👋 Servus!*
Welcome to Thursday, where all 27 EU leaders agree on an aid package for Ukraine after resistance from Hungary, U.S. forces carry out new strikes in Yemen and Canada is left befuddled by a taxidermy heist. Meanwhile, Ophélie Francq in French daily Les Echos bids adieu to the classic jambon-beurre, as she reports on a new generation of sandwiches.
[*Bavarian, Germany and Austria]
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🗞️ FRONT PAGE
Argentine daily Clarín dedicates its front page to the debates on the Omnibus Law, marked by clashes between police and protesters in front of the Congress. The flagship project of President Javier Milei covers economic policies and privatizations, in a plan to tackle the country's economic crisis, in which inflation has skyrocketed to 200%. Milei's coalition is in minority in both chambers, meaning he has to win over the opposition to pass the divisive law.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• EU leaders agree on €50 bn aid package for Ukraine: European leaders unanimously agreed on a €50 billion aid package for Ukraine at a summit in Brussels on Thursday. This ended a standoff with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who had vetoed the financial plan last December. Meanwhile, angry farmers descended on Belgium’s capital city, using tractors to block the EU headquarters during the summit, to press leaders to help them with taxes, rising costs and cheap imports. Read more about the start of the farmers’ revolt in France in this article from Les Echos, translated in English by Worldcrunch.
• U.S. military strikes Houthi drones in Yemen: U.S. forces have carried out new strikes in Yemen against 10 attack drones and a ground control station belonging to the Iran-backed Houthi rebels that “presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and the U.S. Navy ships in the region.” Read more on how the Houthis’ escalation in the Red Sea is dividing war-weary Yemenis in this article translated from Arabic to English.
• UN chief urges end of violence in Myanmar three years after coup: UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged a return to democracy and “civilian rule” in Myanmar on Thursday, on the day marking the third anniversary of the military coup that toppled Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's government. The UN chief’s plea came one day after the country’s embattled junta extended a state of emergency by six months to “continue the process of combating terrorists,” delaying once again the elections it had promised.
• Hong Kong court convicts four over 2019 storming of legislature: A Hong Kong court on Thursday found four people guilty of rioting over the storming of the city’s legislative council building, which marked a major escalation of the anti-government protests more than four years ago.
• Greta Thunberg goes on trial in London over oil protest: Environmental activist Greta Thunberg is facing trial in a London court on Thursday on charges over a public order offense. Thunberg had taken part in a mass protest against the Energy Intelligence Forum, which brought together major oil and gas companies at a luxury hotel in the British capital in October last year. If charged, the activist faces a maximum fine of £2,500 ($3,177).
• Thailand deports dissident Russian rockers to Israel: Thailand has deported the members of a Russian rock band critical of Moscow’s war in Ukraine to Israel after they were detained for working at the resort island of Phuket without a permit. Human rights advocates had warned the self-exiled rock band Bi-2 would face severe persecution if Thai authorities sent them back to Russia.
• Giant stuffed polar bear goes missing in bizarre heist: Police in Canada are investigating the theft of a 3.6 m (12 ft) taxidermy polar bear from a resort near Edmonton. The stuffed bear, which weighs more than 200 kg (500 lb), is believed to have been snatched during the cold snap in early January.
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
5 billion
There are now 5 billion social media users in the world, which represents 63.3% of the global population, according to an annual report published yesterday by the agency We Are Social. Facebook counts the most users with 2.19 billion, followed by Instagram at 1.65 and TikTok at 1.56 billion. The report provides an insight on user habits on social media platforms: the average user spends 2 hours and 23 minutes scrolling each day, and the most visited Wikipedia page in 2023 for was that of ChatGPT.
📰 STORY OF THE DAY
France says bye-bye jambon-beurre, bonjour neo-sandwich
The humble jambon-beurre, the classic ham and butter sandwiches, has long been eaten standing-up at a bistro counter. But now the so-called “neo-sandwich” has arrived on Parisians' plates — not only in coffee shops and fast food joints but also in restaurants. Garnished with seasonal produce and a chef's touch, the sandwich is now a dish in its own right, reports Ophélie Francq in French daily Les Echos.
🥪 On one side of rue Saint-Maur in the 11th arrondissement, you'll find a sandwich with bœuf bourguignon (at Sandwichette), and on the other, club sandwiches with risotto or osso buco (at Superposé). Head a little further west, toward the 10th, for a "'dwich" filled with spinach frittata (Traiteur Mamiche) or topped with fried portobellos (Plan D). It is impossible not to come across these novel noshes as you wander around Paris. For recently, the sandwich has been welcoming the dishes of real chefs into its arms.
🧑🍳 During COVID, garnishing two slices of bread became a testing ground for chefs, whose restaurants were at a standstill, and a way for them to keep cooking, in a more adapted format. For some restaurateurs, selling sandwiches allows them to adapt to a new market reality and break away from the world of traditional restaurants, "where the hours are hard, with few breaks and a salary that doesn't always keep up," said chef Axelle Poittevin, co-creator of the Razzia sandwich shop in Marseille, named Best finger-lickin' good spot in 2024 by the Le Fooding guide.
📈 In 2022, the French ate 2.2 billion sandwiches. Between 2019 and 2022, sales grew 7% to 11% each year. And they're no longer limited to the office lunch break. Plan D sells around a hundred sandwiches each weekday and sometimes more than double that on weekends. "Sandwiches have become a pleasure food. It's France's favorite snack, ahead of pizza and burgers," said Bernard Boutboul, director of Gira Conseil.
➡️ Read more on Worldcrunch.com
📹 THIS HAPPENED VIDEO — TODAY IN HISTORY, IN ONE ICONIC PHOTO
➡️ Watch the video: THIS HAPPENED
📣 VERBATIM
“You have blood on your hands."
— Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, addressing Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, said that he and the other social media companies' leaders had “blood on their hands” for failing to protect children on their platforms. The CEOs of the biggest social media platforms (X, TikTok, Snapchat, Meta and Discord) appeared before U.S. Senators in a hearing aiming to pass child safety legislation. The hearing, attended by four other tech leaders, also included testimony from children who had been harmed and sexually exploited online.
👉 MORE FROM WORLDCRUNCH
• A New Ceasefire Deal In Gaza Will Be Hard — Making It Last Is Basically Impossible — FRANCE INTER
• Overdue For #MeToo In Africa? Shocking Allegations Against Cameroon Mogul Spur Action — WORLDCRUNCH
• Dear Young People, Stop Pathologizing Loneliness — And Everything Else — DIE WELT
✍️ Newsletter by Anne-Sophie Goninet and Chloé Touchard
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