👋 გამარჯობა*
Welcome to Tuesday, where Hamas says it is reviewing Israel’s truce proposal as Netanyahu vows the offensive on Rafah will go ahead, a top EU court condemns climate inaction and a rare total solar eclipse wows millions in North America. Meanwhile, Teresita Goyeneche in Bogotá-based daily El Espectador howls in praise of Colombian superstar Shakira and her pack of feminist “she-wolves.”
[*Gamarjoba - Georgian]
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🗞️ FRONT PAGE
Lisbon-based daily newspaper Diário de Notícias uses its front page to highlight an underreported difficulty in making the economy “greener.” A study found that 91% of companies in Portugal lack the talent needed to implement environmental, social and governance goals, an issue that countries around the world are facing. Portuguese universities are being called on to provide more courses in the fields of sustainability and the environment.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Hamas criticizes Israeli truce proposal but keeps it on the table. The group that rules Gaza said in a statement that the proposal transmitted from Qatari and Egyptian mediators was “intransigent,” though Hamas said it was still under review. Meanwhile, Turkey said it would restrict exports of a wide range of products to Israel on Tuesday, including steel, fertilizer and jet fuel, until a ceasefire is declared in Gaza.
• European landmark court ruling says human rights are violated by climate inaction. The case was brought by an association of older Swiss women, concerned about the impact of global warming on their health, and who said Switzerland’s government isn't taking enough action. In a historic first ruling on the climate crisis, the European Court of Human Rights ruled on Tuesday that the country had failed to put in place sufficient domestic policies to tackle climate change. This comes as Europe's Copernicus Climate Change Service announced on Tuesday that March 2024 was the warmest March on record, extending the run of monthly temperature records to 10 in a row.
• China’s Xi Jinping meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Beijing in show of support. Both countries reaffirmed solidarity in international affairs and shared opposition to Western democracies amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. For more on China-Russia relations, see this article translated from Russian: Russia's Dependence On China Is Deep And Wide — It May Also Be Irreversible.
• Simon Harris is set to become Ireland’s youngest leader. Aged 37, the new Fine Gael leader is expected to take over as taoiseach (Irish prime minister) at a ceremony in Dublin on Tuesday, following Leo Varadkar's official resignation.
• Ecuador’s former vice president has been hospitalized after Mexican embassy raid. Jorge Glas was transferred from prison to a hospital in Guayaquil after he refused to eat food and fell ill. Glas was arrested last Friday in a highly controversial raid on the Mexican Embassy in Quito, where he was seeking refuge after being twice convicted of corruption by Ecuadorian courts, triggering a diplomatic row.
• Tesla agrees to settle lawsuit over a deadly Autopilot crash. The case was brought by the family of Wei Lun Huang, an Apple engineer who was killed after his Model X, operating on Autopilot, collided with a highway barrier in 2018. The terms of the settlement with the U.S. electric carmaker weren’t disclosed. Read more on Tesla's CEO in this analysis translated from French: Elon Musk And The Tech Right: Trump's Indispensable Allies For November.
• “Not quite my tempo” says Chechnya, banning music deemed too fast or slow. The culture minister of the Russian republic said “all musical, vocal and choreographic works should correspond to a tempo of 80-116 beats per minute” to ensure that Chechen music aligns with the nation’s “mentality and musical rhythm.” The ban will apply to many pop and techno songs.
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
36 years and 322 days
Serb tennis champion Novak Djokovic has become the oldest male player to top world rankings, at 36 years old and 322 days, breaking the previous record held by Swiss great Roger Federer, who retired in 2022. Retired U.S. icon Serena Williams is the oldest woman to have held the top spot, at age 35.
📰 STORY OF THE DAY
Shakira's howl: Colombian guts, feminist gesture, marketing gem
Shakira made headlines this week for calling the Barbie movie “emasculating,” yet the Colombian superstar, with a radical image change in 2009 and her signature hip moves, has created her own pack of undeniable feminist she-wolves, writes Teresita Goyeneche in Bogotá-based daily El Espectador.
🎤🐺 Shakira’s 2009 album She Wolf (called Loba in Spanish) initiated one of the most successful strategies in her career as a songwriter and businesswoman. When Shakira came out that year as a wolf, with straight, blond hair and with lighter eyes, those with acute sensitivity to aesthetic and social-class norms began objecting to the stylistic choices and brazen hip movements that were both innocent and indecent.
💬 Loba wasn't a best-seller. But the gesture, which was both daring and planned, became a precedent in defying the Colombian custom of calling a woman considered indiscreet, showy and vulgar a loba or "she-wolf." Shakira also likes this popular image even if she does not insist on it as her exclusive identity.
✊ Walking one recent rainy day in Manhattan, I took cover on a street corner to wait for the rain to pass. I could hear a loudspeaker nearby blaring out Puntería (the first single from Shakira's new album). I had a patriotic pang just then, not for Colombia, but for the nation Shakira has created, where all her fans around the world live on an equal footing, freed of class, language and stylistic stratification. Our Shakira — the singer with elaborate lyrics and complex melodies we fondly recall — remains alive in today's superstar.
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📣 VERBATIM
“It will happen. There is a date.”
— Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed in a video statement on Monday that the much rumored invasion of Rafah, the city in southern Gaza, will indeed go forward. The town on the border with Egypt has swelled to around 1.4 million with the arrival of displaced Palestinians from northern Gaza. The U.S. says ground operations into Rafah would be a serious mistake and has demanded to see a plan to protect civilians.
👉 MORE FROM WORLDCRUNCH
• Palestine, The Nation? Israel's War Accelerates Recognition Of Palestinian Statehood — FRANCE INTER
• Putin Is Gearing Up For A Major Summer Offensive — Here's How Ukraine Can Defend Itself — DIE WELT
• How A Princeton Professor Has Quietly Been Working For Iran's Regime — KAYHAN-LONDON
✍️ Newsletter by Anne-Sophie Goninet and Ione Gildroy
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