👋 Mhoroi!*
Welcome to Wednesday, where Russia says a military transport plane carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war to be exchanged in a swap has crashed, Donald Trump wins comfortably in New Hampshire, and a butter chicken question rocks India. Meanwhile, Nourhan Sharaf El-Din for Arabic-language independent digital media Daraj explores how Egyptian singer and dancer Ruby has pushed the conservative limits of society with a new hit that is more sexually explicit than ever.
[*Shona, Zimbabwe]
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🗞️ FRONT PAGE
French-daily Libération devotes its front page to the farmers protests escalating across France, after a woman and her daughter were killed by a car that hit a roadblock set by demonstrators calling for better working conditions in the agricultural sector. The newspaper’s headline, “Anatomy of a Struggle,” is a nod to French director Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall,” which won the Palme d’Or at the 2023 Cannes film festival, and is now in contention for the Best Picture Oscar.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Russian plane crashes with 65 Ukrainians on board: A Russian plane crashed in the Belgorod region with 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war aboard who were reportedly set to be exchanged in a swap with Kyiv. The Ilyushin Il-76 military plane also had six crew members and three attendants on board, according to the Russian military. A video on social media showing a plane in flames going down near the village of Yablonovo, 44 miles northeast of Belgorod, Russia, seems to confirm the crash, but the cause remains unknown, as well as the identities of the people onboard.
• U.S. strikes in Iraq: The U.S. carried out airstrikes in Iraq against three facilities used by Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah and other Tehran-affiliated groups, the Pentagon said last Tuesday. The strikes are said to be a direct response to repeated attacks on U.S. forces by the militias. The Iraqi government reacted by saying these operations will lead to “irresponsible escalation,” violate the country's sovereignty and undermine years of cooperation.
• Trump looks unstoppable with New Hampshire win: Donald Trump won the New Hampshire Republican primary, finishing comfortably ahead of the only remaining candidate, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. This victory brings Trump one step closer to becoming the Republican presidential candidate to try to return to the White House. Haley vowed to remain in the race and said she will now focus on the February 24 primary in her home state of South Carolina to try to hold out until Super Tuesday — March 5, when 15 states and one U.S. territory hold simultaneous primaries. For French daily Les Echos, Lucie Robequain zeroes in on what Europe must do right now to prepare for the eventuality of Trump’s return.
• Turkey approves Sweden’s NATO membership bid: Turkish members of the Parliament have voted in favor of Sweden's bid to join NATO on Tuesday, after months of delay. The Nordic country had applied to join in 2022 following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but Turkish President Recep Recep Tayyip Erdogan withheld its approval accusing Swedish officials of supporting Kurdish separatists. Since then, Stockholm has tightened its anti-terror legislation and agreed to work more closely with Turkey on security concerns. Erdogan is expected to sign the legislation within days. Hungary remains the last holdout on Sweden’s NATO entry.
• North Korea launches cruise missiles into the sea: According to South Korea, North Korea has fired “several” cruise missiles from its west coast towards the Yellow Sea on Wednesday morning. The launches are being analyzed by South Korean and U.S. intelligence, and Seoul's defense minister described them as a serious threat to his country. Meanwhile, NK News reports that the Arch of Reunification — a monument in the North Korean capital symbolizing the hope of reconciliation — was taken down under leader Kim Jong-un’s orders.
• Thai opposition leader cleared: Thailand's Constitutional Court cleared Pita Limjaroenrat, the opposition leader who ran to become premier last year, in one of the two cases that could disqualify him from politics. After being suspended from his duties as a lawmaker and member of Thailand’s parliament in July for the investigation, Pita was reinstated. On January 31, the Constitutional Court is expected to rule whether the reformist and his party (Move Forward Party) sought to overthrow the monarchy through his election campaign.
• A butter-chicken-and-egg question: A legal dispute over who came up with the recipe for butter chicken is shaking India. The Gujral family who owns the famous Delhi-based restaurant Moti Mahal has filed a 2,752-page lawsuit against rival chain Daryaganj, accusing it of falsely claiming to have invented the dish.
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
90 seconds
The U.S.-based non-profit Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has set the Doomsday Clock — a symbol of how close the world is to midnight, i.e. total annihilation — at 90 seconds to midnight, for the second year in a row. Although stable, this is the closest the clock has ever been to the fateful hour, “in large part because of Russian threats to use nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine,” while “the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas has the potential to escalate into a wider Middle Eastern conflict that could pose unpredictable threats,” the 2024 statement reads. It also highlights the risks that “AI-enabled disinformation efforts could be a factor that prevents the world from dealing effectively with nuclear risks, pandemics, and climate change.” For more, read this recent Op-Ed: End Of Deterrence? How To Face The Multiplying Risks Of Nuclear Conflict.
📰 STORY OF THE DAY
Ruby's way: Iconic Egyptian singer takes on Arab piety with provocative new hit
For more than two decades, the Egyptian singer and dancer Ruby has pushed the conservative limits of society. Her latest song is more sexually explicit than ever, reports Nourhan Sharaf El-Din for Arabic-language independent digital media platform Daraj.
❌ Ruby, 42, has launched a new gamble with a song titled: “3 Hours Straight,” which sparked a major controversy in Egypt. Some said the song included “sexual overtones.” The Artists’ Union in Egypt quickly convened a meeting to discuss the song and the controversy it has stirred up. The head of the union, Mustafa Kamel, received numerous calls from journalists and others protesting the song. But the round of protests came just 30 minutes after the song was released, which Kamel said: “indicates careful planning to stir up controversy and spread fake agendas."
🎤 The controversy over Ruby’s current song, which was written by Aziz Shafi'i, is not surprising. The eloquence with which she addresses sexuality is not new to the pop song; but this time, Ruby approached the direct description and played on the limits of eloquence and imagination. In the song, Ruby invites her lover for an encounter of three hours in a nighttime isolation: the first hour is for calm time together, the second for the love of excitement, and the third is the time for tasting love — which many interpreted as having sex.
🧑🎤 None of the relentless attention and criticism has deterred a generation of performers who helped build a new Arab entertainment industry over the past two decades. “Singers continued to perform songs that were deemed offensive to the public,” said Ziad Itani, a journalist and theater actor. “But none of them apologized or changed their lyrics.” So don't expect Ruby to change a single note of her new song.
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📹 THIS HAPPENED VIDEO — TODAY IN HISTORY, IN ONE ICONIC PHOTO
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📣 VERBATIM
“There is no Ken without Barbie, and there is no Barbie movie without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie.”
— Canadian actor Ryan Gosling expressed disappointment over director Greta Gerwig and lead actress and producer Margot Robbie being snubbed by Oscar categories for the film Barbie. Gosling instead received a nod for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Ken.
✍️ Newsletter by Laure Gautherin and Cory Agathe
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