Death of ex-One Direction member Liam Payne at 31 shocks fans around the world

Buenos Aires, Argentina — The death of Liam Payne, who shot to stardom as a member of British boy band One Direction and grappled with intense global fame while still in his teens, sent shockwaves across the world Thursday as Argentine investigators continued their investigation at the scene.

Fans, music-industry figures and fellow musicians paid tribute to Payne, 31, who died after falling from a hotel balcony in Argentina.

As fans and media bombarded the Casa Sur Hotel in the trendy Palermo neighborhood of Argentina’s capital, the forensics unit worked inside on Thursday collecting evidence.

The Buenos Aires police said they found Payne’s hotel room “in complete disarray,” with packs of clonazepam, a central nervous system depressant, as well as energy supplements and other over-the-counter drugs strewn about and “various items broken.” They added that a whiskey bottle, lighter and cellphone were retrieved from the internal hotel courtyard where Payne’s body was found.

The day before, police said that Payne “had jumped from the balcony of his room,” without elaborating on how they came to that conclusion. The Associated Press could not confirm details of the incident, as the investigation is ongoing. The medical examiner’s office said it was conducting an autopsy.

Police said they had rushed to the hotel Wednesday in response to an emergency call just after 5 p.m. local time that had warned of an “aggressive man who could be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.”

A hotel manager can be heard on a 911 call recording obtained by The Associated Press saying the hotel has “a guest who is overwhelmed with drugs and alcohol … He’s destroying the entire room and, well, we need you to send someone, please.” The manager’s voice becomes more anxious as the call goes on, noting the room has a balcony.

Payne was known as the tousle-headed, sensible one of the quintet that went from a TV talent show to a pop phenomenon with a huge international following of swooning fans. In recent years he had acknowledged struggling with alcoholism, saying in a YouTube video posted in July 2023 that he had been sober for six months after receiving treatment. Representatives for Payne did not immediately return emails and calls.

Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood, who performed with One Direction in 2014, said he was “shocked and saddened.”

“God bless Liam, thinking of all his loved ones. He will be dearly missed,” Wood wrote on X.

Paris Hilton also sent condolences on X, saying the news was “so upsetting.” The Backstreet Boys said in a social media post that their hearts go out to “Directioners around the world.”

Dozens of One Direction fans flocked to the Casa Sur Hotel after the news broke, forming lines that spilled into the cordoned-off street outside, where police stood sentinel. Forensic investigators were seen leaving the building, from where Payne’s body was removed around three hours after the fall. Young women filming with their cellphones expressed shock and heartbreak as a makeshift memorial with rows of candles and bouquets quickly grew.

“I didn’t think he was going to die so young,” 21-year-old Isabella Milesi told the AP.

Payne was one of five members of One Direction, which formed after each auditioned for the British singing competition “The X Factor” in 2010, two years after Payne’s first attempt to get on the show. Aged 16 the second time around, Payne sang Michael Bublé’s version of “Cry Me a River,” appearing nervous at the start but warming up with the audience’s cheers and applause.

After each singer failed to make it through the competition as a solo act, Simon Cowell and his fellow judges combined Payne, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson into what would become one of the most successful boy bands ever — even though they lost the competition.

Each member had his own persona, with Payne — who hailed from Wolverhampton in England’s West Midlands region — known as the responsible one. The band became known for their pop sound and romantic hits including “What Makes You Beautiful,” “Night Changes” and “Story of My Life.”

Payne had prominent solos on songs including “Stole My Heart” and “Change Your Ticket,” co-writing several of the band’s hits. One Direction had six Top 10 hits on the Billboard charts by the time they disbanded in 2016 and a highly loyal fan base, known as “Directioners,” many of them teen girls.

“I’ve always loved One Direction since I was little,” said 18-year-old Juana Relh, another fan outside Payne’s hotel. “To see that he died and that there will never be another reunion of the boys is unbelievable, it kills me.”

With his meteoric rise to fame, Payne had said that it took some time to adjust to life in the public eye.

“I don’t think you can ever deal with that. It’s all a bit crazy for us to see that people get in that sort of state of mind about us and what we do,” he said in a 2013 interview with the AP after recounting an experience where a fan was in a state of shock upon meeting him.

One Direction announced an indefinite “hiatus” in 2016, and Payne — like each of his erstwhile bandmates — pursued a solo career, shifting toward EDM and hip-hop.

While Styles became a huge solo star, the others had more modest success. Payne’s 2017 single “Strip That Down,” featuring Quavo, reached the Billboard Top 10, and stayed on the charts for several months. He put out an album “LP1” in 2019, and his last release — a single called “Teardrops” — was released in March.

In 2020, to mark the 10th anniversary of One Direction, Payne shared a screenshot of a text message he sent to his father on the day he joined the group, which read: “I’m in a boyband.”

“What a journey … I had no idea what we were in for when I sent this text to my dad years ago at this exact time the band was formed,” he wrote.

Payne had a 7-year-old son, Bear Grey Payne, with his former girlfriend, the musician Cheryl, who was known as Cheryl Cole when she performed with Girls Aloud. She was an “X Factor” judge during One Direction’s season, although their relationship began years later.

Payne was previously engaged to Maya Henry, from August 2020 to early 2022. Henry released a novel earlier this year that she said was based on their relationship.

In addition to his son, he is survived by his parents, Geoff and Karen Payne, and his two older sisters, Ruth and Nicola.

European Central Bank cuts main interest rate a quarter-point to 3.25% as inflation fades

The European Central Bank, which sets interest rates for the 20 countries that use the euro currency, cut borrowing costs once again on Thursday after figures showed inflation across the bloc falling to its lowest level in more than three years and economic growth waning. 

The bank’s rate-setting council lowered its benchmark rate from 3.5% to 3.25% at a meeting in Llubljana, Slovenia, rather than its usual Frankfurt, Germany, headquarters. 

The rate cut is its third since June and shows optimism among rate-setters over the path of inflation. Inflation sank to 1.8% in September, the first time in three years that it has been below the ECB’s target rate of 2%. 

Inflation has been falling more than anticipated — in September, it was down at 1.8%, the first time it has been below the ECB’s target of 2% in more than three years — and analysts think the bank will lower rates in December, too. Mounting evidence that the eurozone is barely growing — just 0.3% in the second-quarter — has only accentuated the view that ECB President Christine Lagarde will not seek to dislodge that expectation. 

“The trends in the real economy and inflation support the case for lower rates,” said Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg Bank. 

One reason why inflation has fallen around the world is that central banks dramatically increased borrowing costs from near zero during the coronavirus pandemic when prices started to shoot up, first as a result of supply chain issues built up and then because of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine which pushed up energy costs. 

The ECB, which was created in 1999 when the euro currency was born, started raising interest rates in the summer of 2021, taking them up to a record high of 4% in Sept. 2023 to get a grip on inflation by making it more expensive for businesses and consumers to borrow, but that has come at a cost by weighing on growth. 

Germany outlines measures to strengthen domestic wind industry

Germany plans to introduce measures aimed at boosting its domestic wind industry, the economy ministry said on Thursday, amid concerns from European governments and companies over Chinese firms gaining momentum on the continent.

The measures will focus on improving cybersecurity, reducing dependency for critical components like permanent magnets, and ensuring fair competition in global markets, the ministry said following a meeting with unnamed European wind turbine manufacturers and suppliers in Berlin, without giving further details or a time frame.

China accounts for about 60% of global rare earth mine production, but its share jumps to 90% of processed rare earths and magnet output.

“We must continue improving conditions to keep this industry competitive and ensure future value creation within Germany and Europe. These measures are a crucial step,” Economy Minister Robert Habeck said in a statement.

The plan will also address securing financing for increased production and adjusting public funding mechanisms to prevent market distortion.

The ministry did not immediately respond to a request for further details.  

Tensions are high between Beijing and the European Union, the world’s two largest wind markets. The European Commission launched an investigation in April into whether Chinese companies are benefiting from unfair subsidies.

Gaza unemployment surges to 80% as economy collapses, UN agency says

ZURICH — Unemployment in Gaza has soared to nearly 80% since the Israel-Hamas war erupted, with the devastated enclave’s economy in almost total collapse, the International Labour Organization said Thursday.

Economic output has shrunk by 85% since the conflict with Israel began a year ago, plunging almost the entire 2.3 million population into poverty, the United Nations agency said.

The conflict has caused “unprecedented and wide-ranging devastation on the labour market and the wider economy across the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” the ILO said, referring to Gaza and the West Bank.

In the West Bank, the unemployment rate averaged 34.9% between October 2023 and the end of September 2024, while its economy has contracted by 21.7% compared with the previous 12 months, the ILO said.

Before the crisis, the unemployment rate in Gaza was 45.3% and 14% in the West Bank, according to the Geneva-based organization.

Gazans either lost their jobs entirely or picked up informal and irregular work “primarily centred on the provision of essential goods and services,” the ILO said.

Israel launched its offensive after Hamas-led gunmen attacked on October 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s campaign in response has killed more than 42,000 people, according to Gaza’s health authorities.

Two-thirds of Gaza’s pre-war structures — more than 163,000 buildings — have been damaged or flattened, according to U.N. satellite data.

Israel says its operations are aimed at rooting out Hamas militants hiding in tunnels and among Gaza’s civilian population.

The crisis has spilled into the West Bank, where Israeli barriers to movement of persons and goods, coupled with broader trade restrictions and supply-chain disruptions, have severely impacted the economy, the ILO said.

Israel says its actions in the West Bank have been necessary to counter Iranian-backed militant groups and to prevent harm to Israeli civilians.

“The impact of the war in the Gaza Strip has taken a toll far beyond loss of life, desperate humanitarian conditions and physical destruction,” said ILO regional director for Arab states Ruba Jaradat.

“It has fundamentally altered the socio-economic landscape of Gaza, while also severely impacting the West Bank’s economy and labour market. The impact will be felt for generations to come.”

One Direction singer Liam Payne dead after falling from Buenos Aires hotel balcony

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Former One Direction singer Liam Payne was found dead after the 31-year-old fell from his third-floor room balcony at a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentine police said on Wednesday.

Police said in a statement that they were called to the CasaSur hotel in the capital’s leafy Palermo neighborhood after being notified of an “aggressive man who could be under the effects of drugs and alcohol.”

When they arrived, the hotel manager reported he had heard a loud noise from the inner courtyard and the police found that a man had fallen from the balcony of his room, the statement said.

In audio related to the case obtained from the Buenos Aires security ministry, a worker can be heard asking for police help.

“When he is conscious he is destroying the entire room and we need you to send someone,” the worker said, adding that the guest’s life was at risk because the room had a balcony.

Shooting to global fame as part of one of the best-selling boy bands of all time, Payne – like his band mates Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson – went on to pursue a solo career after they went on an “indefinite hiatus” in 2016. Payne’s last single was “Teardrop,” released in March this year.

While many of the details surrounding the circumstances of his death remain unclear, Payne had spoken publicly about his struggles with mental health and using alcohol to cope with the pressures of fame.

His death led to an outpouring of grief from music industry stars and fans, including those among the crowd who gathered outside the hotel.

Violeta Antier said she had come straight away after being told Payne had died.

“I saw him two weeks ago at a Niall (Horan) concert, another One Direction member. He was there, I saw him,” she said.

“He was ok.”

Payne attended an October 2 concert by Horan in Buenos Aires. The two had posted videos together and with fans.

American singer Charlie Puth was among those expressing their grief.

“I am in shock right now. Liam was always so kind to me,” he said on Instagram. “He was one of the first major artists I got to work with. I cannot believe he is gone.”

Payne auditioned for the British version of X Factor for a second time in 2010 at the age of 16 and was put into a group with his future band mates by music mogul Simon Cowell.

Cowell told Rolling Stone in a 2012 interview that he’d “always backed” Payne at the time of his first audition in 2008 but he didn’t quite make it because he had been too young.

“But I always knew that with confidence he would be a valuable member of this band, so I had no hesitation in bringing him back,” he said.

The band may have finished third in X Factor that year but it went on to have more than 29 hits on Billboard’s Hot 100 with six in the top 10, including “What Makes You Beautiful,” “Story of My Life” and “Live While We’re Young.”

Payne’s co-writing credits include “Story of My Life” and “Night Changes”.

He teamed up with Rita Ora on the 2018 song “For You” and released his first studio album LP1 in 2019.

According to Celebrity Net Worth, Payne’s One Direction and solo career helped garner him a net worth of some $70 million.

Payne had a son named Bear with British TV personality and Girls Aloud singer Cheryl.

Last year, he published a video to fans on his YouTube channel in which he spoke about his family, making new art and performing again after having given up alcohol. He thanked supporters for sticking with him through difficult times.

Earlier on Wednesday, Payne had appeared to post on Snapchat about his trip in Argentina, talking about riding horses, playing polo, and looking forward to returning home to see his dog.

“It’s a lovely day here in Argentina,” he said in the video.

Historic Jersey Shore amusement park closes after generations of family thrills 

OCEAN CITY, N.J. — For generations of vacationers heading to Ocean City, the towering “Giant Wheel” was the first thing they saw from miles away.

The sight of the 140-foot-tall (42-meter) ride let them know they were getting close to the Jersey Shore town that calls itself “America’s Greatest Family Resort,” with its promise of kid-friendly beaches, seagulls and sea shells, and a bustling boardwalk full of pizza, ice cream and cotton candy.

And in the heart of it was Gillian’s Wonderland Pier, an amusement park that was the latest in nearly a century-long line of family-friendly amusement attractions operated by the family of Ocean City’s mayor.

But the rides were to fall silent and still Sunday night, as the park run by Ocean City’s mayor and nurtured by generations of his ancestors, closed down, the victim of financial woes made worse by the lingering aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic and Superstorm Sandy.

Gillian and his family have operated amusement rides and attractions on the Ocean City Boardwalk for 94 years. The latest iteration of the park, Wonderland, opened in 1965.

“I tried my best to sustain Wonderland for as long as possible, through increasingly difficult challenges each year,” Mayor Jay Gillian wrote in August when he announced the park would close. “It’s been my life, my legacy and my family. But it’s no longer a viable business.”

Gillian did not respond to numerous requests for comment over the past week.

Sheryl Gross was at the park for its final day with her two children and five grandchildren, enjoying it one last time.

“I’ve been coming here forever,” she said. “My daughter is 43 and I’ve been coming here since she was 2 years old in a stroller. Now I’m here with my grandchildren.”

She remembers decades of bringing her family from Gloucester Township in the southern New Jersey suburbs of Philadelphia to create happy family memories at Wonderland.

“Just the excitement on their faces when they get on the rides,” she said. “It really made it feel family-friendly. A lot of that is going to be lost now.”

There were long lines Sunday for the Giant Wheel, the log flume and other popular rides as people used the last of ride tickets many had bought earlier in the year, thinking Wonderland would go on forever.

A local non-profit group, Friends of OCNJ History and Culture, is raising money to try and save the amusement park, possibly under a new owner who might be more amenable to buying it with some financial assistance. Bill Merritt, one of the non-profit’s leaders, said the group has raised over $1 million to help meet what could be a $20-million price tag for the property.

“Ocean City will be fundamentally different without this attraction,” he said. “This town relies on being family-friendly. The park has rides targeted at kids; it’s called ‘Wonderland’ for a reason.”

The property’s current owner, Icona Resorts, previously proposed a $150-million, 325-room luxury hotel elsewhere on Ocean City’s boardwalk, but the city rejected those plans.

The company’s CEO, Eustace Mita, said earlier this year he would take at least until the end of the year to propose a use for the amusement park property.

He bought it in 2021 after Gillian’s family was in danger of defaulting on bank loans for the property.

At a community meeting last month, Gillian said Wonderland could not bounce back from Superstorm Sandy in 2012, the pandemic in 2020 and an increase in New Jersey’s minimum wage that doubled his payroll costs, leaving him $4 million in debt.

Mita put up funds to stave off a sheriff’s sale of the property, and gave the mayor three years to turn the business around. That deadline expired this year.

Mita did not respond to requests for comment.

Merritt said he and others can’t imagine Ocean City without Wonderland.

“You look at it with your heart, and you say ‘You’re losing all the cherished memories and all the history; how can you let that go?’” he said. “And then you look at it with your head and you say, ‘They are the reason this town is profitable; how can you let that go?’”

World Bank cuts 2024 growth forecast for sub-Saharan Africa over Sudan 

Nairobi — The World Bank said on Monday it had lowered its economic growth forecast for sub-Saharan Africa this year to 3% from 3.4%, mainly due to the destruction of Sudan’s economy in a civil war.  

However, growth is expected to remain comfortably above last year’s 2.4% thanks to higher private consumption and investment, the bank said in its latest regional economic outlook report, Africa’s Pulse.  

“This is still a recovery that is basically in slow gear,” Andrew Dabalen, chief economist for the Africa region at the World Bank, told a media briefing.  

The report forecast next year’s growth at 3.9%, above its previous prediction of 3.8%.  

Moderating inflation in many countries will allow policymakers to start lowering elevated lending rates, the report said.  

However, the growth forecasts still face serious risks from armed conflict and climate events such as droughts, floods and cyclones, it added.  

Without the conflict in Sudan, which devastated economic activity and caused starvation and widespread displacement, regional growth in 2024 would have been half a percentage point higher and in line with its initial April estimate, the lender said.  

Growth in the region’s most advanced economy, South Africa, is expected to increase to 1.1% this year and 1.6% in 2025, the report said, from 0.7% last year.   

Nigeria is expected to grow at 3.3% this year, rising to 3.6% in 2025, while Kenya, the richest economy in East Africa, is likely to expand by 5% this year, the report said.   

Commodities  

The sub-Saharan Africa region grew at a robust annual average of 5.3% in 2000-2014 on the back of a commodity supercycle, but output started flagging when commodity prices crashed. The slowdown was accelerated by the COVID pandemic.  

“Cumulatively, if that were to continue for a long time, it would be catastrophic,” Dabalen warned.  

Many economies in the region were starved of public and private investments, he said, and a recovery in foreign direct investments that started in 2021 was still tepid.  

“The region needs much, much larger levels of investments in order to be able to recover faster… and be able to reduce poverty,” he said.  

Growth across the region is also hamstrung by high debt service costs in countries like Kenya, which was rocked by deadly protests against tax hikes in June and July.  

“There are staggering levels of interest payments,” Dabalen said, attributing this to a shift by governments to borrow from financial markets in the last decade and away from the low-priced credit offered by institutions like the World Bank.  

Total external debt among economies has risen to about $500 billion from $150 billion a decade and a half ago, he said, with the bulk owed to bond market investors and China.  

Chad, Zambia, Ghana and Ethiopia went into default in the last four years and have overhauled their debt under a G20 initiative Common Framework. Ethiopia is still working to restructure its debt while the others have completed their debt restructuring.  

“As long as these debt issues are not resolved, there is going to be a lot of ‘wait and see’ games going on, and that is not good for the countries, and certainly not good for the creditors as well,” he said.

UN refugee chief urges states to drop border controls even as displacement crises worse

Geneva — The head of the U.N. refugee agency warned on Monday that displacement crises in Lebanon and Sudan could worsen, but said tighter border measures were not the solution, calling them ineffective and sometimes unlawful.

Addressing more than 100 diplomats and ministers in Geneva at UNHCR’s annual meeting, Filippo Grandi said an unprecedented 123 million people are now displaced around the world by conflicts, persecution, poverty and climate change.

“You might then ask: what can be done? For a start, do not focus only on your borders,” he said, urging leaders instead to look at the reasons people are fleeing their homes.

“We must seek to address the root causes of displacement, and work toward solutions,” he said. “I beg you all that we continue to work — together and with humility — to seize every opportunity to find solutions for refugees.”

Without naming countries, Grandi said initiatives to outsource, externalize or even suspend asylum schemes were in breach of international law, and he offered countries help in finding fair, fast and lawful asylum schemes.

Western governments are under growing domestic pressure to get tougher on asylum seekers and Grandi has previously criticized a plan by the former British government to transfer them to Rwanda.

In the same speech he warned that in Lebanon, where more than one million people have fled their homes due to a growing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the situation could worsen further.

“Surely, if airstrikes continue, many more will be displaced and some will also decide to move on to other countries.”

He called for a drastic increase in support for refugees in Sudan’s civil war, saying lack of resources was already driving them across the Mediterranean Sea and even across the Channel to Britain.

“In this lethal equation, something has got to give. Otherwise, nobody should be surprised if displacement keeps growing, in numbers but also in geographic spread,” he said.

The UNHCR response to the crisis that aims to help a portion of the more than 11 million people displaced inside Sudan or in neighboring countries is less than 1/3 funded, Grandi said.

The number of displaced people around the world has more than doubled in the past decade.

Grandi, set to serve as high commissioner until Dec. 2025, said the agency’s funding for this year had recently improved due to U.S. support but remained “well below the needs.”

Nobel economics prize awarded for research into why countries succeed or fail 

STOCKHOLM — The Nobel memorial prize in economics was awarded Monday to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson for research into reasons why some countries succeed and others fail. 

The Nobel memorial prize in economics was awarded Monday to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson for research into differences in prosperity between nations. 

The three economists “have demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for a country’s prosperity,” the Nobel committee of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said at the announcement in Stockholm. 

“Societies with a poor rule of law and institutions that exploit the population do not generate growth or change for the better. The laureates’ research helps us understand why,” it added. 

Acemoglu and Johnson work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Robinson conducts his research at the University of Chicago. 

“Reducing the vast differences in income between countries is one of our time’s greatest challenges. The laureates have demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for achieving this,” Jakob Svensson, Chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences, said. 

He said their research has provided “a much deeper understanding of the root causes of why countries fail or succeed.” 

Reached by the academy in Athens, Greece, where he is due to speak at a conference, Acemoglu said he was surprised and shocked by the award. 

“You never expect something like this,” he said. 

The economics prize is formally known as the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. The central bank established it in 1968 as a memorial to Nobel, the 19th-century Swedish businessman and chemist who invented dynamite and established the five Nobel Prizes. 

Though Nobel purists stress that the economics prize is technically not a Nobel Prize, it is always presented together with the others on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death in 1896. 

Nobel honors were announced last week in medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace. 

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Chinese carmaker GAC considers making EVs in Europe as tariffs loom

Paris — Chinese state-owned carmaker GAC is exploring the manufacture of EVs in Europe to avoid EU tariffs, the general manager of its international business told Reuters on Sunday, joining a growing list of Chinese companies planning local production. 

The company is among China’s largest automakers and is targeting 500,000 overseas sales by 2030. It does not yet sell EVs in Europe but will launch an electric SUV tailored to the European market at the Paris Auto Show, which kicks off Monday. 

GAC still viewed Europe as an important market that was “relatively open” despite moves by the European Commission to impose tariffs on EVs made in China, Wei Heigang said, speaking in Paris ahead of the show. 

“The tariffs issue definitely has an impact on us. However, all this can be overcome in the long term … I am positive there is going to be a way to get it all resolved,” he said. 

“Local production would be one of the ways to resolve this,” he added. “We are very actively exploring this possibility.” 

Discussions were at a very early stage and the company was still considering whether to build a new plant or share — or take over — an existing one, according to Wei. 

The compact SUV on display in Paris, a 520-kilometer (323-mile) range vehicle called “Aion V,” should launch in some European markets in mid-2025, priced at less than 40,000 euros ($43,748), though the final price has not yet been set, GAC said. 

After that launch, the next GAC vehicle due for sale in Europe will be a small electric hatchback, to be released in late 2025. 

Amazon wants to be everything to everyone 

Mount Juliet, United States — Amazon is bolstering its e-commerce empire while continuing a march deeper into people’s lives, from robots to healthcare and entertainment.  

Innovations unveiled in recent days by the Seattle-based tech titan included a delivery van computer system to shave time off deliveries by its speed-obsessed logistics network.   

Amazon Stores boss Doug Herrington said that the technology enables vans to recognize stops and signal which packages to drop off.  

“When we speed up deliveries, customers shop more,” Herrington said.  

“For 2024, we’re going to have the fastest Prime delivery speeds around the world,” he added, referring to Amazon’s subscription service.  

On top of that, according to Herrington, Amazon last year managed to cut 45 cents off the cost per unit shipped, a huge savings when considering the massive volume of sales.  

Prime is the ‘glue’  

Amazon last year recorded profit of more than $30 billion on revenue of $575 billion, powered by its online retail operation and its AWS cloud computing division.  

“They have this whole flywheel model with Amazon Prime membership in the middle,” said eMarketer analyst Suzy Davidkhanian.  

“That’s the glue that keeps everything together.”  

Businesses include retail, advertising, cloud computing and streamed movies and music.  

But that very model has the 30-year-old company facing a US government lawsuit, accused of expanding an illegal monopoly and otherwise harming competition.   

Amazon makes money from data gathered about consumers, either by targeting ads or through insights into what products they might like, Davidkhanian said.  

That was why Amazon paid for expensive rights to stream NFL American football games on Prime Video in a move that promises to help it pinpoint fans of the sport.  

Amazon’s digital assistant Alexa can order items on command and has been even built into appliances such as washing machines to let them automatically buy supplies like laundry soap as needed.  

A ‘pocket pharmacy’  

Amazon showed off enhancements to its virtual health care service called One Medical.  

For $9 a month Prime members are promised anytime access to video consultations with health care professionals, along with record keeping and drug prescriptions.  

An Amazon Pharmacy takes advantage of the company’s delivery network to get prescriptions to patients quickly, striving for speeds of less than 24 hours for 45 percent of customers by the end of next year.  

“We’re building a pharmacy in your pocket that offers rapid delivery right to your door,” Amazon Pharmacy chief Hannah McClellan said, referring to the option of using a smartphone app.  

The healthcare market promises to be lucrative for Amazon, which is “trying to be the platform that has everything for everyone,” said analyst Davidkhanian.  

Real world wrinkles  

Amazon has suffered setbacks when it comes to brick-and-mortar stores but it continues to strive for a winning strategy.  

The company next year will open its first “automated micro warehouse” in Pennsylvania, next to a Whole Foods Market organic grocery shop, the chain it bought in 2017.  

People will be able to pick up certain items selected online, with orders filled by robots, after shopping next door for fresh produce and groceries.  

Meanwhile, Amazon is ramping up use of artificial intelligence at its online store with tools helping sellers describe and illustrate products.  

Product labels will change according to the user, displaying terms likely to catch their attention such as “strawberry flavor” for some and “gluten-free” for others.   

“The things that Amazon is doing with AI are to make sure that you go from researching something to making the purchase as quickly as possible,” Davidkhanian said.  

At the logistics center near Nashville, robotic arms deftly placed packages in carts that autonomously made their way to trucks.  

Logistics center automation improves safety and frees up workers for more interesting tasks, according to Amazon robotics manager Julie Mitchell.  

However, critics cite delivery speed pressure and other factors as making Amazon warehouses more dangerous than the industry average. 

In Hiroshima, Nobel Prize brings survivors hope, sense of duty

HIROSHIMA, Japan — Almost eight decades after an atomic bomb devastated her hometown of Hiroshima, Teruko Yahata carries the scar on her forehead from when she was knocked over by the force of the blast.

The U.S. bombs that laid waste to Hiroshima on the morning of August 6, 1945, and to Nagasaki three days later, changed the course of history and left Yahata and other survivors with deep scars and a sense of responsibility toward disarmament.

The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday to the Nihon Hidankyo group of atomic bomb survivors, for its work warning of the dangers of nuclear arms, has given survivors hope and highlighted their work still ahead, Yahata and others said.

“It felt as if a light suddenly shone through. I felt like I could see the light,” the 87-year-old said on Saturday, describing her reaction to hearing about the award.

“This feels like the first step, the beginning of a movement toward nuclear abolition,” she told Reuters at the site of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.

She was just 8 years old and in the back garden of her home when the bomb hit. Although her house was 2.5 kilometers from the hypocenter, the blast was strong enough to throw her several meters back into her house, she said.

Seventy-nine years later, and a day after the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the survivors the prize, a long line formed outside the museum, with dozens of foreign and Japanese visitors queuing up to get in.

A bridge leading into the memorial park was decorated with a yellow sheet and other handmade signs against nuclear weapons. Campaigners gathered signatures for nuclear abolition from those passing by.

Nihon Hidankyo, formed in 1956, has provided thousands of witness accounts, issued resolutions and public appeals, sent delegations to the U.N. and peace conferences, and collected signatures advocating nuclear disarmament.

Yahata, who is not a Nihon Hidankyo member, said it was that drive to gather signatures that finally paid off after bearing little fruit for most of a century.

“It’s this amount of sadness and joy that led them to this peace prize. I think it’s something very meaningful,” she said.

Nihon Hidankyo’s co-chair, Toshiyuki Mimaki, said he felt the award meant more responsibility, adding that most atomic bomb survivors were more than 85 years old.

“Rather than feeling purely happy, I feel like I have more responsibility now,” he told Reuters, sitting in a Hidankyo office in Hiroshima in front of a map showing the impact of the bomb on the city.

In rural areas the group is on the verge of falling apart, the 82-year-old said. “The big challenge now is what to do going forward.”

Argentina’s triple-digit inflation slows, but workers still struggle to pay bills

BUENOS AIRES — Argentina’s triple-digit inflation, among the world’s highest, is starting to slow down but this offers little relief for workers whose salaries have stayed the same while costs of basic goods skyrocketed and the government slashed state subsidies.

“We’re losing track of what’s expensive and what’s cheap,” said university professor Daniel Vazquez while shopping in Buenos Aires. “Prices keep going up and the only thing that isn’t going up is salaries.”

“The gap is very, very big,” he said.

While annualized inflation in September remained well into the triple digits at 209%, month-on-month price hikes slowed to their lowest level since late 2021 at 3.5%, data from the national statistics agency showed on Thursday.

The data landed in line with the forecasts of analysts, who predict that inflation will end 2024 at 124%.

Libertarian President Javier Milei has cut subsidies to sectors such as energy and transportation, while vowing to trim what he calls bloat in the public sector, shuttering some offices and trimming jobs.

“You’ve never seen inflation being fought like this before. It takes a little longer but it’s genuine,” Milei wrote on X after the inflation data was published Thursday.

The tough austerity drive has prolonged a recession and caused poverty rates to surge to around 53%.

Computer programmer Ivan Cortesi, 30, said that while food prices remained similar to last month, utility costs rose significantly.

“This past month there has been a significant increase in all utilities,” he said.

According to the statistics agency, rents as well as water, power and gas prices led monthly inflation, up over 7%, followed by clothing and shoes which rose 6% and education costs that increased over 4%.

Food prices increased just 2% from last month but more than tripled their level from a year ago, while housing and utility costs nearly quadrupled. Cigarettes, alcohol, health care, transport and communications also tracked annual inflation well above 200%.

Milei devalued the local currency when he took office in December, and the sharp spending cuts have particularly hit informal workers, civil servants, pensioners, doctors and teachers.

On Wednesday, Argentina’s Congress failed to overturn Milei’s controversial veto of a law that would have shored up university spending in line with inflation, following mass protests by students and university workers against the measure.

Milei has vowed to veto any law that threatens the fiscal balance.

Louisiana’s Cajun and Creole heritage will be celebrated at 50th annual festival

new orleans, louisiana — Louisiana’s Cajun and Creole heritage takes center stage this weekend when the Festivals Acadiens et Creoles marks a half-century of honoring and celebrating the culture through music, arts, food and community. 

What started as a one day concert in 1974 to entertain 150 French-speaking journalists gathered in Lafayette — considered the heart of Cajun country — has grown into a three-day event and possibly one of the largest Cajun and Zydeco festivals in the world, organizers said. And, they note, the entire event is free. 

Barry Jean Ancelet, one of the event’s organizers, said when the idea formed 50 years ago, nobody knew if anyone would even come to hear the music. 

“Cajun music at that time was largely considered ‘old people’s music,'” he said. “You’ve got to remember, we were in the throes of Rock ‘n’ Roll at the time. The people here loved it when they encountered it in dance halls, but this concert was designed to call attention to the music in a different way, to point out its value. They had to sit — not dance — and pay attention. And they ended up hearing it in a different way. It was so successful. We ended up turning it into an annual event where we could call positive attention to this important asset and get people to consider it.” 

The festival, now held annually in Lafayette’s Girard Park, brings together multi-generations of musicians and artists who annually fight to preserve a culture that continues to evolve. 

“We’ve always been about celebrating the past and handing it off to the future,” Ancelet said. “If you value and respect evolution, the culture will produce things that will continue to surprise you. It all comes out in the wash. What’s good will last and what’s not, won’t.” 

Festival co-founder Pat Mould said the festival is a “self-celebration of who we are, how we live, what we eat, the music and how we speak.” 

“If you know nothing and want to learn about the culture, this one weekend out of the year allows you to find out everything. Everything you want to know is represented at the festival. It’s a quick study of Cajun and Creole living,” he said. 

Event features homegrown talent

On tap musically for the Friday through Sunday event are performances by 60 musicians — all homegrown talent — including Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, Wayne Toups, CJ Chenier, Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas, Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band, The Revelers, Beausoleil avec Michael Doucet and The Lost Bayou Ramblers. 

On Friday, contemporary artists will pay tribute to the 1974 concert house band that included Zydeco pioneer Clifton Chenier, Cajun accordion maker Marc Savoy, the Balfa Brothers, a Cajun music ensemble of five brothers, Cajun accordion players Nathan Abshire and Blackie Forrester, and Jimmy C. Newman, a country music and Cajun singer-songwriter and long-time star of the Grand Ole Opry. 

“Get ready for Louisiana pure fun,” said Carrier, who’s scheduled to perform with his band on Sunday. “Get ready to eat some really good food and have the time of your life.” 

“People all over the word have these dates circled on their calendar,” he continued. “It’s an event that helps the younger generations continue the traditions. I’m a third generation Zydeco musician. This is a family oriented festival that brings people together of all ages.” 

A ‘celebration of everything Cajun’

Riley, who’s been performing at this festival since 1988, said he keeps returning for several reasons but especially because it helps preserve the culture. 

“It’s important to see us on stage, singing and speaking in French. That has an effect on people who come to see us and helps them fall in love with the culture,” he said. 

“There are a lot of events leading up to the weekend that focuses on the importance of the language, the culture, the food and, of course, the music. There’s none other that celebrates it like this one. I think it’s the biggest complete celebration of everything Cajun. It’s also inclusive of different generations, bands with lineage. That’s key,” he said. 

Riley, now 55, said he’s very proud that his three children play music. 

“It’s a beautiful thing for my family and others like mine,” he said. “Having your kids play with you is awesome. Most kids don’t want to have anything to do with what their parents do. Mine think what I do is fun and it is.” 

Riley said when he first started there weren’t too many young bands playing Cajun music. 

“There was real fear that the music would die off and dissipate like the language,” he said. “The opposite has happened. More young folks are preserving and playing this music than ever. The Zydeco scene down here is packed with young people. It’s super vibrant and alive. The same with the Cajun scene as well.” 

Nazi-looted Monet artwork returned to family generations later

NEW ORLEANS — On the eve of World War II, Nazis in Austria seized a pastel by renowned impressionist artist Claude Monet, selling it off and sparking a family’s decadeslong search that culminated Wednesday in New Orleans.

At an FBI field office, agents lifted a blue veil covering the Monet pastel and presented Adalbert Parlagi’s granddaughters with the artwork over 80 years after it was taken from their family. Helen Lowe said she felt that her grandfather would be watching and that he would be “so, so proud of this moment.”

Monet’s 1865 Bord de Mer depicts rocks along the shoreline of the Normandy coast, where Allied forces stormed the beaches of Nazi-occupied France during D-Day in 1944, marking a turning point in the war. The Monet pastel is one of 20,000 items recovered by the FBI Art Crime Team out of an estimated 600,000 artworks and millions of books and religious objects stolen by the Nazis.

“The theft was not random or incidental, but an integral part of the Nazis’ plan to eliminate all vestiges of Jewish life in Germany and Europe, root and branch,” U.S. State Department Holocaust adviser Stuart E. Eizenstat said in a March speech.

After Nazi Germany annexed Austria in 1938, Adalbert Parlagi, a successful businessman and art lover, and his wife, Hilda, left behind almost everything they owned and fled Vienna, using British license plates to drive across the border, their granddaughters said. Though the Parlagis hadn’t identified as Jewish for years and baptized their children as Protestants, they were still considered Jewish under Nazi laws, according to Austrian government records. Other relatives were killed in concentration camps.

The Parlagis attempted to ship their valuable carpets, porcelain and artworks out of Vienna to London, but found out later that their property had been seized and auctioned off by the Gestapo to support the Third Reich.

Multiple international declarations decried trading in Nazi-looted art, beginning with Allied forces in London in 1943. The 1998 Washington principles, signed by more than three dozen countries, reiterated the call and advocated for the return of stolen art.

Yet Adalbert Parlagi’s efforts were stonewalled by the Vienna auctioneer who had bought and sold the Monet pastel and another artwork owned by Parlagi. The records were lost after the fighting in Vienna, the auctioneer told Adalbert in a letter shortly after World War II, according to an English translation of a document prepared by an Austrian government body reviewing the Parlagi family’s art restitution claims.

“I also cannot remember two such pictures either,” the auctioneer said.

Many survivors of World War II and their descendants ultimately give up trying to recover their lost artwork because of the difficulties they face, said Anne Webber, co-founder of the London-based nonprofit Commission for Looted Art in Europe, which has recovered more than 3,500 looted artworks.

“You have to just constantly, constantly, constantly look,” Webber said.

Adalbert Parlagi and his son Franz kept meticulous ownership and search records. After Franz’s death in 2012, Françoise Parlagi stumbled upon her father’s cache of documents, including the original receipt from her grandfather’s purchase of the Monet pastel. She reached out to Webber’s commission for help in 2014.

The commission’s research team reviewed archives and receipts, contacted museums and art experts and scoured the internet, but initially found “absolutely no trace,” Webber said. Then, in 2021, the team discovered online that a New Orleans dealer acquired the Monet in 2017 and sold it to a Louisiana-based doctor and his wife.

The FBI investigated the commission’s research and, earlier this year, a federal court ruled the pastel should be returned to the Parlagis’ descendants.

“There was never a question” of returning the art to the rightful owners after learning of its sordid history, said Bridget Vita-Schlamp, whose late husband had purchased the Monet pastel.

“We were shocked, I’m not going to lie,” she said.

The family recovered another work in March from the Austrian government but there are still six more artworks missing, including from acclaimed artists Camille Pissarro and Paul Signac. The U.S. is likely the “largest illegal art market in the world,” said Kristin Koch, supervisory special agent with the FBI’s Art Crime Program.

The art world has a greater responsibility to investigate the origins of artworks and a moral obligation to return looted works to their rightful owners, Webber said.

“They represent the life and the lives that were taken,” Webber said. “They represent the world that they were exiled from.”

The granddaughters of Adalbert and Hilda Parlagi say they are grateful for what they have already gotten back. Françoise Parlagi, a broad smile on her face, said she hoped to hang a copy of the pastel in her home. She said the moment felt “unreal.”

“So many families are in this situation. Maybe they haven’t even been trying to recover because they don’t believe, they think this might not be possible,” she said. “Let us be hope for other families.”

China tees up fresh spending to boost ailing economy

beijing — China said Saturday it would issue special bonds to help its sputtering economy, signaling a spending spree to bolster banks, shore up the property market and ease local government debt as part of one of its biggest support packages in years.

The plan is part of a series of actions undertaken by Beijing to draw a line under a years-long property sector crisis and chronically low consumption that has plagued the world’s second-biggest economy.

Beijing’s planned special bonds are aimed at boosting the capital available to banks — part of a push to get them lending in the hopes of firing up sluggish consumer spending.

China is also preparing to allow local governments to borrow more to fund the acquisition of unused land for development, aimed at pulling the property market out of a prolonged slump.

No figures were provided on the planned special bonds announced at a highly anticipated news conference by Finance Minister Lan Fo’an and other officials, following a series of steps launched in recent weeks that have included interest rate cuts and liquidity for banks.

But Lan said China still has room “to issue debts and increase the deficit” to fund the new measures.

Officials have been battling to reverse China’s slowdown and achieve a growth target of five percent this year — enviable for many Western countries but a far cry from the double-digit expansion that for years boosted the Asian giant.

On Saturday, Lan said Beijing was “accelerating the use of additional treasury bonds, and ultra-long-term special treasury bonds are also being issued for use.”

“In the next three months, a total of 2.3 trillion yuan of special bond funds can be arranged for use in various places,” he added.

On top of that, Beijing also plans to “issue special government bonds to support large state-owned commercial banks,” Lan said, although he did not say how much.

Chinese authorities have been urging commercial banks to lend more and lower mortgage rates — measures that would put more cash into the pockets of consumers.

Beijing’s bonds would therefore offer banks help to shore up their capital, giving them greater leeway to lend more.

Bonds for buildings

And local governments will be issued special bonds enabling them to acquire unused and idle land for development, Vice Finance Minister Liao Min said, in action that could prop up the housing market.

The move would “help ease liquidity and debt pressures on local governments and real estate companies,” he explained.

Beijing will also encourage the acquisition of existing commercial properties to be used as affordable housing.

However, analysts expressed frustration that Beijing had refrained from putting a number on further fiscal stimulus.

“The key messages are that … the central government has the capacity to issue more bonds and raise fiscal deficit, and… the central government plans to issue more bonds to help local governments to pay their debt,” Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, said.

Beijing was likely “still working on the minute details of the fiscal stimulus,” Heron Lim at Moody’s Analytics told AFP.

“In the meantime, investors might be taking a step back until they are absolutely certain of the direction fiscal policy is taking.”

‘Lack of forward guidance’

China’s economic uncertainty is also fueling a vicious cycle that has kept consumption stubbornly low.

Julian Evans-Pritchard, head of China economics at Capital Economics, said that “notably absent was any mention of large-scale handouts to consumers” on Saturday.

“The lack of forward guidance on the scale of next year’s budget deficit means it is still difficult to judge how large and long-lasting the fiscal boost will be,” he pointed out.

Chinese policymakers have in the last weeks unveiled a string of stimulus measures including a suite of rate cuts and a loosening of rules on buying homes, but economists said that more action is needed to pull the economy out of its slump for good.

Earlier Saturday, China’s top banks said they would cut lower interest rates on existing mortgages from October 25, state media said, following a government call for the action.

“Except for second mortgages in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and some other regions, the interest rates on other eligible mortgages will be adjusted” to no less than 30 basis points below the prime lending rate, the central bank’s benchmark rate for mortgages, state broadcaster CCTV said.

CCTV reported that major banks, including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China and China Construction Bank had announced that they would make the adjustments “in batches.”

The People’s Bank of China last month requested that commercial banks lower such rates by October 31.

Beijing also last month slashed interest on one-year loans to financial institutions, cut the amount of cash lenders must keep on hand and pushed to lower rates on existing mortgages.

And the central bank this week boosted support for markets by opening up tens of billions of dollars in liquidity for firms to buy stocks. 

Nobel Prize winner Han Kang’s books fly off the shelves in South Korea

seoul, south korea — South Koreans flocked to bookstores Friday and crashed websites in a frenzy to snap up copies of the work of novelist Han Kang in her home country, after her unexpected win of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature.

However, the author herself was keeping out of the limelight.

The country’s largest bookstore chain, Kyobo Book Centre, said sales of her books had rocketed on Friday, with stocks almost immediately selling out and set to be in short supply for the near future.

“This is the first time a Korean has received a Nobel Prize in Literature, so I was amazed,” said Yoon Ki-heon, a 32-year-old visitor at a bookstore in central Seoul.

“South Korea had a poor achievement in winning Nobel Prizes, so I was surprised by news that (a writer of) non-English books, which were written in Korean, won such a big prize.”

Soon after Thursday’s announcement, some bookstore websites could not be accessed due to heavy traffic. Out of the current 10 bestsellers at Kyobo, nine were Han’s books on Friday morning, according to its website.

Han’s father, well-regarded author Han Seung-won, said the translation of her novel The Vegetarian, her major international breakthrough, had led to her winning the Man Booker International Prize in 2016 and now the Nobel prize.

“My daughter’s writing is very delicate, beautiful and sad,” Han Seung-won said.

“So, how you translate that sad sentence into a foreign language will determine whether you win … It seems the translator was the right person to translate the unique flavor of Korean language.”

Han’s other books address painful chapters of South Korean history, including Human Acts which examines the 1980 massacre of hundreds of civilians by the South Korean military in the city of Gwangju.

Another novel, We Do Not Part, looks at the fallout of the 1948-54 massacre on Jeju island, when an estimated 10% of the island’s population were killed in an anti-communist purge.

“I really hope souls of the victims and survivors could be healed from pain and trauma through her book,” said Kim Chang-beom, head of an association for the bereaved families of the Jeju massacre.

Park Gang-bae, a director at a foundation that honors the victims and supports the bereaved families and survivors of the Gwangju massacre, said he was “jubilant and moved ” by her win.

“The protagonists in her book (Human Acts) are people we meet and live with every day, on every corner here, so this is deeply moving,” Park said.

Han’s father told reporters on Friday that she may continue to shun the limelight after giving no separate comments or interviews and eschewing media scrutiny since Thursday’s win.

“She said given the fierce Russia-Ukraine, Israel-Palestine wars and people dying every day, how could she celebrate and hold a joyous press conference?” her father said.

Han Kang received the news of her win about 10 to 15 minutes before the announcement, her father said, and was so surprised that she thought it might be a scam at one point.

Hurricane Milton disrupts Yom Kippur plans for Jews in Florida

WINTER PARK, Florida — Many Jews worldwide will mark Yom Kippur in fasting and prayer at their synagogues this weekend.

But for the faithful in Florida, destructive Hurricane Milton has disrupted plans for observing the Day of Atonement — the holiest day of the year in the Jewish faith — that begins Friday evening and caps off the High Holy Days that began with Rosh Hashana on October 2.

Across the storm-threatened areas, rabbis and their congregants spent part of the Days of Awe — the span between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur — protecting their homes and synagogues as Milton churned off the coast, spiraling into a Category 5 storm. Many — though not all — evacuated, heeding the voluntary and mandatory orders, and found safekeeping for their synagogues’ Torah scrolls and themselves.

Milton hit Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday as a Category 3 cyclone, with damaging winds, heavy rains and tornadoes. By Thursday, the storm had moved eastward into the Atlantic Ocean.

Why this rabbi decided against evacuating before storm

Rabbi Yitzchok Minkowicz evacuated most of his family ahead of the storm, but chose to ride it out with his son, also a rabbi, at Chabad Lubavitch of Southwest Florida near Fort Myers. The center is hosting people displaced by the storm, including doctors, first responders and elderly who cannot evacuate.

It’s important to be “with the people and for the people,” and provide emotional and spiritual support, he said as the storm approached.

Near midnight Thursday, the Chabad center and the rest of the neighborhood lost power, said Minkowicz, making them among the millions without it. The center was spared from the storm surge, but homes and other buildings in the area were not, he said.

“Our pressing need is for Power so that we can help our community & hold Yom Kippur services,” Minkowicz told The Associated Press via email Thursday. “We’re praying for this to be resolved asap.”

The center planned to host Yom Kippur observances regardless of the storm. He said it was similar two years ago, when the holy day followed the major hurricane, Ian.

“Yom Kippur is a day that you open up your soul to God and you totally connect with God,” Minkowicz said. “When you go through a hurricane, anything materialistic is not important. They’re already in that zone where they’re totally focused on God.”

Congregation Beth Am in the Tampa Bay area also lost power and plans to hold Yom Kippur services online, said Rabbi Jason Rosenberg of the Reform synagogue.

“It’s important to keep perspective. Having a service online is not what anybody wants, but it could’ve been a lot worse,” he said. “This feels like a blessing.”

The storm underscored one of Yom Kippur’s annual reflections.

An implicit question, he said before Milton’s landfall, is “If this was going to be your last year on earth, how would you want to act differently? … When you’ve got a historical storm, a potentially life-threatening and life-altering storm bearing down on you, that message is really present.”

Milton disrupts Yom Kippur and October 7 commemoration

Like most of her congregants, Rabbi Nicole Luna had evacuated after helping secure Temple Beth El in Fort Myers, and entrusting several Torah scrolls to congregants should the threatened surge devastate the synagogue.

While the congregation braved Hurricanes Irma in 2017 and Ian in 2022, Milton’s timing hit especially hard, having already forced the postponement of community-wide commemoration of Hamas attacking Israel on October 7, 2023. The war that followed is ongoing.

“It just feels like too much for our hearts to carry right now,” Luna said from Miami ahead of the storm. “It’s all very heavy.”

After the storm passed through, Luna told her congregation that their synagogue had emerged undamaged, though it lost power.

She announced plans for a service via Zoom on Friday evening, and in-person services Saturday.

“We hope by Saturday more traffic lights will be restored but please only come if you can safely navigate the roads,” she said in her message.

Luna said she was grateful for the “big outpouring of support” she received from fellow rabbis across the East Coast of Florida, who were opening their temples for the holidays to evacuees and have emphasized they can come as they are since few grabbed “holiday-appropriate clothing” in the rush to escape Milton’s fury.

The Chabad of Southwest Broward near Fort Lauderdale is hosting several evacuees from areas most affected by the storm, ranging from a mother with her newborn to an elderly couple, said director Rabbi Pinny Andrusier. They are invited to spend Yom Kippur with the Cooper City-based group, including sharing kosher meals before and after the day of fasting.

“We were spared, thank God,” Andrusier said of the storm. “We’ve been able to open up our doors” for those in the hurricane zone.

Synagogue skips holding Yom Kippur services

Hundreds of Jewish families on Longboat Key, a barrier island off Sarasota Bay, won’t be able to observe Yom Kippur in their synagogue for the very first time in their 45-year history, said Shepard Englander, CEO of The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee.

Access to the island, specifically the John Ringling Causeway, was closed ahead of the storm. The congregation decided it wasn’t worth risking Milton’s might for Day of Atonement services. They had celebrated Rosh Hashana in their building despite a number of nearby homes being damaged by Hurricane Helene, which made landfall last month.

Englander said he and his family evacuated from their home on a riverbank outside Sarasota and were hunkered down at a friend’s home inland. From there, he was trying to make sure community members from Longboat Key and other temples that won’t have services can say their prayers and break their daylong Yom Kippur fast at a newly constructed conference center in Sarasota with food items like blintzes, bagels, cream cheese and smoked salmon.

Ahead of the storm, people were scattered in the region at emergency shelters or staying with family or friends, Englander said.

“It’s in difficult times that you really understand the power of community,” he said. “And this is a caring, tight-knit, generous Jewish community.”