👋 Rimaykullayki!*
Welcome to Monday, where Israeli airstrikes kill at least 35 people in Rafah, new estimates say 2,000 may have been buried in last week’s landslide in Papua New Guinea, and contestants get ready for Gloucestershire’s famously dangerous “cheese-rolling race.” Meanwhile, Saher Alghorra in Arabic-language independent digital media Daraj reports on two initiatives to help children in war-torn Gaza that include a makeshift classroom and VR headsets.
[*Quechua]
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Monaco-Matin celebrates Formula One racing driver Charles Leclerc on its front page, dubbing him “Charles I of Monaco.” On Sunday, Leclerc became the first Monegasque driver to win the Monaco Grand Prix in the world championship era. Leclerc, 26, said that this victory on home soil was “the ultimate dream,” as the Ferrari driver ended his 39-race winless streak.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Israeli airstrikes kill at least 35 Palestinians and wound dozens in Rafah. The strikes came two days after the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to immediately halt its military operation in Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of civilians are still sheltering. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had targeted two senior Hamas leaders at one of the group's compounds and would review reports that fire had spread to shelters, harming civilians. Over the weekend, Hamas fired eight rockets from Rafah toward Tel Aviv, the first long-range attacks on the Israeli city since January.
• France announces it will lift the state of emergency in New Caledonia on Tuesday morning. This comes after two weeks of violence over plans to change the rules for provincial elections in France’s Pacific island territory. The Elysee Presidential Palace said in a statement that some 480 more law enforcement officers would be deployed to New Caledonia, as reinforcement for the 3,000 security personnel already on the ground. For more on what’s happening in New Caledonia, read this analysis translated from French to English by Worldcrunch.
• Chinese Premier Li Qiang praised a restart in relations with Japan and South Korea. Li met with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Seoul on Sunday for the first three-way talks in four years, agreeing to revive trade and security dialogues previously affected by global tensions.
• Papua New Guinea says last week’s landslide buried more than 2,000 people. In a letter to the UN released on Monday, the Pacific island nation’s National Disaster Center revised the toll, previously set by a separate UN agency at 670. Given the treacherous nature of the terrain and the difficulty of getting aid to the site, few survivors are expected to be found.
• Burkina Faso's military government extends junta rule for another five years. The decision, announced over the weekend, will also allow the country's current ruler, Ibrahim Traoré, to contest the next presidential election. For more on Ibrahim Traoré, read this piece from German daily Die Welt, translated from German to English.
• Tornadoes and storms strike central U.S., killing at least 18 people. Seven people were killed in northern Texas, eight in Arkansas, two in Oklahoma and one in Kentucky, with many more injured, and almost 500,000 were left without electricity across several states on Sunday.
• Ready, set, cheese! In southwest England, Gloucestershire's iconic cheese-rolling event will go ahead today, despite warnings of mass injuries in the yearly tradition that sees hundreds of contestants hurl themselves down a hill to catch a wheel of Double Gloucester cheese. Sources say the event has taken place on Cooper's Hill since the 1820s, with contestants turning up every year ready to take on the incredibly steep slope, near the city of Gloucester. Check out these seven other wacky races around the world.
🔢 BY THE NUMBERS
24 years
French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Germany on Sunday, for the first state visit to Germany by a French president in 24 years. The three-day visit aims to boost ties between the two countries and to emphasize the importance of defending democracy against nationalism in the upcoming European elections, which are set to take place from June 6 to 9. “This state visit comes at a key moment for Europe. We have to face an imperialist desire in Europe,” Macron told journalists after he was welcomed by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
📰 STORY OF THE DAY
A precious refuge for Gaza's children: pop-up classrooms and virtual reality
Two young Palestinians have sought to help children in war-torn Gaza. They first established a classroom between tents of displaced people to educate children. The second used virtual reality headsets as a psychological treatment especially for injured children, reports Saher Alghorra in Arabic-language independent digital media Daraj.
👩🏫 An 11th grade student, Rama al-Thabet and her family were displaced from their home in Gaza City and are now sheltering in a displacement camp in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza. Since the war started, her high school education stopped. But as the war and her displacement continued, al-Thabet decided to turn an empty space between tents in the camp into a makeshift classroom. She bought pens with her pocket money and glued pieces of nylon to create a display board. In her daily, one-hour class, al-Thabet teaches her students the basics of the English language.
📖 Although she's only 17, al-Thabet looks like an experienced school teacher, preparing lessons with different teaching styles to encourage students to interact, and paying special attention to children with problems in pronunciation. She organizes competitions and offers simple rewards and prizes. Yet she said she has not received any support from anyone, and she insists that she will continue teaching those children.
👓 But beyond the problem of schooling, children in Gaza — as well as their families — face the problem of trauma. From his tent, Mosab Ali, who owned a virtual reality game development company, uses a virtual reality headset to help children overcome their psychological trauma. Ali got the idea after his son, Amin, was injured and suffered psychologically. He decided to try using the headset to allow Amin to play in a virtual environment of forests and animals, designed by Ali and his team. The attempt worked, and Ali decided to share it with other children.
➡️ Read more on Worldcrunch.com
📹 THIS HAPPENED VIDEO — TODAY IN HISTORY, IN ONE ICONIC PHOTO
➡️ Watch the video: THIS HAPPENED
💬 LEXICON
Echidnapus
Australian scientists have discovered a strange creature which they believe roamed Australia in prehistoric times. Fossilized pieces of the animal’s jaw bone were found in the north of New South Wales. The ancient species, officially named Opalios splendens, has been nicknamed “echidnapus” — a portmanteau of “echidna” and “platypus” — due to the resemblance it bears to both animals.
👉 MORE FROM WORLDCRUNCH
• How Netflix’s Moses Docudrama Managed To Offend Both Egyptians And Israelis — AL-MANASSA
• Why Sex Trafficking Between Colombia And Mexico Keeps Flourishing — EL ESPECTADOR
• "Not As Bad As That Other Guy" — A Dispatch From The Tunnel Of Fatherhood — RECALCULATING
✍️ Newsletter by Emma Albright and Ione Gildroy
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