February 18-19
- Colliding on Google Maps
- Pharrel ft. Louis Vuitton
- Earthquake lessons for Colombia
- … and much more.
OUR WEEKLY NEWS QUIZ
What do you remember from the news this week?
1. Two female national leaders resigned in recent days. Moldova’s Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita and …?
2. Who went to China in what was his country’s first state visit in 20 years?
3. What shape was the flying object shot down by the U.S. military at the border with Canada (the fourth such “UFO” in a little more than a week)? Square / Round / Pentagonal / Octagonal
4. What has the city of Amsterdam decided to ban from its famous Red Light district?
[Answers at the bottom of this newsletter]
TRENDING
Barcelona-based content creator Pol Torrent was playing a nice little game of GeoGuesser — a popular online game where you have to guess where a random Google Street View location is situated — when he stumbled upon an accident between a motorist and the Google Car, in Senegal. The dramatic find has garnered some 4 million views already, as Pol Torrent was live streaming his gaming session on Twitch. Although the aftermath of the collision is still unclear, Google has since removed the images from its Google Maps service.
5 CULTURE THINGS TO KNOW
• Part of new Bansky artwork removed: Margate’s council, in southeastern England, has removed part of a new Bansky artwork, just hours after the artist confirmed it was genuine. The artwork, called Valentine’s Day mascara, depicts a 1950s woman victim of domestic violence who appears to have shoved her partner into a freezer. The council removed the freezer, adding it will be returned “once it has been made safe.”
• In memoriam: David Jolicoeur, founding member of seminal hip-hop trio De la Soul, has died at the age of 54. In South Africa, one of the country’s most popular rappers, AKA, was shot dead outside a restaurant. Hollywood actress and model Raquel Welch, who starred in One Million Years B.C. and The Three Musketeers, has died at 82 after a short illness.
• Findings on probe into Pablo Neruda’s death: Forensic experts say they have evidence that Chile’s acclaimed poet Pablo Neruda and Nobel laureate may have been killed by poisoning with a powerful toxin. That follows decades of suspicions that Neruda, who was a fierce opponent of the recently installed Pinochet regime, was murdered. The official version had stated that his death in 1973 was from prostate cancer and malnutrition.
• Pharrell Williams to be Louis Vuitton’s next men’s creative director: U.S. musician, record producer and designer Pharrell Williams has been named as Louis Vuitton’s new men’s creative director. He will succeed Virgil Abloh, who died in 2021. Williams’ first collection will debut in June, during Men’s Fashion Week in Paris.
• BTS’ Suga goes solo: Suga, member of K-pop supergroup BTS, announced the start of his first individual tour in April. The tour will take him to the U.S., Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and Seoul.
️ Please Mr. Musk, don’t pull the Starlink plug
Tech billionaire Elon Musk has long been considered one of Ukraine’s key supporters, but he has just announced restrictions on the Ukrainian military’s use of his Starlink satellites. In this article for Die Welt, Ibrahim Naber spoke to soldiers on the front lines in Bakhmut who are already feeling the effects.
Read the full story: Elon Musk, Here’s What Unplugging Starlink Means For Ukrainians On The Front Line
Can Colombia learn from the Turkey-Syria disaster?
Colombia has a history of earthquakes, yet many of its buildings are not designed to withstand even moderate tremors. As Turkey and Syria reel from disaster, will other countries around the world learn any lessons?
For Colombian daily El Espectador, Héctor Abad Faciolince explains his country’s relationship with earthquakes.
Read the full story: Earthquake Warnings And Risky Buildings, From Turkey To Colombia’s Ring Of Fire
The toll of living in an “atomized” society
Personal empowerment is a modern social value that fuels loneliness, anxiety and depression. The remedy for those is not pills or “programs,” but kindness and sociability. In this op-ed for Argentine daily Clarin, Daniel Scarfo unpacks our society’s individualistic penchants, talks about escapism — and gives you plenty to talk to your therapist about.
Read the full story: Fear And Sadness: The Price Of Our Atomized Society
BRIGHT IDEA
Because of logging and bushfires, many endangered species of animals in Australia have been losing their habitat. But conservation biologist Matt Stephens came up with a solution: Hollowhog, a tool to create a hollow in trees in less than an hour, and help homeless fauna find a lasting habitat.
SMILE OF THE WEEK
A pigeon. Doing backflips. That’s it. You’re welcome.
THIS HAPPENED VIDEO — TODAY IN HISTORY, IN ONE ICONIC PHOTO
➡️ Watch the video: THIS HAPPENED
LOOKING AHEAD
• Feb. 24 will mark one year since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine: U.S. President Joe Biden will travel to Poland to meet with President Andrzej Duda while the UK government announced a national one-minute silence Friday.
• U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is expected to travel to Greece on Feb. 20 and 21 to meet his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, to discuss defense strategies and energy security.
• Featuring varied genres, from traditional Korean to electronic music, the inaugural edition of the Korea Improvised Music Festival in Seoul, kicks off on Feb. 22, with the express aim to break down the boundaries of music genres.
News quiz answers:
1. After more than eight years at the head of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon has announced her surprise resignation, saying she felt she couldn’t “give this job everything it demands and deserves for another year.”
2. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was welcomed by Xi Jinping, the first state visit to China by an Iranian leader in more than 20 years, as both countries are looking to cement trade ties and reinforce investment cooperation.
3. U.S. military fighter jets shot down an octagonal object over Lake Huron, at the border with Canada. It was the fourth flying object to be downed over North America in a little more than a week, though U.S. President Joe Biden said there were no signs that the latest objects represented a threat.
4. It will soon be illegal to smoke cannabis in the streets of Amsterdam’s red light district according to a new city regulation. The laws will come into effect from mid-May and aim to improve liveability for residents who have long complained of disruption caused by tourists.
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*Photo: Dan Bambridge Higgins