Mexico elected its first female president
Claudia Sheinbaum, a climate scientist and former mayor of Mexico City, will be Mexico’s next president, after winning a landslide election victory. She will be the first woman and first Jewish person to hold the position.
Sheinbaum, a leftist, was beating her opponent by a surprising 30 percentage points or more, early results showed. Votes are still being counted – see live results here.
Her victory suggests that most Mexicans are satisfied with the direction of their country: Sheinbaum, 61, is the chosen successor to Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the current president.
Whats Next: The next obstacle for Sheinbaum will be to get out of López Obrador’s shadow. He notes that they are “different people,” although he appealed to voters by promising to cement his legacy. Here’s what you need to know about Mexico’s next leader.
Biden plans to restrict asylum
President Biden is expected to sign an executive order today allowing him to temporarily seal the US-Mexico border to migrants, a move that would suspend protections for asylum seekers in the United States.
The order would be the most restrictive border policy instituted by Biden, who is under intense political pressure to address illegal migration before the November presidential election. It also echoes a 2018 effort by Donald Trump to block immigration, proclamations that were attacked by Democrats and blocked by federal courts.
Details: The order would allow border officials to prevent migrants from applying for asylum and quickly turn them away once border crossings exceed a certain threshold.
The numbers: On Sunday, border agents detained more than 3,500 migrants crossing the border without authorization, according to a person with knowledge of the data.
Netanyahu tries to prevent his cabinet from falling apart
Two far-right members of Israel’s government threatened to topple the ruling coalition if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to a ceasefire deal that would end the war in Gaza without eliminating Hamas.
For Itamar Ben-Gvir, Minister of National Security, and Bezalel Smotrich, Minister of Finance, the ceasefire proposal does not go far enough to guarantee the destruction of Hamas. Taking away their support would bring down the government. President Biden outlined the deal on Friday and said it had been put forward by Israel.
The deal: Netanyahu offered assurances to lawmakers in a closed-door meeting yesterday that the proposal would not end the war without ending Hamas rule in Gaza. “Claims that we agreed to a ceasefire without our conditions being met are incorrect,” he said.
Hostages: The Israeli military said four other hostages who were kidnapped on October 7 “were no longer alive.” The men are believed to have been killed together “several months ago” near Khan Younis in central Gaza while Israeli forces were operating in the area, an Israeli military spokesman said.
MORE TOP NEWS
Pets teach us about life, love and death. The latter is especially important, writes Sam Anderson in this animated film, which features a hamster named Mango and a dog named Walnut. Unlike us, Sam writes, animals don’t seem to spend their entire lives worrying about the fact that they’re going to die.
“Perhaps there exists in an eternal present,” he writes, “a perpetual lightness that we will never feel.”
For more, listen to Sam’s new podcast, “Animal.”
CONVERSATION STARTERS
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Rhabarberbarbarabarbarbarenbartbarbierbier (we swear it’s not a typo): TikTok loves a German rap about rhubarb, served by Barbara to rhubarb-loving barbarians, who drink beer while having their beards trimmed.
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The modern age: A group of experts came up with the 25 photographs that have best captured the world since 1955.
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Are women’s pants sexist? Unlike men’s pants, with their standard rise and waist, women’s sizing is more concept than reality.
ARTS AND IDEAS
For many supporters of Israel’s war, there is a direct line between the anti-Semitism that fueled the Holocaust and the ideology of Hamas. Hamas’ attack on Israel made October 7 the deadliest day for Jews since the Nazi genocide, a story that is fading from living memory.
For many anti-war protesters, Israel’s military campaign is a genocide. And the memorial’s young visitors, immersed in social media images showing tens of thousands of Palestinians murdered and millions displaced from their homes, bring that context with them.