👋 Salü bisàmme!*
Welcome to Wednesday, where Russian missiles kill at least 14 in Chernihiv, northern Ukraine, a year’s worth of rain falls on Dubai in just a few hours, and unreasonable tourists force Hawaii to remove its stairway to heaven. Meanwhile, Yann Duvert in French business daily Les Echos unpacks the success story of the trendy Mama Shelter hotel chain.
[*Alsatian, France]
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🗞️ FRONT PAGE
Copenhagen-based daily Politiken features a dramatic picture of the city’s historic stock exchange on fire. The 17th century Børsen is one of the Danish capital’s oldest buildings. Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt said 400 years of cultural heritage had gone up in flames. The fire, which started on Tuesday morning, was not brought under control until the afternoon, leaving much of the building burnt out.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• David Cameron says Israel “is making a decision to act” against Iran. During a visit to Israel Wednesday, the UK Foreign Secretary urged Israel to “do as little as possible” to escalate tensions in the Middle East. Israel vowed to retaliate after Iran’s historic drone attack, which the UK assisted in intercepting. Israel’s allies, including U.S. President Joe Biden, are calling for de-escalation to prevent a wider outbreak of conflict in the region.
• A Russian missile attack Wednesday has killed at least 14 in Chernihiv, Ukraine. The attack, which struck close to the city center, wounded an additional 60 people, according to Ukrainian officials. Meanwhile, the BBC reports that at least 50,000 Russian soldiers have died in the war, a figure eight times higher than the Kremlin’s last official public acknowledgment in September 2022. Follow Worldcrunch’s international coverage of the Ukraine-Russia war here.
• Myanmar’s former leader has been transferred from prison to house arrest. A Burmese military spokesperson said Aung San Suu Kyi, 78, and other elderly prisoners, were moved to house arrest to avoid health complications during a severe heat wave that hit the country. Suu Kyi, the former state councilor and minister of foreign affairs, was ousted during the February 2021 coup d'état against National League for Democracy leaders, including former Myanmar President Win Myint. She is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence, the criminal charges for which her supporters say were “fabricated for political reasons.” For more, we offer this recent article: How Myanmar's Military Coup Turned Into A Quagmire Of A Civil War.
• National elections Wednesday in the tiny Solomon Islands are being watched by world powers. With 420,000 voters deciding who will hold 50 national seats, the election in the small Pacific nation is being closely followed by China and the United States, five years after the Solomon Islands switched political alliances from Taiwan to China, with Prime Minister Manasseh Sogava signing a security pact with Beijing. Western concerns over the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the Pacific region prompted the U.S. to try to improve diplomatic relations with the island nation.
• The United Nations secured $610 million towards the humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia. A donor conference Tuesday at the UN’s European headquarters aimed to raise $1 billion for “urgently needed aid” for the next three months to alleviate effects of the militant conflict in Ethiopia, including malnutrition, displacement and sexual violence. The United States, the top donor, pledged an additional $154 million in aid, and Britain, which co-hosted the conference, promised 100 million pounds. The UN reports over $3 billion is needed this year alone to assist Ethiopians. From the Worldcrunch vault, here is an article by Die Welt’s Christian Putsch: Ethiopia's Civil War: Ethnic Atrocities Recall Balkans.
• Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is experiencing its worst bleaching event on record. Scientists have found that 730 of the over 1,000 reefs that make up the 2,300-kilometer-long (1,400-mile) natural wonder have bleached. The Australian Marine Park Authority reported that the “cumulative impacts” to the reef have been worse than usual, citing global heating and heightened temperatures during summer.
• A Hawaiian tourist attraction is being removed due to “poor behavior.” The city of Honolulu said it will remove the Haiku Stairs on the island of Oahu, also called the “stairway to heaven,” at the end of April due to rampant illegal trespassing. The picturesque stairs, which have been closed to the public since 1987, have become popular in the age of social media. The city said that poses a significant liability to the city and impacts locals’ quality of life.
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
$80.9 million
Yayoi Kusama was the best-selling contemporary artist last year, according to a new art report. Her works collected a total of $80.9 million at auction in 2023, surpassing David Hockney, the previous year’s highest-grossing artist, whose sales totalled $50.3 million. Kusama’s highest priced artwork in 2023 sold for nearly $10 million. The Japanese artist is known for her vibrant and kaleidoscopic paintings and sculptures.
📰 STORY OF THE DAY
Mama Shelter knows best: How one French hotelier's bet paid off
Mama Shelter, pioneer of the lifestyle wave in Europe's hotel industry, is celebrating its 15th anniversary. For Serge Trigano, the former Club Med President who co-founded it after years of hard work, the chain's success is a form of revenge, writes Yann Duvert in French business daily Les Echos.
🏨 More than 10 years earlier, in 1997, Serge Trigano was brutally ousted from the presidency of Club Med, co-founded by his father, Gilbert. The severe ordeal left its mark; his standing in business circles was not at its highest, and bank doors were closing. After considering launching a new vacation village project, Trigano settled on another idea, which he felt would revolutionize the hotel industry. An urban establishment, with a strong restaurant component, that would become a real place to live, offering near-luxury services at affordable prices.
🍽️ Its business model was daring for its time, as a large part of its sales were to come from "food and beverage," going against the grain of the traditional hotel model. The food had to be of high quality and the atmosphere relaxed, to attract the local population and create a happy mix with hotel guests. The rooms, while not very spacious, had to offer optimum sleeping comfort and be tastefully decorated. But superfluous amenities and costs, such as room service, were to be banned.
📈 At 15 years old, Mama is having a serious growth spurt, but its owners have no intention of turning it into a giant. "We'll never have 3,000 hotels, we'll only have a hundred or so," Gobilliard says. In the meantime, the model imagined by Trigano and his associates still seems to be working. The restaurant business accounts for around 60% of the establishment's revenue, and more than half the customers are locals.
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📹 THIS HAPPENED VIDEO — TODAY IN HISTORY, IN ONE ICONIC PHOTO
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📣 VERBATIM
“Security is the priority.”
— An “unprecedented” security operation will be in place for the Paris Olympics this year, the chief of the Games, Tony Estanguet, tells BBC Sport. With 100 days until the start of the Olympics, Estanguet says preparations are “in good shape.” Commenting on rising concerns around security, he also highlighted that safety is “non-negotiable.” More about Paris getting ready for the Olympics here.
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• Arab Nations Defend Israel Against Iran — A Marriage Of Convenience For The Ages — FRANCE INTER
• The True Revolution Of Pope Francis Is That He's Just A Man — LA STAMPA
✍️ Newsletter by Katrina Scalise and Ione Gildroy
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