Gaza Questions, Mexico Landslide, Swift Record

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🗞️ FRONT PAGE​​

French daily Libération, like many newspapers around the world, devotes its front page to “the day after,” as Israeli hostages were reunited with their families following more than two years in Hamas captivity. Their release marked the first phase of a U.S.-brokered plan aimed at ending the war in Gaza, which also included the freeing of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW

• Fragile Gaza ceasefire, questions over return of dead hostage bodies. The tenuous ceasefire in the two-year Israel-Hamas war was mostly holding Tuesday, though Reuters reported that Israeli forces opened fire, with at least six Palestinians killed. Other complex issues remain ahead, a day after the return to Israel of the last 20 living hostages held in Gaza and the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange. The list of more immediate questions includes those on when Hamas will return to Israel the bodies of the 28 hostages believed to be dead in Gaza. Read about the conditions of Palestinians detained in Israel, in this piece by Francesca Mannocchi for Italian media La Stampa.

• Zelensky to visit Washington seeking long-range weapons. Russian forces launched powerful glide bombs and drones against Ukraine’s second-largest city in overnight attacks, hitting a hospital and wounding seven people, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky prepared to travel to Washington and ask U.S. President Donald Trump for more American military help.

• U.S., China roll out tit-for-tat port fees. The United States and China on Tuesday began charging additional port fees on ocean shipping firms that move everything from holiday toys to crude oil, making the high seas a key front in the trade war between the world’s two largest economies. 

• Cameroon’s Issa Tchiroma Bakary claims presidential election victory. Tchiroma made the statement in a nearly five-minute speech posted to social media early on Tuesday. Although official channels have not declared results, he urged long-term incumbent, 92-year-old President Paul Biya, to call him to concede.

• ​​Google to invest $15 billion to build AI data hub in India. Google’s parent company Alphabet will invest $15bn to build an AI data hub in southern India’s Andhra Pradesh state. The facility, which will be set up in the port city of Visakhapatnam, is going to be a part of Google’s global network of AI centers spread across 12 countries.

• Venezuela to close Norway embassy after opposition leader wins Nobel Prize. Venezuela says it will close its embassy in Norway, just days after Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was announced the winner of the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. The Norwegian foreign ministry called the decision “regrettable.”

• News Quiz! Taylor Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl” broke the record for the highest first-week album sales. Which album did it surpass?

A. Adele – 25
B. Beyoncé – Renaissance
C. Michael Jackson – Thriller 
D. Spice Girls – Spice

[Answer below]

📣 VERBATIM

“I was forced to find a safe place to protect my life.”

— Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina said he had fled the country in fear for his life following a military rebellion but did not announce his resignation. Rajoelina has faced weeks of Gen Z-led anti-government protests, which reached a pivotal point on Saturday when an elite military unit joined the protests and called for the president and other government ministers to step down. That prompted Rajoelina to say that an illegal attempt to seize power was underway.

📰 IN OTHER NEWS

🇮🇱 After the hostages’ release, will Israelis see Benjamin Netanyahu as the man who weakened Iran and its allies, or as the person responsible for the security failure of October 7? The answer will largely determine the future of the Gaza agreement and the state of Israel’s relations with the world.
— FRANCE INTER

🌳 Tobacco farming in Uganda has resulted in the loss of trees key to the diets of chimpanzees and baboons, increasing human-primate interactions — and the risk for disease spillover.
— GLOBAL PRESS JOURNAL

👪 When partners differ in their wish for children, research shows it often results in imbalanced responsibilities, hidden power struggles, and lasting strain.
— DIE ZEIT