👋 Aang!*
Welcome to Wednesday, where Joe Biden is set to speak publicly for the first time since pulling out of his election bid for a second term, the pilot is the only survivor of a plane crash in Kathmandu and Moscow’s mayor tries to lure new soldiers with cash. We also feature testimony from those crossing the Darién Gap, one of the most dangerous points on the Central American migration route to the United States, from Spanish-speaking online magazine Pikara Magazine.
[*Aleut, Alaska]
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🗞️ FRONT PAGE
Venezuelan daily El Periodiquito dedicates its front page Wednesday to the final rally of President Nicolas Maduro’s campaign for reelection, which he chose to hold in his home state of Aragua. Ruling the country since 2013, Maduro is seeking his third term in what is considered his most challenging presidential election as his opponent, candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, 74, has attracted significant support. Read more about how this election could be a milestone for Venezuela’s democracy, if Maduro allows it to unfold freely.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Protests break out in Washington ahead of Netanyahu address. The Israeli Prime Minister’s visit to the U.S. and planned speech to the Congress on Wednesday has sparked a flurry of protests in the nation’s capital. These included a sit-in at a congressional office building organized by Jewish Voice for Peace demonstrators, which ended with multiple arrests. More protests are expected as Netanyahu said he would “present the truth about our just war” during his trip.
• Kamala Harris attacks Trump over “fear and hate” in debut rally. The U.S. vice president has gone on the offensive against former president Donald Trump at her first campaign rally for the White House since replacing Joe Biden as the Democratic candidate. Speaking in the state of Wisconsin, Harris said she would “proudly put [her] record against his any day of the week.” Meanwhile, Biden is expected to address the nation from the Oval Office on Wednesday to explain his stunning decision to drop out of the presidential race. Read more about questions the rest of the world is asking about Kamala Harris in this Worldcrunch roundup: The World Wants To Know Who Is Kamala Harris — And If She Can Win.
• French president says he won’t name new government until after Olympics. Emmanuel Macron said he would maintain the current centrist caretaker government until the end of the Paris Olympic Games in mid-August to avoid “disorder.” This comes after the left-wing coalition New Popular Front (NFP), which makes up the largest group in France's parliament after recent elections, announced its preferred candidate for prime minister, Lucie Castets, a little-known civil servant.
• Plane crash in Nepal kills 18, pilot is lone survivor. A small plane crashed and caught fire while it was taking off from Nepal’s capital of Kathmandu on Wednesday, killing 18 people and injuring the pilot who was the only survivor of the fatal accident. Airport authorities have not been able to confirm the cause of the accident.
• World breaks hottest day record two days in a row. With global average surface air temperature rising to 17.15 degrees Celsius (62.6 degrees Fahrenheit), Monday, July 22 became the hottest day on record. This was 0.06 degrees higher than on Sunday which had just taken the title, reports the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
• Sudan’s paramilitary RSF agrees to participate in U.S.-mediated ceasefire talks. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, leader of Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said on Wednesday he was willing to explore avenues towards a “peaceful, negotiated political solution” after the United States invited the warring sides in Sudan to ceasefire talks in Switzerland on Aug. 14. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the war between the RSF and the military government since April 2023.
• North Korean trash balloons land on South Korea’s presidential compound. North Korea sent a 10th round of trash-carrying balloons across the tense inter-Korean border, with at least one reaching the South Korean leader's office, which is a designated no-fly zone. The South Korean Presidential Security Service said the balloons did not contain any dangerous materials.
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
1.9 million rubles
In an attempt to boost Russian troop numbers, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin introduced a record signing-on bonus of 1.9 million rubles (about $22,000) for new recruits from the capital to fight in Ukraine. The offer, which come as President Vladimir Putin struggles to find new recruits, also include a 5.2 million rubles ($59,600) income for the first year of service, one-time cash payments of about $5,690-$11,390 for injuries and a payment of $34,150 to families of soldiers killed in action.
📰 STORY OF THE DAY
Darién Gap: a migrant's journey through Central America they'll never forget
Antonio, Ibrain, Victoria, Lizeth, Xiomara and Zaira. All six have etched in their memory the people they were able to help and those they couldn’t while crossing the Darién Gap, one of the most dangerous points on the Central American migration route to the United States, reports Teresa Villaverde in Spanish-speaking online magazine Pikara.
🌎 The Darién Gap is one of the most dangerous points on the Central American migration route to the United States. “Nobody tells you what the jungle is really like. Even if they’ve been through it, nobody truly tells you what it is,” Ibrain says. “It’s when you reach the flag [marking the border with Panama] that the real jungle begins,” Antonio adds.
🇺🇸 Sitting with Antonio and Ibrain are Victoria from Colombia; Lizeth from Ecuador; and Xiomara and Zaira, two sisters from Colombia. No one wants to give their surnames. They are all between 28 and 32 years old. Each has left someone behind. Lizeth, Xiomara and Zaira left their children, to whom they will send money. They all want to reach the United States. “It took four days [to cross the jungle] because on the way we met a group that had seven children, so we helped them continue their journey, while they gave us food,” Zaira says.
📱 A quick search on social media with the hashtag #Darien shows countless videos of migrants crossing the jungle. The first results usually have the most sensationalist titles, and the tabloid-style journalism muddles the possibility of finding any useful information. Many people face this journey without proper clothing or footwear, without enough food. Agencies offer different types of packages to complete the journey. They offer trips as if it were tourism. “It’s continuous extortion,” says Victoria.
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📹 THIS HAPPENED VIDEO — TODAY IN HISTORY, IN ONE ICONIC PHOTO
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📣 VERBATIM
“This is a dark and sorrowful day in New Zealand’s history.”
— New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon reacted to the findings of a public enquiry which revealed that some 200,000 children, young people and vulnerable adults — nearly one in three — were abused in state and religious care between 1950 to 2019. “As a society and as a state, we should have done better, and I am determined that we will do so,” Luxon told a news conference. According to the report, the government is facing billions of dollars in fresh compensation claims.
✍️ Newsletter by Anne-Sophie Goninet and Laure Gautherin
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