💡 SPOTLIGHT

May '68 to Campus '24: the sublime realism of student protests

According to Egyptian poet Alaa Khaled, student protests in the universities in the United States and Europe are not only directed against the practices of Israel, and in solidarity with Palestine, but are an instinctive expression of the desires of young people lost in a nihilistic modern culture.

As pro-Palestine demonstrations have escalated in universities in the United States and Europe, we can feel the heart of the world beating again. A sense of hope has reemerged, telling us that it may be possible to not only find a new formulation of justice, but to imagine that we are meant to survive on this earth and must stop hating ourselves to the point of no return.

The young people free us from our embarrassment, allowing us to hear the voice that is absent from the world.

No matter how much our lives experience waves of consumption and deprivation, the world is always bound to bounce back in the form of restorations, sudden uprisings, and simply the desire for a better life.

This time, the heart is emerging in the so-called first world, the world of the developed, the exploiter, the colonizer. It acquires the integrity of pure devotion to the cause, regardless of its interest or the extent of harm it could cause to those students leading it.

In times of crisis, there is always someone who represents this pure part of life and imagination, and speaks with the depth and serenity of the voice that is absent.

Of course, there is no specific time or place where this heart was born. Perhaps it transcends the concept of time, and becomes one of the foundations of existence. [...]

— Read the full article by Alaa Khaled for Al-Manassa, translated into English by Worldcrunch.

🗞️ FRONT PAGE​​

Bratislava-based daily Denník N lends its front page to the assassination attempt to which Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico survived after being shot five times at close range on Wednesday. The 59-year-old politician is now in stable but “very serious” condition after five hours of surgery. Fico was shot while among its supporters in Handlova and a suspect has been detained. The Slovak government, which described the attack as a politically motivated assassination attempt, will meet with the state security council to discuss the incident.

🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW

• Xi Jinping pledged to work with Vladimir Putin to “rejuvenate” their countries. This comes as the Russian president starts a two-day state visit to Beijing on Thursday, where he is expected to discuss Ukraine, Asia, energy and trade with his Chinese counterpart. Xi, who is Putin’s most powerful political backer and fellow geopolitical rival of the United States, said China would “always be a good partner” of Russia. To read more about Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin’s relationship check out this recent piece.

• The U.S says its floating pier is anchored in Gaza and will be operational in days. Trucks are expected to begin moving the humanitarian aid ashore in the coming days, while the United Nations will coordinate distribution within the war-torn enclave. Read more about U.S. aid in Gaza from Daraj, translated from Arabic into English by Worldcrunch.

• A second gendarme was killed in New Caledonia on Thursday, as riots continue to shake the Pacific island country. The death was confirmed by France’s interior minister, who said it was "not a hostile shot" that killed the officer of the Gendarmerie law enforcement forces on Thursday. This came as a state of emergency went into effect on the French territory, which saw a third night of violent riots that have killed four people and led to hundreds of arrests.

• Geert Wilders agreed on Wednesday to deal with three other parties to form a Dutch coalition government. The breakthrough, which comes six months after the anti-Islam populist leader won the Dutch election, is set to form the most ring-wing government in the Netherlands in decades. In its government plan published early on Thursday, the four-party coalition says it will aim for the "strictest-ever asylum regime" with stronger border controls and harsher rules for asylum seekers that arrive in the Netherlands. Check this recent analysis about Geert Wilders’ place within the European Union, translated from French by Worldcrunch.

• Microsoft is asking some of its China-based staff to consider moving, amid fierce tech race and trade tensions. According to a Wall Street Journal report, the U.S. giant has asked 700-800 engineers specialized in machine learning and cloud computing to consider relocating outside of China, as the Biden administration seeks to limit Beijing's access to advanced chips and AI expertise, on grounds that they can be used to strengthen the country's military.

• European Court allows Belgium’s school headscarf ban. The European Court of Human Rights ruled on Thursday that students at Flemish secondary schools can wear headscarves during religion classes but have to remove them during other classes. The ban had been challenged by three young Muslim women, but the court stated the Flemish education prohibits the wearing of any visible religious symbol and upheld the ban.

• Parents in France are taking a stand against the closure of an academic department… by registering four sheep as students. The action was part of their protest against the closure of a department in Moselle due to a lack of students. Following the same procedures required for student registration, parents filled out registration forms for the four sheep (punnily named John Deere, Margaret Dubris, Phil Tondo and Valerian Deschamps) and submitted them to the municipality before sending them to the Ministry of National Education.

📰 STORY OF THE DAY

Recipe for the climate? The new cookbooks deliciously saving the planet

The story of food is a story of coexistence with nature and of memory. A publishing trend focuses on how the food we eat impacts the planet, and how we can find new recipes and ways of consuming food that are more climate conscious, reports Alba Correa in Spanish monthly paper magazine La Marea’s Climática media.

🍽️ The question of what we eat, how we cook, where our food comes from and whose hands come into contact with it — from its production to the moment it is served on the table — is a pertinent concern in the climate conversation. But it's also an infinite thread to pull on to discover all kinds of stories that have an obvious connection to our most everyday reality: the fact that we eat every day.

💬 "Eating is also a way of being in the world, there is a lot of posturing in the world of gastronomy, and there are great gurus who sell only big phrases with nothing inside," says publisher Aurelia Duchemin, who warns of the vampirization of terms such as sustainability. "Talking about what we eat, how we eat or how we live is portraying the world we are in; reading and contrasting ideas is the only way to see clearly or, at least, to confirm whether what we do is coherent or not."

✊ Broadly speaking, there is an increasingly-aware audience, connected to the environment and conscious of the different social struggles, says Claudia Polo, known on social networks as @soulinthekitchen, who regrets the gap that still exists between discourse and collective action. "These conversations at the social level are important to then move on to action, but a little more is missing — a mobilization, to put commitments into practice," she says,

➡️ Read more on Worldcrunch.com

#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS

128

Thousands have been evacuated in Canada as the country is currently battling 128 active fires, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center. More than 1,000 wildfires have burned an estimated 336,000 hectares since January, putting 2024 on track to surpass last year as Canada’s most intense fire season ever.

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

➡️ Watch the video: THIS HAPPENED

📣 VERBATIM

“We are grateful for the initiative of our Chinese colleagues and friends to regulate the situation.” 

— During a state visit to Beijing, Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping for China's efforts to mediate the Ukraine conflict. Xi emphasized hopes for European peace and pledged to play a constructive role. The leaders signed a joint statement to deepen their strategic partnership, showcasing China's support amid Western sanctions on Russia.

📸 PHOTO DU JOUR

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is carried on a stretcher from a helicopter to a hospital in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, after being shot multiple times in what has been called a “politically motivated assassination attempt.” — Photo: News Agency Of The Slovak Republic/Xinhua/ZUMA

👉 MORE FROM WORLDCRUNCH 

• Georgia, Moldova, North Macedonia: How Russia Tries To Seep Into Europe At The Edges — FRANCE INTER

• With "Spiral" Of Sudanese Civil War, Refugees Take Perilous Desert Route To Egypt — DARAJ

• Inside The "New" Notre Dame, Stained Glass As Contemporary Art— LES ECHOS

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