Trump Threatens New Russia Sanctions, 1.5 °C Warning, Starbucks Superyacht

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🗞️ FRONT PAGE​​

South Korean’s Hankyoreh lends its front page to Tuesday night’s final presidential debate which, despite what the daily’s lead photo might suggest, turned into what it calls “2 hours of slander.” During the debate, the four candidates clashed over national security, nuclear armament, and the future of the South Korea-U.S. alliance, although reportedly spending more time on personal attacks than pertinent policy discussion. South Korea is holding early elections in the wake of former president Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment after he imposed martial law in December in what critics called a coup.

🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW

• Deaths reported in storming of U.S.-Israel aid distribution site in Gaza. Three people were killed and 47 injured after thousands of Palestinians stormed an aid distribution site set up by the U.S. and Israel. The facility was in its first day of giving out aid in the enclave after months of a blockade. Gaza faces what the UN has described as a critical risk of famine. The compound in the southern city of Rafah was run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which uses armed American security contractors, and the UN says the group aims primarily to circumvent existing international humanitarian organizations and weaponize aid. 

• Trump threatens new sanctions on Russia. U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose new sanctions on Russia and stop halting “really bad things” from happening to the country as talks to end the war in Ukraine have stalled. Russia is amassing more than 50,000 troops along the border of Ukraine for what Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky says will be a renewed offensive to take his country’s northeastern Sumy region. Reuters is reporting that Russia is demanding a pledge to end NATO expansion as a condition to halt the war in Ukraine. Check how French political analyst Pierre Haski sees the Trump/Putin spat here.

• Trump administration halts foreign student visa applications. The Trump administration has halted the scheduling of appointments for student visa applicants as it plans to scale up social media surveillance of foreign students. The move comes amid hardline immigration moves including a ramping up of deportations, sending prisoners to foreign detention facilities, and revoking visas of immigrants in the U.S. It also comes amid an escalating fight between the White House and Harvard University, which refused to comply with administration demands citing threats to free speech and academic freedom.

• Cholera outbreak hits Sudan. Sudan is “on the brink” of a public health disaster with an outbreak of cholera and other diseases in the country spreading rapidly, according to the International Rescue Committee (IRC). The civil war-torn country saw 172 people die in a single week related to cholera, the country’s health ministry said, with officials saying that a combination of poor hygiene conditions and lack of medical supplies is fuelling the outbreak. For more on Sudan, we offer this recent piece y La Stampa’s Francesca Mannocchi.

• Global temperatures to reach more than 1.5 °C of warming this decade. A UN report said that global temperatures will likely reach more than 1.5 °C of warming from 2025-2029, remaining at historically high temperatures after the hottest decade on record. The 1.5 °C threshold is one that activists have pointed to as a critical tipping point for significant parts of the natural world, and scientists are increasingly saying it will be impossible to avoid it going higher. 

• SpaceX Starship explodes for third time this year. SpaceX’s unmanned Starship rocket exploded in a test flight for a third time this year on Tuesday, another in a series of setbacks for Elon Musk’s rocket company. Musk vowed after the explosion that the company would increase its launch frequency, having received a key approval from the FAA. Read more about Musk’s woes in this article from Die Zeit, translated from German and adapted by Worldcrunch: Clash Of Egos? Competing Ideas? Bad Numbers? Unpacking The Collapse Of The Trump-Musk Duo.

• News Quiz! Japan’s Prime Minister is doing what to reassure the public that radioactive decontamination work near Fukushima has been effective?

A. Using radioactive soil in flower beds at his office
B. Spending the night in a hotel nearby
C. Making tea using water from the reactor
D. Inviting world leaders to vacation near the meltdown site

[Answer below]

💬 LEXICON

横綱

Weighing in at just over 300 pounds, 24-year-old Daiki Nakamura achieved highest status today as Japan’s new sumo wrestling grand champion, or Yokozuna (横綱), after winning last week’s Grand Tournament. The first Japanese winner since 2017, he marks a significant moment in a sport dominated by Mongolian wrestlers in recent years.

📰 IN OTHER NEWS

🗳️ Romania and Poland, both countries divided between their liberal Pro-European and conservative nationalist parties, both countries with a communist past, have to make a choice about which direction they wish to go in.
— GAZETA WYBORCZA

💌 In Egypt’s sun-soaked tourist towns, a new form of romance blooms — one where age, money, and longing collide in quiet transactions masked as love.
— WORLDCRUNCH

⚖️ The Trump administration is using the claim that immigrants have “invaded” the country to justify possibly suspending habeas corpus, part of the constitutional right to due process. A faction of the far right has been building this case for years.
— PROPUBLICA

📣 VERBATIM

“The True North is indeed strong and free!”

— King Charles III greeted Canada’s parliament in a historic opening throne speech on Tuesday, using a borrowed line from their national anthem to assert national sovereignty amid rising tensions with the U.S.. Delivered on behalf of new Prime Minister Mark Carney, the address outlines ambitious domestic and foreign policy priorities, including economic transformation, internal trade reform, housing investment, and increased defense spending.