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A giant helium balloon representing Grogu, the “baby Yoda” character in the Star Wars series The Mandalorian, floats on New York’s Sixth Avenue as part of Macy's Thanksgiving Parade.
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🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Ceasefire begins ahead of hostage release: The pause in fighting under the deal between Israel and Hamas began at 7 a.m. local time on Friday. At 4 p.m. (14:00 GMT) 13 women and children being held captive in Gaza are expected to be released, while 39 Palestinian prisoners are also going to be freed from Israeli jails. Also, a Hamas official has said that 200 trucks carrying aid and fuel will enter every day under the four-day ceasefire. Stay up to date with our latest coverage of the Hamas-Israel war.
• Violence in Dublin over knife attack: Violent clashes broke out in central Dublin on Thursday evening, with vehicles torched and riot police attacked by a far-right mob following a knife attack at a school in the Irish city. Thirty-four arrests were made during the rioting. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar says the full force of the law will be brought against those involved in violent disorder.
• Australian warship sails through Taiwan Strait: An Australian warship has sailed through the Taiwan Strait, the sensitive and narrow waterway that separates Taiwan from China, provoking a warning from Beijing. Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense did not name the ship in a statement released on Friday but said it entered the strait the previous day and sailed through in a southerly direction.
• Japan ordered to compensate wartime “comfort women”: A South Korean court has ordered Japan to compensate a group of women who were forced to work in military brothels during World War II. The 16 women, who were kept as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers, previously had their case dismissed. The Seoul High Court has now overturned the ruling.
• Oscar Pistorius granted parole: South Africa’s former Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius has been granted parole and is set to be freed from prison on Jan. 5, 2024, more than 10 years after being convicted for murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
• China trials visa-free travel for six countries while Venice limits visitors: China is beginning one-year trials of visa-free travel for citizens from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia, according to its foreign ministry. From December to November 2024, ordinary passport holders from these countries can do business or travel in China without a visa for up to 15 days. Meanwhile, Venice will trial an admission fee and a daily limit on visitor numbers in its overcrowded center from next April in order to manage the flow of tourists when visitor numbers are at their peak. For more, we offer this article from Italian daily La Stampa, translated by Worldcrunch.
• World’s biggest iceberg is on the move: The world's biggest iceberg is on the move after more than 30 years being stuck to the ocean floor. The iceberg, named A23a, split from the Antarctic coastline in 1986. But it swiftly grounded in the Weddell Sea, becoming an ice island. At almost 4,000 sq km (1,500 sq miles) in area, it's more than twice the size of Greater London. It was drifting away for the past year and now the berg is about to spill beyond Antarctic waters.
🗞️ FRONT PAGE
Dublin-based newspaper The Irish Daily Mail dedicates its front page to a night of riots in the Irish capital, which broke out after three school children and a woman were injured in a knife attack. The riots evolved from a demonstration held Thursday afternoon in support of the victims, with politicians warning against inflammatory misinformation and unfounded accusations that the attacker was a foreign national. All of the victims survived, but the woman and one of the children are in serious condition. Dublin police arrested 34 in relation to the violence.
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
$830
Pakistan is charging a $830 exit fee to undocumented refugees who want to leave the country. The move comes after Pakistan announced it would deport 1.7 million undocumented foreigners from the country if they did not leave by November 1. Most refugees are Afghans who fled Afghanistan when the Taliban retook power in 2021. Western diplomats and the UN have condemned Pakistan’s decision and called it “shocking and frustrating.”
🤓 WORLDCRUNCH MAGAZINE
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📰 STORY OF THE DAY
Giulia Cecchetin, how an Italian murder epitomizes 21st-century femicide
Cecchettin was allegedly stabbed to death by her ex-boyfriend in northern Italy, a murder case that has quickly turned into a political movement. The supposed motive is chilling in what it says about the current state of male-dominated society, reports Annalisa Camilli in Italian weekly magazine Internazionale.
✊ When Giulia's body was found at the bottom of a lake in the northern region of Veneto, with 20 stab wounds, Italians were not surprised, but they were fed up. Vigils, demonstrations and protests spread throughout the country: Giulia Cecchettin's death, Italy's 105th case of femicide for the year 2023, finally opened a breach of pain and anger into public opinion. But why this case, why now? It was Elena Cecchettin, Giulia's sister, who played a vital role. The 24-year-old university student turned private grief into a political movement.
♀️ "Filippo is not a monster; a monster is an exception, someone external to society, someone society should not take responsibility for. But here that responsibility exists," she said confidently, leaving everyone breathless. Elena Cecchettin narrated the violence done to her sister and exposed what should be obvious to all of us: femicides are the tip of the iceberg for the violence and oppression that affects millions of women everywhere in the world. It is something each woman knows and fears since birth.
⚖️ Italy's first female prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has promised a new law and more investments for prevention projects, while the Minister of Education and Merit, Giuseppe Valditara, has said that new guidelines will be approved to promote gender violence prevention in schools. However, feminist organizations have pointed out that in the last year, the funds allocated by Meloni's right-wing government for such activities have been reduced by 70%.
➡️ Read more on Worldcrunch.com
📣 VERBATIM
“The launch was an eye-opening event that [...] heralded a new era of space power.”
— During a visit to the national space agency, North Korean strongman Kim Jong-un commented on the DPRK's successful launch of its first-ever military spy satellite. Quoted by the state-owned news agency KCNA, Kim reportedly hailed the launch as “a full-fledged exercise of the right to self-defense.”
👉 MORE FROM WORLDCRUNCH
• A Reminder For Israel And Ukraine: Negotiating With Terrorists Never Works — UKRAINSKA PRAVDA
• Gaza And Ukraine, Two More Wars Of A World Still Addicted To Oil — AMERICA ECONOMIA
• Flexing Against Sexism: Meet The Women Bodybuilders Of Nepal — GLOBAL PRESS JOURNAL
✍️ Newsletter by Emma Albright, Valeria Berghinz and Anne-Sophie Goninet
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