World Briefing: October 9, 2024
Milton has strengthened back into a Category 5 hurricane. Even though it is forecast to weaken before it makes landfall, it will double in size — meaning its disastrous impacts will be felt over a much larger area.The storm is forecast to make landfall Wednesday night somewhere on Florida’s Central Gulf Coast, where it could be one of the most destructive storms on record. Its dangerous eye and eyewall could come ashore in the Sarasota or Tampa Bay areas. Officials are pleading with Floridians to evacuate, warning that they face being killed by the storm. Highways in the state are clogged and some gas stations are running low on fuel as residents heed the warnings, just two weeks since Hurricane Helene walloped Florida, leaving death and debris in its wake - CNN
Russia's intelligence agency has been on a mission to generate "sustained mayhem on British and European streets", the head of MI5 has said. Giving his annual update on security threats faced by the UK, Ken McCallum said GRU agents had carried out "arson, sabotage and more dangerous actions conducted with increasing recklessness" in Britain after the UK backed Ukraine in its war with Russia. MI5 had also responded to 20 plots backed by Iran since 2022, he said, although he added the majority of its work still mostly involved Islamist extremism followed by extreme right-wing terrorism. The complex mix of terror-related threats and threats from nation states meant MI5 had "one hell of a job on its hands", he warned. - BBC
Hezbollah fired another barrage of rockets into Israel on Tuesday, and the militant group’s acting leader vowed to keep up pressure that has forced tens of thousands of Israelis from their homes near the Lebanese border. The Israeli military said it sent more ground troops into southern Lebanon and that a senior Hezbollah commander was killed in an airstrike. Dozens of rockets fired by Hezbollah were aimed as far south as Haifa, and the Israeli government warned residents north of the coastal city to limit activities, prompting the closure of more schools. The Israeli military said Hezbollah launched about 180 rockets across the border. Sheikh Naim Kassem, Hezbollah’s acting leader, said its military capabilities remain intact after weeks of heavy Israeli airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon, and attacks that killed its top commanders in a matter of days. He said Israeli forces have not been able to advance since launching a ground incursion into Lebanon last week - AP
Bob Woodward’s forthcoming book “War” also reveals that Donald Trump kept in touch with Vladimir Putin after his presidency ended, CNN reports. Citing an aide to the former president, Woodward writes that there have been “maybe as many as seven” calls between the two since Trump left the White House. Woodward also uncovers details of a moment from the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, when Trump secretly sent Putin testing machines: “But Putin — who infamously isolated himself over fears of Covid — told Trump on a phone call to keep the delivery of the Abbott machines quiet, Woodward reports. “Please don’t tell anybody you sent these to me,” Putin said to Trump, according to Woodward. “I don’t care,” Trump replied. “Fine.” “No, no,” Putin said. “I don’t want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me. They don’t care about me.” Woodward writes that Trump has stayed in touch with Putin after leaving office. In one scene, Woodward recounts a moment at Mar-a-Lago where Trump tells a senior aide to leave the room so “he could have what he said was a private phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.”
Authorities in Burkina Faso have suspended Voice of America for three months over comments made by one of the network's journalists. The junta also temporarily banned local news outlets from using any international media reports, the reports said. Burkina Faso's superior council for communication, also known as CSC, accused VOA of demoralizing troops in Burkina Faso and nearby Mali in a broadcast on September 19, according to media reports. The interview was later aired by a privately owned local radio station, according to Reuters.
The Australian airline Qantas is apologizing after a recent flight from Sydney to Haneda Airport in Tokyo featured an R-rated movie shown on every screen. And, according to online comments from people who said they were passengers on the flight, the movie could not be turned off. The crew played the movie following the malfunction of personal in-flight entertainment systems last week, according to a person who recounted the flight experience on Reddit. The user added that the film, which features sexually explicit language, images and words displayed on the screen, played for almost an hour before it was shut off. - NYT
