Le Weekend: 3D Screens Everywhere, Scottish Artist vs. AI, Soccer 1-0 Death

⬇️  STARTER

Edward Said vs. Arafat & co., time for a new paradigm of Palestinian rule

A new Palestinian body is crucially needed to unify the Palestinian people in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel and across the diaspora. The organization founded by Yasser Arafat and overseen since by Mahmoud Abbas has let its people down one too many times, writes Basel Ramsis in Egypt-based news website Al-Manassa.

In his book The End of the Peace Process: Oslo and After, Edward Said tells the story of Yasser Arafat pleading for the Israelis on the eve of signing one of their agreements to let him hold the title of “President” and to allow him to put his picture on postal stamps. The Israelis didn’t grant him these formal, personal requests. Arafat — better known in the Arab world as Abu Ammar — wound up signing the agreement anyway, with the humiliation of being denied his rightful place.

This story reads almost like a joke, but it is not. Rather, it is a very small part of a general picture painted by Said, and others whose knowledge, intellect and moral integrity we can trust, of the early days of the Palestinian Authority, the self-governing body ruling the territories.

The image that has been perpetuated over the years is that of a rambling, corrupt authority that relies on terrorizing and isolating its opponents, and buying them off or silencing them. It has become a small caricature of the worst Arab regimes, bearing all its characteristics, including cooperation with the occupation.

Said had exposed some of the darker aspects of the authority under Arafat, even accusing them of corruption, including Arafat himself. Still the noted Palestinian-American scholar was convinced that Abu Ammar was the best person to present the Palestinian cause to the international community in the 1980s. That was when their common goal was for the Palestine Liberation Organization to overcome the crisis of its exit from Beirut, to renew itself, and let the Palestinian National Council regain the reins of collective power. [...]

— Read the full article by Basel Ramsis for Al-Manassa, translated into English by Worldcrunch.

🎲  OUR WEEKLY NEWS QUIZ

What do you remember from the news this week?

1. Which EU leader and Putin ally was in Kyiv for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky?

2. On what has U.S. President Joe Biden blamed his poor debate performance?

3. The world's oldest cave art was found in Indonesia. At least 51,200 years old, it features three human-like characters and… a wild pig / a lake / a mammoth / a smartphone

4. An iconic wildlife park in Australia has banned its sought-after “experience” of cuddling which animal?

[Answers at the bottom of this newsletter]

#️⃣  TRENDING

German rapper and TikToker Booz started walking around the streets of Germany, sporting a hoodie spoofing the far right "Alternative for Germany" (AfD) party that read "Africans for Germany," and filming people reacting to it. Although his videos routinely trigger bouts of “you think this is funny?” uproar, the entertainer’s latest clip (which has so far garnered 470,000 likes and 93,000 shares) sees Booz faced with a young German casually using the N-word to talk to him, and failing to see the issue when confronted.

🎭  5 CULTURE THINGS TO KNOW

• In memoriam: The Oscar-winning writer-director of the movie Chinatown Robert Towne died in his home in Los Angeles at age 89. Dutch avant-garde painter and sculptor Jacqueline de Jong passed away at the age of 85. Albanian novelist Ismail Kadare died at 88 from a heart attack. The death of Ethiopian poet, journalist, playwright and translator Nebiy Mekonnen, who translated Gone with the Wind into Amharic onto 3,000 cigarette-paper pieces while imprisoned, was reported this week.

• French film director Benoit Jacquot has been charged with rape. Jacquot was placed under formal investigation for the rape of two actresses, Julia Roy and Isild Le Besco, several years ago. He is one of two directors, along with Jacques Doillon, facing a wave of sexual abuse accusations. Both men were taken into police custody for questioning and have denied any wrongdoing. The developments come after actress Judith Godreche earlier this year formally accused Jacquot of rape and Doillon of sexual assault when she was a minor.

• Scottish artist “redacts” his paintings to protest AI. Scottish pop artist Michael Forbes has covered parts of some of his artwork with black paint in protest against what he says are negative impacts of artificial intelligence on art. Forbes meant to highlight the contrast between the hours of work he put into his paintings versus the superficiality of AI-aided images.

• Fox launches Netflix rival in the UK. Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Corporation is looking to enter the UK’s free, ad-supported market by launching Tubi, announced as a competitor to streaming services such as Netflix. The streaming service already has over 80 million monthly active users, according to Fox, and is expected to boast over 20,000 films and TV shows, combining content from all current major streaming services including Disney+ and Sony Pictures.

• No American Pompidou just yet. A planned outpost of Paris’ Pompidou Center in Jersey City has been “suspended until further notice” after financial concerns spurred New Jersey state lawmakers to rescind $24 million in funding. The Centre Pompidou x Jersey City, scheduled to open in 2027, would have been the French modern art museum’s first venture in North America.

🇪🇺 Marine Le Pen, a challenger from the inside for Georgia Meloni?

With the second round of the French elections on Sunday, Marine Le Pen's far-right party National Rally (RN) is on track to become the largest party in the country’s parliament. For Italian journalist Alessandro De Angelis, this impending victory could challenge Georgia Meloni’s leadership at the European level, forcing the Italian prime minister to choose “whether to be the leader of a country or the leader of a sort of federation of parties in competition with each other,” De Angelis writes in Turin-based daily La Stampa.

Read the full story: Far Right Frenemies? Le Pen And Meloni Jostle For European Leadership

✊ “Russians, it’s time to speak up,” student urges from prison

At 18, Daria Kozyreva is one of the youngest political prisoners in Russia. The student is facing five years in prison for “repeatedly discrediting the Russian army.” As she awaits trial in a pre-trial detention center in St. Petersburg, Kozyrevo writes a column for independent media Holod, exploring questions of silence, fear and hope. “The Kremlin villain is happy as long as everyone is silent, which assures that his own skin will be safe. And that is precisely why you cannot remain silent,” the young woman writes.

Read the full story: Teenage Letter From A Russian Jail: "Don't Let Putin Scare Us"

💄 Teens under the makeup influence

Consumption of beauty products among 12- to 18 year-olds is rising due to their promotion on social media and by influencers — a trend called cosmeticorexia. Face creams, eye creams and anti-ageing products are particularly popular, but dermatologists are warning that this trend can be harmful for teenagers’ young skin and mental wellbeing. “Obsessive practices — like retouching the tiniest details of pictures shared on social media — can provoke anxiety disorders, low self-esteem and body dysmorphia,” a psychologist tells Argentine daily Clarín.

Read the full story: Cosmeticorexia: The Risky Trend Of Teens Using Anti-Aging Skin Products

🖥️ BRIGHT IDEA

American company Leia Inc has developed a technology that will allow all screens to display 3D images, writes Paris-based financial daily Les Echos. The system, named 3D Lightsilver, will not require the use of glasses, instead relying on slim sheets of plastic or glass to be applied on the screen. According to the company's French-American founder, David Fattal, the additional layer will allow the transmission of a three-dimensional image to the human eye, even though that will come with a loss of resolution.

⚽⚰️ SMILE OF THE WEEK

This Chilean family stopped the funeral ceremony for “Uncle Fena” to watch a Copa America game between Chile and Peru, even decorating the coffin with soccer jerseys for the occasion. “So they watched the game one last time together. It's a great send off,” one X user reacted.

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⏩  LOOKING AHEAD

• Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Russia on July 8 to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. During his first visit to Russia since the country’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Modi and Putin are expected to discuss war in Ukraine, while looking to strengthen economic ties between Delhi and Moscow.

• French voters are heading to the polls on Sunday for the second round of a snap parliamentary election. In the first round, the far-right, anti-immigration National Rally (RN) and its allies secured a third of the vote, winning 39 seats, and the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) followed with 32 seats. Recent opinion polls predict the far-right becoming the largest party, yet falling short of an absolute majority — that is, if voters follow efforts to block the RN.

• On Tuesday, July 9, the European Space Agency is set to launch its Ariane 6 rocket from its spaceport in French Guiana between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. local time. The much-awaited launch, after years of delays in the development of the rocket launcher, means that Europe is once again able to set for space on its own and no longer forced to hitch rides on SpaceX. You can watch the entire launch live here.

News quiz answers:

1. Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán arrived on Tuesday for talks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky. Orbán, a close ally to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is an outspoken critic of Western military aid to Ukraine.

2. U.S. President Joe Biden cited jet lag as the main reason behind his lackluster debate performance against Donald Trump. He confessed to reporters he "wasn't very smart" for "traveling around the world a couple of times" before the debate — although he returned to the United States on June 15, nearly two weeks before the debate.

3. Scientists have discovered what they believe to be the world’s oldest artwork dating back some 51,200 years, in a cave on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. For the team of scientists, the painting — depicting three people around a wild pig — may be proof that Europe is not the birthplace of cave art, as it had previously been assumed.

4. A popular zoo in Queensland, Australia, has announced it will no longer offer “koala holding experiences,” which are considered bad for the animals. Tourists (including Vladimir Putin and Taylor Swift) had long flocked to the wildlife park in northeastern Australia, to cuddle the cute marsupials.

✍️ Newsletter by Worldcrunch

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*Photo: Leia Inc