👋 Hei!*
Welcome to Thursday, where the U.S. resumes aid delivery to Gaza through its floating pier, Vladimir Putin arrives in Vietnam after signing a defense pact with North Korea, and Just Stop Oil activists go after both Stonehenge and Taylor Swift. Meanwhile, Katya Alexander in Russian independent media Vazhnyye Istorii focuses on how Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, is trying to return to normal life amid intense shelling.
[*Norwegian]
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🗞️ FRONT PAGE
“Ecuador in the dark,” laments Expreso on its front page, after the country was hit by a nationwide power outage due to electrical grid failure on Wednesday. The daily refers to the event as “The blackout that exposes the fragility of the electrical system.” Ecuador suffered widespread blackouts earlier this year because of droughts that decreased the power generation capacity of hydroelectric reservoirs — a situation made worse by the generalized lack of investments in the electric grid over the past years, according to energy Minister Roberto Luque. “The candles are back,” writes Expreso.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Israel pounds central Gaza camps. Israeli forces shelled areas in central Gaza overnight, killing three people and wounding dozens of others while tanks deepened their invasion into Rafah in the south. Meanwhile, the U.S. military's floating pier in Gaza is expected to resume operations on Thursday to unload needed humanitarian aid for Palestinians. Read this piece published by Arabic media Daraj about how U.S. humanitarian aid may do more harm than good.
• Head of Lebanon's Hezbollah threatens Israel and Cyprus. The head of Lebanon's Hezbollah said that nowhere in Israel would be safe if a full-scale war breaks out between the two foes, and also threatened EU member Cyprus for the first time as well as other parts of the Mediterranean. Hezbollah has been trading fire with Israel for more than eight months in parallel with the war in Gaza. Read more about the possibility of an all out war between Israel and Hezbollah in this piece, translated from French.
• Russian President Putin visits Vietnam. Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a state visit to Vietnam on Thursday that he wants to strengthen strategic ties. Putin said Moscow and Hanoi wanted to build what he called a reliable security architecture in the Asia-Pacific region. He also said Russia was looking to expand investment in energy in Vietnam. The Hanoi visit followed the signing of a mutual defense agreement with North Korea, during Putin’s stop in Pyongyang..
• South Africa MP suspended for racist language. The Democratic Alliance (DA) has suspended an MP after an old video resurfaced online of him using violent racist language against black people. Renaldo Gouws initially insinuated it was a doctored video and denied it, but a statement issued by the DA on Thursday said it was “genuine and not a fake.”
• Canada lists Iran's Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group. This comes after years of pressure from opposition legislators and some members of the Iranian diaspora. Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc called it a “significant tool in fighting global terrorism.” The move means that thousands of senior Iranian government officials, including top IRGC officials, will be barred from entering Canada. Read more about Iran’s relationship with other countries in the middle east in this piece from London-based, Iran media Kayhan London.
• Illegally brewed liquor kills at least 34 in India. Dozens more have been hospitalized after drinking illegally brewed liquor in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The liquor was believed to be laced with methanol.
• Tasmania entices winter tourists with “odd jobs” offer. The Australian island state is offering people the opportunity to swap their job for an unusual temporary role during the off-season. Paranormal investigator, wombat walker and stargazer are among the 10 jobs being advertised. While the positions are unpaid, successful applicants will have all their expenses, including travel, food and hotels, covered by the Tasmanian Tourist Board.
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
$24.8 billion
The families of the victims of two deadly Boeing 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 have demanded that the American aerospace multinational pay $24.8 billion for what they called “the deadliest corporate crime in U.S. history.” In a 32-page letter to the U.S. government, the families also asked for prosecution of the company managers. The two accidents, which led to a combined 346 fatalities, were caused by faulty flight control systems which Boeing installed by misleading regulators. In a previous settlement to a 2021 case, the U.S. company pledged to adopt measures to prevent similar circumstances in the future, but the U.S. Justice Department identified a violation of the settlement last month when a panel flew off a 737 MAX plane, a circumstance that might reopen the case.
📰 STORY OF THE DAY
Kharkiv diary: Desperately seeking normality as shelling multiplies
This spring, Kharkiv has been under almost daily shelling. Yet cafes, beauty salons, theaters and shops are still open in Ukraine's second-largest city, and residents are spending time in parks, jogging and maintaining elements of a normal life, reports Katya Alexander in Russian independent media Vazhnyye Istorii.
☕“People come to us for coffee and for good feelings. All of us work to create an atmosphere so people can forget about the war for at least half an hour. We are constantly speaking with people: you sit down, chat about nothing much, and life becomes easier,” says Daria Luchko, who is in charge of promoting the Kharkiv coffee shop Red Coffee. In 2022, the coffee shop suffered heavy shelling. The owners restored it, but then closed it in 2023 before reopening it this year.
🤝 The Kharkiv residents have become very close during the war, Daria says. “We have a lot of regular customers for whom our cafe has become a part of their life, and they try to help us. During blackouts, regular visitors would come and offer to buy us a generator so we could continue to work. When our umbrella in the street tore open, the neighbors came to help sew it up.”
💪 Daria has no plans to leave the city. “Our roads are being cleaned, flowers are being planted, cafes and shops are open — life is in full swing. I am proud of everyone here who finds the strength to do their job every day and continue living. There is nothing that can break us anymore. Those of us at the coffee shop aren’t afraid of anything. We believe in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and will continue to fight for the city. The war began in a single day and will end in a single day.”
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📹 THIS HAPPENED VIDEO — TODAY IN HISTORY, IN ONE ICONIC PHOTO
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📣 VERBATIM
“Only pirates do this.”
— Filipino authorities compared the Chinese Coast Guard to pirates after it attacked a national resupply vessel with knives and spears on June 17. The accident happened as the Filipino vessel attempted to resupply sailors on the Sierra Madre ship, which the Philippines grounded back in 1999 on the Second Thomas Shoal, a reef located in one of the most highly disputed areas in the South China Sea, the Spratly Islands. “Only pirates board, steal, and destroy ships, equipment, and belongings,” said Chief of Staff of the Philippines Armed Forces General Romeo Brawner. The Spratly Islands are only one of many territories that China and other countries in the region claim. Chinese land claims in the South China Sea have been judged “without legal foundation” under international law by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in a legal dispute brought up by the Philippines in 2016. China described the ruling as “null” and “void,” therefore refusing its legitimacy.
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