👋 Buna Ziua!*
Welcome to Wednesday, where Ukraine says Russia has entered the central region of Dnipropetrovsk, Donald Trump’s 50% tariffs on India have kicked in, and today’s quiz question is about a New Zealand snail named Ned. Meanwhile, writing in Colombian daily El Espectador, Fernando Araújo Vélez argues the true father of the Magic Realism literary genre may not be who you think.
[*Moldovan]
✅ SIGN UP
This is our daily newsletter Worldcrunch Today, a rapid tour of the news of the day from the world’s best journalism sources, regardless of language or geography.
It’s easy (and free!) to sign up to receive it each day in your inbox: 👉 Sign up here.
🗞️ FRONT PAGE
Belgium newspaper La Libre dedicates its front page to a meeting on the Wallonia region’s “wolf plan,” which will be held Thursday in Oudsbergen. This comes after a wolf appears to have struck again on Tuesday in Meeuwen, a locality in the municipality of Oudsbergen, where two ponies were fatally bitten. Three other ponies survived the suspected wolf attack. They are the latest animals to be attacked by a wolf in recent summer weeks.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Ukraine says Russia has entered key region of Dnipropetrovsk. Any Russian advance into Dnipropetrovsk would be a blow to Ukrainian morale, as the U.S.-led diplomatic bid to bring the war to an end appears to be flagging despite President Donald Trump’s meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday night that he was making progress in talks with European and U.S. partners on designing potential security guarantees for Ukraine should the war be brought to a close. Read more: How Putin Has Cornered Himself Into A Forever War In Ukraine
• U.S. 50% tariffs on India take effect. The United States has doubled tariffs on many imports from India to 50%, as U.S. President Donald Trump followed through on his threat to punish New Delhi for buying discounted Russian oil. The steep tariffs, which came into force on Wednesday, risk inflicting significant damage on the Indian economy by threatening trade with its largest export market.
• Israeli tanks close in on Gaza City, Trump to chair meeting. Israeli tanks pushed into a new area on the edge of Gaza overnight, destroying houses and prompting residents to flee. This comes as U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to chair a meeting on Gaza at the White House on Wednesday. U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, who announced the meeting, said that Washington expected Israel’s war in the Palestinian territory to be settled by the end of the year. Follow Worldcrunch’s international coverage of the war in Gaza here.
• Denmark summons top U.S. diplomat over alleged Greenland influence operation. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen has summoned the top U.S. diplomat in Copenhagen, following a report that American citizens have been conducting “covert influence operations” in Greenland. Denmark’s public broadcaster DR quoted sources as saying the aim was to infiltrate Greenland’s society and promote its secession from Denmark to the U.S.
• Venezuela deploys warships, drones to coast as U.S. naval squadron nears. Venezuela’s defense minister says military vessels and drones will be sent to patrol the country’s coastline amid growing tension with the United States after Washington deployed warships to waters off Venezuela to fight drug trafficking.
• South Korea bans phones in school classrooms nationwide. South Korea has passed a bill banning the use of mobile phones and smart devices during class hours in schools, becoming the latest country to restrict phone use among children and teens. The law, which comes into effect from the next school year, in March 2026, is the result of a bi-partisan effort to reduce smartphone addiction, as more research points to its harmful effects.
• News Quiz! Ned, a garden snail recently discovered in New Zealand, has sparked a nationwide campaign to find him a mate. What rare anatomical challenge makes it difficult for Ned to reproduce?
A. He is cross-eyed.
B. He is 12 times the size of a normal snail.
C. His shell spirals to the left.
D. He smells of garlic butter.
[Answer below]
📣 VERBATIM
“Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.”
— Pop star Taylor Swift announced her engagement to American football player Travis Kelce, in a five-picture Instagram post, signed off with a fire cracker emoji and the caption “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.” Tuesday’s post by the happy couple, who have been together for two years, has been “liked” more than 18 million times on the social media platform.
📰 IN OTHER NEWS
🇷🇺 With resources poured into the fight, allies watching, and propaganda framing it as a struggle against the West, President Vladimir Putin has locked Russia’s foreign policy into a war Moscow cannot afford to lose.
— DIE ZEIT
🇬🇧 The UK Ministry of Defence has paid more than £8 million in compensation to survivors of child sexual abuse by military personnel since 2017. Military police now face allegations of cover-ups and failures to properly investigate cases, raising fresh questions about accountability.
— OPENDEMOCRACY
📚 Realism, 19th-century Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky believed, must be but a tool to reveal a bigger, “hidden” and even implausible realities of earthly existence. The notion was expanded on a century later, far away in South America.
— EL ESPECTADOR
✍️ Newsletter by Emma Albright
Quiz Answer: C. Nearly all common garden snails have shells that coil to the right, but Ned the snail’s left-spiralling shell results in reversed reproductive organs, which is a barrier to mating. The rare snail was found by illustrator and author Giselle Clarkson while she was digging up vegetables. New Zealand Geographic magazine launched a national campaign to find Ned a mate, urging people to rummage around their gardens and parks for left-coiled snails, and asks anyone who is lucky enough to find one to get in touch.
Let us know what’s happening in your corner of the world!