👋 Dumêlang!*
Welcome to Wednesday, where Israel responds to Hezbollah missile aimed at Tel Aviv with “extensive” strikes in southern Lebanon, Thailand’s king officially endorses same-sex unions, and Chinese pandas are just too high-maintenance for Finland. From independent media Holod, we also feature the fight of Dmitry Rylov, whose wife Darya Trepova was sentenced to 27 years in a Russian prison.
[*Northern Sotho, South Africa]
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🗞️ FRONT PAGE
Istanbul-based daily Hürriyet references Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's speech at the 79th UN General Assembly in New York on its front page, during which the Turkish president compared Israel leader Benjamin Netanyahu to Hitler. “Just as Hitler was stopped by the alliance of humanity 70 years ago, Netanyahu and his murder network must also be stopped by the alliance of humanity,” Erdoğan said. The Turkish president urged the assembly members to recognize the State of Palestine “as soon as possible” and to stop supporting Israel. This is not the first time Erdoğan or high-profile Ankara officials have drawn the controversial comparison over the years.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Israel and Hezbollah exchange fire as UN schedules emergency meeting. Israel says it’s carrying a new wave of “extensive” strikes in southern Lebanon after it intercepted a Hezbollah missile that was heading towards Tel Aviv. The Iran-backed group said the attack was directed at the headquarters of Israeli intelligence agency Mossad. According to the Lebanese health ministry, 15 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council is scheduled today in New York to discuss the conflict, after UN Secretary General António Guterres warned on Tuesday that Lebanon was “on the brink of collapse” and could become “another Gaza.”
• Zelensky to plead for Ukraine support at UN as Kyiv downs 28 Russian drones. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will take center stage at the UN on Wednesday to seek global support for Ukraine during its war with Russia, as Moscow’s troops advance in the east. The Ukrainian air force reported it shot down 28 out of 32 drones and four out of eight missiles during an overnight Russian attack while a strike on an apartment in Kyiv killed at least three people and injured 34.
• China fires intercontinental missile in first test in decades. China says it has successfully fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) carrying a dummy warhead into the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, amid heightened tensions with the U.S. and its regional allies. It is believed to be the first such test since 1980. The Chinese defense ministry said it was a “routine arrangement in our annual training plan” and that the missile wasn’t directed at any country or target.
• Climate change doubled likelihood of deadly flooding in Central Europe. A new study by the World Weather Attribution group published on Wednesday says that the torrential rains that pummeled a large part of central Europe in mid-September and killed 24 people were made between 7% and 20% more intense by climate change. The study warns that if global warming continues, the likelihood of ferocious four-day storms would grow by 50% compared to current levels. Read more in this article translated from Polish by Worldcrunch: Can Extreme Weather Flip Views On Climate Change? Fear And Hope From Flooded Poland.
• Germany’s Greens leaders quit after election defeats. The co-leaders of the Greens, Omid Nouripour and Ricarda Lang, said that the result of Sunday’s election in Brandenburg, which saw the party miss the 5% hurdle required to guarantee representation in parliament, was evidence of the party’s “deepest crisis for a decade.” This follows similarly disastrous results in Thuringia earlier this month and in Saxony. The Greens have seen a popularity decline in the past few years while the far-right Alternative for Germany is polling strongly.
• Thai king signs landmark same-sex marriage bill into law. This makes Thailand the first country in Southeast Asia to recognize same-sex unions. The bill had cleared the Senate in June and was published in the Royal Gazette after endorsement by King Maha Vajiralongkorn on Tuesday. It will come into effect on Jan. 22 next year. Follow our coverage of LGTBQ+ issues.
• Finnish zoo to return giant pandas to China because of cost. The chair of the Ähtäri Zoo’s board in southern Finland told Reuters the facility will return two giant pandas to China in November, more than eight years ahead of time, as the zoo can no longer afford their upkeep. The zoo has been facing annual costs of 1.5 million euros ever since Lumi and Pyry were brought to Finland in January 2018, and mounting debts since the COVID-19 pandemic curbed travel. Read more about China’s unique “panda diplomacy.”
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
36%
A new study published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology reveals that children's eyesight is getting worse: one in three is now short-sighted or unable to see clearly in the distance. Short-sightedness has tripled since 1990, rising to 36%, and the increase was especially visible after the pandemic and lockdowns, during which children spent less time outdoors. The highest rates of myopia were recorded in Japan (85%) and South Korea (73%). Here’s a recent piece by Germany’s Die Zeit about the possible links between birth month and lifelong vulnerability to health issues.
📹 THIS HAPPENED VIDEO — TODAY IN HISTORY, IN ONE ICONIC PHOTO
➡️ Watch the video: THIS HAPPENED
📰 IN OTHER NEWS
💥 Israel massively bombed southern Lebanon, killing more than 550 people. Proportionality is over. Escalation has begun.
— FRANCE INTER
⚖️ The husband of Darya Trepova, who was sentenced to 27 years in prison in Russia for the attack that killed pro-war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, writes a letter about his fight to get his wife out of jail.
— HOLOD
🏳️🌈 “They can live as openly as they did at home.” Retirement homes in Germany are increasingly improving their levels of care for queer residents...yes, even the Catholic ones.
— DIE ZEIT
📣 VERBATIM
“Russia can only be forced into peace.”
— Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the United Nations Security Council that negotiations would not be enough to end the war with Russia, and that it needed to be “forced into peace.” Zelensky stressed the war “can't be calmed by talks” and told the 15-member council that Russian President Vladimir Putin was committing “an international crime.” The Ukrainian president is currently on visit in the U.S. to build support for his “victory plan” ahead of the American presidential election.
✍️ Newsletter by Anne-Sophie Goninet & Chloé Touchard
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