Le Weekend: Nezha 2’s Box Office Record, Pharaonic Discovery, From Paris With Japanese Love

⬇️  STARTER 

Viva American democracy! A foreign take on why the “Trump interlude” will pass

Donald Trump and Elon Musk ... one day, they too will pass. The pair will be recalled as nothing more than a bad period, a rough patch in American history. A country like the United States, with its democratic traditions and abundance of vitality, forged through vast migratory waves and racial diversity will simply never swerve into a totalitarian ditch.

It can never belong to a supremacist minority or an élite lording over an entire society. It won't happen. We may well see in the next four years threats and efforts to bring this about, perhaps even traits of totalitarian rule emerging briefly, but none of it will last. We will not see, as in China and Russia, a socio-economic nomenklatura crushing all democratic rights and civility, entrenched for years and brutally eliminating anything not serving its ambitions.

I have never been in awe of American wealth and living standards, for that wasn't what I found attractive about the country. For me, the admirable traits in American society are its endless ability to assimilate human faces and features and the creative forces of other nations, cultures and histories.

They've done it for centuries, which is what allowed them to build such a wide-ranging, diverse, multi-racial and humanly potent nation. We're talking about 330 million people! There is something profoundly humble and wise about the way Americans (most, not all) have always managed to assimilate, incorporate, mix, transplant, learn and renovate everything coming its way.

I am perfectly aware that in the process, they also turned into the world's wealthiest nation, which meant there were times when the state, its politicians and supporters acted and behaved badly. That means with deceit, violence and adopting the ways of thugs and imperialists. I know, it's nothing to be proud of. But I am talking about the people and a nation's historical progression — and there, undeniably, the United States has been a source of energizing renovation for the entire world. That was particularly the case in moments when Europe languished and the East appeared unreachable. [...]

— Read the full article by Gonzalo Mallarino Flórez for El Espectador, translated from Spanish by Worldcrunch.

🎲  OUR WEEKLY NEWS QUIZ

What do you remember from the news this week?

1. Who has U.S. President Donald Trump called a "dictator without elections"?

2. The Vatican announced that Pope Francis was being treated for pneumonia in both lungs. How old is the pontiff?

3. Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta company unveiled Project Waterworth, a globe-spanning endeavour that involves what kind of infrastructure?

4. What event does NASA estimate has a 3.1% chance of happening in 2032?
A major asteroid hitting the Earth / The launch of a solar-powered rocket / First contact with aliens / Elon Musk leaving the White House for Mars

[Answers at the bottom of this newsletter]

#️⃣  TRENDING

A tourist attraction in southwestern China, the Chengdu Snow Village, has come under fire after visitors discovered its advertised winter wonderland was fabricated using cotton wool and foamy water. The site, promoted with images of snow-covered cabins, disappointed tourists who arrived to find large sheets of cotton scattered across the landscape. Photos posted online showed staple marks on the material and greenish-brown fields beneath the fake snow. The attraction issued an apology, attributing the deception to unusually warm weather and promising refunds to dissatisfied visitors. Authorities are now investigating the site for suspected false advertising, and it has since been shut down.

🎭  5 CULTURE THINGS TO KNOW

• Egypt announces biggest archaeological discovery since 1922. Egyptian archaeologists, alongside British experts, say they have unearthed the resting place of King Thutmose II in the mount of Thebes area, west of Luxor and the renowned Valley of the Kings. Egypt’s government has described the discovery as the most significant one since the tomb of King Tutankhamun was found in 1922. The excavation of the approximately 3,500-year-old tomb began in 2022, but artifacts found there only recently helped provide definitive evidence of the tomb’s ownership.

• In memoriam: Mexican-American dancer and actress Yolanda Montes, better known as Tongolele, who was a major figure of the nightlife scene in mid-20th century Mexico City, died at the age of 93; Mexican singer-songwriter Paquita la del Barrio, known for her powerful voice and fierce defense of women, passed away at 77 years old; British musician Rick Buckler, the former drummer of seminal mod-punk band The Jam, died at 69 after “a short illness”; British actor Julian Holloway, who starred in eight Carry On films and was a regular in TV shows such as The Sweeney and Doctor Who, passed away, aged 80; Malian director Souleymane Cisse, who’s considered one of the pillars of African cinema, died at age 84.

• Korean movies perform well despite overall market slump. According to the Korean Film Council (KOFIC)’s annual report on the 2024 film industry, South Korean movies showed strong performances amid a slight decrease in overall theater revenue and audience numbers in the country. Last year’s revenue from Korean films reached 691 billion won ($479 million) — a 15.5% increase from 2023 — while foreign movies recorded a year-on-year 24% decrease in revenue.

• New Paris show displays “degenerate art” disavowed by Nazis. “L’art dégénéré,” the first exhibition in France dedicated to the art that came under attack during the Nazi regime, has opened at the Musée Picasso in Paris. The event shines a light on the “Entartete Kunst” (degenerate art) exhibition that ran in Munich in 1937, which had been designed to disgust the German public at the output of artists from backgrounds rejected by the fascist state, such as Jews, Bolsheviks and homosexuals. The Paris exhibition, which will run until May 25, features many of the works targeted during the era.

• China’s Nezha 2 becomes world’s highest-grossing animated movie. The blockbuster overtook Pixar’s Inside Out 2 this week to become the highest-grossing animated film globally, earning nearly $1.7 billion, including pre-sales and overseas earnings. More than 99% of the box office income from the animated movie, which is based on a 16th-century Chinese novel The Investiture of the Gods, has come from mainland China, in contrast to Hollywood films. With these results, the movie also becomes the eighth-highest box office film globally.

😍 SMILE OF THE WEEK

A Japanese friend group on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to France shared the famous landmarks of the country with a (literal) twist, showing their shocked reactions before showing what exactly they were being shocked by. The trio visited historic sites including the Eiffel Tower, Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy, the Arc de Triomphe, and, fittingly, the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland Paris.

📰 IN OTHER NEWS

🇺🇦 This week, U.S. President Donald Trump doubled down on his accusations against Ukraine. It looks as though Kyiv may have to rely solely on European military aid. But France’s president, along with the British prime minister, have made urgent plans to visit Trump.
— LES ECHOS

🗳️ Ahead of Germany's crucial national elections Sunday, Russia is actively working to destabilize the country through cyberattacks, agents, and disinformation campaigns. Can anything be done to stop or at least counter these attacks?
— DIE ZEIT

🇪🇬 Trump's proposal for the U.S. to take over Gaza and resettle the 2.1 million Palestinians living there has pushed Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to delay his trip to the White House. But Trump holds some big cards that Cairo knows it will have to face.
— DARAJ

🏥 The Vatican announced that Pope Francis is being treated for pneumonia in both lungs. His latest visit to Rome's Gemelli hospital raises the question that the pontiff seems to be avoiding: should he resign?
— LA STAMPA

👶 Economic crisis and higher inflation in Egypt have prompted many young married people to abandon the idea of having children. And if they decide to have children, they just want one or two at most to be able to provide them a decent life.
— AL-MANASSA

🚲⚡ BRIGHT IDEA

Adrien Lelièvre, a French engineer, has founded Pi-Pop, the first battery-free electric bike company in Olivet, France, to offer a greener mobility solution. Unlike traditional e-bikes, Pi-Pop’s bicycles use the rider’s muscle strength to generate electricity, storing and releasing it at the right time to reduce effort. This is achieved through supercapacitors, which store energy via electrostatic reactions rather than electrochemical interactions like batteries. Made from carbon, aluminum or cellulose, they eliminate the need for rare materials and have a smaller environmental footprint. Designed for flat cities, Pi-Pop bikes weigh 21 kilograms (46 pounds), offer unlimited autonomy under the right conditions. Priced at €2,650, Pi-Pop has already sold 600 units.

👓 WORLDCRUNCH MAGAZINE

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⏩  LOOKING AHEAD

• Germany holds an early federal election on Sunday, following the collapse of the three-party “traffic light” coalition in late 2024. The vote is expected to reshape the country's political landscape, with the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leading in opinion.

• French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will head to the White House early next week to discuss the war in Ukraine, after EU leaders raised the alarm over U.S. President Donald Trump’s handling of the conflict. This will come as Monday, Feb. 24 will mark three years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in 2022.

• Take a look at the skies (with a telescope) from Feb. 25 to 28: Three bright planets — Saturn, Mercury and Venus — will align post-sunset, with Mercury joining the Planetary Parade that first appeared in January.

• The 75th Berlin International Film Festival, known as the Berlinale, will end this weekend with an award ceremony on Saturday at the Berlinale Palast.

News quiz answers:

1. During a campaign rally, Trump criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s leadership, claiming he rules Ukraine without elections — a reference to the country’s wartime decision to delay voting.

2. The Vatican announced that Pope Francis, 88, who has led the Catholic Church since 2013, is receiving treatment for pneumonia but remains in stable condition.

3. Meta’s latest project, called Waterworth, involves laying sub-sea internet cables to enhance global internet connectivity, particularly for underserved regions.

4. NASA has calculated that there is a 3.1% probability of a major asteroid hitting the Earth in 2032, though scientists emphasize that the likelihood remains low.

✍️ Newsletter by Worldcrunch

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*Photo: Imago/ZUMA