A couple poses for a portrait on Beirut’s corniche. Tensions are high in Lebanon as clashes between Hezbollah and the Israeli military are increasing along the Lebanon-Israel border.
👋 Ola!*
Welcome to Monday, where Israel’s military says it is increasing the “limited raids” it has launched inside Gaza as bombing intensifies, the first round of Argentina’s presidential election defies predictions, and the U.S. celebrates its first Formula One point in three decades. Meanwhile, Ahmad Raafat in Persian-language media Kayhan-London worries about how Iran’s paramilitaries could take the Mideast war to a new level.
[*Aragonese, Spain]
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🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW
• Israel increases limited raids into Gaza: Israel's military says it has increased limited raids inside Gaza to attack Hamas and find information about hostages being held. The U.S. is seeking to delay a much wider Israeli ground offensive, in hopes of getting more hostages out and more humanitarian aid into the enclave. Meanwhile, a third convoy of humanitarian relief trucks, organized by the Egyptian Red Crescent, has entered Gaza on Monday morning.
• Massa and Milei head to run-off in Argentina election: Argentina is heading to a second round of voting on Nov. 19 after no candidate received the necessary 45% of votes needed to win outright in Sunday's presidential election. The run-off vote will feature current left-wing Economy Minister Sergio Massa, who received the highest number of votes (about 36%) and far-right libertarian Javier Milei (about 30%), who had been leading in the polls before the vote. Read more from Buenos Aires daily Clarin on the risks of a Milei victory.
• Philippines-China tensions in South China Sea: The Philippines have called China “an aggressor” and urged the country to stop its “provocative actions” in the disputed South China Sea, following two near collisions between Chinese and Filipino ships over the weekend. China blamed the Philippines for the incidents.
• Iranian teenager who collapsed on metro is “brain dead”: Armita Geravand, an Iranian teenage girl who fell into a coma following an alleged altercation with morality police for not wearing a headscarf is now “brain dead,” according to Iranian state-aligned media. The 16-year-old was seen collapsing on CCTV footage after boarding a Tehran metro train with her hair uncovered earlier this month. Nationwide protests erupted last year after another young woman, Mahsa Amini, died in police custody after a similar intervention. Follow Worldcrunch’s coverage of Iran here.
• Pakistan indicts ex Prime Minister Khan over leaked state secrets: Pakistan's jailed former prime minister Imran Khan faces a potential prison sentence of 14 years after he was charged with leaking classified documents. Khan has been embroiled in a series of legal accusations since he was removed in a no-confidence vote in April 2022 and was sentenced to three years in jail over the summer on graft charges. While the sentence was suspended, the former leader has remained in detention due to other accusations.
• F1 driver scores first U.S. points in 30 years: Logan Sargeant became the first U.S.-born driver in 30 years to earn a point in a Formula One race following the disqualifications of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc from the U.S. Grand Prix on Sunday. Michael Andretti was the last American F1 driver to score in a grand prix in 1993.
• Google doodle honors Nigerian soccer star: Google celebrates late Nigerian soccer star player Rashidi Yekini on what would have been his 60th birthday, with a doodle recreating Yekini's celebration during the 1994 World Cup. The “Goalsfather,” who died in 2012, is still the Super Eagles' (Nigeria’s national team) all-time leading scorer with 37 goals.
🗞️ FRONT PAGE
Cordoba-based daily La Voz del Interior devotes its front page to Sergio Massa’s “surprise triumph” in the first round of the Argentinian presidential election yesterday. The current Economy Minister finished on top with 36.7%, while his main opponent and poll favorite, right-wing populist Javier Milei garnered 30,1% of the votes. Massa has been heavily criticized for his inaction towards inflation and the increase of poverty under his Ministry. The second round is slated for November 19. Read more about Javier Milei in this recent article, translated from Spanish by Worldcrunch.
#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS
72
British NGO Environmental Investigation Agency released a report which found that 72 pharmaceutical companies licensed by China’s drug regulator are using endangered animals’ body parts in their medicines. These animals include leopards and pangolins in the cases of China’s top three pharmaceutical companies, but also tigers and rhinos in other cases.
📰 STORY OF THE DAY
“Axis of resistance” — How the Iran-sponsored militias could widen the war against Israel
For decades now, the Islamic Republic of Iran has created, armed and trained paramilitary groups in several Middle Eastern states, all of which are believed to stand at the ready to strike Israel and Western targets at Tehran's command, writes Ahmad Raafat in Persian-language media Kayhan-London.
🇮🇷 For four decades, the regime born of Iran's 1979 revolution has formed and financed a number of militant groups on or near Israel's borders, the biggest of which is the Lebanese-based Hezbollah, a veritable army of thugs that weighs heavily on Beirut's institutions, and sometimes even acts as a coordinator of Iran's regional militias. The militia was formed in 1982 in the offices of Aliakbar Mohtashamipur, the Islamic Republic's ambassador in Damascus. The aim then was to form a network of Lebanese Shia Muslims loyal to the regime of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
🚨 Like all the other criminal gangs in this regional posse, Hezbollah boasts a listing, not in Forbes magazine but the U.S. and EU terror Most Wanted, with the biggest cache of arms, high-tech weaponry and matériel among the militias, including anti-aircraft systems, rocket launchers and drones. Hezbollah knew of Hamas's plans to attack weeks in advance, and has pinned down a portion of Israel's army on the Israeli-Lebanese frontier by moving troops there and firing into Israel.
🇵🇸 In Gaza and the West Bank, Hamas, formed in 1987, and the Islamic Jihad (1981 or later) are just two of the groups receiving Iranian arms and money. Earlier this year Hamas's political director, Ismail Haniyeh, visited Tehran where he would have largely discussed plans for the October attack and won Tehran's full backing. The head of the Islamic Jihad, Ziad al-Nakhala, accompanied him on the trip, which some suspect was in fact arranged by Tehran to discuss the attack it had planned itself.
➡️ Read more on Worldcrunch.com
📣 VERBATIM
“We don’t want any foreign military boots on Maldivian soil.”
— Dr Mohamed Muizzu, who won the Maldives presidential election last month, wants India to pull its troops out of the country. In an interview with the BBC, the president-elect said that he met the Indian ambassador a few days after his victory and told him that “every single Indian military personnel here should be removed.” The Maldives has long been under India's influence and this new demand is likely to trigger diplomatic tensions between Malé and Delhi. When Muizzu won the Maldives presidential vote, it was seen as a setback for India since he favors closer ties with China, which has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the Maldives in the form of loans and grants for infrastructure and development projects.
👉 MORE FROM WORLDCRUNCH
• Neither Hamas, Nor Abbas: After The War, The Palestinians Will Still Need A Leader — FRANCE INTER
• No Jihad In Judaism: A Reminder That Hamas Is Fighting A Religious War By Itself — DIE WELT
• Dolce Vita, Where Are You? An Italian Takedown Of The Cult Of Working Out — LA STAMPA
✍️ Newsletter by Anne-Sophie Goninet, Valeria Berghinz, Michelle Courtois and Laure Gautherin
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