 September 18, 2024 | ||
 | By Whet Moser |
Good morning. We’re covering a pager attack in Lebanon and Dominique Pelicot’s testimony.
Plus: Our Cooking app’s best recipes.
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| At least 11 people were killed and more than 2,700 were injured by the explosions. Wael Hamzeh/EPA, via Shutterstock |
Thousands injured by exploding pagers in Lebanon
Hundreds of pagers blew up at the same time across Lebanon yesterday in an apparent operation against Hezbollah.
Israel hid small amounts of explosives in the pagers, which were made in Taiwan, before they were imported into Lebanon, U.S. and other officials said. At 3:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday, the pagers received a message that appeared as though it was coming from Hezbollah’s leadership. Instead, the message activated the explosives.
At least 11 people, including a young girl, were killed, and more than 2,700 were injured, the country’s health minister said. Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon was also wounded, and Hezbollah said that at least eight of its fighters had been killed. The Israeli military has not commented or claimed responsibility.
Witnesses reported seeing smoke coming from people’s pockets, followed by small blasts. Videos showed people being knocked off their feet. A doctor who visited hospitals where some of the wounded were taken said so many people had suffered wounds to their eyes that there was a shortage of eye surgeons.
What’s next: Lebanon’s foreign minister, Abdallah Bou Habib, said the country was bracing for a major retaliation by Hezbollah.
In Israel: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is said to be considering firing his defense minister, Yoav Gallant.
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| Kamala Harris at a campaign event in Pennsylvania last week. Kenny Holston/The New York Times |
Harris, Trump and their allies planned $500 million in ads
Over the final seven weeks of the campaign, groups backing Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have reserved more than half a billion dollars in television and radio ads — 63 percent of which will support Harris.
Democrats have significantly outraised Republicans since Harris succeeded President Biden on the ticket, and groups supporting her have reserved $332 million worth of airtime. Just about $194 million will come from groups backing Trump.
The candidates and their allies plan to spend $133 million in Pennsylvania. Democrats have an advantage of about $21 million in the state. The next noisiest state will be Michigan, where about $95 million will be spent on television, and Democrats have a $23 million advantage there.
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| Gisèle Pelicot arriving at court yesterday. Christophe Simon/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
Dominique Pelicot took the stand in his rape trial
Addressing his ex-wife, Gisèle Pelicot, whom he is accused of drugging, raping and inviting other men to rape, Dominique Pelicot said, “I regret what I did and ask for forgiveness, even if it’s unforgivable,” as she stood in the middle of the court looking directly at him.
Testifying for the first time in a trial that has transfixed and horrified France, Pelicot said that he had been controlled by a sex addiction created by traumatic episodes in his childhood, notably a sexual assault he said he had suffered at age 9.
Details: A total of 51 men are on trial — a cross-section of working- and middle-class rural France, ranging in age from 26 to 74 — including Pelicot, mostly on charges of the aggravated rape of Dominique Pelicot. More than a dozen have admitted their guilt.
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| Philippe Braquenier |
A group of artists transformed a derelict townhouse in Brussels into the city’s most disruptive art project. It took three months to make the place habitable; in the dead of winter, they all slept in one room to conserve body heat. In December, their lease runs out, and the house will be gutted. Their plan: Start again.
Lives lived: Derek Boshier, a working-class, left-wing British Pop Art star who collaborated with David Bowie and the Clash, died at 87.
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| Focus Features, via Associated Press |
After the film festivals, Oscar season takes shape
Film festivals in Venice, Telluride, Colo., and Toronto have concluded, which means the countdown to the big prize, the Oscars, has begun.
Two movies already look like significant contenders, Kyle Buchanan, our awards season columnist, writes. “Conclave,” starring Ralph Fiennes, above, and Stanley Tucci, is a thriller about sneaky cardinals plotting to pick a new pope. Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist” chronicles the epic tribulations of a Jewish architect, played by Adrien Brody, after World War II.
Daniel Craig appears likely to earn his first Oscar nomination, for Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer.” Nicole Kidman won the best actress award at Venice for the erotic “Babygirl,” but she faces competition from Angelina Jolie as the opera diva Maria Callas in “Maria,” and Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore in Pedro Almodóvar’s “The Room Next Door,” which won the top prize in Venice.
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Cook: Ten years ago we started the NYT Cooking app. To celebrate, we collected the 50 best recipes according to the community.
Listen: An album by the Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan from 1990 has been discovered in the vaults of Peter Gabriel’s label.
Read: Check out these 11 fashion books coming out this fall.
Exercise: To prevent injury, train your tendons.
Play the Spelling Bee. And here are today’s Mini Crossword and Wordle. You can find all our puzzles here.
That’s it for today’s briefing. See you tomorrow. — Whet
Reach Whet and the team at briefing@nytimes.com.
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