Worldcrunch
👋 Håfa adai!* Welcome to Thursday, where airstrikes and shootings kill at least 94 Palestinians in Gaza overnight, South Korea revises governing martial law rules, and today’s quiz question asks what’s on the menu aboard the International Space Station. Meanwhile, Tarek Ismail for Daraj draws a dictatorial parallel between Donald Trump and late Libyan strongman […]
👋 Goeie!* Welcome to Tuesday, where dozens of NGOs and charities call for the controversial Israeli and U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to be shut down, Thailand’s prime minister is suspended over a leaked phone call and our daily quiz question involves an emotional rollercoaster for Norwegians. Meanwhile, Rabea Weihser for German weekly Die Zeit explores […]
👋 ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ* Welcome to Thursday, where Iran’s nuclear sites are reported to be “severely damaged,” Gaza mediators are intensifying ceasefire efforts, and our daily quiz question is related to a very old discovery from a Polish cave. Meanwhile, Inma Mora Sánchez for Ethic outlines the issues surrounding women’s self-esteem, from the housewives’ awakening of the […]
The’ “hell” continues in Gaza, with no explicit explanation of Israel’s goals. U.S. President Trump’s success in swiftly ending the missile exchanges between Israel and Iran could now be extended by pressuring the Israelis to find a solution to the Palestinian question, which is vital to progress in the Arab world. What will Trump do?
👋 Сайн уу* Welcome to Tuesday, where Israel orders new strikes on Iran as it says Tehran violated a ceasefire announced by Trump, NATO leaders meet Tuesday in The Hague, and today’s quiz question comes from under the sea. Meanwhile, Gazeta Wyborcza’s Anna S. Dębowska tells the story of the Polish influencer suing Netflix for […]
June 20 – July 3, 2025
👋 Salü bisàmme!* Welcome to Tuesday, where Israel and Iran trade more strikes as Trump says he is “looking at better than a ceasefire,” Russian airstrikes kill at least 14 in Kyiv, and tourists in Ibiza are scared to answer today’s quiz question. Meanwhile, Pauline Castellani in French daily Le Figaro takes a deep whiff […]
As he launches the unprecedented attacks against Iran, much seems to be going Netanyahu’s way, from the decimation of both Hamas and Hezbollah leaders to the toppling of the Assad regime and softening of Gulf states. But a closer look shows a much more ambiguous picture across the region.
Six centuries after the Arab world’s greatest philologist traced a cultural fault line between Bedouins and urban Arabs, that same divide echoes in today’s Middle East conflicts — from ISIS and al-Nusra to Gaza’s shifting alliances.
Five countries have imposed sanctions against the two most important far-right ministers in Israel’s Netanyahu government — Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Internal Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir — a first that marks the deterioration in relations between Israel and its allies. But with the Trump administration standing behind Netanyahu, little can be actually be done.
Beyond the immeasurable horror for the people of Gaza, the war is also seeing a rise in hatred against Israelis, and Jews. Netanyahu says he wants to defend Israel, but is instead exposing his nation and all Jews to contempt and isolation.
Neither Israel nor Hamas has any interest in declaring victory or defeat. Yet, as a moral obligation, Hamas must preempt the Israeli mission and agree to withdraw from Gaza.
👋 Saluton!* Welcome to Wednesday, where Trump doubles steel and aluminium tariffs, South Korea’s new president is sworn in and our quiz question takes you to one of Amsterdam’s iconic museums. Meanwhile, for Daraj, Iman Adel tells us the story of Laila Soueif, the mother of a jailed British-Egyptian activist who has been on a […]
👋 Yumalundi!* Welcome to Tuesday, where Israeli forces kill at least 27 Palestinians in another deadly confrontation near a food distribution site in Gaza, Mount Etna erupts, and we’ve got one sour quiz question for you. Meanwhile, for La Stampa, Stefano Stefanini looks at Ukraine’s recent long-range drone strike deep inside Russia — and what […]
As famine grips Gaza under Israel’s blockade, drones drop cartons of cigarettes and hookah tobacco into the Strip. Lebanon-based journalism platform Daraj investigates the perverse profiteering that thrives in war zones, exposing how tobacco continues to flow even as food and medicine are denied.
A new horror during food distribution in Gaza comes, with the warring parties digging in their heels at the expense of the population. Only the White House has the weight to impose a truce. Why is it waiting?
As Berlin and Tel Aviv mark a diplomatic milestone, the relationship born out of pragmatism, guilt and survival faces its toughest questions yet — especially amid war, protest and growing calls for criticism.
Egypt has tried again to reaffirm its historic regional role by condemning Israel’s war in Gaza. But Cairo’s economic weakness, and reliance on Israel and the Gulf countries, ultimately leave its hands tied.
Sources say Hezbollah is in such dire financial shape, as Israel and Lebanon are successfully cutting off funding from Iran, it puts the organization at existential risk.
There may be plausible explanations for the delay in international reactions to the tragedy in Gaza. But in the past two months of killing and blockades, the tide has turned.
The Kurdish PKK’s historic decision to lay down its arms is just the latest sign that armed struggle has not lived up to its promises of liberation, and now appears to be on its last breaths across the region.
May 23 – June 5, 2025
Amid the ruins of Gaza City, women gather in a hair salon not to escape war, but to reclaim fragments of life, beauty, and selfhood. In a city scarred by loss, they color sorrow with dye, memory, and quiet defiance.
👋 Talofa!* Welcome to Thursday, where a suspect is in custody after a shooting in Washington, D.C., killed two Israeli embassy staff, a White House meeting between South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Donald Trump goes awry, and today’s quiz question asks what piece of advice the Netherlands has against cyber crime. Meanwhile, as the […]
A growing number of Israelis oppose the ruthless war in the Gaza Strip and fear their country’s international isolation. Increasing criticism from Europe is fueling this sentiment, which, for now, has not stopped Benjamin Netanyahu from escalating the conflict.
👋 A jaaraama!* Welcome to Tuesday, where the UK, France and Canada warn Israel over its Gaza offensive, the coup trial of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro opens and our daily quiz question takes us to Paris’ most famous cemetery. Meanwhile, Jędrzej Słodkowski for Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza shines a light on the lesser known […]
Netanyahu has resumed limited food aid to Gaza for “diplomatic reasons.” Meanwhile, the Israeli army continues its offensive to take control of the entire territory, and the West’s diplomatic weakness is glaring.
The Israeli army has imposed itself as the most powerful in the region in the wars waged since Oct. 7. But this military hegemony does not come with any political solution: This is Netanyahu’s weakness at a time when Trump is visiting the wealthy princes of the Gulf.
The West’s treatment of Pro-Palestinian protesters has shattered the image of democracies as bastions of free expression. But the West’s contradictions hold lessons for the Arab world.
U.S. President Donald Trump is on a Gulf tour that is adding to Israel’s worries about its strongest ally: the U.S. has negotiated the release of an American hostage with Hamas, and a ceasefire with the Houthis, without involving Israel.
Israel is brutally asserting its plans to reoccupy Gaza and the “voluntary” expulsion of its inhabitants. France is attempting to make a modest counterpoint, in part by receiving Ahmed al-Sharaa the president of the Syrian transition.
The citizens of Gaza have borne the consequences of not only the Israeli occupation but the authoritarian rule of Hamas for nearly 20 years. Is it finally reaching a breaking point?
What’s happening today in Gaza goes beyond the bounds of human suffering, a complete eradication of dignity. The humiliation and despair has now reached a point where the living are forced to pay money for the right to bury their dead.
In Gaza, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) — which collect, store, analyze, manage and display geographic data — are helping various organizations to distribute aid, track patterns of violence and destruction, and preserve collective memory.
The Israeli army deliberately issues repeated warnings — whether through leaflets dropped from planes or digital statements on social media — calling on Gaza residents to “move to safe areas.” By now, experience has shown that these areas are often later targeted by airstrikes.
France may recognize the State of Palestine as early as June, President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday. It marks a clear hardening of the French position, and a possible return to the country’s “Arab policy” of a generation ago.
The Israeli account of the deaths of 15 Palestinian aid workers is contradicted by a video. But that won’t change anything in this war that follows no rules. In this context, Emmanuel Macron is in Egypt, but this rare diplomatic initiative is unlikely to carry much weight for now.
Gazans who had long sought to leave the enclave are suddenly getting permission, but now they’re wondering why. It may be the first step to fulfill the idea proposed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump to clear out the territory of its Palestinian inhabitants.
Hours before he was killed in an Israeli airstrike, 23-year-old journalist Hossam Shabat filed an article with Drop Site News describing Israel’s scorched-earth campaign in his hometown of Beit Hanoun. His editor Sharif Abdel Kouddous shares his thoughts, and we share Shabat’s final piece.
The documentary by a Palestinian-Israeli collective satisfies multiple and divergent audiences at the same time, and has been met with critical success. But the film never evokes the idea that there is another land for Palestinians: that of historic Palestine.