Hamas Reviews Gaza Plan, Madagascar Protests, Crypto Haul

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🗞️ FRONT PAGE​​

“The end of the war is closer than ever — provided that Hamas surrenders,” titles Israeli daily Hayom, dedicating its front page to a Gaza peace plan announced by U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday. The 20-point plan, supported by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, includes an end to fighting, the return of Israeli hostages and an international “Board of Peace” to help run the enclave. Netanyahu said that if Hamas rejected the plan, Israel would “finish the job by itself,” and warned that the plan will not mean Palestinian statehood.

🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW

• Hamas to study Trump’s Gaza peace plan before responding. The militant group said on Tuesday it will review U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza internally as well as with other Palestinian factions before giving an official response. The proposal announced by Trump on Monday with the support of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requires that Hamas effectively surrender and disarm in return for an end to fighting, humanitarian aid for Palestinians and the promise of reconstruction in the enclave. Meanwhile, the plan was welcomed by European and Middle East leaders, with European Council President Antonio Costa urging all parties to “seize this moment to give peace a genuine chance.” Read more in French analyst Pierre Haski’s latest piece: Honest Broker Or Bibi Enabler? The Limits Of Trump’s Influence In Gaza.

• Russian drone strike kills family in Ukraine’s Sumy region. Ukraine’s head of the regional military administration reported on Tuesday that a Russian overnight drone strike killed a family of four, a couple with two young children, in the village of Chernechchyna, in the northeastern Sumy region. Meanwhile, Moscow said 81 Ukrainian drones were “intercepted and destroyed” overnight in the southern Volgograd region.

• U.S. government shutdown looms for first time in almost seven years. Republicans and Democrats in Washington remain at odds over health care and spending, threatening to trigger a government shutdown by Oct. 1 — the first in almost seven years. Senate Democrats are pushing for the extension of health care subsidies while Republicans want to extend current funding levels for seven weeks. 

• Rescue operation underway for survivors in Indonesia school collapse. Rescuers are running oxygen and water to students trapped in the unstable concrete rubble of a collapsed school building in East Java, Indonesia. The structure, which was under construction, fell on Monday, killing at least three students and injuring more than 100. About 38 people are still believed to be trapped under the rubble. Officials said the two-story Al Khoziny Islamic Boarding School had an unstable foundation and could not support the weight of the construction of two additional floors.

• Morocco squashes Gen Z protests, dozens detained. Police detained dozens of people in Morocco on Monday evening as authorities thwarted for a straight third day youth-led protests across several cities, including the capital Rabat and Morocco’s largest city, Casablanca. Online calls from an anonymous youth group calling itself “GenZ 212” circulated over the weekend for protests to demand improvements to the public health and education systems.

• YouTube to pay $24.5 million to settle Trump lawsuit. YouTube has agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by U.S. President Donald Trump over the suspension of his account on the video platform, following the Jan. 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol riots. The deal makes the video streaming giant’s parent company Alphabet, which owns Google, the last of the three big tech companies to resolve lawsuits Trump brought in July 2021, after Twitter, now known as X, and Facebook owner Meta.

• News Quiz! The Welsh government in the UK has launched new measures and a website to help protect what Welsh cultural heritage for future generations?

A. Mythical monsters
B. Traditional stews
C. Rugby techniques
D. Names of places
[Answer below]

#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS

61,000

Zhimin Qian, nicknamed the “goddess of wealth,” was convicted on Monday of playing a key role in what is believed to be the single largest cryptocurrency seizure in the world, worth more than $6.7 billion. The Chinese national pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court, London of illegally acquiring and possessing 61,000 bitcoins, which were seized from her. The Metropolitan Police said the 47-year-old led a large-scale scam in China by cheating more than 128,000 victims between 2014 and 2017 and storing the stolen funds in bitcoin assets, before she fled to the UK, where she attempted to launder the stolen money by buying property.  

📰 IN OTHER NEWS

🔍 Armed with cameras, case files and witness tips, Frankfurt city inspectors track down covert Airbnb-style apartments that are squeezing an already tight housing market.
— DIE ZEIT

🚢 A decision by the Philippines’s highest court opens up nearshore waters to export-minded commercial trawlers, waters that had been reserved for the small-scale fishers who feed the nation.
— GLOBAL PRESS JOURNAL

😌 It is easy to feel buried by the avalanche of bad news from around the world. But we have a duty to gratefully enjoy the moments of our lives, come what may.
— EL ESPECTADOR