👋 Osiyo!*
Welcome to Wednesday, where Syria's interim prime minister vows to bring millions of refugees back home, South Korean police raid President Yoon Suk-yeol’s office, and thousands of Malibu residents are forced to flee wildfires. Meanwhile, investigative news agency Agência Pública publishes exclusive revelations about one of Brazil’s worst sex abuse scandals — and the silence surrounding it.
[*Cherokee]
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🗞️ FRONT PAGE
Rio de Janeiro-based O Globo dedicates its front page to the emergency surgery President Lula da Silva had to undergo in the early hours on Monday to stop an intracranial haemorrhage. Suffering from headaches, the Brazilian leader did tests which revealed some bleeding caused by a contusion when he fell in his bathroom 51 days ago. The daily gives details about the intervention consisting of a small trepanation to insert a drain and remove the fluid out. The surgery was performed by the medical team at Sírio-Libanês hospital in São Paulo who later announced it had been successful and that Lula was recovering in the ICU. The president will remain in observation for the next coming days, as a precaution, as no brain injury or neurological impairment were diagnosed.
🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Syria's interim prime minister said he aimed to bring back millions of Syrian refugees. Mohammed al-Bashir also said he would protect all citizens and provide basic services but acknowledged it would be difficult because the country lacked foreign currency. He added that Syrians need “stability and calm” and that he’s working with officials from Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Read this piece from Egyptian media Al-Manassa about the future for Syrians without Assad.
• Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 29 people overnight. This included a strike that hit a home where displaced people were sheltering in the isolated north, killing 19, according to Palestinian medical officials. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu testified for the first time in his long-running corruption trial, calling the accusations against him “absurd.”
• South Korean police raid presidential office, ex-minister attempts suicide. South Korean police have raided the presidential office as part of an investigation into Yoon Suk-yeol’s martial law declaration, while officials told parliament the country’s former defence chief attempted suicide in custody. The events on Wednesday came after authorities earlier arrested former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun and the heads of the national and Seoul metropolitan police agencies over their alleged involvement in President Yoon’s short-lived decree. Read more about Yoon’s powergrab in this piece by French analyst Pierre Haski.
• Taiwan blames China for naval drills near its shores. Taiwan’s presidency has called on China to halt its “provocative acts” after the self-ruled island’s officials accused Chinese forces of ramping up its military drills. The Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense said on Wednesday it had tracked 53 military aircraft, 11 navy ships and eight civilian vessels near the island in the past 24 hours.
• Dozens of civilians killed in two days of intense fighting in Sudan. At least 127 people, mostly civilians, were killed over two days in Sudan as fighting between the army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) intensifies, according to officials, activists and rights groups. The 20-month conflict, which has killed tens of thousands, has become increasingly violent, with the army stepping up air attacks in areas under the RSF control and the paramilitary forces staging raids and carrying out intense artillery strikes. For more on the situation in Sudan: Has Sudan Cleared The RSF From Khartoum? Refugees Think It's Now Safe To Go Home.
• Record outbreak of dengue fever in Central and South America. The number of cases of dengue fever in Central and South America has nearly tripled to a record high this year, according to the Pan American Health Organisation (Paho). More than 12.6 million cases and 7,700 deaths were recorded in what Paho says is the biggest outbreak in the region since records began in 1980. Brazil, Argentina, Colombia in South America and Mexico in North America were hit especially hard by the virus.
• One whale of a migration. A humpback whale has made one of the longest and most unusual migrations ever recorded, possibly driven by climate change according to scientists. It was seen in the Pacific Ocean off Colombia in 2017, then popped up several years later near Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean, a distance of at least 13,000 km (around 8,000 miles). The experts think this epic journey might be due to climate change depleting food stocks or even to find a mate.
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
$3.44
The price of Arabica beans has jumped 80% this year, reaching a record $3.44 a pound in New York trading on Tuesday. This jump comes after concerns about the output of Brazil, the biggest global premium arabica bean grower, who suffered a severe drought earlier this year, potentially causing crops to shrink. Although major coffee roasters have been able to absorb price hikes so far, they are expected to raise costs for consumers.
📹 ON THIS DAY VIDEO — 4 HISTORY-MAKING EVENTS, IN 57 SECONDS
➡️ Watch the video: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
📰 IN OTHER NEWS
🇸🇾 Syrians may be out of Bashar al-Assad's frying pan, but they've been thrown into a fire of armed fundamentalist groups.
— AL-MANASSA
🇦🇷 Observers thought Javier Milei could never transform the Argentine state's entrenched welfare system without unleashing social chaos, but one-year later and disaster has yet to strike amidst a modest uptick in economic indices.
— CLARÍN
— AGÊNCIA PÚBLICA
📣 VERBATIM
“There’s no place for antisemitism in this country, or anywhere for that matter.”
— Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese firmly condemned what he describes as a "hate crime," after a car was set on fire and houses vandalized with anti-Israel graffiti in Sydney on Wednesday. The incident comes just days after an arson attack at a synagogue in Melbourne which is being investigated as terrorism. "The idea that we take a conflict overseas and bring it here is something that is quite contrary to what Australia was built on ... this is a hate crime, it's as simple as that," Albanese told ABC News.
✍️ Newsletter by Emma Albright & Laure Gautherin
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