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Bertrand Hauger

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Photo of a window pane with water droplets reflecting Facebook's thumb up logo, with one big thumb down in the background
eyes on the U.S.

Eyes On U.S. — California, The World Is Worried About You

As an Italian bestseller explores why people are fleeing the Golden State, the international press also takes stock of unprecedented Silicon Valley layoffs. It may be a warning for the rest of the world.

-Analysis-

For as long as we can remember, the world has seen California as the embodiment of the American Dream.

Today, this dream may be fading — and the world is taking notice.

A peek at the Italian list of non-fiction best-sellers in 2022 includes California by Francesco Costa, a book that looks to explain why 340,000 people moved out of the state last year, causing a drop in its population for the first time ever.

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Why are all these people leaving a state that on paper looks like the best place in the world to live? Why are stickers with the phrase “Don't California my Texas” attached to the back of so many pick-up trucks?

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Photo of Ukrainian soldiers prepare a tank for combat in the fronlines of Bakhmut
FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

Blood Of Bakhmut: Why Both Sides Are Ready To Die For A Deserted City In Donbas

Fighting has been fierce for the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. What is the price of a victory that is, above all, symbolic?

-Analysis-

PARIS — The name of Bakhmut will go down in history as one the fiercest, most contested battles in the Ukraine war. Fighting has been raging for weeks, in this city of the Donetsk region, in eastern Ukraine's Donbas. The toll of victims is rising considerably.

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What’s at stake today is less strategic than symbolic — which is not a trifling thing in this type of conflict. There is something about Bakhmut that’s reminiscent of World War I, where men die to conquer a house or a neighborhood only to lose it again the next day. The weapons, of course, differ: 21st-century drones, geo-location, missiles.

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How Trump’s Legal Troubles Look In Places Where Presidents Get Prosecuted
eyes on the U.S.

How Trump’s Legal Troubles Look In Places Where Presidents Get Prosecuted

-Analysis-

What do South Korea, Taiwan, Israel, Italy, France, Portugal, and Iceland all have in common? They’re all wealthy democracies that have charged and prosecuted former heads of state or heads of government for criminal acts committed while in office.

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Photo of a classic marble statue representing three women hugging, part of Russia’s short-lived Queer Museum
Russia

LGBTQ+ International: Russia’s Short-Lived Queer Museum, Italy’s Gender-Neutral Toilet — And Other News

Welcome to Worldcrunch’s LGBTQ+ International. We bring you up-to-speed each week on a topic you may follow closely at home, but can now see from different places and perspectives around the world. Discover the latest news on everything LGBTQ+ — from all corners of the planet. All in one smooth scroll!

This week featuring:

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photo of Senegal President Macky Sall coming out of his airplane
eyes on the U.S.

Eyes On U.S. — When African Leaders Go To Washington, China Is In The Room

-Analysis-

Some 100 of the most important political eyes in Africa aren’t turned towards the U.S. this week — they’re in the U.S. For the first time in eight years, the White House is hosting 49 African heads of state and leaders of government (and the Senegalese head of the African Union) for a U.S.-Africa summit. Not invited: any nation that has recently undergone a military putsch, or otherwise not in good standing with the African Union, like Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, and Sudan.

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Photo of a man working at the Hyundai car plant in Cangzhou City.
eyes on the U.S.

Eyes On U.S. — How White House Climate Action Could Spark A Global Trade War

-Analysis-

When the U.S. Congress passed the Biden administration’s landmark "green" spending bill in August, environmentalists around the world saw it as a very strong — and long overdue — step in the right direction on climate change.

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Third Drone Attack Inside Russia — Are We Entering New Phase Of War?
In The News

Third Drone Attack Inside Russia — Are We Entering New Phase Of War?

Russian commentators are asking if Ukrainian forces have the means and will to strike Moscow itself.

A drone strike at an airfield in Kursk, Russia on Tuesday appears to confirm a significant escalation of Ukraine’s war effort following two similar attacks the previous day deep inside Russian territory.

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"As a result of a drone attack, an oil tanker caught fire near Kursk airfield," Kursk Gov. Roman Starovoit said on Telegram early Tuesday. "There were no casualties. The fire is being localized."

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Russia Pounds Ukraine, Mongolia Coal Protests, AI Chatbot Record
In The News

Russia Pounds Ukraine, Mongolia Coal Protests, AI Chatbot Record

👋 བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས།*

Welcome to Tuesday, where Russia has launched its eighth large-scale wave of airstrikes on Ukraine, anti-government protesters try to storm Mongolia's State Palace and an AI-powered chatbot wins over a million humans in record time. Meanwhile, Francesca Mannochi for Italian daily La Stampa reports on the dramatic situation in Somalia, hit by unprecedented drought.

[*Tashi delek - Tibetan]

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Three Dead In Ukraine's First-Ever Attack On Russian Air Bases
In The News

Three Dead In Ukraine's First-Ever Attack On Russian Air Bases

Reports of Ukraine's possible use of kamikaze drones deep inside Russian territory.

Updated 11:45 p.m.

Separate explosions Monday morning at two different Russian air bases, which have killed at least three and injured eight, have demonstrated that Ukraine has the capacity to use drones to attack targets deep inside Russia.

Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage.

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Russian state media reports that a fuel tanker exploded early Monday in an airfield near the city of Ryanza, southeast of Moscow, killing three and injuring six people. Another two people are reported to have been injured in another morning explosion at the Engles-2 airbase in the Saratov region, farther to the southeast.

Later Monday, both Russian and Ukrainian government sources confirmed that the attack was carried out by Ukraine, a major escalation in Kyiv's war effort.

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A colorful LGBTQ protest taking place in Thailand, many people are gathered wearing colorful clothes and waving flags
LGBTQ Plus

LGBTQ+ International: U.S. Protects Same-Sex Marriage, Thailand’s Second Pride — And Other News

Welcome to our new exclusive weekly round up of LGBTQ+ news from around the world.

Welcome to Worldcrunch’s LGBTQ+ International. We bring you up-to-speed each week on a topic you may follow closely at home, but can now see from different places and perspectives around the world. Discover the latest news on everything LGBTQ+ — from all corners of the planet. All in one smooth scroll!

This week featuring:

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Vladimir Putin “Open To Talks” — If U.S. Changes Its Tune
In The News

Vladimir Putin “Open To Talks” — If U.S. Changes Its Tune

The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin was open to negotiations, adding that the possibility of talks would be hampered by the United States’ refusal to acknowledge annexed Ukrainian regions as being part of Russia.

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“The United States still does not recognize new territories as part of the Russian Federation, and this complicates the search for common ground for negotiations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said yesterday during a regular call with journalists. “The most preferable way to achieve our interests is through peaceful, diplomatic means,” Peskov added.

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Top European Leader Pushes Xi Jinping To Use His Influence On Putin
In The News

Top European Leader Pushes Xi Jinping To Use His Influence On Putin

European Council Chief Charles Michel used much of his face-to-face meeting Thursday in Beijing with Xi Jinping to urge the Chinese President to use his sway over Russian President Vladimir Putin “to end the war and to respect the sovereignty of Ukraine.”

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Michel’s visit was the first official trip to Beijing by a top EU leader since the pandemic. The three-hour sit down (considered quite long for Xi) also included discussion of human rights, Taiwan, trade relations and climate change.

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