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Le Weekend: Mongolia’s Olympic Swag, London’s Art Cave, Trash Camels

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July 20-21

  • Christianity-Salafism parallels
  • Shōgun and The Bear on track for Emmys
  • Ukraine’s sixth-grader/innovator
  • … and much more!

🎲  OUR WEEKLY NEWS QUIZ


What do you remember from the news this week?

1. J.D. Vance’s memoir is back on the bestseller list after Donald Trump picked him as his running mate. What’s its title?

2. On what promise did the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo deliver, ahead of the Olympic Games?

3. Over which African country has Paul Kagame extended his 24-year rule by another five years, in a landslide election victory?

4. What have scientists found on the Moon that could come in handy for the future of lunar exploration? water crystals / a cave / coal particles / lithium asteroids

[Answers at the bottom of this newsletter]

#️⃣  TRENDING


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The 2024 Olympic Games just became a fashion show. The Mongolian Olympic team's uniform for the upcoming Paris games went viral online for their impressive craftsmanship, getting praise from both sports commentators and fashion influencers. The outfits, designed by the Mongolian brand Michel & Amazonka, feature traditional patterns and the national colors of the country, as well as traditional accessories like archery hats and boots. Each required 20 hours to be made.

🎭  5 CULTURE THINGS TO KNOW


Polish artist transforms London museum with cave-like installation. Goshka Macuga was inspired by the ancient Roman temple of Mithras discovered beneath the current site of Bloomberg’s European headquarters in London to create an immersive installation called “Born from Stone,” which features sculptural stalactites and stalagmites. The show opened on July 9 and will run until January 18, 2025 at the London Mithraeum Bloomberg SPACE.

Shōgun and The Bear lead the way in the 2024 Emmys race. With 25 nods, the historical Japan-set epic drama Shōgun is set to dominate the 76th Emmy Awards, followed by the comedy series The Bear (23) which already landed 10 wins in 2023, making it the most Emmys won by a series in its first season. Both shows are produced by FX, which made it the second-most nominated network with 93 nods this year, behind only Netflix (107). The streaming platform’s haul includes The Crown, Ripley and Baby Reindeer. The ceremony will take place in Los Angeles on Sept. 15, 2024.

Tenacious D cancels tour after backlash over Trump assassination attempt joke. Jack Black said that his rock band Tenacious D would cancel its remaining tour dates and that he will put “all future creative plans” on hold with his partner, Kyle Gass, after the latter joked on stage about the recent attempted assassination of the former U.S. president. At the duo's concert in Sydney last week, Gass was asked to make a birthday wish, to which he replied: “Don't miss Trump next time.” This sparked outrage and the musician apologized later, calling his remarks “highly inappropriate, dangerous and a terrible mistake.”

Marvel rewrites Israeli character for next Captain America movie. Following criticism after its announcement two years ago to cast Israeli actress Shira Haas to play Sabra, a superhero Mossad agent in the comic books, Marvel has removed all mentions of the character's Israeli background in its marketing materials for Captain America: Brave New World. Sabra is now referred to as a “high-ranking U.S. government official” and Marvel has dropped her name (a Hebrew word for a local cactus bush that doubles as an affectionate term for native Israelis) to only use her alter-ego, Ruth Bat-Seraph.

A Barbie doll to honor WNBA great Sue Bird. As part of its Role Model series to celebrate Barbie’s 65th anniversary, Mattel announced a new tribute doll modeled after the “basketball legend who pioneered the way for growth in the women’s league.” Sue Bird retired in 2022 after 21 seasons in the WNBA.

🇪🇬 Intimidation and influence: the common points between Christian and Islamic Salafist currents


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At first glance, the notion of “Christian Salafism” seems contradictory. Yet the positions of ultra-conservative Christian and Islamic Salafism supporters are almost identical on cultural, social and legal issues, such as their position on private and public freedoms, Ishak Ibrahim writes. That often starts with women’s freedoms. “Both view women as a source of sin and transgression, with a particular focus on women’s clothing, behaviors, and the man’s responsibility for them,” the journalist writes in Egypt-based news website Al-Manassa.

Read the full story: Christian Salafism? What Egypt's Fundamentalist Copts Share With Radical Islam

💊 The fentanyl epidemic is also wreaking havoc in Italy


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The fentanyl epidemic has hit the U.S. the hardest: Almost 1 million people lost their lives between the late 1990s and 2022 due to fentanyl overdoses. But European countries are not immune. In Italy, the drug has been circulating in the country for at least 10 years and is becoming more widespread due to a series of international factors. “Today in Italy, we are at a stalemate, like in a waiting room: Fentanyl is circulating, but we still don't know to what extent,” a physician specializing in addiction tells Italian weekly magazine Internazionale.

Read the full story: Fentanyl Is Spreading In Europe — Inside Italy's Looming Opioid Crisis

👪 Children of narcissist parents, it’s ok to choose yourself, says psychologist


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Narcissist parents are ones who have always put themselves first, and made their own welfare more important than their children's. They use various methods of manipulation, such as gaslighting, regardless of the emotional toll on their other. In Argentine daily Clarín, psychologist Alejandro Schujman shines a light on how grown children can break away from such parents and make it to adulthood with their self-esteem as intact as possible. “It's not easy setting a limit, nor is it impossible. It is an expression of self-esteem,” Schujman writes.

Read the full story: How Grown Children Of Narcissist Parents Can Break Free, Finally

💨 BRIGHT IDEA


In Ukraine, a sixth-grader crafted an innovative wind turbine model that won him the national Energy Efficiency and Ecology for Schoolchildren competition and that could open new opportunities in urban wind energy. What makes the model unique is its verticality — wind turbines are usually horizontal — making the prototype highly versatile and allowing its installment everywhere, including in urban settings. Artem Yasynskyi not only built the model but also conducted detailed calculations “demonstrating the maximum efficiency of the installation at relatively low wind speeds.” This opens up new opportunities for using wind energy in urban areas and on rooftops,” the Kamyanets-Podilskyi City Council.

🐪 SMILE OF THE WEEK


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A town in southern France has enlisted the help of unexpected allies to encourage citizens to pick up their trash and raise awareness: camels! During the summer, every two Saturdays, two camels trod along the beaches of Frontignan to collect rubbish among tourists. “Camels are the champions of resource savings,” says Coralie Le Meur, founder of the Dromasud camel farm, “It’s an animal that doesn’t drink much, is well adapted to heat and knows perfectly how to walk on sand, so it feels natural to use them for this operation.”

👓 WORLDCRUNCH MAGAZINE


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Our weekly digital magazine is live — Check it out: full access for subscribers!

⏩  LOOKING AHEAD


• The Israeli military will begin sending draft notices on Sunday to men from Israel's ultra-Orthodox community, who had been exempt for decades from military service, which is compulsory for most Jewish men. A Supreme Court decision in June ended the exemption and triggered protests.

• The 2024 Indian Ocean defense and security (IODS) event will take place in Perth, Australia between July 24-26 and explore the theme "Where AUKUS Meets The Quad". The conference will gather industry leaders and international government representatives to discuss the role of Australia's nuclear powered submarine recent purchase could affect diplomacy, naval cooperation and industry in the Indian Ocean, as well as global instability.

• Game on for the Paris 2024 Olympics! And they’ll begin, on July 26, with a historic first: the opening ceremony will not be held in a stadium but along the River Seine. Some 10,500 athletes will represent the Olympic Committees, and security for the event has been enhanced, with 45,000 police working to secure the riverbanks.

News quiz answers:

1. Former U.S. President Donald Trump picked Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate ahead of the presidential election in November. The 39-year-old lawyer and author, whose 2016 bestselling memoir Hillbilly Elegy was adapted as a movie in 2020, is the first millennial to join a major-party ticket.

2. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo took the plunge and swam into the River Seine ahead of the Olympics, in an attempt to prove its water was finally clean enough for triathletes and long-distancing swimmers to compete in it. The river, where it has been forbidden to swim for more than 100 years, will also be open to the public with the creation of three bathing spots next summer.

3. Kenya’s President Paul Kagame has extended his 24-year rule by another five years in a landslide victory earlier this week. The 66-year-old again faced no meaningful opposition, with leading figures banned.

4. Scientists have confirmed they have spotted a cave on the Moon, not far from where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed 55 years ago. An Italian-led team reported on Monday that there’s evidence for a sizable cave accessible from the deepest known pit on the Moon, and which could be used to shelter future explorers.


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*Photo: London Mithraeum Bloomberg SPACE


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