March 23-24
- What Gaza’s “humanitarian pier” is really about
- Speech-enabling innovation
- Pygmy hippo good new
- … and much more.
🎲 OUR WEEKLY NEWS QUIZ
1. On the 10th anniversary of its annexation, which territory has Vladimir Putin praised for “returning to its home harbor"?
2. Leo Varadkar announced his surprise resignation on Wednesday as Ireland’s Taoiseach (prime minister). He was the youngest and first person from an ethnic minority to hold the position. What other notable barrier did he break?
3. What led Cubans to take to the streets, in a rare demonstration in Santiago? Changes to the national anthem / Power outages and food shortages / Price of cigars / Stray dogs invasion
4. Which country has been named the world’s happiest for a seventh successive year?
[Answers at the bottom of this newsletter]
#️⃣ TRENDING
France’s national football team became a laughing stock on social media on Monday for their fashion choices, described by some as “ridiculous.” Some also called it the “fashion week of Clairefontaine (French soccer’s national training center).” The colorful outfits drew comparisons to the Power Rangers, George Michael and Johnny Hallyday, with one commenter saying “George Michael has been summoned to the Blues’ gathering.”
🎭 5 CULTURE THINGS TO KNOW
• New Banksy mural in London vandalized: A mural of a tree painted by street artist Banksy in north London has been defaced with white paint, just two days after it first appeared on a residential building. The artwork features swathes of green paint on a wall behind a tree, giving an abstract appearance of foliage. “This is a really powerful piece, which highlights the vital role that trees play in our communities and in tackling the climate emergency. It's sad to see the piece has been defaced,” said a spokesperson for the Islington Council, which said it was installing CCTV cameras and looking at how it could protect the artwork.
• FBI returns stolen artifacts found in attic to Japan: The FBI has returned 22 centuries-old artifacts to Okinawa, Japan, after a family found them in their late father’s Massachusetts attic. The items — some of which date to the 18th and 19th centuries and which include painted scrolls, an ancient map, pottery and ceramics — were looted after the Battle of Okinawa during World War II. While the family’s father was a World War II veteran, he had never served in the Pacific theater.
• Our ancestors had piercings too: Archeologists discovered stone ornaments around the mouths and ears of skeletons at Boncuklu Tarla, an 11,000-year-old burial site in southeast Turkey, proving for the first time that humans have been piercing their bodies since prehistoric times. “I think it shows we share similar concerns with the way that we look and that these people were also thinking hard about how they presented themselves to the world,” said Emma Louise Baysal, a professor of archaeology at Ankara University.
• Artist Issam Kourbaj reflects on fellow Syrians’ suffering, with nod to Gaza: At a new exhibition at the University of Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard art gallery, Syrian painter and sculptor Issam Kourbaj, whose work has focused exclusively on the conflict in Syria since 2011, explores themes loss, memory and renewal. “Urgent Archives” includes the recent installation All But Milk, made out of shelves of baby bottles that are filled with shards of glass, rocks, sand — anything but milk, as a reference to the conflict in Gaza.
• International artists are increasingly popular, Spotify report says: Spotify’s Loud & Clear report has found that more than half of the artists who generated at least $10,000 on the music streaming platform are from countries where English is not the first language. According to the report, Spanish, German, Portuguese, French and Korean are among the most popular languages outside English, while Hindi, Indonesian, Punjabi, Tamil and Greek saw huge upticks last year.
🆘 The hidden stakes of Gaza’s “humanitarian pier”
U.S. President Joe Biden announced that he had instructed the military to establish a temporary pier on the coast of Gaza to receive shipments of food, water, and medicine as signs of famine are looming across the war-torn Palestinian enclave. But why establish a sea corridor when land entry ways exist, most notably the Egyptian Rafah crossing? Will the pier play a role other than just facilitating humanitarian relief? For Mohamed Saad, writing for Egypt-based news website Al Manassa, the plan “is consistent with an Israeli desire to gradually isolate Gaza from the Rafah crossing” and helps the U.S. present “the image of the good American who provides food and medicine.”
Read the full story: The "Humanitarian" Pier Is Really About Biden's Election — And Colonizing Gaza
⛏️ In Colombia, where extracting minerals is killing the earth
Following the announcement of Colombia's first rare earths mining project, Climate Tracker reports on the incomplete licenses, unreal expectations, bad relationships with indigenous populations and suspicion of planted minerals that surround the venture, which seeks to extract minerals critical for the energy transition. “It is generating a conflict among us, among those who do want mining and those who believe it can affect the territory,” an indigenous leader in the area told the international non-profit organization.
Read the full story: Why Colombia's First Rare Earths Mining Project Has Gotten So Toxic
🧑🍳⭐ Foodie collectors’ quest for the rarest vintage Michelin guides
The new batch of Michelin-starred restaurants was announced this week, with 52 new establishments honored, more than ever before. While the little red guide calls the shots among restaurateurs, it’s also the stuff of dreams for aficionados, for whom the bible of gastronomy has become a true collector’s item. From “deluxe” editions to the 1939 yellow “American” guide and the very first copy published in 1900, some Michelin guides are now worth thousands of euros, Ezéchiel Zérah reports in French business daily Les Echos.
Read the full story: Michelin Guide, Vintage! The Ultimate Gastronomy Find For Foodie Collectors
🗣️ BRIGHT IDEA
A research team at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), has developed a groundbreaking wearable neck patch that enables speech without the use of vocal cords. This soft, adhesive device, showcased in Nature Communications, uses artificial intelligence to translate laryngeal muscle movements into audible speech with nearly 95% accuracy. The device, created by Prof. Jun Chen and his colleagues, consists of two components: a sensing part that detects muscle movements and an actuation part that produces speech signals. The device is non-invasive and easily attachable to the throat using biocompatible tape.
🦛 SMILE OF THE WEEK
Athens zoo announced the birth of a rare and endangered pygmy hippo, the first in 10 years. A lack of male pygmy hippos in captivity and complicated breeding efforts means zoo staff were “absolutely thrilled” the baby was a boy, the zoo's wildlife veterinarian, Noi Psaroudaki said, adding “This is the first birth in the zoo in 2024, and what a birth!” Pygmy hippos are native to swamps and rainforests in western Africa and are listed as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It is estimated that only 2,000-2,500 live in the wild.
📹 THIS HAPPENED VIDEO — TODAY IN HISTORY, IN ONE ICONIC PHOTO
➡️ Watch the video: THIS HAPPENED
⏩ LOOKING AHEAD
• Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will visit India next week in the first visit by a top Ukrainian official since Russia’s invasion in February 2022. The visit comes as Kyiv hopes to build support for its peace plan, which calls for the withdrawal of all Russian troops from Ukraine and a process to hold Russia accountable for its actions.
• South Korea will take the final steps to suspend the licenses of striking junior doctors next week, as they refuse to end weeklong walkouts. More than 90% of 13,000 medical interns and residents have been on strike for about a month to protest the government’s plan to increase admissions to medical schools, which doctors say schools would not be able to handle.
• March 24 will see the first lunar eclipse of 2024. North and South America are best placed to witness the eclipse, with most of Europe and some of Africa also having the chance to see it as the moon sets. North America will also see a total solar eclipse on April 8.
👓 WORLDCRUNCH MAGAZINE
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News quiz answers:
1. Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a speech in Moscow’s Red Square to mark the 10th anniversary of Crimea’s annexation by Russia, hailing its ‘return’
2. Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s first LGBTQ+ leader, resigned on Wednesday, citing “personal and political reasons.” Varadkar had made diplomatic headlines recently, with vocal support for Palestine and calls for more U.S. involvement in bringing peace to the Middle East in a St. Patrick’s Day speech.
3. Rare protests broke out this weekend in Santiago de Cuba over power outages and food shortages. Cuba has faced blackouts since the beginning of March because of maintenance to the island’s main thermoelectric plant, leaving some areas without power for up to 14 hours a day.
4. Finland has held on to the top spot in the World Happiness Report for a seventh successive year. The annual UN-sponsored report, released on Wednesday, listed Finland as the overall happiest country, based on data from a Gallup World Poll and well-being scientists.
✍️ Newsletter by Worldcrunch
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*Photo: Charlie Scott/IslingtonNow