Hamas Returns IDF Bodies, Afghan Quake, Dhaka Prayers

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🗞️ FRONT PAGE​​

Hindi-language daily Hindustan devotes its front page to India’s maiden women’s World Cup cricket title, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi described as a “historic win” that “will motivate future champions to take up sports.” The team defeated South Africa by 52 runs on Sunday at Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium, with brilliant performances from Deepti Sharma and Shafali Verma. 

🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW

• Hamas returns bodies of three IDF soldiers killed in Oct. 7 attack. Israel has confirmed that the three returned by Hamas on Sunday belong to soldiers killed in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, including American-Israeli Capt. Omer Neutra. The remains were returned under a U.S.-brokered ceasefire exchanging hostages’ remains for Palestinian bodies. This comes as Israel faces a new scandal, after the former military legal chief was arrested over admitting to leaking a video reportedly showing Israeli soldiers assaulting a Palestinian detainee. A former chief military prosecutor was also taken into custody.

• Trump warns Maduro, but denies war is imminent U.S. President Donald Trump used a TV interview to warn Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro that Washington wants him deposed, while denying the prospect of imminent war. Amid a U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean and strikes on alleged drug vessels, regional critics and the UN have accused Washington of unlawful attacks and seeking regime change under an anti-narcotics pretext. Read this France Inter analysis, translated from French and adapted by Worldcrunch: Off The Latin American Coast, Trump Reignites The Monroe Doctrine To Deadly Effect.

• Earthquake kills dozens in northern Afghanistan. A 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck near the city of Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 20 and injuring more than 300. The earthquake also damaged buildings, including the city’s Blue Mosque which purportedly houses the tomb of Caliph Ali, the first Imam of Shia Muslims.

• Ukraine gets more Patriot air defense systems as Russian strikes kill 2 in Odessa. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the country has received more U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems to help it counter Russia’s daily barrages. This comes as a Russian drone strike on southern Ukraine’s Odessa region killed two and wounded three, while attacks on the Zaporizhzhia area left an estimated 60,000 without power. Both sides are targeting energy infrastructure as winter nears, with Ukraine hitting Russia’s Tuapse oil port. For more, we offer this Die Zeit piece, translated from German and adapted by Worldcrunch: Posturing Aside, Both Russia and Ukraine Need A Ceasefire Now.

• Sudan envoy accuses RSF paramilitary of “war crimes.” Sudan’s ambassador to Egypt Imadeldin Mustafa Adawi has slammed rebel Rapid Support Forces (RSF) over alleged “war crimes” conducted in al-Fasher, western Sudan. This comes as survivors’ reports emerge of mass killings and sexual assaults, after an 18-month RSF-led siege and starvation campaign on al-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. More about Sudan’s civil war here.

• Man charged over train stabbing and London attack. A 32-year-old man has been charged with 10 counts of attempted murder after knife attacks on a train in eastern England and a related attack at a London metro station that left 11 injured. A train worker hailed as a “hero” for his efforts to protect passengers on the train, remains in critical but stable condition. Police say the incidents are not terrorism-related.

• News Quiz! During his visit to South Korea for the APEC summit, Chinese leader Xi Jinping was caught cracking a rare joke, after gifting a pair of Xiaomi smartphones to President Lee Jae-myung. What was the joke about?

A. Apple’s Tim Cook
B. Screen size
C. Trump tariffs
D. Espionage
[Answer below]

📰 IN OTHER NEWS

🎓 Researchers in China say a rising number of unemployed university graduates feel as though they are being forced to pursue master’s or doctoral degrees. It is distorting the entire Chinese academia system.
— THE INITIUM

♀️ In India, the burden of maintaining the “purity” of caste falls unequally on women.
— THE WIRE

🎮 A longtime first-person shooter fan finds Battlefield 6’s glossy near future combat disturbingly close to today’s wars, and uncomfortably like training rather than escapism.
— DIE ZEIT

📣 VERBATIM

“I can’t go on anymore.”

— Carlos Mazón, the embattled president of the eastern Spanish region of Valencia, announced his resignation on Monday under pressure over his botched handling of the deadly floods that killed 229 people in the area just over a year ago. Mazón had faced calls to resign, including from victims’ relatives, after it emerged that he spent more than three hours having lunch with a journalist as the floods hit Valencia. His refusal to quit had prompted a series of massive demonstrations across the region last week. “I know I made mistakes, I admit it, and I know I’ll have to live with them for the rest of my life,” Mazón told reporters.