👋 ନମସ୍କାର*
Welcome to Friday, where Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky heads to the White House after a Trump-Putin phone call, Israel and Hamas accuse each other of violating the Gaza truce and today’s quiz question comes from Hollywood. Meanwhile, Heike Buchter and Thomas Fischermann for German weekly Die Zeit examine whether the fast growing private credit market could trigger the next global crash.
[*Namaskār – Odia, India]
✅ 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
French-speaking daily L’Express de Madagascar dedicates its front page to the transition of power in Madagascar as Col. Michael Randrianirina was sworn in as the country’s new leader on Friday. The army colonel’s ascent to the presidency came just three days after he announced that the armed forces were taking power in the Indian Ocean island, forcing President Andry Rajoelina to leave Madagascar. Randrianirina said the island will be run by a military council with him as president for between 18 months and two years before planned new elections.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Zelensky heads to White House. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet with Donald Trump in Washington on Friday, as the U.S. president cast new doubt on whether he was ready to sell long-range Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv. The meeting comes a day after Trump said “great progress” was made during a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine, with the pair agreeing to meet in Hungary within the next two weeks.
• Israel, Hamas trade blame on truce violations as aid enters Gaza. Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating the peace agreement, deepening uncertainty over whether the truce can last long enough to move towards the next phase of the plan. This comes as the UN said on Friday it would take time to reverse a famine in Gaza, after its World Food Programme brought around 560 tons of food per day since the U.S.-brokered ceasefire began.
• One dead in Peru protests, state of emergency in Lima. Peru’s new government announced on Thursday that a state of emergency will be declared in the capital Lima, after widespread protests overnight left one dead and dozens injured. The youth-led demonstration was the latest in a series of protests against corruption and rising crime, which led to the dramatic ouster of former President Dina Boluarte last week.
• Venezuela asks UN Security Council to deem U.S. strikes illegal. Venezuela’s UN ambassador Samuel Moncada condemned a series of U.S. strikes in the Caribbean on Thursday and asked the UN to “investigate” the strikes to “determine their illegal nature.” U.S. officials say the strikes are targeting suspected drug traffickers but Moncada accused the U.S. of targeting “civilian vessels transiting international waters.”
• Bomb attack targets Italian investigative journalist’s home. An explosive device destroyed the car of Sigfrido Ranucci, one of Italy’s leading investigative journalists, outside his home in Pomezia, south of Rome, his TV news show Report announced Friday. There were no casualties but the investigative series said in a statement the blast “was so strong that it could have killed anyone passing by at the moment.” Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her solidarity with Ranucci and condemned what she called a “serious act of intimidation.”
• KISS founding member Ace Frehley dies at 74. Paul Daniel “Ace” Frehley, co-founder and lead guitarist of the legendary rock band KISS, has died at the age of 74 following injuries suffered during a fall last month, his family said on Thursday. Frehley — better known as “Space Ace” or “Spaceman” — had joined Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and Peter Criss to form KISS in New York City in 1973 and performed on the band’s first nine albums.
• News Quiz! Which famous Hollywood actor revealed that, early in his career, his manager asked him to change his name — and so for a brief time, he went by “Chuck Spadina”?
A. Timothée Chalamet
B. Joaquin Phoenix
C. Benicio del Toro
D. Keanu Reeves
[Answer below]
📣 VERBATIM
“Hungary is almost the only pro-peace country.”
— Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán celebrated the upcoming talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin which are expected to be held in Budapest within the next two weeks. Orbán, a close Trump ally and considered Putin’s closest partner in the European Union, said on Friday Hungary’s capital city was “essentially the only place in Europe today where such a meeting could be held” and that his country was the only one which “has consistently, openly, loudly and actively advocated for peace” since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
📰 IN OTHER NEWS
🇨🇳 China is now wielding a U.S.-style extraterritorial law on rare-earth trade. It has tilted the balance of power in its favor, but rattled global markets and left the rest of the world caught in the crossfire.
— FRANCE INTER
📈 A week of record highs flipped to panic with new China tariff talk, exposing fragile nerves as experts warn that a fast growing $2.2 trillion private credit market with light oversight, risky PIK structures, and bank and insurer exposure could turn the next shock into a chain reaction.
— DIE ZEIT
🎵 From Spotify playlists to algorithm-driven hits, streaming platforms and financial pressures are turning pop into a uniform, predictable sound.
— THE CONVERSATION
✍️ Newsletter by Anne-Sophie Goninet
Quiz Answer: D. Keanu Reeves revealed on the New Heights podcast that early in his career, his Los Angeles manager encouraged him to change his name. “My middle name is Charles, so I thought, ‘Chuck?’ And I grew up on a street called Spadina,” the Matrix and John Wick star recalled.
Let us know what’s happening in your corner of the world!