Bondi Beach Terror, Key Week For Ukraine, Word Of The Year

💡 SPOTLIGHT

Fast fashion feedback? Why clothing recycling is less green than you think

In a warehouse on the outskirts of Sabadell, Spain, dozens of workers from the Fundación Formación y Trabajo (Training and Work Foundation) are busy sorting through an endless stream of used clothing: cotton shirts, sequined dresses, polyester sweaters, children’s jeans. Each garment represents, in theory, a small gesture of solidarity and sustainability: a donation to “close the loop” of fast fashion.

But the pace is frantic, the warehouses are full, and most of these garments “will end up in packages that will be sent abroad,” says Albert Alberich, founder of the Caritas social cooperative specializing in textile recycling Moda Re.

“The sheer volume is enormous, Europe simply does not have the sorting capacity to process it,” he adds. In fact, the amount of used textiles exported from European Union countries has almost tripled in the last two decades, reaching 1.26 million tons in 2024, according to the latest official data.

The European Waste Framework Directive, which came into force this year, requires member states to establish selective textile collection systems. It is one of the pillars of the European Green Deal and the Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles, which seeks to reduce the sector’s environmental footprint.

In practice, however, the system is showing its seams. What was supposed to be circularity has often become a controversial detour: an increasingly unseen flow of tons of clothing leaving Europe to be sorted, resold, or simply stored thousands of miles away — and in working conditions that often violate international labor law standards.

This nine-month collaborative investigation based on exclusive trade data and customs documents, original carbon footprint analysis, and geolocation using Samsung SmartTags reveals how the European vision of textile circularity has partially become a new climate burden. A flow feeds an opaque, carbon-intensive trade that stretches thousands of miles and, in some cases, even returns to Europe. […]

— Read the full article by La Marea, translated from Spanish and adapted by Worldcrunch.

🗞️ FRONT PAGE​​

“Bondi Terror” was the headline on The Sydney Morning Herald today, after two men, identified as a father and son, killed at least 15 people at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Police said the older suspect held a valid firearms license and multiple registered weapons. As the country reels from its deadliest mass shooting in almost 30 years, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced plans to tighten gun laws, including tougher licensing rules, limits on gun ownership, and a national firearms register. Meanwhile, as world leaders expressed shock, sympathy and solidarity, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu criticized Albanese over Australia’s recognition of a Palestinian state, saying it “pours fuel on the antisemitic fire.”

🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW

• Ukraine peace talks stretch into second day, EU expected to cement support for Kyiv. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky will resume talks with U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoys in Berlin on Monday after a five-hour meeting Sunday, as diplomatic efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine increase. Zelensky indicated that Kyiv is prepared to drop its long-held ambition of joining NATO in exchange for Western security guarantees, but rejected the U.S. push for ceding territory to Russia. Meanwhile, European leaders are set to continue a series of high-level meetings in the German capital throughout the day, amid Washington’s pressure for the sides to swiftly accept a U.S.-brokered peace deal.

• Hong Kong pro-democracy tycoon Jimmy Lai convicted on conspiracy charges. The High Court of Hong Kong has found pro-democracy campaigner and media tycoon Jimmy Lai guilty of colluding with foreign forces and publishing seditious articles under the city’s controversial national security law. The 78-year-old former Apple Daily founder, who has been in jail since December 2020, faces life in prison and is expected to be sentenced early next year. Human rights groups slammed the verdict delivered on Monday, calling it a miscarriage of justice. From the Worldcrunch vault is this piece from The Initium, translated from Chinese: Death Of Apple Daily, What It Really Means For Hong Kong.

• Far-right José Antonio Kast wins Chile’s presidential election. Chile has elected the far-right wing José Antonio Kast to be its 38th president on Sunday, replacing the center-left government currently in power. Kast secured more than 58% of the vote in his third attempt at running for president, defeating the governing left-wing coalition candidate Jeanette Jara. This marks Chile’s sharpest rightward shift since the end of the military dictatorship in 1990 and the latest win for the resurgent right in Latin America. Read more in French analyst Pierre Haski’s latest piece: Pinochet’s Shadow And Chile’s Choice Of José Antonio Kast.

• Louvre museum to stay closed as workers go on strike. Workers of the Louvre have voted in favor of a strike over pay and working conditions, forcing the world’s most-visited museum to remain closed on Monday. This marks a fresh blow for the vast Paris institution as it struggles with the fallout of an October jewel heist and recent infrastructure problems including a water leak that damaged ancient books.

• Police investigate deaths of Hollywood director Rob Reiner and wife. Los Angeles police have launched an investigation into the deaths of Hollywood filmmaker and actor Rob Reiner and his wife Michele as an “apparent homicide.” Both were found dead in their LA mansion with what appeared to be stab wounds on Sunday afternoon. Reiner, 78, is known for directing classic films including The Princess Bride, This is Spinal Tap, When Harry Met Sally, Misery and A Few Good Men.

• At least 37 killed after flash floods hit Morocco’s Safi. Flash floods triggered by torrential rains have killed at least 37 people in Morocco’s Atlantic coastal province of Safi, authorities reported on Monday. Search and rescue operations are underway, while schools have been closed for three days.

• News Quiz! Which Christmas-linked world record was broken over the weekend in Washington D.C.?

A. Largest eggnog cup
B. Most kisses under the mistletoe
C. Fastest gift wrapping
D. Biggest Santa beard
[Answer below]