Russian Influence Exposed, Record Thai Floods, New World Biggest City

💡 SPOTLIGHT

Climate crisis hits housing market — anatomy of a looming global financial crash

Sunset Boulevard is one of the world’s mythical streets. It used to run from Hollywood’s dream factory all the way to the dream homes of Pacific Palisades. Today, the first thing that stands out are the charred tree trunks. Then, at the entrance to Will Rogers State Park, a sign announces: “Closed for public safety.”

The real devastation became clear on an August visit only once you follow the boulevard up the hill. House after house has burned down to nothing. All that remains are foundations. The outline of a pool. The warped frame of a basketball hoop. In one yard, a luxury sports car has survived, completely blanketed in dust. Block after block, street after street, the scene repeats itself. In front of the few houses that are almost intact, signs read: “Valuables removed, nothing inside.” A warning to anyone tempted to loot what is left.

Last January, the largest fire disaster in Los Angeles history killed 30 people, destroyed more than 16,000 buildings, and caused up to a quarter of a trillion dollars in damage. What remains is a vast monument to the recklessness of building in high risk areas, and to natural disasters that are becoming more intense and more frequent. Monster storms like Hurricane Helene in Florida last year. Massive floods like those in southern Spain in 2024 or the Ahr Valley in 2021. And if climate change continues pushing this pattern, a major financial crisis is on the way.

The scenario runs like this: after repeated fires, storms, and floods, insurers pull out of high risk regions. Once homes can no longer be insured, new mortgages dry up. Owners are forced to sell, prices collapse, and existing loans go unpaid. Banks that issued the mortgages get squeezed. As the climate risks keep rising, more properties end up in foreclosure. At some point, financial markets can no longer absorb the shock.

There is already plenty of talk about possible crashes: the result of excessive investment in artificial intelligence, a boom in private lending, or hedge funds gambling with government debt. Those are crises born inside the financial system. A climate driven crash would be different. Global warming would strike directly at the global economy that caused it. And no one has any real idea how such a crisis could be contained. […]

— Read the full article by Uwe Jean Heuser for Die Zeit, translated from German and adapted by Worldcrunch.

🗞️ FRONT PAGE​​

Italian deputies have unanimously approved a law recognizing femicide as a distinct crime punishable by life imprisonment. Spurred by high-profile cases like the murders of Giulia Cecchettin or Martina Carbonaro, the measure expands penalties for gender-based violence, though critics argue it ignores deeper social and economic roots. Italy recorded 106 femicides in 2024, amid debates over sex-education reforms and prevention in schools. Milan-based daily Corriere della Sera marked the landmark vote by featuring stories of victims and testimonies from survivors of gender-based violence.

🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW

• U.S. envoy to meet Putin next week amid reports of Russian influence on U.S. plan. A senior Kremlin official confirmed Wednesday that U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week, as efforts to find a consensus on ending the nearly four-year war between Russia and Ukraine pick up speed. This follows a Bloomberg report on a leaked recording in which Witkoff appeared to advise a Russian official on how to appeal to Donald Trump, and a Reuters report that the U.S.-backed peace plan drew from a Russian-authored paper submitted to the Trump administration last month. Trump has defended Witkoff as doing the “standard thing.” Read more in this analysis by France Inter’s Pierre Haski: Can Europe And Kyiv Resist Washington’s Kremlin-Friendly Peace Plan For Ukraine?

• Israel hands over 15 more Palestinian bodies, launches operation in West Bank. Israel handed over 15 more Palestinian bodies, hospital officials in Gaza reported on Wednesday, the latest such exchange under the ceasefire as the first phase of the agreement nears its end. This comes a day after the remains of Israeli hostage Dror Or were returned. Hamas said it was determined to uphold its side of the agreement and return the last two remaining hostages in Gaza. Meanwhile, Israel’s military launched a new “counterterrorism” operation in northern parts of the occupied West Bank.

• Taiwan pledges extra $40 billion in defense spending to counter China. Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te announced a $40-billion supplementary defense budget on Wednesday for arms purchases, aimed at strengthening deterrence against China. The budget, spanning 2026-2033, will cover items including missiles and drones as well as the new “T-Dome” air defense system. This comes as “China’s threats to Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region are escalating,” Lai said. Beijing, which views democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory, has intensified military and political pressure over the past five years. For more, check this Conversation piece: From Taiwan Strait To Tasman Sea, China Flexes Its New Military Muscles.

• Bolsonaro starts serving 27-year prison sentence for Brazil coup plot. Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro began serving his 27-year prison sentence for leading a coup attempt three years ago, following an order from the country’s Supreme Court on Tuesday. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ruled that the case had reached its final judgement and that Bolsonaro would remain in custody after being preemptively arrested on Saturday. The 70-year-old was found guilty of leading a conspiracy aimed at keeping him in power after losing the 2022 election.

• Fire engulfs Hong Kong apartment blocks, killing at least four. Four people, including a firefighter, were killed and at least three others injured after a fire broke out at a residential estate in Hong Kong’s northern Tai Po district on Wednesday. The flames are believed to have spread across bamboo scaffolding, engulfing multiple high-rise buildings of the 2,000-unit housing complex currently undergoing renovation. The cause is yet to be determined as firefighters are still working to put out the blaze.

• Four more suspects arrested in connection with Louvre heist. French authorities on Tuesday announced the arrest of four more people in connection with last month’s spectacular daylight theft of precious jewellery from Paris’ Louvre museum. French media report that one of the suspects is the last remaining alleged member of the four-person gang who broke into the museum. The latest arrests follow charges brought against four others, though none of the stolen jewels have yet been recovered.

• News Quiz! A German civil servant and his wife have been arrested for allegedly embezzling more than one million euros in Germany’s southern town of Kempten. What did they steal the money from?

A. Recycling subsidies
B. A municipal fund for maintaining traffic lights
C. The local currywurst festival
D. Parking meters
[Answer below]

#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS

41.9 million

With 41.9 million inhabitants, Jakarta has become the world’s largest city, according to UN estimates. The Indonesian capital is followed by Dhaka in Bangladesh, home to 36.6 million people and projected to become the world’s largest city by 2050, while Tokyo fell from first to third place. With 32 million residents, Egypt’s Cairo is the only city within the top 10 to be located outside Asia.

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