👋 Ẹ n lẹ!*
Welcome to Tuesday, where Israel says it has recovered the bodies of six hostages from Gaza, the search continues for British tycoon Mike Lynch and five other missing passengers of a superyacht that sank off the coast of Sicily, and stargazers are treated to the first in a series of rare supermoons. Meanwhile, in Italian daily La Stampa, Matteo Borgetto analyzes the “grapes of wrath” currently shaking Piedmont's Langhe vineyards.
[*Yoruba - Nigeria, Benin, and Togo]
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🗞️ FRONT PAGE
Catania-based daily La Sicilia lends its front page to the “wind of death” as it covers the sinking of a luxury yacht off the coast of the Italian island of Sicily early Monday. Twenty-two people were reportedly onboard, including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, when the superyacht encountered a heavy storm overnight. Fifteen people were rescued but Lynch, his 18-year-old daughter and four other passengers are still missing, as authorities continue their search. Nicknamed "the British Bill Gates,” Lynch co-founded the software company Autonomy, which was later bought by tech giant Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Israel agrees to a ceasefire proposal, says Blinken. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Israel has agreed to a proposal regarding the ceasefire being negotiated with Hamas. Bliken told reporters he had a “very constructive” meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister, and called Hamas to “say ‘yes’” in order to move forward with the process. In the Gaza Strip, Israel military said its forces had retrieved the bodies of six hostages in the Khan Younis area. According to IDF sources, 109 hostages are still being held by Hamas. For more on Israel and Hamas, we offer this piece by Pierre Haski for Le Nouvel Obs.
• Iran hacked Trump’s presidential campaign. U.S. intelligence agencies confirmed in a joint statement that Iran was behind the recent hack of Donald Trump’s campaign. Intelligence officials said the interference aimed to “stroke discord” and “undermine confidence” in the democratic system ahead of the November elections. Sources close to the investigation confirmed that Iranian hackers were also targeting Kamala Harris’ campaign.
• Day one of the Democratic National Convention. The first day of the DNC was marked by outgoing President Joe Biden’s keynote speech in support of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, while thousands of people gathered outside the United Center in Chicago to protest the Democratic Party’s foreign policy and support to Israel. Inside the center, speakers took the stage to express their support to Harris and spotlight the diversity of the party around the night’s theme: “For the people”. Read more on Kamala Harris and her campaign in this piece from La Stampa by Nicoletta Verna.
• North Korean soldier defects to South Korea. A North Korean soldier was picked up in the northeastern county of Goseong after crossing the border into South Korea on Tuesday, reports the Yonhap news agency. The defector, a staff sergeant, was taken into custody and questioned by South Korean military officials. This comes after a North Korean resident crossed the dangerous western maritime border to the southern country in early August.
• India’s top court creates national task force for doctors’ safety. The decision comes after the rape and killing of a 31-year-old trainee doctor in Kolkata, which sparked nationwide protests. The Supreme Court said the national task force will make recommendations on the safety of health care workers and ensure their protection across the country. India’s federal agency has been asked to investigate the assault, and a police volunteer has already been arrested. For more on India’s protests, we offer this piece by Indian news website The Wire.
• Australia and Indonesia sign “significant” defense pact. Australia and Indonesia signed a treaty-level defense cooperation agreement on Tuesday, “a vital plank… to support each other’s security,” said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Alabanese. Indonesia’s newly-elected President Prabowo Subianto expressed his desire for greater cooperation with Australia, as the countries share the world’s longest maritime boundary and already work together on a number of issues.
• Happy International Hawaiian Pizza Day! For more on the highly polarizing combination of ham, cheese and pineapple, we offer this recent essay by Worlcrunch’s cuisine lover Agnese Tonghini: The Final Word On Pineapple Pizza, From An Atypically Authentic Italian.
📹 THIS HAPPENED VIDEO — TODAY IN HISTORY, IN ONE ICONIC PHOTO
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📰 STORY OF THE DAY
An Italian winemaker speaks out about migrant workers exploited in the vineyards
Italian authorities have uncovered another story of caporalato gangmastering in Piedmont's Langhe vineyards. In La Stampa, Matteo Borgetto (who comes from a family of wine producers — the product that made the area famous worldwide) warns against associating the incident with a place that has always valued human dignity and respect for others.
👮🏼 On July 10, the police detained three people in the area for unlawful intermediation, exploitation of labor and violations of the rules on the stay of foreigners in the national territory. It was the result of an investigation by the local prefecture on the exploitation of employees, most of them migrants, in the Langhe vineyards. Workers were allegedly paid a maximum of 5 euros an hour, worked up to 16 hours a day and had to pay rent to live in what the authorities called "degraded conditions." We should no longer be reading stories of arrests for mistreatment at work and of poorly paid workers housed in degraded conditions. And yet it still happens, and now those who acted in this deplorable way will have to answer for it.
🍇 As someone who was born and raised in Langhe, I was outraged. There is an urgent need for reflection on how we operate in our vineyards. We all know that agriculture is hard work, made of waking up at dawn to work in excessively high temperatures in the summer and with chapped hands in the cold winter. We also know that no one wants to be a farmer anymore. But vineyards never stop; they don’t take breaks, and they need constant care. We can’t ignore that a large part of those who work in our vineyards come from abroad, and it is thanks to them that we can sip good wine during our meals. We’ve been living side to side with these people for decades.
🙅🏼♂️ Those who dedicate themselves to their work feel only gratitude for the employees who support them, and hurting these workers would not even cross their minds. Instead, ensuring their wellbeing is a priority. What happened is extremely serious because violence is never justified and because of the lack of respect for those working. Such practices also show no regard for human dignity. The articles written on the event surely have warmed spirits and shed light on a reality that, fortunately, is only marginal among Italian wine producers.
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