welcome to Thursday, where Iran vows to avenge the victims of twin blasts at a ceremony in southern Iran, Ukraine and Russia trade hundreds of prisoners of war, and the infamous Hawaiian gets a stamp of approval in the capital of pizza. Meanwhile, Jean-Marc Vittori, in French business daily Les Echos, tries to reconcile our ambition to pollute less with our economy’s need for sustained consumption.
[*Icelandic]
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🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Iran vows revenge after deadly bombings: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has vowed a “harsh response” in a statement after two explosions killed at least 84 people at a ceremony in Kerman in southern Iran on Wednesday to commemorate commander Qassem Soleimani who was killed by a U.S. drone in 2020. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the blasts. Kayhan-London looks at the possibility that the chief of Hezbollah could become the next Supreme Leader of Iran, translated from Persian by Worldcrunch.
• Blinken heads to Middle East as Hezbollah warns of retaliation: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will leave Thursday on his fourth trip to the Middle East since the war began as fears mount of escalation between Israel and Iran-backed militant groups in the region. Meanwhile, Hezbollah has vowed retaliation over the killing of top Hamas official Saleh Arouri in Beirut.
• Russia and Ukraine exchange record number of prisoners of war: More than 470 prisoners of war have returned home in both Ukraine and Russia in the biggest single release of captives since Moscow’s invasion started in February 2022. The deal, which marks the latest exchange between the two countries in almost five months, was mediated by the United Arab Emirates. For more, we offer this Livy Bereg article about the hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers still in Russian captivity.
• Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton named in unsealed Jeffrey Epstein court documents: The names of dozens of high-profile figures, including former U.S. President Bill Clinton and the UK’s Prince Andrew, with alleged links to late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein have been publicly released after U.S. court files were unsealed. The depositions and statements were part of a case against Ghislaine Maxwell, who was once Epstein’s girlfriend. The names’ appearance in the first tranche of documents of nearly 950 pages doesn’t indicate alleged wrongdoings or that the prominent figures are facing allegations.
• Oscar Pistorius set to be released on parole: South Africa's former Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius, who was convicted of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013, will be released from prison on Friday after nearly 11 years. The South African Department of Corrections had approved the former runner’s bid for parole in Nov. 2023.
• Myanmar junta to free thousands of prisoners on independence day: According to state media, Myanmar's military government plans to pardon, release and deport 9,652 prisoners today, including 114 foreigners. The decision was made "with the intention of maintaining relations with other countries and on humanitarian grounds, to celebrate the country's independence day,” the junta said. Myanmar traditionally releases a number of prisoners on Jan. 4, to mark the day it declared independence from British rule in 1948.
• Microsoft introduces AI key: Microsoft announces a big change to their keyboards with the introduction of an AI key. The key will allow users to access Copilot, Microsoft's AI tool, on new Windows 11 PCs. In a blog announcing the change, Microsoft’s Executive Vice President Yusuf Mehdi said it was a "transformative" moment and compared it to the addition of the Windows key nearly 30 years ago. Follow Worldcrunch’s coverage of all things AI here.
🗞️ FRONT PAGE
Copenhagen-based daily Politiken covers the cold wave that hit Denmark, as well as much of northern Europe. Some of the lowest temperatures in Europe so far this winter were recorded yesterday in the Nordic countries, the Baltics and Russia, with the mercury falling below -40 °C (-40 °F). Snow storms disrupted transportation, leaving more than 1,000 cars stranded for hours in southern Sweden.
📰 STORY OF THE DAY
How modern society can beat the consumption trap — a practical guide
In the short term, a fall in consumption of material objects would be an economic and social catastrophe. In the long term, it is necessary, writes Jean-Marc Vittori in French business daily Les Echos.
📉 For decades, consumption has accounted for half of France's growth. And today, it seems to be just about the only solid engine of activity. Housing investment has been ravaged by the sharp rise in interest rates. Business investment is undermined by weak order books. Exports are struggling to make headway in a slowing and increasingly fragmented world. And there is no longer any question of boosting public spending after three years of wide-open floodgates. Individuals are therefore the only ones who can really sustain demand, and therefore production.
🛒 In the short term, it would be perilous to take consumption down a step. Business activity would be even more sluggish, there would be less money in the state coffers. But if we really want to reduce our carbon emissions, we obviously need to limit certain purchases, sometimes switch from owning to renting or borrowing, repair more, and extend the lifespan of many products. However it’s not that simple.
📱 Let's start with the purchase of a reconditioned cell phone. This is undoubtedly the easiest change to make. But you still need to be sure of the quality of the reconditioning, and the absence of any hidden malfunctioning that might have prompted the owner to resell it. Then there's the sander that you could borrow or rent. But not everyone has a rental firm or a "tool library" close to home. When you're far from a city, you have to travel dozens of kilometers to find one.
➡️ Read more on Worldcrunch.com💬 LEXICON
Margherita con Ananas
For Italians, pineapple on pizza is just short of criminal. But 2024 just might change things in Italy: Gino Sorbillo, the renowned Naples pizza chef has added the pineapple to his menu in Via dei Tribunali. Sorbillo’s creation, called Margherita con Ananas (Margherita with pineapple) costs 7 euros ($7.70). But this isn’t your regular Hawaiian: it is a pizza bianca, i.e. without a tomato layer, sprinkled with no fewer than three types of cheese, and with the pineapple cooked twice for a caramelized feel. Maestro or criminale…? From Argentinian daily Clarín, here’s a piece on Naples, pizza and Diego Maradona, translated/adapted from Spanish.
📹 THIS HAPPENED VIDEO — TODAY IN HISTORY, IN ONE ICONIC PHOTO
➡️ Watch the video: THIS HAPPENED
📣 VERBATIM
“This represents an attempt at election interference using gray-zone tactics.”
— China’s spy balloons are back. This time, as The Wall Street Journal reports, they haven’t been spotted over North America, but in the air space above rival island nation Taiwan. Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said it detected a Chinese balloon flying over the island on Monday, followed by three more balloons on Tuesday. With the arrival of the balloons ahead of Taiwan’s Jan. 13 presidential elections, Ben Lewis, an independent military analyst based in Washington, said the real purpose is to test and intimidate Taiwanese people ahead of the vote, which will have major implications for China-Taiwan relations.
👉 MORE FROM WORLDCRUNCH
• Not Just Hamas: Here Are The Other Palestinian Factions Fighting Israel — WORLDCRUNCH
• How Putin Wields Russian Culture As A Weapon — And The Smart Way To Fight Back — UKRAINSKA PRAVDA
• Too Far, Too High: The Himalayan Region Where No Doctor Wants To Work — GLOBAL PRESS JOURNAL
✍️ Newsletter by Anne-Sophie Goninet, Emma Albright and Bertrand Hauger
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