Friday Briefing: Hurricane Milton killed at least 12 people

Plus, the Nobel Prize in Literature

View in browser|nytimes.com October 11, 2024 By Jonathan Wolfe and Gaya Gupta Good morning. We're covering the aftermath of Hurricane Milton and Israeli strikes in Beirut. Plus: The Nobel Prize in Literature. Clearwater, Fla., yesterday. Zack Wittman for The New York Times Florida picks up after another hurricane Hurricane Milton cut an uneven path of destruction as it tore across Florida, largely sparing the densely populated cities around Tampa Bay but spawning deadly tornadoes far from its center. At least 12 people were killed, most in the eastern part of the state. Over three million people were still without power as of late Thursday night. Here's the latest. The storm whipped barrier islands that were still recovering from Hurricane Helene two weeks ago and swamped inland communities with surges from rivers and copious rainfall. But Milton largely spared the Tampa Bay region from the high storm surge that local officials had feared, Patricia Mazzei, who was reporting from the area, told us. "In many places, the storm surge was actually worse during Hurricane Helene," she said, adding: "Some people along the Gulf Coast are pretty relieved. But the ones facing a second or third flood inside their homes are exhausted." Efforts to get people to follow evacuation orders and warnings appear to have worked. "This is going to be a long haul for total rebuilding," President Biden said. "It's going to take several billion dollars. It's not just going to be a little bit." Scenes from the ground: Our photographers captured the devastation left in Milton's wake. Buildings hit by an Israeli airstrike in central Beirut yesterday. Bilal Hussein/Associated Press Airstrikes in Beirut killed at least 22 people Israeli airstrikes in a densely populated area of central Beirut killed at least 22 people and wounded at least 117 others, Lebanese officials said. It appeared to be the deadliest attack in the Lebanese capital in more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. The strikes hit an area where displaced residents had been sheltering after weeks of intense Israeli bombardments near the city. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the strikes, but it has been systematically targeting Hezbollah leaders and the group's infrastructure. The strikes came hours after U.N. officials said that Israeli forces had fired on U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, wounding two and touching off international criticism of the Israeli military's offensive against Hezbollah. Barack Obama in Pittsburgh yesterday. Maddie McGarvey for The New York Times Obama stumped for Harris in Pennsylvania With the race for the White House now in its final month, Vice President Kamala Harris unleashed her party's most popular surrogate: Barack Obama. The former president held a rally in the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania, hoping to lift the woman he has cast as the inheritor of the political movement he began in 2008. Before the rally, Obama sternly urged Black men to back Harris. Earlier in the day, Donald Trump proposed making the interest on car loans tax-deductible in a speech to the Detroit Economic Club. He also attacked Harris with debunked claims about cheating in the 2020 election. More on the U.S. election Americans head to the polls in less than four weeks. Control of the Senate appears likely to flip from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party in the Nov. 5 election, according to a new poll from The New York Times and Siena College. Trump is stoking resentments and pointing to scapegoats in an attempt to convince Black and Latino voters to support him. Watch or listen to a political round table with Times journalists and The Daily's Michael Barbaro as they discuss which voters matter most to both campaigns. Do you have questions about the election? Send them to us, and we'll find the answers. MORE TOP NEWS Nicole Tung for The New York Times Ukraine: Parliament approved the biggest tax hike of the war to support the army. U.S.: TD Bank agreed to pay about $3 billion in fines to U.S. authorities and pleaded guilty to charges related to money laundering. France: The government unveiled an austerity budget involving deep spending cuts and hefty taxes that would fall mostly on the rich and on big corporations. India: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been offering financial help to neighboring countries as he tries to counter China's influence. Trade: The World Trade Organization said that the pace of global trade had been ticking up despite rising geopolitical tensions. Exploration: At 18, Nima Rinji Sherpa became the youngest person to summit the world's 14 tallest mountains. Arts and Entertainment Sean Combs: The embattled music mogul is scheduled to stand trial in New York next May. Trump film: The director and stars of "The Apprentice," a film about the relationship between Donald Trump and his mentor, Roy Cohn, said their film was not a mockery of the former president. Our reviewer made it a Critic's Pick. Garth Brooks: The country superstar named the woman who accused him of rape and portrayed himself as "the victim of a shakedown." Frieze London: Plenty of business was done on the first day of the fair, but much of the chatter was about the upcoming presentations at Art Basel Paris. SPORTS NEWS Lewis Whyld/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Tennis: Rafael Nadal, the 38-year-old Spanish tennis star, said in a video that he would retire after the Davis Cup next month. Basketball: Five years after Houston's general manager infuriated Beijing with a tweet in support of Hong Kong protesters, the N.B.A. commissioner said he believed the league would return to China at some point. Baseball: One swing of a bat can create legends. Francisco Lindor's poetic, series-clinching grand slam for the Mets did just that. MORNING READ Clayton Hauck There are several bits of information you might wish to know before going to a restaurant. For example, what's on the menu and how much does it cost? But lately, a number of fine-dining establishments are withholding the details in favor of an air of mystery. CONVERSATION STARTERS Monet and his pals: In 1874, Impressionists spurred a rebellious movement. Our critic at large explains why their work was so revolutionary. George Washington: The first U.S. president is not usually associated with comedy. As a recurring character on "Saturday Night Live" and a trend on TikTok, that may be changing. The dachshund bag: A growing number of brands have embraced a new handbag shape that evokes the elongated bodies of wiener dogs. ARTS AND IDEAS Jean Chung for The New York Times Han Kang won the Nobel Prize in Literature Han Kang, best known for her surreal, subversive novel "The Vegetarian," received the Nobel Prize in Literature yesterday. She's the first writer from South Korea to receive the award. The novel centers on a depressed housewife who shocks her family when she stops eating meat. Later, she stops eating altogether and yearns to turn into a tree that can live off sunlight alone. A representative for the Swedish Academy, which organizes the prize, said she received the honor "for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life." Our reviewer wrote of "The Vegetarian" that "there is no end to the horrors that rattle in and out of this ferocious, magnificently death-affirming novel." Read the full review. We hope you've enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times. RECOMMENDATIONS Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne. Cook: An apple galette is the quintessential fall dessert. Watch: Damien Leone's "Terrifier 3" pushes horror boundaries. Read: These four historical novels deliver a heady mix of fact and fiction. Game: The remake of Silent Hill 2 improves the classic video game's combat. Hunt: Which London apartment would you buy with 1 million British pounds? 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. — Jonathan Reach Jonathan and the team at briefing@nytimes.com. Need help? 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