👋 Konta!*
Welcome to Monday, where Gaza aid resumes after a break in the ceasefire, the search for Louvre jewel thieves is on and today’s quiz question comes from Catalonia. Meanwhile, Alix Lavoue for Paris-based daily Le Figaro looks at why French customers are falling out of love with traditional restaurants.
[*Yapese – Micronesia]
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🗞️ FRONT PAGE
French police continue their manhunt for the team of robbers who stole eight “priceless” pieces of royal jewelry from Paris’s Louvre museum in broad daylight on Sunday. Some 60 investigators are currently working on the case. Officials say the thieves appear to have been experienced and are possibly “foreign” nationals. French daily Le Parisien calls it “heist of the century.” The landmark museum will remain closed on Monday.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Ceasefire and aid to resume in Gaza after airstrikes kill 26. The Israeli military says a ceasefire in Gaza had resumed after it launched a wave of deadly strikes Sunday in retaliation for the killing of two soldiers by Hamas militants. Palestinians said 26 people were killed in the strikes, marking the most serious test yet of this month’s truce. Meanwhile, Israel’s Kerem Shalom border crossing to Gaza has reopened for aid. U.S. President Donald Trump said the ceasefire in Gaza is still in place as U.S. Vice-President JD Vance, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and adviser Jared Kushner are set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
• Zelensky ready to join Putin-Trump summit “if invited.” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said he is ready to join Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump at their upcoming summit in Hungary if he is “invited,” he told reporters in remarks released on Monday. Both leaders are set to meet in Budapest in the coming weeks as Trump continues to try to broker a peace deal to end the war. In a separate announcement, Zelensky announced Ukraine is preparing a contract to buy 25 Patriot air defense systems. More on the topic here.
• Ultraconservative Sanae Takaichi set to become Japan’s first female prime minister. Hardline conservative leader of Japan’s governing party Sanae Takaichi is on track to become the country’s first female prime minister, after her Liberal Democratic Party struck a deal with its new coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party.
• Trump hits Colombia with new tariffs amid drug trade feud. President Trump said Sunday that the U.S. will slash aid to Colombia and slap new tariffs on the country, escalating a feud that stems from the U.S. military’s strikes on vessels allegedly transporting drugs in the region. Earlier in the day, Trump said Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro does “nothing to stop” the production of drugs in his country and called him an “illegal drug leader.” For more, we offer this piece from Colombian daily El Espectador, translated from Spanish and adapted by Worldcrunch: The Pink Cocaine Plague Throws Colombia’s Drug War Off The Trail.
• Major AWS outage takes down dozen of apps and websites. Dozens of popular websites, online games and apps including Amazon, Fortnite, Snapchat and ChatGPT, are down due to an outage affecting Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS says it has “identified a potential root cause” and that it’s working to fix the problem. AWS, the tech giant’s cloud computing division, underpins millions of large companies’ websites and platforms.
• Centrist wins Bolivian presidency, ending nearly 20 years of leftist rule. Centrist senator Rodrigo Paz won Bolivia’s presidential election on Sunday, defeating conservative rival Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga with 54.5% of the vote. The victory of Paz, who had never been a nationally prominent figure until now, marks a historic shift for the South American country, which had been governed almost continuously since 2006 by the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party. Read more about the stakes of the election here.
• News Quiz! What has the Spanish town of Terrassa temporarily banned ahead of Halloween?
A. Carving pumpkins
B. Adopting black cats
C. Selling skeleton costumes
D. Mixing sangrias
[Answer below]
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
$4.7 billion
The luxury company Kering said on Sunday it has agreed to sell its beauty business to L’Oreal for 4 billion euros ($4.66 billion), in a major shift in strategy by new CEO Luca de Meo as he moves to tackle the luxury group’s high debt and refocus on its core fashion business. Under the deal, French beauty giant L’Oreal will acquire Kering’s fragrance line Creed, as well as rights to develop fragrance and beauty products under Kering’s fashion labels Gucci, Bottega Veneta and Balenciaga under a 50-year exclusive license.
📰 IN OTHER NEWS
🇮🇱 Israel’s post-hostage relief must not harden into absolution, but must be taken as a moment for accountability and a rethinking of coexistence.
— LA STAMPA
📲 A German woman’s vision of “racial purity” has grown into an international platform linking neo-Nazis, conspiracy theorists, and white nationalists in search of partners.
— DIE ZEIT
🍽️ Frustrated by rising prices and inconsistent quality, French consumers are turning away from traditional restaurants. From fast food to delivery, delis, and meal kits, alternative dining options have become a staple in their daily lives.
— LE FIGARO
✍️ Newsletter by Anne-Sophie Goninet & Emma Albright
Quiz Answer: B. The adoption of black cats from animal shelters has been temporarily banned until November 10 by the Spanish town of Terrassa in north-eastern Catalonia to prevent the animals from being harmed during potentially sinister “rituals” during Halloween. In Western culture, black cats are often associated with witchcraft and seen as bad luck.
Let us know what’s happening in your corner of the world!