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This morning’s 3-by-3 travels across Sri Lankans fighting for Russia, live shopping shows in China, inadequate soccer facilities in Africa, and more. Let’s fly!

Politics

• Mexico elects first female president

Claudia Sheinbaum, the former mayor of Mexico City and a former energy scientist, has comfortably defeated businesswoman Xóchitl Gálvez, making her Mexico’s first female president and the first of Jewish heritage (Sheinbaum’s maternal grandparents fled Bulgaria during Nazi rule). Succeeding her mentor and fellow Morena party member Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who had a 60% approval rating upon exit and endorsed her campaign, Sheinbaum has promised to maintain welfare programs, tackle high rates of violence, and increase renewable energy usage. A presidential race between two female candidates was notable and disruptive for a country where women only became able to vote in 1953, with misogynistic attacks on both Sheinbaum’s and Gálvez’s appearances and qualifications becoming commonplace.

• 455 Sri Lankans duped into fighting for Russia

As the war in Ukraine continues, it’s reported that around 455 Sri Lankan citizens were deceptively recruited by Russia — with at least 16 people currently missing in action. Russian agents enticed these individuals (mostly retired soldiers from Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war) with false promises of high salaries and citizenship and ensured them they would not be assigned to fight. But with many now on the war front in Ukraine, Sri Lanka’s foreign minister finds it clear that his people were deceived, illustrating the vulnerability caused by Sri Lanka’s unprecedented economic crisis and lack of job opportunities.

• Biden presents plan to end Israel-Hamas war

President Biden has presented a three-phase proposal to produce a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and end the 8-month war, so far receiving a positive response from Hamas and an amenable yet not-completely-satisfied response from Israel — with Prime Minister Netanyahu still set on the “destruction of Hamas’s military and governmental capabilities.” The first phase would involve a 6-week ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli military from Gaza’s most populated areas, and an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, allowing Hamas and Israel to negotiate a permanent ceasefire during this period so long as commitments are fulfilled. The second phase would see this permanent ceasefire begin, a total exit from Gaza, and a full return of hostages, while the third would focus on the approach to reconstruct Gaza, about which several Israeli leaders internally disagree.

Business

• Zara succeeds in China with live shopping broadcasts

With retailers aiming to engage shoppers in new ways since the post-pandemic surge, fast-fashion brand Zara has turned to live shopping shows in its China market, broadcasted on the Chinese version of TikTok, Douyin. These five-hour shows are produced weekly by a team of 70 people and feature models trying on Zara products in catwalk sequences and casually conversing in front of some 800,000 viewers — allowing Zara China to sell out of 50% more products and increase its overall brand awareness. Though live streaming is not as popular in the West, Zara now plans to launch these live shows in the U.S. and UK with a one-hour format hosted on the store’s app and website, anticipated for fall 2024.

• Asia seizes record amount of methamphetamine

A recent report by the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime showed a record 190 tons of methamphetamine seized in East and Southeast Asia in 2023, a large majority of which originated from the Golden Triangle countries of Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos. Meth production in the Golden Triangle is likely generating around $80 billion per year for the region’s economies, largely aided by Myanmar’s organized crime operations, self-governing production areas, and lawless borders. These drugs are being trafficked to the likes of Australia and South Korea by utilizing land and water channels off of the Mekong River to create super-highways for large shipments, presenting an uncontrolled global concern.

• Tesla shareholder sues Elon Musk for insider trading

Tesla shareholder Michael Perry is claiming that CEO Elon Musk used his awareness of disappointing fourth-quarter production and delivery numbers before their public disclosure to sell over $7.5 billion of shares, constituting insider trading and breaching his fiduciary duties to the company. Perry’s lawsuit suggests that if Musk had waited to sell these same shares until after Tesla’s price consequentially plummeted, he would have earned much less from the sale (around 55% of what he did). Musk is yet to respond and finds himself amid several legal battles — a challenge to his $56 billion Tesla compensation package, a probe into a potential violation of federal securities laws when he bought Twitter stock, and an accusation of defrauding X investors.

Culture

• African soccer teams lose home-field advantage

In preparation for the 2026 World Cup, 17 of the 43 hopeful African participants will be unable to play qualifying matches at their home stadiums due to inadequate facilities. Enforced by the Confederation of African Football, quality standards across the pitch, changing rooms, and stadium lights have been failed by countries like Kenya, Benin, and Congo. While South Africa and Morocco are offering their eligible stadiums to several neighbors as a band-aid solution, the lack of infrastructure and investment across the continent will likely continue to hinder Africa’s competitiveness on the global soccer stage.

• Thailand celebrates Pride Month in hopes of historic law

Thailand celebrated its 25th Pride Month over the weekend with the annual Bangkok Pride Parade, anticipating a law that would make it the first nation in Southeast Asia to legalize marriage equality. Supported by politicians and business corporations in one of the city’s busiest districts, the parade’s backdrop is a bill passed by Thailand’s lower house of Parliament in March to amend the country’s Civil and Commercial Code from “husband and wife” to “marriage partners” — granting full legal and financial rights to LGBTQ+ couples. After decades of opposition from conservative government and state agencies within a rather inclusive society, the bill is currently in review by the Senate and expected to become law later this month.

• JLo’s canceled tour may reflect recent backlash

Recording artist and actress Jennifer Lopez has canceled her “This Is Me… Live” summer tour, expressing her devastating yet essential need to spend more time with family and friends. JLo has been the recent target of considerable online mockery, with many characterizing her latest documentary as “creative narcissism” and many others (including a former high school classmate) questioning the authenticity of “the Bronx, running up and down the block” upbringing she often claims — even starting a viral trend ridiculing her go-to bodega order. Given her promotion of the tour during this social media spiral, it’s reasonable to wonder just how much one affected the other and what the future of Lopez’s trailblazing career will hold, especially among a new generation with cancel culture tendencies.

Written by Outer Voice founders

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