End Of The World? How About A Party Instead?

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Tuesday it had test-fired a new tactical ballistic missile capable of carrying “a super-large warhead,” a claim quickly disputed by South Korean officials and experts who speculate the North likely fabricated a successful test to conceal a botched launch. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] It’s the second time that South Korea has questioned North Korea’s claim on the development of new weapons in recent days, as the rivals are locked in heightened animosities over the North’s testing activities. The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said that Monday’s test involved the Hwasongpho-11 Da-4.5 missile, which can carry a 4.5 ton-class warhead.

LUCKNOW, India — At least 60 people are dead and scores are injured after a stampede at a religious gathering of thousands of people in northern India, officials said Tuesday. More than 150 people were admitted to hospitals after the crush in a village in Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh state, medical official Umesh Tripathi said, adding that the death toll could still rise. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Government official Ashish Kumar told The Associated Press that at least 60 bodies had reached mortuaries in the district. The stampede occurred as attendees rushed to leave following an event with a religious leader named Bhole Baba, local media reported. Police officer Rajesh Singh said overcrowding may have been a factor.

Four years ago, the Black Lives Matter movement reinvigorated public debate about historical monuments in the U. S. Monuments began coming down across the country. From Christopher Columbus in Connecticut to the massive Confederate statues on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Va., public art honoring many historical figures identified with colonialism, slavery, and oppression was either vandalized, relocated, or removed. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] At the same time, new monuments have been erected, including works honoring abolitionists Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth and activist Barbara Johns, part of the Virginia Civil Rights Memorial.

In January 2021, in the turbulent wake of the last presidential contest, a former professor named Todd Rose asked some 2,000 people a question. The survey was, at least on the surface, designed to deduce what kind of country Americans would like future generations to inherit. Each person was presented with 55 separate goal statements for the ­nation—“People have individual rights” was one; “People have high-quality health care” was another—and asked to rank them in order of importance.

One of the many trends that made headlines during the COVID-19 pandemic was people moving from large, dense cities to smaller cities, towns, and even rural areas. This pattern had been happening prior to 2020, of course, but it accelerated during lockdown, and school and office closures. But the truth is that people with financial means and work flexibility are the most likely to make such a move.

Dozens aboard an Air Europa flight from Spain to Uruguay on Monday were injured from severe turbulence, and the plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Brazil, marking the second such mid-air crisis since May to make international headlines and see harrowing images make the rounds on social media.