💡 SPOTLIGHT

What the failed Congo coup reveals about anti-Western sentiment in Africa

A failed coup attempt in the Democratic Republic of Congo saw the unusual involvement and arrest of U.S. fighters, but it is part of a growing anti-Western sentiment throughout the continent, writes Christian Putsch, a German reporter covering Sub-Saharan Africa.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, opposition politician Christian Malanga, who most recently lived in the United States, has just paid for an amateurish coup attempt with his life. With just a few dozen comrades-in-arms, he attempted to storm President Felix Tshisekedi's seat of government on Sunday night — broadcast live on Facebook.

But the palace was largely empty. The men, armed only with machine guns, shouted their slogans in the empty salons ("Felix, we will get you"), but were overpowered by the Congolese army after two hours. An attack on the house of one of Tshisekedi's confidants was also unsuccessful; he — like the president — remained unharmed.

Two policemen and four attackers were killed, along with Malanga himself. He was "neutralized" when he resisted arrest, an army spokesman announced on state television. A total of 50 coup plotters were arrested, including three U.S. citizens.

In the face of this "atypical" African coup, here are four key questions to help understand the current context of the region and the geopolitical forces at play. [...]

— Read the full article by Christian Putsch, translated into English by Worldcrunch.

🗞️ FRONT PAGE​​

Paris-based daily Libération dedicates its front page to French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to New Caledonia during which he addressed severe unrest following the announcement of plans to extend voting rights to non-indigenous residents. The riots have resulted in six deaths, hundreds of injuries, and extensive property damage. Despite deploying over 1,000 French troops and police, violence persists with ongoing arson in the capital, Noumea. Macron aims to restore order and address both reconstruction and political issues, while tourists are being evacuated and security forces work to remove roadblocks. France Inter commentator Pierre Haski has asked if Russia may have a hand in the unrest in the South Pacific.

🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW

• Norway, Ireland and Spain announced plans to recognize an independent Palestinian state. Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere says he hopes the move helps push the parties toward a peace deal. European Union members Slovenia and Malta have also indicated in recent weeks that they plan to make a similar announcement, arguing a two-state solution is essential for lasting peace between Israel and Palestine. Read more about the two-state solution in this Daraj article, translated from Arabic. 

• Iran’s supreme leader presides over funeral for the country’s president and foreign minister after crash. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led prayers at Tehran University, where caskets carrying the dead were draped in Iranian flags. President Ebrahim Raisi died alongside Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and six others in a helicopter crash near the border with Azerbaijan. For more about what President Ebrahim Raisi’s death will mean to the Middle East, read more here.

• A member of Bangladesh’s governing party has been found murdered in Kolkata. Anwarul Azim Anar, from the Awami League party, went missing on May 13, a day after going to India to seek medical treatment, according to his relatives. Bangladeshi Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told reporters that three Bangladeshis had been arrested over the death.

• One passenger died and 71 people were injured by turbulence in a flight from London to Singapore. The head of Singapore Airlines has apologized after the Tuesday flight was forced to make an emergency landing in the Thai capital Bangkok. More than 140 passengers and crew from a Singapore Airlines flight finally reached Singapore on a relief flight on Wednesday. 

• Vietnam’s parliament has approved public security minister To Lam as the country’s new president. This comes after the country’s major anti corruption campaign forced his predecessor to resign. In line with the one-party state’s usual procedures, the National Assembly voted unanimously on a resolution that approved 66-year-old Lam’s election after a secret ballot in which he was the only candidate for the job. 

• Russia's top arms control diplomat dismissed a statement by the United States that Russia had launched a weapon into low-Earth orbit. The U.S. said they believed the satellite was capable of inspecting and attacking other satellites. The Kremlin has denied allegations by U.S. officials that Moscow is developing a space-based anti-satellite nuclear weapon.

• Artwork made from collected human hair has gone on display at a Nottingham gallery. Fine Art undergraduate at Nottingham Trent University, Jessica Lewis, collected hair from her friends and salons to create three installations of different tresses. Lewis, 21, had been living in a house with three other girls where she said hair was “everywhere” so she made it the center of her exhibition.

📰 STORY OF THE DAY

Lisbon postcard: parking spaces and the dilemma of modern mobility

The construction of parking spaces is an obligation in new urban building projects. But increasing the supply of parking in the city center doesn't necessarily improve mobility. It may be just the opposite, reports Frederico Raposo in Lisbon-based news website Mensagem.

🚘 At a time when traffic levels in Greater Lisbon are already above pre-pandemic levels, the creation of hundreds of new parking spaces may, on the contrary, be deepening car dependency and jeopardizing the city's goals for reducing car use. According to experts, it could be a mistake to keep increasing the parking supply: more places to leave your car could actually mean more traffic and more reasons to take the car.

🏘️ Compulsory parking limits the construction of affordable housing. The consequences of imposing minimum parking requirements may be limiting the construction of affordable housing and the construction of alternative housing solutions to the conventional model, which today combines housing with parking. In the midst of the housing crisis, the requirement to build parking is making projects more expensive, which in turn is driving real estate developers towards the luxury segment.

📈 In a study published in 2021, carried out in the U.S. city of San Francisco, researcher and professor of urban planning at the University of California, Adam Millard-Ball, concluded that the existence of parking in residential buildings has an influence on car ownership. In other words, parking not only affects the increase in the price of construction, but also traffic and the decision to own a car.

➡️ Read more on Worldcrunch.com

📹 THIS HAPPENED VIDEO — TODAY IN HISTORY, IN ONE ICONIC PHOTO

➡️ Watch the video: THIS HAPPENED

#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS

$28,417

A single feather from the extinct New Zealand huia bird set a world record, selling for NZD$46,521.50 ($28,417) at Webb's Auction House. The feather surpassed the previous record for the same species by 450%. The huia bird, sacred to the Māori people, was last confirmed seen in 1907. The auctioned feather was in excellent condition and is protected under New Zealand law, restricting its sale to licensed collectors.

📣 VERBATIM

“This is an obvious escalation against NATO and the EU.” 

— Russia has unilaterally decided to change its maritime borders with Lithuania and Finland in the Baltic Sea, according to a decree from May 21. This move aims to adjust the geographic coordinates around the Gulf of Finland and areas near Kaliningrad Oblast, claiming previous coordinates were outdated. Lithuania and Finland have not yet responded, and the changes are not internationally recognized. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis condemned the action as an escalation against NATO and the EU, calling for a strong response. Here’s a Die Welt piece earlier this year about how the Baltics are building new defenses to prepare for a possible Russian invasion.

📸 PHOTO DU JOUR

Tens of thousands of Iranians gathered in Tabriz, the capital of the country's East Azerbaijan province, to mourn President Ebrahim Raisi and seven members of his entourage who were killed in a helicopter crash in northwestern Iran. The procession will then head to Tehran; Raisi’s body will eventually be taken to his hometown of Mashhad for burial. — Photo: Iranian Presidency/ZUMA

👉 MORE FROM WORLDCRUNCH 

• ICC Arrest Warrants: The Demise Of Netanyahu — Or The ICC? — FRANCE INTER

• Far Right Of Europe: Why It's Surging In France, And Stalling In Germany — LES ECHOS

• Pray, Work, Diversify: When Monasteries Shift To The Gospel Of Business To Survive — ETHIC

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