Gaza Warning, Trump Lands In UK, Stranded In Machu Picchu

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🗞️ FRONT PAGE​​

Israel has launched its long-planned ground offensive on Gaza City, conducting heavy air strikes as troops pushed into the edges of the city. Dutch daily newspaper NRC dedicates its front page to an 11-year-old Palestinian girl being pulled from the rubble after an Israeli strike, with the headline “Attack on Gaza City begins.”

🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW

• Aid groups call for stronger efforts to stop Israel’s offensive in Gaza. A coalition of leading aid groups Wednesday urged the international community to take stronger measures to stop Israel’s offensive on Gaza City after a commission of UN experts found Israel was committing genocide in the Palestinian enclave. Meanwhile, the Israeli military said on Wednesday it was opening an additional route for 48 hours that Palestinians could use to leave Gaza City as it stepped up efforts to empty the city of civilians and confront thousands of Hamas combatants. Read more in French political analyst Pierre Haski’s piece as he dives deeper into Israel’s ground offensive on Gaza.

• Yulia Navalnaya says foreign tests show her husband was poisoned. The wife of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, said that foreign laboratory tests on biological samples obtained from her husband showed that he was poisoned. Navalny, 47, died suddenly on February 16, 2024, in a Russian prison in the Arctic Circle, depriving the opposition of its most charismatic and popular leader.

• Trump to meet King in Windsor Castle on first full day of state visit. U.S. President Donald Trump formally begins his unprecedented second state visit to Britain on Wednesday. King Charles and the royal family will roll out the red carpet for the president when he arrives at Windsor Castle, with a carriage procession, gun salutes, a military flypast and lavish banquet. Meanwhile, Britain and the United States have agreed to a technology pact to boost ties in AI, quantum computing and civil nuclear energy, with top U.S. firms led by Microsoft pledging $42 billion in UK investments.

• Prosecutors to seek death penalty for Charlie Kirk’s accused assassin. Utah prosecutors vowed on Tuesday to seek the death penalty for Tyler Robinson, the accused assassin of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, as they revealed new details of their case, including text messages in which he was alleged to have privately confessed to the shooting. Robinson appeared through video link before the court, his first such appearance since he was arrested.

• France braces for a day of nationwide strikes and demonstrations on Thursday. The protests are against a cost-cutting budget proposal opposed by a united front of unions. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said 80,000 police would be deployed, adding that the risk of disorder was “significant”. Road traffic, rail and air services are expected to be disrupted and many schools will be closed.

• Hundreds of tourists stranded near Machu Picchu after protests. At least 900 tourists were stranded near Peru’s ancient Inca citadel of Machu Picchu on Tuesday, after a passenger train service was suspended due to a protest. Protesters say there is a lack of transparency and fairness in the process of replacing tourist bus operator Consettur after its concession expired, paving the way for different local businesses to benefit from the vital industry.

• News Quiz! After nearly 30 years studying the site of Finlaggan on the island of Islay, in western Scotland, archaeologists uncovered evidence of previously unknown historical features. What did they find?

A. A Viking ship graveyard
B. A forgotten royal castle
C. The world’s oldest distillery
D. A Loch Ness monster pilgrimage chapel
[Answer below]

📣 VERBATIM

“One of the lions has passed.”

— Meryl Streep, who starred opposite Robert Redford in the 1985 romance Out Of Africa, paid tribute to the actor who died at age 89. “One of the lions has passed”, she wrote in a statement. Many others are mourning the loss of Redford whose work over a 60-year period included Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting alongside the late Paul Newman, The Way We Were with Barbra Streisand, and All the President’s Men with Dustin Hoffman.

📰 IN OTHER NEWS

🌐 Xi Jinping’s military show in Beijing and his alliance of autocrats may look like the dawn of a new world order, yet the economic, scientific, and military balance still tilts toward the democracies of the West.
— DIE ZEIT

⚖️ Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s idyllic vineyard life in Provence gave way to legal battles, renovations, and a bitter divorce.
— LE FIGARO

🏳️‍🌈 With two dramatic actions, the “Religious Right” is suddenly prodding the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its historic 2015 Obergefell decision, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
— RELIGION UNPLUGGED