Monday, September 23

New Travel article: Swiss Airlines are being forced to rebalance all of their Airbus A330 planes for a very strange reason.

You can check out the full article here.

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah is threatening to turn into an all-out war across the region as tensions escalate after Israel's pager attacks.

The tensions first spiked when the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) executed a master plan in Lebanon, with almost every pager belonging to a Hezbollah operative instantly detonating. The first round of explosions began on Tuesday after pagers all over Lebanon blew up as part of Israel's complex plan. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nazrallah planned for the organization to go very low-tech, as it would allow them to avoid being tracked by Israel. Then, Israel hatched a plan and inserted small explosives into each pager, and the pagers spontaneously combusted after they sent the trigger message. You can read more into their elaborate scheme here. The attack killed at least 12 people, including two young children, and injured over 2,800 others.

Later in the week, on Wednesday, another round of explosions rocked Lebanon, coming from other low-tech devices like radios, walkie-talkies and solar panels. The second wave of attacks killed at least 20 people and injured 450 others, making the latest round even more dangerous than the first. The explosion of regular household devices has created a large amount of paranoia amongst locals, and devices are now being kept far away from people out of fear that an explosion could take place at any second-- the devices have become literal ticking time bombs. The second round of attacks only caused tensions to increase even more.

On Friday, Israel launched numerous strikes towards Lebanon's capital of Beirut, killing at least 45 people, several of which were Hezbollah members. Unfortunately, 30 of the victims were civilians living in the city, and any survivors had their homes turned into rubble and dirt in seconds.

Then, both sides snapped, bombarding each other with missiles over the weekend. Israel claimed that Hezbollah had launched over 150 rockets toward its territory on Saturday night, damaging structures across the northern portion of the country. Citizens were forced into bomb shelters, schools closed down, and medical operations are being moved underground to protect from incoming attacks. According to the BBC, Israel responded by striking thousands of Hezbollah's rocket launchers, doing loads of damage to the Iran-backed organization.

Locals, experts, the United Nations, the European Union, and other governments all fear that this conflict could rapidly escalate into a full-blown war, as Hezbollah strongly supports Hamas in Gaza and Israel is not afraid to back down from a fight. However, a situation like that would certainly have a major impact on the civilian population of Lebanon, as it has done to Gaza-- over 41,400 people have been killed in the Israel-Hamas War, and a total of 1.7 million people have been displaced. Foreign governments like the United States are now urging their citizens to get out of Lebanon as fast as possible, as the conflict could become a war at any time.

Upcoming Events this week:

• International Day of Sign Languages (Monday, September 23)

• World Maritime Day (Thursday, September 26)

• International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons (Thursday, September 26)

• World Tourism Day (Friday, September 27)

• International Day for Universal Access to Information (Saturday, September 28)

• Australian Football Grand Final (Saturday, September 28)

• International Day for Awareness of Food Loss and Waste (Sunday, September 29)

• UCI Road World Championships End (Sunday, September 29)

• Presidents Cup Ends (Sunday, September 29)

Fact of the Day (Reader's Digest): February is the rarest birth month, while September is the most common.

Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): Don't waste your time chasing butterflies. Fix your garden, and the butterflies will come. (Mario Quintana)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Heinous (adj)- Heinous describes things—such as acts, deeds, or crimes—that are hatefully or shockingly evil, or in other words, deserving of hate or contempt.

In a Sentence: The former dictator will stand trial for the role he played in his government’s heinous treatment of political dissidents.