Hurricane Ian strikes Cuba, Florida braces for winds, floods

Over 194,000 Russian nationals have entered Kazakhstan, Georgia and Finland in the week since President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization of reservists to fight in Ukraine. Thousands fled to neighboring countries, most often by car, bicycle or on foot. The mass exodus of men — alone or with their families or friends — began Sept. 21, shortly after Putin’s address to the nation, and has continued this week. Early on, they snapped up airline tickets, which spiked in price on the few airlines still flying out of Russia. But the rest had to gas up their cars and join the long lines snaking on roads toward the borders.

Stocks gave up some of their early gains on Wall Street as markets stagger amid recession worries. The volatile trading on Tuesday comes a day after a broad sell-off sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average into a bear market, joining other major U.S. indexes. The S&P 500 and the Dow fell, while the Nasdaq edged higher. Energy stocks gained ground along with rising oil prices. With just a few days left in September, stocks are heading for another losing month as markets fear that the higher interest rates being used to fight inflation could help knock the economy into a recession.

Pro-Moscow officials say that residents in one of the four occupied areas of Ukraine voted to join Russia. The Kremlin-orchestrated vote has been dismissed by the U.S. and its Western allies as illegitimate. According to Russia-installed election officials in the Zaporizhzhia region, 93% of the ballots case in the vote were in support of the annexation. Results from three other Ukrainian regions were expected to follow shortly. The preordained outcome sets the stage for a dangerous new phase in Russia’s seven-month war in Ukraine because it is expected to serve as a pretext for Moscow to annex the four areas. That could happen as soon as Friday.

Thirty-one-year-old Jihad Michlawi struggled to makes ends meet as a chef in crisis-hit Beirut. The Palestinian never thought about taking a risky trip to Europe by sea for job opportunities, but friends who successfully did so convinced him. He gathered up thousands of dollars to put his life in the hands of a smuggler. But the boat he was on with about 150 others capsized near the Syrian coastal city of Tartus due to engine failure. At least 94 people drowned. Michlawi miraculously swam to shore. A surging number of Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinians have tried to flee Lebanon by sea in search of a better life.

A prototype, all-electric airplane took its first flight Tuesday morning in central Washington state. The Seattle Times reports that if the Federal Aviation Administration eventually certifies the small airplane to carry passengers, it could become the first all-electric commercial airplane. The plane, built by startup Eviation, was built to carry nine passengers and up two pilots and took off from Moses Lake, Washington, at 7:10 a.m. Tuesday. The plane landed eight minutes later. The company’s goal is to show such electric planes are viable as commuter aircraft flying at an altitude of about 15,000 feet. The plane, designed by engineers in Washington state and Israel, is powered by 21,500 small Tesla-style battery cells.

Seismologists say explosions rattled the Baltic Sea before unusual leaks were discovered on two natural gas pipelines running underwater from Russia to Germany. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Tuesday that her government regarded the leaks as the results of “deliberate actions,” and other European leaders and experts pointed to possible sabotage amid an energy standoff with Russia provoked by the war in Ukraine. Asked whether the incident constituted an attack on Denmark, Frederiksen replied that the leaks happened in international waters and “the answer is thus no.” She added that there was no information indicating who could be behind the leaks.