September 7-8
- “Saint” Vladimir Putin
- Tim Burton’s Walk of Fame star
- Bee’s knees innovation
- … and much more.
🎲 OUR WEEKLY NEWS QUIZ
What do you remember from the news this week?
1. In which country was Vladimir Putin welcomed, despite an ICC arrest warrant?
2. Which 2017 disaster was investigated in a 1,700-page report released in the UK this week?
3. Who has pledged $50 billion in financing to Africa over the next three years?
4. A new version of the beloved Nutella chocolate spread has hit European shelves. What’s special about it?
It’s vegan / It’s easier to spread / It never goes bad / It’s matcha-flavored
[Answers at the bottom of this newsletter]
#️⃣ TRENDING
If you’re looking for love, head to the fruit aisle. A viral TikTok trend is overwhelming Mercadona stores in Bilbao, Spain. The trend instructs hopeful singles to put an upside-down pineapple in their shopping cart and then go to the wine aisle to indicate that they are actively looking for a partner. The other grocery items in their cart signal what kind of relationship they are looking for: sweets mean they would like a serious relationship, while vegetables such as lettuce show they’re not looking for anything serious. The trend is also spreading to Lidl stores in France, where people are instructed to use watermelons instead of pineapples.
🎭 5 CULTURE THINGS TO KNOW
• Ancient Roman silver coins discovered in Sicily. A team led by archaeologist Thomas Schaefer from Germany’s University of Tuebingen found a rare haul of 27 coins dated between 94 and 74 BC during restoration work in the Acropolis of Santa Teresa and San Marco on Pantelleria, a remote island in the Sicily region. In 2010, 107 Roman silver coins had been unearthed on this same site. Schaefer speculated that the treasure was hidden intentionally during an invasion of the Italian island by pirates and never retrieved.
• European Commission to investigate Ticketmaster’s “dynamic pricing” amid Oasis ticket complaints. The U.S.-owned ticketing giant may have breached laws in the UK and EU when it increased the price of some Oasis tickets from £135 to £350, causing upset among fans. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) also said it would review the use of dynamic pricing, which consists in increasing costs based on demand. “The only winners in this situation are big ticketing platforms, at the expense of fans who find themselves priced out of gigs,” Dutch MEP Lara Wolters told The Guardian.
• Netflix to add disclaimers to India plane hijacking show amid outrage. IC-814: The Kandahar Hijack, a series about the 1999 hijacking of an Indian passenger plane from Kathmandu, has sparked controversy since its release last week over its portrayal of some of the characters. Social media users objected to what they said was Muslim hijackers being shown as Hindus; the hijackers call one another by code names that are common Hindu names. Netflix officials were reportedly summoned by the Indian government on Tuesday, prompting the streaming platform to update the series’ opening disclaimer “to include the real and code names of the hijackers.”
• Donald Trump ordered to stop using “Hold On, I’m Comin” song at rallies. A federal court judge in Georgia issued a temporary injunction to stop the Trump campaign from using the Sam & Dave 1966 hit, following a lawsuit filed by the family of the late soul singer and composer Isaac Hayes, who co-wrote the song. This is far from being the first time an artist or band has asked the former U.S. president from using their music as this list shows.
• Tim Burton honored with star on Hollywood Walk of Fame. The U.S. director became the 2,788 person to receive a star on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, just days before the release of his latest movie, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Burton’s star is located in front of Hollywood Toys & Costumes, a shop the Burbank native used to visit as a child.
📰 IN OTHER NEWS
🇮🇱🇵🇸 If there is a real peace project and an Israeli intention to solve the Palestinian tragedy, Hamas would have lost its justification for existence. Not just Hamas, but all the resistance factions.
— AL-MANASSA
🎖️ From the U.S. to Brazil and Venezuela, armed forces are becoming the arbiters of political crises. Is this another sign of liberal democracy's decline in the West?
— CLARÍN
☦️ Russia's pro-war influencers often write about Russian President Vladimir Putin, reverently calling him “the Supreme One,” “the Darkest One,” or simply “the Boss” — in a mix of fear and faith.
— HOLOD
🚚⚡Could the shift towards electric trucks actually happen faster than with cars?
— DIE ZEIT
🏫📱 Influencer teachers or “TeachTokers” are increasingly popular on social media, but this success raises ethical and legal questions.
— ETHIC
🧼 SMILE OF THE WEEK
The video of a Pakistani airline pilot cleaning his plane's windscreen has gone viral on social media. The Serene Air pilot is seen leaning out of the aircraft's window to clear his view. The video sparked mixed reaction online, from people questioning airline safety protocols to more lighthearted comments: “Pakistan being Pakistan” wrote one user. “Is he a pilot or a bus conductor?” asked another.
🦵 BRIGHT IDEA
A team of scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Xiangya Hospital has developed a new lubricating bio-material that could help treat and slow osteoarthritis. The condition, which affects more than 528 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, causes a breakdown of cartilage, leading to a lack of lubrication and irreversible damage to the joints. The technique uses a combination of hydrogel microspheres and antibodies to restore the cartilage lubrication, which helps to reduce the symptoms and slow the progression of the disease.
👓 WORLDCRUNCH MAGAZINE
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⏩ LOOKING AHEAD
• U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump will debate each other for the first time on Sept. 10 in Philadelphia ahead of the presidential election scheduled for Nov. 5.
• Ursula Von der Leyen is expected to unveil the composition of the new European Commission next Tuesday. The announcement of the EU executive team comes after weeks of deliberation by the Commission president, who was re-elected to a second five-year term in July. Beyond the politicians set to return and the new faces, there is a risk the new Commission will fall short of gender parity: Out of the 27 EU member states, only Bulgaria complied with Von der Leyen’s request to propose both a male and female candidate.
• The MTV VMAs awards will take place on Tuesday, hosted by U.S. rapper Megan Thee Stallion. Performers will include Sabrina Carpenter, Lenny Kravitz, Chappell Roan and Katy Perry, who will also receive the Video Vanguard award. When it comes to nominations, Taylor Swift leads with 10 nods, followed by her Fortnight collaborator Post Malone, with eight. Pop phenomenon Chappell Roan is nominated for best new artist and album of the year.
News quiz answers:
1. Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Mongolia, marking his first visit to an International Criminal Court (ICC) member since it issued a warrant for his arrest last year. Read more about his visit here.
2. The final report on the 2017 London Grenfell Tower fire was released, stating the disaster was the result of a series of failures by governments, “dishonest” firms and the fire service.
3. Chinese President Xi Jinping announced at a three-day summit in Beijing that he would allocate $50 billion in financing to Africa over the next three years and promised to “create at least one million jobs” for the continent. Check out this article for more on the topic.
4. Ferrero has launched a vegan version of its famous Nutella spread in three European countries, replacing milk with rice and chickpea syrup… and the first taste tests are in!
✍️ Newsletter by Worldcrunch
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*Photo: Vuk Valcic/ZUMA