Le Weekend: Two Billion BTS Streams, Spray-Painting Darwin, Kite-Surfing Hero

⬇️  STARTER 

Gaza’s strange new type of anguish, between loss and joy

Gaza awaits the ceasefire to take effect — It will be the end of the nightmare.

Eyes, ears, senses and limbs are looking towards Cairo, waiting for that moment the deal turns into reality.

Shall we rejoice?

The people of Gaza have already begun to celebrate, they will resume their lives from where the monster stopped them. They will return to their homes, even those that have been destroyed. Loved ones will be reunited after a long separation, and far too much death.

They will hug each other with amputated arms, extinguished eyes, broken hearts and exhausted bodies. They will hug each other a lot, long and tightly, as if hugging is the only expression of survival, of life…

Shall we rejoice?

The Gazans have begun preparing for more funerals, counting the victims, searching for the missing… Is there a cemetery that can hold all these bodies, amputated legs, fingers and palms? Is there a cemetery in the world that can receive this number of bodies all at once? Can hearts bury all this sorrow and forever cover it with the dust of oblivion?

But should we rejoice?

The Gazans have begun to recognize the features of their cities, towns and streets — and the features that have disappeared. Some many details gone, forever. Gaza from north to south is obliterated. Oh God, how can we ever get used to this amount of devastation? [...]

— Read the full article by Badia Fahs for Daraj, translated from Arabic by Worldcrunch.

🎲  OUR WEEKLY NEWS QUIZ

What do you remember from the news this week?

1. How long is the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire expected to last?

2. What virus outbreak has led Sierra Leone to declare a public health emergency?

3. Which Caribbean country did the U.S. remove from its list of state sponsors of terrorism?

4. It took Frenchman Charlie Dalin a little under 65 days to do what?
Translate Proust’s In Search of Lost Time into emojis / Win the around-the-word Vendée Globe race / Sculpt a 60-ft marble statue of Zinédine Zidane / Moonwalk across France

[Answers at the bottom of this newsletter]

#️⃣  TRENDING

As a potential TikTok ban looms in the United States, users are embracing the moment with humor, creating the trend “Goodbye to my Chinese spy.” The viral phenomenon satirizes security concerns tied to TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, often accused of funneling user data to China. Videos bid farewell to imaginary “spies” who supposedly optimized their feeds, blending irony and creativity. With the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision set for Jan. 19, the trend sees creators joke about whether they’d prefer TikTok’s algorithms over alternatives like Instagram Reels.

🎭  5 CULTURE THINGS TO KNOW

• Composer Arnold Schoenberg’s scores destroyed in L.A. fires. At least 100,000 scores by the pioneering 20th century Austrian-American composer were burned at his family’s music production company, which caught fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood last week. “This loss represents not just a physical destruction of property but a profound cultural blow,” Larry Schoenberg, a son of the composer, said. The wildfires have destroyed or damaged many landmarks that hold spots in cinematic and cultural history, including the Topanga Ranch Motel and the Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center.

• In memoriam: American director-writer David Lynch, celebrated for for his uniquely dark and dreamlike vision in movies like Muholland Drive and TV series Twin Peaks, died at 78; Italian fashion photographer Oliviero Toscani, renowned for the provocative images used in United Colors of Benetton advertising campaigns, died at the age of 82; Australian television presenter and journalist Simon Townsend, best known as creator and host on children’s 1980s television show Wonder World, passed away at 79; Irish singer, actress and television personality Linda Nolan, a member of pop group the Nolans with her sisters, died at 65 years old; Ghanaian saxophonist and singer Teddy Osei, who founded the Afro-rock band Osibisa, passed away aged 88.

• Bob Dylan memorabilia to go on sale at auction. About 50 “extraordinary artifacts” from the musician’s life and career, including early drafts of Dylan’s No. 1 hit “Mr. Tambourine Man” and an original oil painting, will go under the hammer on Saturday at the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee. Some items, which form part of the personal collection of journalist Al Aronowitz, are expected to fetch up to $600,000.

• Climate protesters charged after defacing Darwin grave. Two female activists from climate protest group Just Stop Oil (JSO) were charged with criminal damage after they spray-painted “1.5 is dead” on Charles Darwin’s grave in Westminster Abbey, London. The activists said they were trying to “get the government to act on climate change” and that they targeted the naturalist’s tomb “specifically because he would be turning in that grave because of the sixth mass extinction taking place now.” A spokesperson for the church said they did not anticipate there would be any permanent damage to the monument.

• BTS becomes first K-pop group to reach 2 billion streams on Spotify with “Dynamite.” With 2,000,993,410 streams and counting, the 2020 global megahit is now the most-streamed song in BTS’s discography, achieving a new record after it helped the septet become the first K-pop act to top the Billboard Hot 100 and earn a Grammy nomination.

📰 IN OTHER NEWS

🇵🇸 As the fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire offers brief respite for Gaza, the Arab world's response remains divided. While some celebrate diplomatic efforts, others remain skeptical, highlighting the ongoing humanitarian toll and the uncertainty of lasting peace.
— WORLDCRUNCH

🇺🇸 Will America become revisionist, unilateralist and expansionist under Donald Trump’s second term?
— LES ECHOS

🇻🇪 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

🗺️ Greenland, Canada and Panama: Why is Donald Trump using maps for his politics? And what does Elon Musk's Nazi-loving grandfather have to do with mapped utopias?
— DIE ZEIT

♀️ “I can’t ask anyone to buy me pads.” Menstruation stigma continues to affect women’s daily lives in Egypt, from societal shame to discrimination at work and in public spaces.
— AL-MANASSA

🏄 SMILE OF THE WEEK

Brazilian Olympic-level kite surfer Bruno Lobo saved a woman who was drowning while testing out some video equipment. Lobo came across a stranded swimmer and helped her out on his kite, bringing her back safely to the coast. The rescue was accidentally filmed by the new equipment Lobo had just installed on his board.

🦴 BRIGHT IDEA

A team of biologists and hospital practitioners at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), led by Nadine Nassif, has developed a biomimetic material designed to enhance bone repair. The material, composed of collagen and apatite nanoparticles, mimics the structure and chemical composition of bone, offering a more effective alternative to ceramic implants for small-scale bone regeneration. After successful trials on cells, rats and sheep, this innovative approach could revolutionize bone repair by encouraging the patient’s own cells to replace the material with natural bone. Clinical trials on humans are the next step, but regulatory and funding challenges remain.

👓 WORLDCRUNCH MAGAZINE

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⏩  LOOKING AHEAD

• Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States on Jan. 20. Held on the third Monday of January, the inauguration will occur on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday. The inaugural events will feature performances from the Village People and country singer-songwriter Carrie Underwood.

• The Bank of Japan is expected to make a call on whether to raise interest rates, should the country’s economic and price conditions continue to improve. This decision is eagerly awaited as it could signal a shift in Japan's monetary policy and impact global markets.

• Nominations for the 2025 Academy Awards will be announced on Jan. 23. With anticipation building, critics are already speculating about who among favorites Anora, Emilia Perez, Conclave or The Brutalist will garner the most Oscar nods.

News quiz answers:

1. The first phase of the Gaza ceasefire is expected to last six weeks, or 42 days, during which both sides are expected to halt hostilities and work towards further peace negotiations.

2. Sierra Leone declared a public health emergency over an outbreak of mpox, a viral disease closely related to smallpox, which has seen an alarming rise in cases in certain regions.

3. The United States officially removed Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, a significant diplomatic move that has eased some of the long-standing tensions between the two countries and is seen as a step towards improving relations.

4. Frenchman Charlie Dalin won the Vendée Globe race, an around-the-world solo sailing competition, in 64 days, 19 hours, 22 minutes, breaking Armel Le Cleac'h’s 2017 record by more than nine days.

✍️ Newsletter by Worldcrunch

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*Photo: Won-Ki Min/ZUMA