👋 Haaahe!*
Welcome to Monday, where France’s Emmanuel Macron is in Washington to meet with Donald Trump as Ukraine marks three years of war with Russia, Germany’s conservatives come out on top in yesterday’s national elections, and our quiz question is about a famous movie franchise. Meanwhile, in Gazeta Wyborcza, Sandra Zakrzewska looks at the controversy spakerd by new LEGO set meant to honor Polish scientist Maria Skłodowska-Curie.
[*Cheyenne]
💡 SPOTLIGHT
Is Macron the last chance to get through to Trump?
There is the fate of Ukraine, of course. More broadly, what's at stake here is also the future of relations between Europe and America, fractured and perhaps irreparably so. Following French President Emmanuel Macron's whirlwind trip from Paris to Washington to meet Donald Trump, we feel the gravity of the moment.
How should Macron talk to Trump, how can he hold his limited attention? How do you counter the Russian-influenced rhetoric conveyed by the U.S. president — like when he accuses Ukraine of being responsible for the war, or Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of being a “dictator”? It's all part of preparing for a visit to the world's most unpredictable man, and its most powerful.
Macron wants to convince Trump to accept an alternative plan to the worst-case scenario being prepared, i.e. a U.S.-Russian agreement that would sacrifice Ukraine and European security interests. The French president is going to do it with political arguments, and a share of psychology tailor-made for the man in the White House.
The French president will try to persuade Donald Trump that he would be wrong to bet everything on his agreement with Vladimir Putin, whom he is preparing to meet soon in Saudi Arabia. Putin has never respected the ceasefires agreed since 2014, and he will try to install a man of his own in Kiev. At that point, Trump will look like a weak leader — a true nightmare for him.
The French and British have drawn up a detailed plan of security guarantees for Ukraine, to avoid such a catastrophic scenario. The plan calls for thousands of European troops to be sent to Ukraine once a ceasefire has been established, to prevent Russia from resuming its war. But without American security and logistical support, this mission is virtually impossible. For the time being, Washington refuses to show definitive commitment.
On the French side, there's no hiding the fact that if this American-Russian worst-case scenario were to come true, it could shatter the Atlantic alliance. But Europeans should be under no illusions about their ability to influence an imperial presidency that knows neither allies nor friends. [...]
— Read the full article by Pierre Haski for France Inter, translated from French by Worldcrunch.
🗞️ FRONT PAGE
German daily Frankfurter Rundschau highlights “the change” at play, after the preliminary results of Germany’s Sunday elections showed the CDU/CSU alliance of center-right parties taking the lion’s share of the vote. Friedrich Merz, the leader of the conservative alliance, now faces the task of forming a coalition to form a government that likely won’t involve the runner-up far-right AfD party. The most likely coalition partner for Merz is the SPD party, led by outgoing chancellor Olaf Scholz, which was just effectively defenestrated after the coalition it led collapsed last year. Read more in this Die Zeit analysis translated from German by Worldcrunch.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Ukraine marks war’s third anniversary. Leaders from the European Union and Canada have gathered in Ukraine in a show of unity as Kyiv marks the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Russia sees no grounds to renew dialogue with Europe, hours after the EU agreed on a 16th package of sanctions against Russia. French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday to present the European plan for peace in Ukraine — followed by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday he was willing to resign if it meant peace in Ukraine, adding that he could exchange his departure for his country's entry into the NATO military alliance. Follow Worldcrunch’s international coverage of the war in Ukraine here.
• Merz's conservatives push for quick coalition talks after German election win. German conservatives under likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed on Monday to move quickly to try to form a coalition after winning the most votes in a national election that saw far-right and far-left parties gain support from disaffected voters. Meanwhile, Merz pledged to achieve “independence” from the United States amid doubts about U.S. President Donald Trump’s commitment to Europe’s security.
• Netanyahu says Israel won’t allow Syrian forces south of Damascus. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will not allow Syria’s new army or the insurgent group that led the ouster of former President Bashar al-Assad to “enter the area south of Damascus” as his government made clear Israeli forces would stay in parts of southern Syria for an indefinite period.
• Tens of thousands attend funeral for slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The former leader was killed in an Israeli attack in the southern suburbs of the capital, Beirut, last September. The public funeral, delayed for security reasons, was held on Sunday at Beirut’s Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium, which has a capacity of about 50,000 people.
• Pope Francis, in critical condition battling double pneumonia, had a "good" night in hospital. The 88-year-old pope was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital on February 14 after having trouble breathing for several days, and subsequently had pneumonia diagnosed in both lungs. The Vatican described his condition as critical for a second day on Sunday and that he had an "initial, slight insufficiency" in his kidney function that day. Should Pope Francis resign? Read this piece by Italian media La Stampa, translated by Worldcrunch into English.
• India and the UK will restart free trade talks on Monday. This comes nearly a year after negotiations were paused ahead of general elections in both countries. Jonathan Reynolds, the UK's business and trade secretary, is in Delhi, where he will meet his Indian counterpart Piyush Goyal to kick off the two-day discussions.
• News Quiz! Amazon has paid more than $1 billion to take creative control of a famous movie franchise. Which is it?
A. Star Wars
B. James Bond
C. Avengers
D. Alvin and the Chipmunks
[Answer below]
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
$52 billion
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba said today that it plans to invest 380 billion yuan ($52 billion) in infrastructure for cloud computing and AI over the next three years. The announcement came after ending the fourth quarter of 2024 ahead of expectations, with stocks rising 68% since the start of the year. It also marks another move in China’s AI progress, after TikTok parent company ByteDance earmarked 150 billion yuan for AI and the launch of DeepSeek’s large language model, which performs competitively with software like ChatGPT at a significantly cheaper price tag.
📹 ON THIS DAY VIDEO — 4 HISTORY-MAKING EVENTS, IN 57 SECONDS
➡️ Watch the video: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
📰 IN OTHER NEWS
🏳️🌈 In Syria, LGBTQ+ individuals are being stripped of their freedom, dignity and right to defend themselves. Only a few voices and organizations working in secrecy attempt to shed light on the violations against them.
— DARAJ
🗯️ A LEGO set has revived a heated debate on the inclusion of scientist Maria Skłodowska-Curie’s Polish maiden name and the Polish spelling of her name.
— GAZETA WYBORCZA
⛪ Thirty-five years ago, Yves Saint Laurent dressed a statue of Mary nestled in a small chapel between Neuilly and Paris. The haute couture icon was forgotten until the Metropolitan Museum of Art rediscovered it.
— LES ECHOS
📸 PHOTO DU JOUR
Solidarity protests across the world over the weekend marked the third anniversary of the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with protesters advocating for continued support of the country’s defense efforts after U.S. President Donald Trump denied Ukrainian and European leaders a seat at the negotiation table to find an end to the war. Today, a group of EU and world leaders are arriving in Kyiv for a summit to discuss negotiation strategies and possible security guarantees for once a deal has been met. — Photo: Marco Di Gianvito/ZUMA
📣 VERBATIM
“The Israeli regime hit a new low today.”
— Iran’s foreign ministry condemned an Israeli jet flyover during the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, Lebanon. Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli bombing last September, but the funeral was delayed over security concerns. Mourners numbered in the tens of thousands at the sports stadium south of Beirut as the Israeli jets flew overhead, a military action that Iran called illegal and meant to intimidate.
✍️ Newsletter by Emma Albright & Jake Shropshire
Let us know what’s happening in your corner of the world!
Quiz Answer: B. Amazon has paid more than $ 1billion for “creative control” of the James Bond franchise. Amazon MGM Studios said it had struck a deal with Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson, the longtime producers of the Bond films. Daniel Craig, the most recent actor to play Bond, offered his congratulations to Broccoli and Wilson on Friday. The actor Valerie Leon, however, a former “Bond girl”, raised concerns that 007 would not be British any more if Amazon was calling the shots.