👋 ꦲꦭꦺꦴ*
Welcome to Wednesday, where the UN says one-fourth of Lebanon is under “Israeli military displacement orders,” Florida gets ready for Hurricane Milton and finally, someone beats Tetris. And in Alharaca, Stanley Luna introduces us to Nessa Sossa, El Salvador’s first trans model and leading figure for the country’s LGBTQ+ community.
[*Halo - Javanese, Indonesia]
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🗞️ FRONT PAGE
Mexico’s Diario de Yucatán reports on the mass evacuations triggered by Hurricane Milton, which is currently moving across the Gulf of Mexico. The Category 5 storm is expected to hit Florida’s Tampa Bay area on Wednesday evening, with winds of up to 270 km/h (165 mph). U.S. President Joe Biden warned that leaving was a matter of “life and death” as the storm intensified to become one of the most intense Atlantic hurricanes on record. “If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you're going to die,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Hezbollah targets Israeli troops on Lebanese border. Hezbollah militants targeted Israeli soldiers near the Lebanese border village of Labbouneh with artillery shells and rockets on Wednesday, a day after Israel said it had killed two possible successors to its slain leader. A quarter of Lebanese territory is currently under "Israeli military displacement orders", according to the UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Around 1.2 million people have been displaced in Lebanon since Israel began intense air strikes last month. Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to meet on Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for talks set to include discussion of any plans to strike Iran. Read more about Hezbollah’s ideology in Lebanon, in this piece by Arab media Daraj.
• Russian attacks on Kharkiv have killed at least two people and injured more than 30. Russian forces dropped about four guided bombs on the northeastern city, about 30 km (18 miles) from the border with Russia. Follow Worldcrunch’s coverage on the Ukraine-Russia war.
• North Korea says it will “completely” cut road and rail links with South Korea. The move was viewed as symbolic, given that cross-border travel and exchanges have been halted for years. The army said in its statement carried by Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) that it was a response to war exercises that have been held in South Korea as well as frequent visits by United States strategic assets to the region.
• More than a dozen states in the U.S. have sued TikTok. These states are accusing the social media platform of helping to drive a mental health crisis among teenagers. A bipartisan group of 14 attorneys general from across the country allege that the company uses addictive features to hook children to the app and that it has intentionally misled the public about the safety of prolonged use. Meanwhile, U.S. Justice Department antitrust lawyers filed documents on Tuesday that indicate they may seek to break up Google. Read this piece from Worldcrunch on a Gen Z’s defense of TikTok.
• Brazil's Supreme Court lifting ban on social media platform X. Justice Alexandre de Moraes said that he authorized the "immediate return" of X's activities in the country after it paid heavy fines and blocked accounts accused of spreading misinformation. According to a statement, Elon Musk’s platform, previously known as Twitter, has paid fines totalling 28 million reais ($5.1m) and agreed to appoint a local representative, as required by Brazilian law.
• Nobel Prize for Chemistry for work on proteins. Demis Hassabis, David Baker and John Jumper are sharing this year’s Chemistry Noble. David Baker used amino acids to design a new protein, opening the door to the creation of new proteins used in pharmaceuticals, vaccines and other tools. Meanwhile, UK-based Demis Hassabis, co-founder of the artificial intelligence research company that became Google DeepMind, and John Jumper used artificial intelligence to predict the structures of almost all known proteins and created a tool called AlphaFold2.
• Sin City is about to blow up one of its longest-standing Strip casinos. Founded in 1957, the Tropicana’s hotel towers are expected to tumble later today. While safety restrictions prevent any public viewing, the implosion will be livestreamed and include a fireworks display and drone show — in true Vegas fashion.
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
82 minutes
Michael Artiaga, 16, claims to be the first person to successfully clear level 255 of Tetris, getting the classic video game to reset to level 0. The U.S. teenager took 82 minutes to reach the game’s highest level while livestreaming himself on Twitch and said afterwards “I never want to play this game again.” Earlier this year, a 13-year-old teen from Oklahoma had claimed to be the first player to ever beat the game when he reached level 157, triggering a game-ending glitch.
📹 THIS HAPPENED VIDEO — TODAY IN HISTORY, IN ONE ICONIC PHOTO
➡️ Watch the video: THIS HAPPENED
📰 IN OTHER NEWS
🇮🇱 “Collateral damage” has become the catch-phrase of Israel’s brutal war against the people of Gaza, the West Bank, Syria and Lebanon.
— DARAJ
💻 The Palestinian Education Ministry in Ramallah has expanded the remote learning initiative it started last year to include students from Gaza, allowing them to complete their schooling despite the war.
— AL-MANASSA
🏳️🌈 “I am here to create my path and serve as an example for all trans people who hide and protect themselves in our small and conservative country.” How Nessa Sosa has become a leading figure for the LGBTQ+ community in El Salvador.
— ALHARACA
📣 VERBATIM
“The coup has begun.”
— Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro protested on social media platform X against the decision of the National Electoral Council (CNE) to approve the launch of an investigation into the leader’s spending during the 2022 presidential vote. The probe is linked to alleged violations of campaign finance limits by about $1.2 million by Petro and his campaign manager Ricardo Roa, who currently serves as the chief executive of Ecopetrol, Colombia’s majority state-owned energy company. The leader, who became the country’s first left-wing president two years ago, dismissed the investigation as an attempt to unseat him.
✍️ Newsletter by Emma Albright & Anne-Sophie Goninet
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