👋 Dumela!*
Welcome to Friday, where Russia and Ukraine meet for direct peace talks for the first time since 2022, new Israeli strikes kill at least 64 in Gaza, and today’s quiz question gives us a glimpse of the 2028 Olympic Games. Meanwhile, Le Figaro’s Iman Benotmane looks at how Japan has become a global hub for secondhand luxury goods.
[*Tswana, Botswana and South Africa]
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🗞️ FRONT PAGE
Romanian daily România liberă lends its front page to the 2025 presidential showdown between Bucharest mayor Nicușor Dan and George Simion, leader of the far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), highlighting the stark contrast between the pro-EU centrist and the nationalist as Romania faces a defining choice. Following the annulment of the 2024 elections, a new decisive round is set for this Sunday.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Russia-Ukraine mid-level talks go ahead, as Trump pushes Putin meeting. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he wants to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin “as soon as we can set it up,” as delegations from Moscow and Kyiv are meeting in Istanbul for their first direct meeting on the war in Ukraine since 2022. Trump’s push for a face-to-face meeting comes after the Russian leader decided to skip the negotiations. The U.S. president suggested that significant progress in peace talks was unlikely until he and Putin met in person. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has joined European leaders for a one-day summit in Albania’s capital Friday to discuss security and defense challenges across the continent.
• At least 64 killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza. Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip on Friday killed at least 64 people, as Palestinians in the north report that Israel has launched a large-scale ground, air and sea assault. This marks the most extensive ground assault on northern Gaza since Israel resumed its offensive in early March, the BBC reports. This comes as U.S. President Donald Trump wraps up his Middle East visit that skipped Israel and offered no prospect for a truce in the enclave. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. was “troubled by the humanitarian situation there,” voicing openness to any new ideas to bring aid into Gaza after a U.S.- and Israeli-backed plan drew criticism. Read more about the situation in Gaza in this reportage translated from Arabic by Worldcrunch.
• China’s Global Times calls for extension of 90-day tariff truce. The tariff truce agreed by the United States and China during trade talks in Switzerland last week “should extend far beyond a mere 90-day period,” China’s state-backed Global Times said on Friday. This comes as U.S. President Trump hinted at new global tariff terms during a business roundtable in Abu Dhabi, saying his top trade negotiators plan to contact about 150 countries with information on new tariff rates. Check this Die Zeit analysis translated from German by Worldcrunch: Trump’s Greatest Miscalculation? China Had Been Preparing For A Trade War For Years.
• India-Turkey tensions rise amid travel boycott calls. Following public calls to boycott travel to Turkey, India has started severing links with Turkish businesses and universities, barring Turkish firm Celebi from operating at its airports on Thursday, citing national security concerns. Tensions between the two countries have soared since Ankara voiced its support for Pakistan during the recent India-Pakistan hostilities and after reports emerged of Turkish drones being used by Pakistan against India.. Several Indian universities have also suspended academic ties with Turkish institutions.
• Gabon’s ousted leader released. Former Gabon leader Ali Bongo Ondimba and his family arrived on Friday in Angola’s capital Luanda after he was released from detention. Bongo, whose family ruled Gabon for 55 years, was ousted in a 2023 military coup and placed under house arrest in the capital Libreville. Gabon’s new leader, Brice Oligui Nguema, was elected president in April with nearly 95% of the vote. From the Worldcrunch vault, here is a piece from French analyst Pierre Haski on the recent coup d’état in Francophone Africa.
• Peru arrests suspect in miner killings in Colombia. Peru’s interior ministry announced Thursday that authorities arrested the main suspect in the kidnapping and murder of 13 gold miners in Peru. Miguel Antonio Rodriguez Diaz, also known by the alias “Cuchillo” (Knife) was detained in the Colombian city of Medellin and is due to be extradited back to Peru. The burned bodies of 13 missing gold miners had been found in early May after being reported as kidnapped by illegal miners allied with criminal armed groups, putting the spotlight on increasing violence provoked by a gold rush in the country’s northern Pataz district.
• News Quiz! Los Angeles has announced that a new special service would be put in place for spectators of the 2028 Olympic Games. What is it?
A. Holographic broadcast
B. AI-powered crowd cheers
C. Selfie drones
D. Flying taxis
[Answer below]
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
$13.6 million
A new record auction price for a living female artist has been set by Marlene Dumas. The South African-born, Dutch-based painter achieved it at the Sotheby’s New York sale Thursday night, with her 1997 portrait Miss January — her magnum opus — standing 9.25 feet tall. The sale marks a watershed moment in the art market, dominated for so long by male artists.
📰 IN OTHER NEWS
🇶🇦 While the Qatari-owned media has pushed Arabs in the U.S. to protest against Israel and American bias toward it, Doha has warned its citizens against doing the same.
— DARAJ
💸 As pressure mounts to divvy up Germany’s largest infrastructure fund in decades, the new chancellor must resist scattershot spending and steer the country toward high-tech transformation.
— DIE ZEIT
👜 In Tokyo and Osaka, secondhand shops specializing in luxury goods are multiplying, attracting an international clientele in search of rare pieces.
— LE FIGARO
📣 VERBATIM
“May 25 will be a huge defeat for the regime because it will find itself absolutely alone.”
— Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has called for a boycott of the upcoming May 25 legislative elections, urging citizens to reject what she describes as a fraudulent process orchestrated by the Maduro regime. By promoting mass non-participation, Machado seeks to delegitimize the vote and highlight the government’s growing political isolation.
✍️ Newsletter by Anne-Sophie Goninet & Rein Arnauts
Quiz Answer: D. LA2028, the committee charged with planning the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, announced it has partnered with Archer Aviation to provide an air taxi service during the event, allowing spectators to escape the city’s notorious traffic. Flying taxis were supposed to debut in the Paris Games last year, but were not certified by Europe’s air safety agency in time. Similarly, Archer Aviation hopes to be certified by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration this year.
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