👋 Yáʼátʼééh!*
Welcome to Thursday, where Israel launches more deadly airstrikes on Lebanon and rejects a U.S.-French ceasefire proposal, NYC mayor Eric Adams gets indicted, and Meta lets you pick Judi Dench or John Cena as your chatbot voice. And Clarín’s Lorena Obiol takes us on a tour of what may become the next Barcelona architectural icon: the Gabriel García Márquez library.
[*Navajo]
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🗞️ FRONT PAGE
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said on Wednesday he expected to be charged with federal crimes and declared he was innocent, following a federal corruption investigation. Adams, a Democrat who would become the first of the city's 110 mayors to be criminally charged while in office, said in a video statement — also quoted on the New York Post’s front page — that if charges were filed they would be "entirely false, based on lies." He vowed to remain in office while fighting them.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Death toll rises in Lebanon, Israel rejects ceasefire. Overnight Israeli airstrikes killed 72 people across Lebanon, bringing the death toll to more than 620 in three days. Meanwhile Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati spoke at the UN Security Council, urging member countries to call “for the cessation of this aggression.” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel rejected the proposals for a ceasefire, after the U.S., France and other allies called for an immediate 21-day truce. For a view from Southern Lebanon as Israel began its assault, here’s a Daraj piece by Tarik Ismail that’s been translated and adapted from Arabic.
• Zelensky to present “victory plan” to Biden and Harris. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will visit the White House today to present his “victory plan” to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Official sources report that the U.S. plans to announce more than $8 billion worth of military aid for Ukraine during Zelensky's visit to Washington.
• Japanese warship in Taiwan Strait triggers Chinese military activity. A Japanese warship, the Sazanami, sailed through the Taiwan Strait for the first time to assert freedom of navigation rights and take part in military drills in the South China Sea. The 10-hour sailing exercise was conducted with naval ships from Australia and New Zealand. A renewed surge of Chinese military activity, including joined aircraft and warship patrols and live fire drills, was reported around the island.
• New York City Mayor Eric Adams indicted. Multiple sources are reporting that the city's mayor has been indicted on at least one federal criminal charge, after a month-long investigation by the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan, which focused on his connection to Turkish officials and campaign donations. “I am innocent and I will fight this with every ounce of my strength and spirit,” said Adams in response to the news.
• Trudeau survives confidence vote. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau survived a no-confidence vote put forward by the opposing Conservative Party amid Trudeau’s plummeting popularity. The Prime Minister's approval ratings have slumped due to inflation and a housing crisis. The Conservatives have said they want an election as soon as possible, while the separatist Bloc Québécois said it would bring the government down unless it agrees to its demands.
• Florida braces for “unsurvivable” storm. A category 4 hurricane is set to make landfall in the Sunshine State according to the National Hurricane Center, which described the surge as “catastrophic and/or potentially unsurvivable.” Wind speeds are expected to reach 130 mph (209 km/h) and a state of emergency has been issued.
• John Cena and Judi Dench to voice Meta AI chatbot. Mark Zuckerberg announced that actress Judi Dench and wrestler-turned-actor John Cena will be voice options for the Meta artificial intelligence chatbot. According to Meta, 185 million people use Meta AI weekly. New updates were unveiled at the company's annual Connect conference, including the AI's ability to edit photos by being told what the user wants changed, and other voice options including Kristen Bell and Awkwafina. Should we always trust AI chatbots? Samantha Kleinberg looks into the matter in this piece for Undark.
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
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An 88-year-old man who is the world’s longest-serving death row inmate has been acquitted by a Japanese court, after it found that evidence used against him was fabricated. Iwao Hakamada, who has been on death row for 56 years, was found guilty in 1968 of killing his boss, the man’s wife and their two teenage children. He was recently granted a retrial amid suspicions that investigators may have planted evidence that led to his conviction for quadruple murder.
📹 THIS HAPPENED VIDEO — TODAY IN HISTORY, IN ONE ICONIC PHOTO
➡️ Watch the video: THIS HAPPENED
📰 IN OTHER NEWS
🇮🇱🇱🇧 Israel’s war has now moved to a new phase, with the new center of gravity shifting to its northern front. Hezbollah is also set to go on the offensive, taking aim at Israel’s northern coastal city of Haifa.
— AL-MANASSA
🎖️ “We have to start seeing the world through the prism of security.” The war in Ukraine has reopened the debate over the need for a European army.
— ETHIC
📚 Since its opening in Barcelona in 2022, the Gabriel García Márquez library has joined the ranks of the Catalan city's designer buildings, with some dubbing it a “cathedral of books.”
— CLARÍN
📣 VERBATIM
“We are nowhere near winning this.”
— Haiti’s interim prime minister Garry Conille has said the Caribbean country is far from defeating armed groups that have seized control of large swaths of territory, urging greater international support to help restore safety and stability. “We are nowhere near winning this, and the simple reality is that we won’t without your help,” Conille said on Wednesday at an event on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
✍️ Newsletter by Chloé Touchard & Emma Albright
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