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In The News

Ukraine’s Double Anniversary, U.S. Strikes In Syria, Pub Extinction

Members of the Zakarpattia Academic Folk Choir hold national Ukrainian flags during a prayer in the western city of Uzhhorod, as Ukraine celebrates Independence Day​

Members of the Zakarpattia Academic Folk Choir hold national Ukrainian flags during a prayer in the western city of Uzhhorod, as Ukraine celebrates Independence Day

Lisa Berdet, Chloé Touchard, Lila Paulou and Bertrand Hauger

👋 Jó napot!*

Welcome to Wednesday, where Ukraine celebrates Independence Day exactly six months into the war with Russia, the U.S. military targets militia-held areas in eastern Syria, and it may be “last orders” time for a great many UK pubs. Meanwhile, São Paulo-based Agência Pública uncovers efforts by Trump supporters to get Jair Bolsonaro reelected in Brazil.

[*Hungarian]

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🌎  7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW

• Independence Day as Ukraine marks six months of war: Ukraine celebrates its 31st year of Independence since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a day that comes exactly six months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. Celebrations are canceled in Kyiv as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky raises concerns of “Russian provocations.”

• U.S. strike in Syria: The U.S. military said it conducted raids in Deir al-Zor in eastern Syria, targeting areas used by militias affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). These strikes, ordered by U.S. President Joe Biden, “were aimed at protecting U.S. forces from attack by Iran-backed groups”, an official said.

• Thai Prime Minister suspended by court: Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has been suspended from official duty by a court. This comes after protests and petitions aimed at reviewing his eight-year constitutional term limit, which ended on Wednesday, and demanding his resignation.

India fires officers for accidentally launching missile: The Indian government has fired three India’s Air Force officers with immediate effect for the accidental firing of an unarmed missile into Pakistan last March. No casualties had been reported at the time and the two rival countries have calmly handled the situation.

• Stuck in the Eurotunnel for hours: Hundreds of Eurotunnel passengers were stranded underground for nearly five hours late on Tuesday after a train, running from Calais to Folkestone, broke down. They were evacuated through an emergency service tunnel and had to leave their vehicles behind.

• Facebook’s weird bug: Many Facebook users have seen strange posts appearing on their feed this morning. The bug filled users with endless comments from unknown accounts originally published on celebrities’ pages. The social media company said it was trying to fix the problem as soon as possible.

• Elton & Britney duet preview: Elton John offered a first snippet of his new duet with U.S. singer Britney Spears at a restaurant in the southeastern French city of Cannes, singing along and livestreaming reactions on his Instagram account.“Hold Me Closer” (a mash-up of Elton's “The One” and “Tiny Dancer”) is set to be released on Friday and will be Britney Spears’ first song since 2016.

🗞️  FRONT PAGE

Lisbon-based daily Público pits Ukraine President Zelensky against Russia’s Vladimir Putin as “the war that was supposed to be quick has now been going on for six months.” Here is how other outlets around the world featured the milestone on their front pages, as Ukraine also celebrates its Independence Day today.

#️⃣  BY THE NUMBERS

70%

Recent research has revealed that 70% of pubs in the UK are at risk of closing their doors for good this winter, due to the steep rise in energy costs. A group of British independent brewers has called on the government for immediate intervention to rescue the sector.

📰  STORY OF THE DAY

How the Trump universe is backing Bolsonaro’s reelection bid in Brazil

Brazil’s Agência Pública reveals that Gettr, the social network run by Donald Trump's former adviser Jason Miller, has sponsored conservative conferences in Brazil ahead of October’s presidential elections, which Steve Bannon has called the most important in South American history.

🇧🇷 Over the past year, the U.S. social network Gettr has been sponsoring political events that support the re-election campaign of Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s far-right president. The events have been organized by the Instituto Conservador Liberal (ICL), the think-tank set up by congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, the president’s son, and Sérgio Sant'Ana, a lawyer and former adviser to the Ministry of Education. Brazil has the second largest audience of Gettr, which has six million users globally, second only to the United States. There are about 750,000 users in the country.

🤝 The company was founded in July 2021 with the support of a foundation linked to Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui. He is a partner of Trump's former campaign strategist Steve Bannon, who has had close relations with Eduardo Bolsonaro since 2018 and appointed him as the representative of his international conservative movement in Brazil. Trump's former strategist has already said that Brazil’s election is the "second most important election in the world and the most important election in the history of South America." "Bolsonaro will win unless the election is stolen," Bannon teased.

📵 For the Federal Police, the modus operandi of the network of Jair Bolsonaro supporters involved in the spread of disinformation, as for example in the case of electronic ballot boxes, draws on a communication strategy used in the 2016 U.S. elections and credited to Steve Bannon. The Superior Electoral Court (TSE) asked for the "immediate suspension of foreign transfers, of services used for donations, of payment of advertising and registration" of dozens of people who publish threats to Brazilian democracy and are also investigated in the investigation of fake news.

➡️ Read more on Worldcrunch.com

📣 VERBATIM

It is a trial of Peronism.

— Argentina’s former President and current Vice-President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who faces 12 years in prison and a lifetime ban from politics as part of a fraud and corruption trial, defended herself in a live social media broadcast, denouncing “a trial of Peronism,” her political movement. She added, “Nothing — absolutely nothing that they have said was proven.”

✍️ Newsletter by Lisa Berdet, Chloé Touchard, Lila Paulou and Bertrand Hauger


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Society

Not Your Grandma's Nonna: How Older Women In Italy Are Reclaiming Their Age

Women in Italy are living longer than ever. But severe economic and social inequality and loneliness mean that they urgently need a new model for community living – one that replaces the "one person, one house, one caregiver" narrative we have grown accustomed to.

Not Your Grandma's Nonna: How Older Women In Italy Are Reclaiming Their Age

Italy is home to many elderly people and few young ones.

Barbara Leda Kenny

ROMENina Ercolani is the oldest person in Italy. She is 112 years old. According to newspaper interviews, she enjoys eating sweets and yogurt. Mrs. Nina is not alone: over the past three years, there has been an exponential growth in the number of centenarians in Italy. With over 20,000 people who've surpassed the age of 100, Italy is in fact the country with the highest number of centenarians in Europe.

Life expectancy at the national level is already high. Experts say it can be even higher for those who cultivate their own gardens, live away from major sources of pollution, and preferably in small towns near the sea. Years of sunsets and tomatoes with a view of the sea – it used to be a romantic fantasy but is now becoming increasingly plausible.

Centenarians occupy the forefront of a transformation taking place in a country where living a long life means being among the oldest of the old. Italy is the second oldest country in the world, and it ranks first in the number of people over eighty. In simple terms, this means that Italy is home to many elderly people and few young ones: those over 65 make up almost one in four, while children (under 14) account for just over one in 10. The elderly population will continue to grow in the coming years, as the baby boomer generation, born between 1961 and 1976, is the country's largest age group.

But there is one important data set to consider when discussing our demographics: in general, women make up a slight majority of the population, but from the age of sixty onwards, the gap progressively widens. Every single Italian over 110 years old is a woman.

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