👋 Yokwe!*
Welcome to Tuesday, where a final round of talks for a Gaza truce deal are scheduled in Doha, Kyiv launches a mass drone attack across Russia and the IOC pledges to replace its cheap Olympic medals. We also turn to El Espectador’s William Ospina, a self-confessed Chávez supporter, for an analysis on how Nicolás Maduro’s thirst for power is killing Chavismo.
[*Marshallese, Marshall Islands]
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🗞️ FRONT PAGE
Corriere Della Sera pays tribute to Oliviero Toscani, the Milan-born photographer who died on Monday at the age of 82. The daily features the “photos and battles of a genius,” remembered for his provocative images — particularly in advertising campaigns for the Benetton clothing store, which incorporated social themes, prompting conversation about AIDS, war, racism, and other hot-button issues. Toscani photographed celebrities like John Lennon and Andy Warhol, and worked for prominent fashion magazines like GQ, Elle, and Vogue.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Final round of talks for a Gaza truce deal scheduled in Doha. Negotiators are meeting again on Tuesday in bid to finalize a ceasefire deal and tackle any remaining issues related to the first draft handed to Israel and Hamas on Monday. According to the deal, a first 60-day phase would see 33 hostages released by Hamas. New negotiations would take place during a second stage that would include the release of all remaining living hostages. In return, Israel will free more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees from its jails, except Hamas fighters who took part in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack. The draft also includes a phase withdrawal of Israeli troops and a significant increase of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
• Ukraine struck Russian regions with a mass drone attack. According to Russian local officials and media, Kyiv has launched hundreds of drones overnight in a massive combined strike on the territory of the Russian regions, reportedly damaging at least two factories. Flight restrictions were imposed at airports in Kazan, Saratov, Penza, Ulyanovsk and Nizhnekamsk. Meanwhile, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday on a visit intended to confirm Berlin's — and more broadly Europe's — support ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump. He will meet the Ukrainian government to discuss further aid and assess the military situation. With drones extended use, can we consider the Russia-Ukraine conflict the epitome of modern warfare? For Ukrainian media Vazhnyye Istorii, a military expert reflects on three years of war and military tactics.
• Donald Trump would have been convicted if not re-elected, report argues. According to Special Counsel Jack Smith who led the U.S. government investigations into Trump, had Kamala Harris won the 2024 presidential bid, the Republican would have been convicted of illegally trying to overturn the result of the 2020 election. In his findings, released by the Department of Justice to Congress, Smith writes that the evidence was "sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial." The candidate is accused to have used a variety of methods to retain power, including "threats and encouragement of violence against his perceived opponents." The president-elect has reacted to the conclusions, saying Smith was "deranged" and his findings were "fake."
• South Korea suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol's trial adjourned after no-show. The first hearing in the impeachment trial, scheduled on Tuesday, was adjourned minutes after it started in the Constitutional Court, after the accused failed to appear. Yoon has been hiding away in his villa in Seoul for weeks to evade arrest over his failed martial law bid. The court has 180 days from December 14 to make its ruling.
• China's coastal water temperatures hit record high in 2024. The average temperature in the country's coastal waters has risen for a second consecutive year in 2024, reaching a record 21.50 °C (70.7 °F), according to the National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center. It is 0.15 °C higher than that in 2023 and 1.16 °C above the typical annual average. The center warns that the warming of the oceans is leading to more frequent extreme weather and climate-related events.
• Sierra Leone declares mpox emergency. A new confirmed case of mpox — the second in a few days — has led the authorities to declare a public health emergency. Both patients are receiving treatment at a hospital in Freetown. In August 2024, the African Union’s health watchdog had declared a public health emergency over the growing mpox outbreak on the continent, after a 160% increase in new cases from the same period the year before was observed.
• 2024 Olympic Games defective medals to be replaced. The International Olympic Committee has announced that the Monnaie de Paris (the French state mint) would identically reproduce the medals returned by disappointed athletes after they have seen their award deteriorate over time. More than 100 defective medals have been reported.
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
64 days, 19 hours, 22 minutes
That’s the record-breaking time it took French sailor Charlie Dalin to win the Vendée Globe, the solo, non-stop, around-the-world yacht race that takes place every four years. The 40-year-old crossed the finish line in Les Sables d’Olonne, in western France, in 64 days, 19 hours, 22 minutes — breaking Armel Le Cleac'h’s 2017 record by more than nine days.
📹 ON THIS DAY VIDEO — 4 HISTORY-MAKING EVENTS, IN 57 SECONDS
➡️ Watch the video: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
📰 IN OTHER NEWS
🇮🇷 The incoming Trump administration will likely abandon its predecessor's efforts to persuade the Iranian regime to change its disruptive and violent policies. Yet for ultimate survival, Tehran may be counting on an unexpected factor: Trump's erratic mindset.
— KAYHAN-LONDON
🇻🇪 In its first decade, Venezuela's Bolivarian revolution was radical yet legitimate, and enjoyed the people's electoral support under leader Hugo Chávez. This changed when his successor Nicolás Maduro decided he wasn't going to let votes thwart his insatiable love of power and money.
— EL ESPECTADOR
📣 VERBATIM
“America is stronger.”
— In his final foreign policy speech, U.S. President Biden said that the United States has emerged stronger on the global stage, adding that the country "is winning the worldwide competition compared to four years ago.” Speaking in front of diplomats at the State Department, Biden highlighted strengthened international alliances, particularly within NATO, while insisting that other world powers like China “never surpass us.” Biden used the speech — the last of its kind before Donald Trump comes back to the White House — to defend his own international legacy while critiquing his successor’s previous foreign policy approach.
✍️ Newsletter by Laure Gautherin, Jake Shropshire & Bertrand Hauger
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