👋 Dumela!*
Welcome to Thursday, where Israel bombed central Beirut, the UK returns Chagos Islands to Mauritius and South America is treated to a one-of-a-kind eclipse. From Spanish-language publication Climate Tracker, we also feature a story about how former FARC guerrilla fighters have turned to agriculture — with an insect twist.
[*Tswana, Botswana and South Africa]
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🗞️ FRONT PAGE
Argentine daily El Ciudadano features “the people's veto” on its front page, after hundreds of thousands of Argentine students gathered in the streets on Wednesday, to protest against President Javier Milei's budget cuts for universities. Milei confirmed his veto of the educational financing law and said public universities were sites of “socialist” indoctrination. The head of the University of Buenos Aires, Ricardo Gelpi, released a statement calling out the government's “systematic, methodical and gradual plan to destroy public education.”
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Israel strikes heart of Beirut. Israel bombed a central neighborhood in the capital, as its military said it killed 15 Hezbollah militants in south Lebanon on Thursday. Israel also said eight of its soldiers were killed on the Lebanese front, the highest one-day total in a year of clashes with the Iran-backed group. To know more about the changing U.S. policy in the Middle East, read this piece from Egyptian daily Al Manassa.
• Russian forces launch a major drone attack overnight on 15 Ukrainian regions. The drones damaged power lines in the Kyiv, Odessa and Ivano-Frankivsk regions in the past 24 hours. More than 2 and 1/2 years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has been doubling down on the country's energy infrastructure with drone and missile attacks while its forces continue to make steady progress on the eastern front. Follow Worldcrunch’s coverage of the Ukraine war.
• Donald Trump “resorted to crimes” while trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat. A new court filing challenges Trump's claim that he should avoid a trial thanks to a recent landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said American presidents should be immune from prosecution when acting in an “official” capacity. Trump was president when the alleged offenses were committed but prosecutors say he was acting in a “private” capacity as a candidate, not an official one.
• Dominican Republic says it will expel up to 10,000 Haitian migrants a week. Homero Figueroa, a Dominican presidential spokesman, said on Wednesday that the “operation aims to reduce the excessive migrant populations detected in Dominican communities.” Haiti is reeling from deadly gang violence, hunger and instability, prompting the United Nations to warn against sending people back.
• UK will give sovereignty of Chagos Islands to Mauritius. The UK has announced it is giving up sovereignty of an important cluster of islands in the Indian Ocean after more than half a century. The deal, reached after years of negotiations, will see the UK hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius in a historic move. This includes the tropical atoll of Diego Garcia, used by the U.S. government as a military base for its navy ships and long-range bomber aircraft.
• Six migrants die after Mexico soldiers open fire. The Mexican military has revealed that soldiers opened fire this week on a truck carrying dozens of migrants who were traveling in the south of the country. The Mexican defense ministry said another 10 migrants were injured in the incident on Tuesday evening some 25 miles (40km) north of the border with Guatemala.
• Treasure hunt ends after 30+ years. The Golden Owl, one of the world's oldest treasure hunts, came to an end on Wednesday night in France. Michel Becker, co-organizer of the hunt, announced on the Discord forum that the owl had been unearthed. In 1993, Régis Hauser, had buried a bronze owl somewhere in France. To find it, eleven riddles had to be solved. For thirty-one years, enthusiasts set off in search of the owl. The prize: the original statuette in gold, silver and diamonds, estimated at 1 million francs at the time (150,000 euros). To know more about the Golden Owl quest, read this article from the Worldcrunch vault, by French daily Les Echos.
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
21.8 million
Spain welcomed a record 21,8 million tourists in summer 2024 — a 7.3% rise compared to last year, according to official data released Wednesday. The world's second most popular tourist destination (after France) welcomed the economic impact of the season, despite a summer marked by protests against overtourism throughout the country.
📹 THIS HAPPENED VIDEO — TODAY IN HISTORY, IN ONE ICONIC PHOTO
➡️ Watch the video: THIS HAPPENED
📰 IN OTHER NEWS
💥 Israel will conduct a trial-by-fire operation in southern Lebanon, depending on how much resistance its armed forces will face. All of it adds up to a tragedy-in-the-making for the people of Lebanon.
— DARAJ
🇷🇺 With increased aggression from clients, police repression and a sudden decrease in their livelihoods, Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine is impacting Russian sex workers.
— GAZETA WYBORCZA
🐛 In Colombia, the possibility of integrating insects to our diets is gaining traction, with a little help from former FARC members.
— CLIMATE TRACKER
📣 VERBATIM
“If these fires continue, we indigenous people will die.”
— The Brazilian Amazon forest recorded its worst forest fires in two decades, with more than 62 square kilometers burned down this year. “If these fires continue, we indigenous people will die,” said Raimundinha Rodrigues Da Sousa, who runs the voluntary fire service for the Caititu indigenous community. Indigenous communities deplore a lack of protection of their land, where fires are often started by humans, including miners and farmers exploiting the region.
✍️ Newsletter by Emma Albright & Chloé Touchard
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