👋 Ola!*
Welcome to Monday, where Hamas’ leader in Lebanon is killed in new Israeli strikes, the far-right FPÖ party wins Austria’s parliamentary election, and New Zealand reclaims its Haka crown. And for Die Zeit, Clara Neuhaus writes about the growing number of young Vietnamese ready to gamble big to pursue their “German Dream.”
[*Aragonese, Spain]
💡 SPOTLIGHT
How far will Netanyahu go?
PARIS — What will Israel do with its victory? Over the past 48 hours, a more frequent question has been asked about Iran. What will the Tehran regime do? Or whether Lebanon's Hezbollah will recover from the crushing defeat in the assassination of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
Yet asking how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will use his military success is no less crucial.
An initial response came from the continuing Israeli bombardment of Lebanon over the weekend. Added to that Sunday was another air attack on the port of Hodeida, in Yemen, 1,800 kilometers (1,118 miles) from the Jewish state, which targeted another of Iran's allies, the Yemeni Houthis, who've regularly fired missiles towards Israel.
Netanyahu clearly intends to pursue his clear military advantage against Iran's allies, and is trying to redraw the strategic map of the region.
Two questions arise. The first is whether the aerial bombardment of Lebanon will be followed by an intervention on the ground. Preparations are underway, and there is a logic to it if Israel wants to ensure the return of its displaced northern residents.
The second is more significant: Will Netanyahu push his advantage to the point of drawing Iran into the war? Teheran has shown no intention of being drawn in, even after the elimination of its main ally in the region. The balance of power is clearly not in its favor.
For years, Netanyahu has dreamed of destroying Iran's nuclear facilities before the country reaches the stage of possessing the bomb. A few days ago, we were wondering whether Iran would trigger a regional war, but the roles have been reversed, with Israel asserting its military supremacy.
Netanyahu's brief appearance at the United Nations on Friday showed that he favors force over diplomacy. And that he is not afraid to oppose his allies, the United States and France, who had called for a ceasefire. He knows he can afford it: Joe Biden hailed Nasrallah's death as an act of “justice,” even if the American president had been focused on pushing for a ceasefire. [...]
— Read the full article by Pierre Haski for France Inter, translated into English by Worldcrunch.
🗞️ FRONT PAGE
“And now what?” asks Graz-based newspaper Kleine Zeitung after the victory of the far-right Freedom party (FPÖ) at Austrian parliamentary election — a first since the end of World War II. Founded by former Nazis, the pro-Kremlin, Eurosceptic and anti-Islam FPÖ won 29.2% of votes, beating the ruling conservative People's Party (ÖVP) of the chancellor, Karl Nehammer, which scored 26.5%. “We have opened the door to a new era. We are now really going to write this new chapter in Austrian history together,” FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl told his supporters in Vienna. The results, however, do not confer parliamentary majority to the party who will have to form a coalition, which might be difficult as the ÖVP and Social Democrats have already turned down Kickl and his proposal.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Hamas and Palestinian leaders killed in Lebanon. An Israeli airstrike killed Hamas leader Fateh Sherif Abu el-Amin and his family in the Lebanese city of Tyre, according to the militant group. Three other leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine group (PFLP) were killed in Beirut in the first strike inside the capital. Israel also launched strikes on an apartment building in the predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Cola, where 2 people were killed according to AFP sources. According to Lebanon's Health Ministry, around 105 people have been killed by Israeli attacks in the past 24 hours.
• Death toll rises to 95 after Hurricane Helene. At least 95 people have died across six U.S. states in the path of Hurricane Helene. Hundreds of missing persons reports have been received in North Carolina alone, where about 300 roads are closed and a public health emergency has been declared. President Joe Biden is set to visit the impacted community later this week. Florida governor Ron DeSantis reported ”complete obliteration” after the passage of the category 4 storm.
• Marine Le Pen's EU embezzlement trial begins. French far-right party leader Marine Le Pen stands trial today alongside 26 others over alleged misappropriation of European Union funds. Members of the party are accused of using money destined to pay EU parliamentary work to pay staff of the RN party. Marine Le Pen is facing charges for her role as party leader and as EU lawmaker for allegedly hiring fictitious assistants.
• Japan's next prime minister to call for elections in October. Shigery Ishiba, who is assured to succeed Fumio Kishida as prime minister on Tuesday, plans to call for a parliamentary election on October 27 after his nomination. The head of the Liberal Democratic Party said he believes “it is important to have the new administration get the public's judgment as soon as possible.”
• Britain closes last coal power plant. Britain becomes the first G7 country to end coal-powered electricity after the closure of the Ratcliffe-on-Soar plant. The closure puts an end to the government's decade-long coal phase-out policy and to 140 years of coal power in the country. The program has helped Britain halve its greenhouse gas emissions since 1990. The next goal is the decarbonization of its electricity sector by 2030. Is it time for the “solar age” of energy? Christian Endt, Anja Stehle and Marlies Uken look into the future of energy for Die Zeit.
• Kris Kristofferson dies at 88. Texas-born country singer and actor Kris Kristofferson died on Sunday, his family reported. Kristofferson topped the U.S. country charts and balanced a prolific acting career alongside his music, having worked for Martin Scorsese, Sam Peckinpah and winning a Golden Globe in 1976 for A Star is Born with Barbara Streisand.
• New Zealand reclaims world's largest Haka record. New Zealand reclaimed the world record for the largest mass Haka on Sunday, with 6,500 people performing the ceremonial Māori war dance at Eden Park stadium in Auckland. The Haka has been famously adopted by the country's rugby team as a pre-match ritual and includes foot stomping, fist pumping, rhythmic shouting and intimidating facial expressions. The record was previously held by France with 4,028 people performing the dance in 2014.
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
$4 million
Francis Ford Coppola's latest movie Megalopolis is far from attracting moviegoers. According to analysts, the film, which cost roughly $140 million, debuted to an estimated $4 million, slightly below worst-case scenario prerelease projections.
📹 THIS HAPPENED VIDEO — TODAY IN HISTORY, IN ONE ICONIC PHOTO
➡️ Watch the video: THIS HAPPENED
📰 IN OTHER NEWS
🇱🇧 The call in Lebanon to “postpone politics” is driven by a narration of the war as a religious, and not a political, event: that's the root of Hezbollah's ideology.
— DARAJ
💼 “This is the new migration industry.” Many young Vietnamese pay huge sums to get a training position in Germany. Only very few of them have any idea what they are getting themselves into.
— DIE ZEIT
🍷 With the U.S. and China being already saturated with every kind of wine, Chilean winemakers are trying to break into the Indian market, despite crushing tariffs.
— AMERICA ECONOMIA
📸 PHOTO DU JOUR
A protester holds up a poster of Hassan Nasrallah during a demonstration in Baramulla, in the northern Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, after the Hezbollah leader had been confirmed to be killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon. In other parts of the Muslim world, notably in Syria and Sunni strongholds, there was instead celebration of the death of the Iran-backed Shia leader. — Photo: Adil Abass/ZUMA
📣 VERBATIM
“We will stay here.”
— In his first address since the killing of leader Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s deputy secretary-general, Naim Qassem, pledged the group would continue to fight Israel and that it was ready for any ground invasion. “We are the people of jihad. [...] We are all there in the field [...] We will be steadfast. We will continue the Islamic resistance. We will continue facing the Israeli enemy in support of Palestine and Gaza and in defense of our Lebanese people,” he said, adding that Hezbollah was currently using “the minimum efforts” against the attacks. “We are strong enough, and we will drive the Israelis mad because they will never, ever be able to reach and hit and hurt our military capabilities."
✍️ Newsletter by Chloé Touchard & Laure Gautherin
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