Good morning. It's Saturday, Oct. 10. A South African human rights lawyer wins the Nobel Peace Prize. First time reading? Join millions of insatiably curious readers. Sign up here.
Also in today's Digest: thieves steal nearly $6M in Italian wine (Quick Hits), a basketball hoop that survived the Palisades fire inspires a woman to carry on (Humankind), test your knowledge of college football anthems (Etc.), and much more.
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The Nobel Committee yesterday awarded its Peace Prize to former UN human rights chief Navi Pillay. The South African-born lawyer began her career fighting apartheid and, more recently, led a panel that concluded Israel committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Pillay, 85, became the first nonwhite woman on South Africa's High Court after being nominated by President Nelson Mandela, whom she defended as an anti-apartheid lawyer. She went on to serve on several international courts, including the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, where she helped establish sexual violence as a form of genocide (w/video, warning—sensitive). The Nobel Committee chair also cited Pillay’s more recent work leading the UN commission on Gaza as a factor in the award. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the decision, while President Donald Trump reshared a Truth Social post claiming he deserved the prize.
Hours later, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court, where Pillay previously served as a judge, accusing it of unfairly targeting Americans and Israelis accused of war crimes. |
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Former Chicago Bears coach and Hall of Fame tight end Mike Ditka dies at age 86.
Ditka is the only person to have contributed to the Bears' last two league championships, as a tight end in 1963 and head coach in 1985. He was the first tight end inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and is credited with transforming the position into a more prominent offensive role. Later known as "Iron Mike" and "Da Coach," his blue-collar attitude while leading the dominant Bears of the 1980s cemented him as a cultural icon. Watch the classic "Saturday Night Live" skit he inspired here. (More) |
Panama is struck by two powerful earthquakes.
A 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck Panama yesterday, collapsing dozens of buildings and prompting evacuations nationwide. It triggered a tsunami threat several aftershocks, including a 6.6 magnitude earthquake roughly two and a half hours later. Several injuries but no casualties have been reported, as of this writing. The last major earthquake to cause widespread damage in Panama struck in 1991. (More, w/map) |
Trump administration strikes deal to obtain diesel from Russia.
The White House struck the deal in an effort to ease high fuel prices, with diesel averaging $6.28 per gallon yesterday. President Donald Trump said Russia would immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel, with millions more tons to follow. The announcement comes less than a month after Trump signed a sweeping sanctions bill intended to pressure Moscow to end its invasion of Ukraine. (More) |
President Donald Trump establishes committee to investigate Fed's Lisa Cook.
The committee will explore mortgage fraud allegations against the Federal Reserve governor and whether they constitute grounds to fire her. The inquiry will include a Nov. 5 hearing, to which Cook has been summoned. The Supreme Court blocked Trump's past attempt to fire Cook, citing a lack of due process. His ongoing efforts to remove her have raised concerns about the central bank's independence. (More) |
Separately, the Trump administration selected conservative commentator Katie Zacharia to replace Karoline Leavitt as White House press secretary. (More) |
Pentagon will livestream first military firing squad execution since World War II.
Nidal Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist who fatally shot 13 people and wounded more than 30 others at Fort Hood military base in 2009, is scheduled to be put to death by firing squad Dec. 3. It would be the first US military execution by firing squad since 1945 and the first to be publicly broadcast. The last public execution in the US took place in 1936, when about 20,000 people gathered in Kentucky to witness the hanging of a Black man convicted of raping an elderly white woman. (More) |
Iran-backed Houthis strike Riyadh airport, killing three Saudis.
Saudi authorities said three Saudis, including an airline pilot, were killed, while people of several other nationalities were wounded. The attack is the deadliest since the kingdom launched an offensive with Yemen's UN-recognized government last week to regain territory from the Houthis. The Iran-backed group has seized key positions along the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key Red Sea shipping lane. (More) |
Thieves steal 30,000 bottles in Italy's largest-ever wine heist.
Legacy winemaker Marchesi Antinori said at least seven people stole roughly $5.8M worth of its premium wines. They allegedly disabled the winery's surveillance system before using the company's forklifts to load two large trucks in the middle of the night. The 640-year-old family-owned company is now warning customers to exercise caution when purchasing its wines outside official channels. (More) |
Separately, French authorities recovered two Renoir paintings stolen from a museum last month and arrested six suspects. (More) |
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Man frees a baby swan caught in a fishing line while keeping its protective parents calm. (More, w/photos) |
Teenager gives his Nike slides to an older man crossing the street with a walker in shoes that are falling apart. (More) |
Malibu homeowner finds inspiration to rebuild after discovering her late husband's basketball hoop survived the Palisades fire. (More) |
Chicago White Sox received letter from Chicago-born Pope Leo before a playoff win last month. (More) |
Triplets and twins who received care in the same NICU become best friends and raise more than $2K for the hospital unit through a lemonade stand. (More) |
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Today, we're sharing a story from reader Christie J. in Alexandria, VA.
"Spooky season just started, so I took my kids (5 and 2) to our local farm stand to buy some pumpkins. Happy with our selections, we went inside to pay our tab, and as we’re checking out, my 2-year-olds’s eyes and hands start roaming, trying to grab any fruit or vegetable she can get. Now I’m trying my best to put everything back on pace with her, but she won the battle and grabbed a giant, beautiful tomato and took a huge bite. I put it up on the checkout scale and said we have to pay for this too.
The boy who was tallying up our pumpkins nodded and kept adding up our total. Once I paid, he whispered, 'Don’t worry about the tomato,' and smiled. I’m sure it’s something that happens all the time there, but it was still so nice of him to do! It was a great end to a fun, rainy afternoon."
Humankind(ness) is a reader-built corner of joy. So, what act(s) of kindness did you experience this week? Tell us here. And if this story made you smile—share our email (copy URL here). |
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"So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable." |
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