Good morning. It's Monday, Sept. 26, and we're covering a groundbreaking NASA mission, a storm headed toward Florida, and much more. Have feedback? Let us know at [email protected].
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Voters in Italy have elected a nationalist-populist coalition led by Giorgia Meloni as their new government, paving the way for the country's first female parliamentary leader. Her party, the Brothers of Italy, received the most votes in both houses, nearly four times the votes received in 2018. The day's overall turnout was roughly 65% percent of the voting population.
Meloni has been a member of Italy's parliament since 2006, becoming the country's youngest-ever government minister when she was appointed minister of youth in 2008. She describes her views as mainstream conservative and has been vocal in her opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage, and lenient immigration policies. She faces a deepening energy shortage and spiking inflation amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the continent's most significant armed conflict since World War II.
Analysts claim her party's quick rise to power may be partly due to its being the only major party not to join outgoing prime minister Mario Draghi's unity government in early 2021, lending it outsider status. |
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A NASA space probe is scheduled to crash into a small asteroid today, the first-ever test of a potential planetary defense strategy that would alter the trajectory of space rocks before they make an impact with Earth.
The asteroid in question, named Dimorphos, is not on a collision course with the planet. The roughly 600-foot-wide rock orbits a larger asteroid, with the pair making an elliptical orbit around the sun (see trajectory) and coming within a few million miles of Earth roughly every century. The mission will slam a 1,300-pound rudimentary spacecraft—carrying no scientific payload—traveling above 10,000 mph directly into the asteroid. The force of the impact will slightly change the trajectory of Dimorphous and its parent asteroid, which scientists will track over the coming years.
Separately, NASA waived off its planned Tuesday launch of the Artemis I lunar mission due to Hurricane Ian, which is expected to enter the Gulf of Mexico overnight. |
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) declared a state of emergency over the weekend, preparing for the looming landfall of Tropical Storm Ian later in the week. The system is currently on track to move through the Gulf of Mexico and arrive near the state's panhandle by Wednesday while bringing rain and heavy winds to Florida's southern tip beginning tomorrow (see trajectory). As of early this morning, Ian was on the verge of becoming a Category 1 hurricane.
Ian is the ninth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season and has the potential to be the first major hurricane—those classified as Category 3 and above—to make US landfall this year. As of this writing, Ian was located roughly 300 miles southwest of Cuba as a Category 1 storm and is expected to intensify as it moves across the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Projections have Ian making landfall along the Florida coast overnight Thursday as either a Category 3 or Category 4 hurricane. See updates here. |
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In partnership with Babbel
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Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
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> St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols becomes fourth MLB player ever to hit 700 career home runs (More)
> Rihanna tapped as headline performer for Super Bowl LVII (Feb. 12) halftime show (More) | Dale McRaven, Emmy-nominated creator of "Mork & Mindy" and "Perfect Strangers," dies at 83 (More) | Louise Fletcher, Oscar-winning actress known for "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," dies at 88 (More)
> Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge breaks his own world record, winning Berlin Marathon in 2:01:09 (More) | Roger Federer loses final competitive match playing alongside doubles partner Rafael Nadal (More) |
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> Study finds normal fat cells located within the vicinity of breast cancer tumor cells may change behavior in ways that facilitate tumor growth; findings may provide a new route to suppressing the disease (More)
> Engineers demonstrate microrobots capable of navigating mouse lungs, delivering targeted medication to treat pneumonia (More)
> Researchers link recent 7.6-magnitude earthquake in southwestern Mexico to 4-foot waves in Death Valley's famed Devils Hole (More) |
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Business & Markets
> US stock markets close lower Friday (S&P 500 -1.7%, Dow -1.6%, Nasdaq -1.8%); Dow briefly enters bear market territory in intraday trading, falling 20% from its recent all-time high in January (More)
> Ford delaying car shipments as company is facing a shortage of blue oval logo badges (More)
> The US allows tech companies to expand internet access in Iran among protests (More) |
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> European Union split over accepting Russians fleeing draft, with Baltic states refusing entrance while Germany calls for a European-wide solution (More) | Over 2,000 protesters detained in Russia since last week's partial mobilization (More)
> Cattle raiders kill 11 in northern Kenya amid severe drought in East Africa, the region's worst in four decades (More) | UN food chief warns of widespread famine, roughly 350 million people worldwide at risk of starvation (More) | Thirty-six people killed in heavy rains, lightning in northern India (More)
> US Senate debates measure to ease energy permit process as part of stopgap funding bill; government shutdown possible Friday (More) |
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In partnership with Babbel
Wishing you could spend a couple of months abroad? Or maybe learn a romance language for a fall fling? Babbel can help you, and it doesn’t just talk the talk (though it certainly does that). Users of Babbel’s subscription-based language-learning curriculum report that after just three weeks of daily practice, they can have basic conversations in one of the 14 languages Babbel teaches.
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