👋 नमस्ते*
Welcome to Monday, where the opposition to Turkish President Erdogan scores a major victory in municipal elections, the ailing Pope makes it to Easter Mass and the Japanese imperial family hits social media for the first time. Also, French business daily Les Echos goes deep inside fashion’s exclusive haute couture marketplace.
[*Namaste - Nepali]
✅ SIGN UP
This is our daily newsletter Worldcrunch Today, a rapid tour of the news of the day from the world's best journalism sources, regardless of language or geography.
It's easy (and free!) to sign up to receive it each day in your inbox: 👉 Sign up here
🗞️ FRONT PAGE
Like much of the UK press, London-based tabloid Daily Express featured on its front page the return of King Charles to the public scene. After Queen Camilla stood in for him at a number of events, Charles III attended the annual Easter Sunday service at Windsor Castle, his first major appearance since Buckingham Palace confirmed in February that he had been diagnosed with cancer. The monarch, 75, smiled, waved and shared a few words — and even joked — with the crowd as he was leaving the Easter Mattins service at St George’s Chapel.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Turkey’s opposition scored major win in nationwide municipal elections. Victories on Sunday for city and provincial leadership for CHP, the Republican People’s Party, including the reelection of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, were the biggest electoral blow for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan since his rise to power two decades ago. It looked very different nearly a year ago when Erdogan won his third term.
• Israel's military withdrew from a Gaza City hospital it had occupied two weeks ago. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it had “killed terrorists” and found weapons in the hospital, after intelligence reports indicated Hamas was launching attacks from the facility, which Palestinians now report has largely been destroyed. Read about how the Gaza war has given new life to political Islam, from Cairo-based Al-Manassa, translated and adapted from Arabic by Worldcrunch.
• A top U.S. military investigator says so-called “Havana Syndrome” is likely a Russian-led attack. Greg Edgreen, the now-retired Army lieutenant colonel who led the Pentagon investigation into the mysterious brain illness affecting American security officials, told 60 Minutes news broadcast that he believes Russia has targeted U.S. officials. A 2023 government report deemed it "very unlikely" that a foreign adversary was behind the mysterious brain injuries that could be caused by a beam of microwaves or acoustic ultrasound.
• Former Taiwan President expected to meet Xi Jinping next week. Ma Ying-jeou, who led Taiwan from 2008 to 2016, left Monday for an 11-day trip to China where he is expected to have his second meeting with the Chinese President amid rising tensions across the Taiwan Strait. One French geopolitical expert believes war between the two neighbors is not a question of if, but when and how.
• A key Indian opposition leader was jailed Monday on corruption charges. Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi chief minister, will serve time in prison until April 15 in a liquor graft case less than three weeks before national elections begin.
• Microsoft will sell its chat and video app Teams separately from its Office product globally. Reuters reports the move Monday, coming six months after the U.S. tech giant unbundled the two products in Europe in a bid to avert a possible EU antitrust fine.
• For Japan’s imperial family, a stunningly unglamorous arrival on Instagram. The first social media photos were posted Monday of the world’s oldest continual hereditary monarchy. The Instagram debut for Emperor Naruhito, Empress Masako and their daughter, Princess Aiko, included a medical award ceremony and bonsai exhibit. Kardashians watch out!
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
25g
Germany has implemented a new law legalizing smoking, holding and growing cannabis. As of April 1, adults are allowed to hold up to 25 grams of dried cannabis, have up to 50g stashed at home and cultivate up to three marijuana plants. The government says decriminalizing personal weed use aims at protecting young people by hitting the black market and reducing the spread of contaminated cannabis.
📰 STORY OF THE DAY
Behind The Seams: A Look Inside The Haute Couture Industry
Anonymous customers, confidential prices, private fittings. Even today, haute couture remains a secret world where each fashion house has its own way of operating and communicating, as Astrid Faguer reports in French Les Echos.
👜 👗 In recent years, the term “haute couture” has often been used as a selling point. First, by the fashion industry (from the launch of perfumes or bags stamped "haute couture”), then by the art scene, gastronomy or even travel agencies, which attach the two words to their shows, menus or tours to signify a "premium" experience. On Instagram, the hashtag #hautecouture (9.6 million results) rarely shows anything corresponding to its precise definition. Indeed, haute couture is both a label — with its own manufacturing criteria— and a full-fledged business in the luxury goods industry, representing $11.5 billion in 2023, according to the American study "Global Haute Couture Market" by Data Int.
🎯💰The other structural element of haute couture is a sense of personalized service targeting an ultra-rich clientele. This is inherited both in the beginnings of couture and the "art of living" trend pursued by major luxury brands in recent years. Fashion houses are deploying increasingly exclusive and tailor-made initiatives to maintain contact with their clients.
🤫 For all couture houses, big or small, the golden rule is the anonymity of their clients. Covered from head to toe in the brand's colors, these wealthy women (and some men) attract attention. But for those who are not part of this world, it's difficult to name these heiresses of great industrial families, art world fortunes, businesswomen, wives of wealthy husbands often accompanied by their daughters. More discreet than the celebrities seated in the front row beside them, these are the clients who perpetuate haute couture.
➡️ Read more on worldcrunch.com
📹 THIS HAPPENED VIDEO — TODAY IN HISTORY, IN ONE ICONIC PHOTO
➡️ Watch the video: THIS HAPPENED
📣 VERBATIM
“You can’t expect much from someone who was a terrorist murderer.”
— In an interview for CNN aired on Sunday, far-right Argentine leader Javier Milei levied his harshest criticism at left-wing Colombian President Gustavo Petro, calling him a “terrorist murderer,” in reference to his past as a former guerilla. Amid growing tensions, the two South American nations’ foreign ministries have issued a joint statement claiming they had held talks under orders from Milei and Petro, and that “concrete steps” to improve frayed relations between the two countries had been taken.
✍️ Newsletter by Laure Gautherin
Let us know what’s happening in your corner of the world!