13.5 billion: After decades of planning, the Italian government has approved a €13.5 billion ($15.6 billion) project to build the world’s longest suspension bridge, connecting Sicily to mainland Italy. The Ponte Messina will span one of the most seismically active areas in the Mediterranean, but designers say it will be able to withstand earthquakes. The target date for completion is 2033.
8: A helicopter crash in the central Ashanti region of Ghana has killed eight people including two government ministers: Edward Omane Boamah and Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed. The cause of the crash was unclear, but local farmers near the crash site reported foggy conditions as the helicopter flew overhead.
1.5: What’s that smell in Portugal? Oh it’s just some cocaine in rotting animal skins. A police captain and an accomplice are under arrest in Portugal on suspicion of importing 1.5 tons of the drug by hiding it in untanned hides imported from Latin America. The plot thickens: captain was himself involved in a sting operation against a drug ring two years ago.
1 of 3: South African prosecutors have withdrawn charges against one of the three men accused of murdering two Black women last year and feeding their bodies to pigs. The case has exacerbated racial tensions in the country, especially in rural areas. The trial will resume on Oct. 6.
74: Myanmar’s figurehead President Myint Swedied on Thursday at the age of 74. Swe had held the role ever since the military coup of 2021, repeatedly endorsing extensions of the country’s state of emergency to ensure the military junta could hold power.
Spiritual Counsel:Azucar para siempre! Nuyorican pianist and band leader Eddie Palmieri, a giant of Latin jazz and one of the pioneers of the genre that came to be called salsa,died Wednesday at the age of 88. Thank you for all of the music, all of the magic, and all of sugar, Eddie. Que en paz descanses.
Xi Jinping will welcome Donald Trump with lots of pomp and circumstance. The summit, though, will be short on substance.
Israel used AI in Gaza in a way that felt "potentially uncomfortable for the US military tradition" says Bloomberg reporter Katrina Manson.
Ian Bremmer breaks down the complicated reality inside Venezuela after Nicolás Maduro’s removal from power. While the Trump administration sees the operation as a major foreign policy victory, Ian argues the harder challenge is only beginning; turning Venezuela into a stable economy and a representative democracy.
Even Eurovision cannot escape geopolitics, South Africa’s constitutional court opens door to Ramaphosa impeachment vote, Zelensky’s former right-hand man accused in corruption probe