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Welcome to Tuesday, where the UAE is reportedly in talks with the U.S. and Israel about participating in a provisional government for post-war Gaza, a powerful earthquake kills at least 95 in Tibet, and Portugal’s central bank is forced to debunk rumors of a Cristiano Ronaldo coin. Meanwhile, Die Zeit’s Cora Wucherer recounts her 30 days of giving under-desk treadmills a go at her office, looking to achieve that work-walk balance.
[*Lí-hó - Taiwanese Hokkien]
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🗞️ FRONT PAGE
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced plans to step down after more than nine years leading the country, citing divisions within his party and poor polling leading into the elections later this year. “A waste until the end,” writes Canadian daily Le Journal du Québec of the sudden ending to Trudeau’s reign amidst growing discontent over housing costs and inflation, and an apparent approval bump for the opposition Conservatives. The next election is not yet scheduled, but has to happen before October 20.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• UAE, U.S. and Israel in talks about Gaza provisional government. Reuters reports behind-the-scenes discussions about the potential participation of the United Arab Emirates in a provisional administration of post-war Gaza until a reformed Palestinian Authority is able to take charge. The talks included the possibility of the UAE and the U.S., as well as other nations, temporarily overseeing the governance, security and reconstruction of Gaza after the Israeli military withdraws. Meanwhile, at least three Palestinian militants were killed by Israeli forces in stepped-up operations across the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, after the death of three Israelis near a Jewish settlement.
• At least 95 killed in powerful earthquake in Tibet. A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck Tibet’s holy Shigatse city in the Himalayas on Tuesday morning, killing at least 95 people and injuring 130 others, Chinese state media say. The epicenter was around 80 km (50 miles) north of Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain, with tremors felt in neighboring Nepal, Bhutan and parts of northern India. This marks one of the deadliest earthquakes China has seen in recent years.
• China’s tech giants protest U.S. listing as army-linked companies. The U.S. added dozens of Chinese companies, including gaming and social media giant Tencent and battery maker CATL, to a list of companies it says have ties to China’s military. The “Chinese Military Companies,” or CMC list, serves as a warning to American companies and organisations about the risks of doing business with Chinese entities. Tencent responded it would “initiate a reconsideration process to correct this mistake.”
• France marks 10 years since Charlie Hebdo attacks. President Emmanuel Macron and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo are set to lead commemorations at the newspaper’s former offices, where two masked al-Qaeda-linked gunmen killed 12 people on January 7, 2015. The satirical weekly had been targeted for having published caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed. Here’s how the press in France and around the world had covered the attacks on their front pages at the time.
• Biden meets exiled Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González. The U.S. president called the candidate for Venezuela’s opposition the “true winner” of the country’s disputed presidential election last July after hosting him in the White House on Monday. This comes as incumbent President Nicolás Maduro is set to officially begin his third term in office on Friday. González had fled to Spain in September after a warrant was issued for his arrest. For more on this topic, check this OpEd translated from Spanish by Worldcrunch: How Can Maduro Get Away With It? Look At What Lula And Pope Francis Refuse To Say.
• Indonesia officially joins BRICS. The Southeast Asian country has become the 10th full member of the international BRICS group, a bloc of developing economies increasingly seen as a counterweight to the West. The group was created in 2009 by Brazil, Russia, India and China, with South Africa joining the following year. Read more in this analysis translated from French by Worldcrunch: How Putin Uses BRICS To Wield Power — And Avoid Pariah Status.
• No commemorative coin for Portugal’s star Ronaldo. The Portuguese central bank issued a press release to refute claims circulating online and in various media outlets that it would release a coin in honor of soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo. The claims allege that 25,000 seven-euro coins (in reference to Ronaldo’s jersey number) would enter circulation, sharing a picture of what they would look like — an image that was later proven to be AI-generated.
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
102,343
The Hershey Bears, a hockey team based in Hershey, Pennsylvania, held their annual GIANT Teddy Bear Toss event in which spectators threw 102,343 teddy bears and stuffed animals onto the ice, surpassing their previous year's record of 74,599. The collected toys will be donated to over 35 local charities in the U.S. through the team’s Hershey Bears Cares program. Since 2001 when the program was started, the team has collected some 566,450 teddy bears for charity.
📹 ON THIS DAY VIDEO — 4 HISTORY-MAKING EVENTS, IN 57 SECONDS
➡️ Watch the video: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
📰 IN OTHER NEWS
🇸🇾 Once a hub of commerce and industry in the Middle East, Syria’s means of production have been destroyed by years of conflict. The country's new leaders are making economic recovery a priority. But first, it must begin by lifting international sanctions.
— LES ECHOS
🗳️ In 2025, elections in several key countries like Germany and Canada will reflect ongoing global issues like inflation, the rise of populism, and geopolitical tensions.
— THE CONVERSATION
— DIE ZEIT
📣 VERBATIM
“We very much want to bring this over the finish line in the next two weeks.”
— U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pushed for a ceasefire agreement in Gaza between Israel and Hamas before President Biden leaves office in two weeks. Negotiations mediated by Qatar and Egypt have so far included a list of 34 hostages Hamas officials cleared who could be freed in the initial stages of an agreement that ends the conflict. But Israel says it will not stop its assault on Gaza until Hamas is dismantled as a military force. Meanwhile, Israeli attacks on Gaza continue to worsen humanitarian conditions during intense winter weather, with the Gazan health ministry saying 88 have died in the last day.
📸 PHOTO DU JOUR
A Yonhap news TV broadcast at Seoul Railway Station shows footage of the intermediate-range ballistic missile test conducted by North Korea on Monday. The missile test — North Korea’s first since November when it launched seven off its coast — comes as South Korea is in political turmoil after police have failed to arrest the ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was also visiting South Korea when the missile test occurred. — Photo: Kim Jae-Hwan/SOPA Images/ZUMA
✍️ Newsletter by Anne-Sophie Goninet & Jacob Shropshire
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