👋 Tere!*
Welcome to Friday, where U.S. diplomats arrive in Syria to meet with new HTS leaders, UnitedHealthcare boss murder suspect Luigi Mangione appears in a New York court and the surviving members of the Beatles get back, get back, get back on stage together. Also, from Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza, we feature an article by Bartłomiej Kuraś exploring an exhibition of works of art created by Auschwitz prisoners.
[*Estonian]
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🗞️ FRONT PAGE
A court on Thursday convicted 51 men in a rape case that horrified France and the world and even fueled a French debate on changing the legal definition of rape. The rape of Gisèle Pelicot, a 71-year-old retiree, happened more than 200 times and was orchestrated by her ex-husband Dominique Pelicot, who admitted to drugging her for years so he could recruit men online to have sex with her while she was unconscious, as he filmed the encounters in Mazan, southern France. French daily newspaper Sud Ouest dedicates its front page to the end of the trial calling the men “All guilty.” A criminal court in Avignon sentenced the ex-husband to 20 years of prison for aggravated rape. A recent piece translated from Spanish by Worldcrunch connected the Pelicot trial to cases, past and present in Ecuador.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• U.S. diplomats arrive in Damascus to meet new Syrian leaders. The senior delegation plans to meet representatives from victorious group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is designated a terrorist organization by Washington, as well as activists, civil society and members of minority groups, in a first visit since the ouster of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad. This marks the first formal American diplomatic appearance in Damascus in more than a decade. The officials hope to speak with Syrians about “their vision for the future of their country and how the United States can help support them,” a state department spokesperson said. Read this reportage in post-Assad Damascus, translated from Arabic by Worldcrunch.
• At least 17 killed in Israeli strike on Gaza school. A Health Ministry official said Israeli airstrikes hit two schools sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza City on Thursday, killing at least 17 people including five children. Israel responded that the militant group Hamas operated command centers inside the shelters. Meanwhile, nine Palestinian-Americans are suing the U.S. government for allegedly failing to rescue them or members of their families who were trapped in Gaza.
• Russian missile attack on Kyiv, U.S. to announce final package for Ukraine. A Russian strike killed at least one person in the Ukrainian capital, injured 11 and damaged buildings during the morning rush hour on Friday, local officials said. Moscow claimed the attack was a response to a Ukrainian strike on Russian soil using American-made weapons. Meanwhile, Reuters reports that the Biden administration will announce in the coming days its final Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative package, which will be worth about $1.2 billion and include air defense interceptors and artillery munitions.
• Trump-backed spending bill fails to pass, shutdown approaches. The U.S. House of Representatives voted against a Donald Trump-backed spending bill, as dozens of Republicans defied the president-elect, bringing a government shutdown this weekend a step closer. The bill would have tied government funding to a two-year suspension of the federal debt limit. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said he would “come up with another solution” before government funding lapses at midnight on Friday.
• Italy’s vice premier Matteo Salvini faces verdict in migrant rescue boat kidnap trial. The deputy prime minister has arrived in court on Friday in Palermo, Sicily, as he awaits a verdict in his trial for kidnap and dereliction of duty over his refusal to let a migrant rescue boat dock in Italy in 2019. Salvini faces up to six years in jail if convicted, which would automatically bar him from office. The leader of the right-wing Lega party said he acted to protect Italy’s borders. Read more about how a refugee living in Italy responded to Salvini’s “dogs and pigs” slur in this essay translated from Italian by Worldcrunch.
• Malaysia to resume search for missing flight MH370. The country’s government said on Friday it has agreed in principle to resume the search for the wreckage of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370, more than 10 years after it disappeared in one of the world’s greatest aviation mysteries. The Boeing 777 vanished in March 2014 while on its way to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur with 239 people on board. The last search for the plane ended in 2018.
• Surprise Beatles reunion in London. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr reunited during a gig at London’s O2 Arena on Thursday night, with the drummer appearing on stage to play classics “Helter Skelter” and “Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.” The concert was the last in McCartney’s Got Back tour, which also saw him play his original Hofner 500/1 bass guitar for the first time in more than 50 years.
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
$1.3 billion
A total of $2.2 billion in cryptocurrencies has been stolen this year, with North Korean hackers accounting for more than half that figure, according to a new study. Research firm Chainalysis says hackers stole $1.3 billion of digital currencies, more than double last year's haul. Some of the thefts appear to be linked to North Korean hackers posing as remote IT workers to infiltrate crypto and other technology firms. Read more about how Trump's Victory Marks New Dawn For Crypto.
📹 ON THIS DAY VIDEO — 4 HISTORY-MAKING EVENTS, IN 57 SECONDS
➡️ Watch the video: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
📰 IN OTHER NEWS
🏙️ A Lebanese journalist takes a post-Assad tour of Damascus, that singular Middle East capital, from which the Ba'ath Party spared nothing and desecrated everything.
— DARAJ
💵 While Latin America’s leftist leaders and even the Pope keep urging the West to give generously to the developing world to end poverty and curb migration, decades ago Asian states just “put on their big boy pants” to work their way to immense prosperity.
— CLARÍN
🖼️ The Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial in Poland is developing an exhibition of works of art created by prisoners as a way of sharing their voices and emotions with future generations.— GAZETA WYBORCZA
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📣 VERBATIM
“I'm not the cyclone. I'm not responsible.”
— French President Emmanuel Macron was heckled during his visit to cyclone-hit Mayotte. After facing boos and calls to resign from locals demanding more aid in devastated areas, Macron responded by telling locals: “I'm not the cyclone. I'm not responsible.” He landed in Mayotte on Thursday, five days after Cyclone Chido destroyed the small islands. Thousands are without access to water and rescuers are continuing efforts to find missing people. Meanwhile, in an investigation published on Thursday, French newspaper Le Monde newspaper reports that Emmanuel Macron said in 2023 that “the problem with emergency rooms” in France is that they are “full of Mamadous,” referencing a common West African name that is often used as a racial slur. Macron’s office has denied he used the term.
✍️ Newsletter by Anne-Sophie Goninet & Emma Albright
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