👋 Demat!*
Welcome to Tuesday, where U.S. voters go to the polls, Israeli airstrikes kill at least 30 Palestinians in Gaza just as the death toll in Lebanon tops 3,000, and Lake Como’s air is up for sale. Meanwhile, we look at different way that indigenous peoples around the world are struggling to avoid becoming climate refugees.
[*Breton, France]
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🗞️ FRONT PAGE
With its front page, Brussels-based daily Le Soir captures the international feeling of a world “on hold,” as people around the globe wait for the results of what is expected to be a very tight U.S. presidential election. Whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump wins will have an important impact on global politics. While voters are casting their ballot, Worldcrunch has been monitoring the global press coverage and how the world is preparing for a day that will mark history.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Polls open for U.S. election with Trump and Harris neck and neck in polls. Election day voting has begun in the United States, as the dizzying presidential contest between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump edges toward an uncertain finish on Tuesday. The Republican candidate held his final rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he had also closed his 2016 and 2020 campaigns, predicting a large victory. And in Pennsylvania, a swing state crucial for the Democrats, the vice president warned that this “could be one of the closest races in history” and that “every single vote matters.”
• Israeli airstrikes kill at least 30 Palestinians in Gaza, death toll in Lebanon crosses 3,000. Palestinian media and medics said on Tuesday that several air strikes across the Gaza Strip have left at least 30 Palestinians dead, including 20 in Beit Lahiya late on Monday. The Israeli military dropped leaflets over the town, located in northern Gaza, ordering residents who have not yet left to quit the town completely. Meanwhile, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said on Monday that the 13-month war between Israel and Hezbollah has killed more than 3,000 in the country, including 589 women and at least 185 children. Read more in essay translated from Arabic by Worldcrunch: Memories To Dust: A Southern Lebanon "Buffer Zone" Made By Destroying Our Homes.
• North Korea launches barrage of short-range ballistic missiles into the sea. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the missiles flew 400 km (248 miles) over the East Sea and landed outside Japan’s exclusive zone without causing damage on Tuesday. The country’s defense minister, Kim Yong-hyun, had recently warned that Pyongyang would likely dial up military displays around the U.S. presidential election to command the attention of Washington and “exaggerate their existence” through a display of force.
• Boeing strike ends as workers back 38% pay rise deal. Striking workers of the embattled plane maker’s U.S. West Coast factory accepted a new contract offer on Monday, putting an end to a bitter seven-week strike that halted most jet production and is considered the country’s costliest in more than 25 years. The International Association of Machinists (IAM) said members voted by 59% to approve the deal, which includes a 38% pay rise spread over four years.
• Germany arrests eight suspected right-wing militants plotting coup. The country’s Federal Public Prosecutor announced on Tuesday that eight suspected members of the Saxon Separatists, a right-wing militant group plotting to seize power in the eastern German state, were arrested in a series of raids across three countries. The group was seeking the “collapse” of civilization to bring about “a national socialist order” in politics and society.
• Zimbabwe bans police officers from using mobile phones on duty. The country’s government is now requiring police officers to surrender their private communications devices to their supervisors once they get to their stations, and can only use them during break and lunch times. While no reasons were given for the ban, it is widely believed this could be part of efforts to curb police corruption, as this comes after a viral social media video exposed two traffic enforcement officers taking bribes in the capital city Harare.
• “Fresh air” cans from Italy’s Lake Como on sale. Tourists visiting the picturesque lake can now take home a unique souvenir: a 400-milliliter can of “100% authentic air” from the popular destination. Communications company ItalyComunica, which is selling the cans for €9.90 ($11) apiece, said it wanted to “create a souvenir that could be easily transported in a suitcase for tourists” and “something original, fun and even provocative.” Read more about how mass tourism is destroying Lake Como’s local ecosystem in this Internazionale reportage translated from Italian by Worldcrunch.
💬 LEXICON
LignoSat
The world’s first wooden satellite was launched into space on Tuesday to demonstrate the cosmic potential of timber as a renewable material in lunar and Mars exploration. Developed by Kyoto University and homebuilder Sumitomo Forestry, the palm-sized device was named after the Latin word for “wood” (ligno). It will be flown to the International Space Station on a SpaceX mission, and later released into orbit about 250 miles above the Earth.
📹 ON THIS DAY VIDEO — 4 HISTORY-MAKING EVENTS, IN 57 SECONDS
➡️ Watch the video: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
📰 IN OTHER NEWS
🗳️ Allegations of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election have left lasting impacts in Georgia. The U.S. state hopes to avoid renewed tensions this year, but both Democrats and Republicans are bracing for potential disputes in the case of a close result.
— LES ECHOS
🇮🇷 Could members of the Trump team have quietly reached a deal with Tehran, ruling out plans for regime change under a second Trump administration?
— KAYHAN-LONDON
🌍 From combating invasive species in New Zealand to dealing with melting ice in Alaska, indigenous peoples are on the front lines of climate change adaptation and are doing whatever it takes to stay in their homelands and avoid becoming climate refugees.
— WORLDCRUNCH
📣 VERBATIM
“It has to be made very clear that eight justices cannot be above the people.”
— Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has accused the country’s Supreme Court of overstepping its functions as it prepares to decide on the fate of her transformative judicial reform. The court is expected to vote on a proposal that seeks to invalidate core parts of the judicial reform, which has already been written into law and requires that all judges be elected by popular vote over the next few years. To be approved, the proposal requires the support of at least eight of the court's 11 justices. “We are prepared, whichever way they vote,” Sheinbaum said at a press conference. The vote could trigger a full-blown institutional crisis.
📸 PHOTO DU JOUR
Palestinian children line up to receive meals distributed by charities in Az-Zawayda, Gaza. The population has been struggling with hunger as Israel's siege and recent UNRWA ban are preventing more than 80% of the required food aid from reaching Gaza. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Gaza is enduring its most severe food crisis in history, impacting over 2 million people. — Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images/ZUMA
✍️ Newsletter by Anne-Sophie Goninet & Laure Gautherin
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